Marii Skłodowskiej-Curie lektury z dzieciństwa i młodości

Abstract

Even though the biographical materials of Marie Skłodowska-Curie’s relation with literature are rather short in number, the paper tries to elaborate on such vague relation. At a very early period, at four years of age, Marie Skłodowska-Curie learned how to read. Since that moment with eagerness she was reading books. Thanks to her parents the bond between her and literature was created. Father Wladislaw took care of the education of his children by organizing foreign language classes and reading literature from Poland and the world until Marie and her sister were able to use his library on their own. What was more important were the times in which Marie lived. She was born in part of Poland occupied by the Russians facing russification. However, she also lived during the time when positivists created their works, for whom science was very important and who played a major role in educating masses through reading books. Such factors provoked that Marie Skłodowska-Curie was a literary passionate. Not only did she adore Polish literature where she found poets like Mickiewicz, Słowacki and Krasiński particularly interesting, but also foreign literature was among her interests. What is worth mentioning is the fact that she was not only reading poetry but also she was translating it and writing it on her own. Literature played a major role in her early life and her youth. Early years of her life shaped this future Nobel prizewinner and prepared her for hard work which resulted in scientific success.