Abstract

This article addresses the question of Walery Przyborowski’s pioneering status in the Polish crime prose of the 19th century. On the basis of a comparison between Przyborowski’s novels such as The Acacia Leaf and The Black Hour and The Dead Secret and The Lady and the Law by William Wilkie Collins, the issue of originality of Przyborowski’s crime prose is analyzed. The thesis about his being the precursor of Polish criminal literature remains valid, but the judgments about the innovative­ness and authenticity of his crime stories need to be revised. The main goal of this article, however, is to emphasize the need for integrated studies within Polish philology and other philologies in order to capture the interdependencies within the popular nineteenth-century European literature.