Żmichowska, Narcyza (1819–1876)

Polish novelist and reformer. Name variations: Narcyza Zmichowska; (pseudonym) Gabryella. Born Mar 4, 1819, in Warsaw, Poland; died Dec 25, 1876, in Warsaw; dau. of Jan Żmichowski and Wiktoria z Kiedrzyńskych; educated at the school of Zuzanna Wilczyńska and the Institut Guwernantek in Warsaw, 1835.

Taught at Institut Guwernantek in Warsaw; following an unsuccessful uprising against Russian domination (1830), presided over a group of intellectual women; moved to Paris (1838) and reunited with brother in Reims, who had previously fled Poland for political reasons; supported herself as a tutor; became active in a political group that committed illegal acts to aid Polish prisoners and teach Polish workers (1839); aligned herself with a group of women, including Anna Skimborowicz, Kazimiera Ziemiecka, and Wincentyna Zablocka, as part of a women's emancipation movement that was later called the Enthusiasts; as a writer, became best known of the Enthusiasts; returning to Warsaw (1846), resumed illegal activities, but was arrested and spent 3 years in a nunnery at Lublin; upon release, once again taught courses for young women and advocated for women's schools; though her work went largely unread in 20th century, was a leader of her contemporary literary circles and a prolific, though highly self-critical, writer; later work, Poganka (The Pagan Woman, 1846), is classified as one of her finest examples of romantic fiction; also wrote the novels Ksiaąża pamiąstek (Book of Remembrances, 1847), Biala róża (White Rose, 1858), Kasia i Marynka (Kasia and Marynka, 1869), and Czy to powieść? (Is this a novel?, 1876).

See also Women in World History.