Umiński, Władysław
Entry updated 4 March 2024. Tagged: Author.
(1865-1954) Polish journalist, educator and writer, one of the earliest Polish science fiction writers; known as "the Polish Jules Verne" and sometimes credited with popularizing science fiction in Poland.
Like Verne, Umiński was a prolific writer, authoring over 30 novels; also as with Verne, only some had sf elements. He debuted with the maritime novel Zwycięzcy oceanu ["Conquerors of the Ocean"] (1890 Wędrowiec; 1891); his second novel, Balonem do bieguna ["To the Pole with a Balloon"] (1892 Wieczory Rodzinne; 1894), is recognized as his first sf work and also as one of the first Polish sf novels. That said, the sf content, inspired by Verne's Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863; trans 1869), as well as by Umiński's own fascination with aviation, was rather tame: the novel portrays an advanced Balloon, effectively a zeppelin (see Airships), filled with helium and able to carry several passengers for weeks without resupplying. This effectively encapsulates Umiński style, described by the Polish sf scholar Smuszkiewicz as "timidly looking into the not too distant future" (see Near Future). Umiński, purposefully – seeing himself as an educator, and critical of Verne's "too far-fetched ideas" – tried to ensure Inventions portrayed in his works were realistic. Indeed, a real zeppelin was constructed and flown ten years after Umiński described it, although it would take another two decades before safer helium became more commonly used in balloons.
In his fourth novel, W nieznane światy ["Into the Unknown Worlds"] (1894 Przyjaciel Dzieci; 1895; vt Na drugą planetę ["To the Second Planet"] 1913), the sf dimension becomes much more pronounced: the main plot focuses on an attempt to establish First Contact with Mars using a telescope and powerful light signals. Always cautious, Umiński sidesteps the question of life on Mars: his astronomers observe flashes of light originating there, but are divided on whether they are natural or artificial phenomena. One astronomer, American Edwin Harting, convinced that they represent an attempt to contact Earth by a Martian civilization, persuades a millionaire to back his plan to send a signal to them. The "timid" futuristic gadgets described by Umiński include a large refractor telescope (the largest already existing at that time had a one-metre lens; Umiński's cautious innovation was a two-metre one). One of Umiński's trademarks was that he would regularly revise his works for new editions, updating his gadgets to ensure they represented realistic, then-cutting edge Technologies – and so in subsequent editions, the diameter of the telescope lens increased to keep pace with developing science. Perhaps more interesting is the second invention posited by Umiński: a "second sun", effectively a gigantic flare that generates a light signal on Earth's surface that could be seen from Mars. That light, however, harms (burns and blinds) nearby animals and even South American natives, something that Umiński glosses over; this novel can be seen as a classic early science fiction praise of "man's victory over the forces of nature", ignoring the dangers posed by the modernization and irresponsible use of technology – something that Umiński would come to reflect upon in his later works. It also fits within the context of Polish Positivist philosophy (see Poland). The third futuristic gadget featured in the novel is a miniaturized sound recording device. Phonographs already existed but were relatively bulky; Umiński's novel contains an early – perhaps novel – idea that such devices could be used for wiretapping.
W pustyniach Australii ["In the Deserts of Australia"] (1895 Wieczory Rodzinne; 1896) is another work likely inspired by Verne's sf, this time Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864; trans 1870). In Umiński's tamer novel, the protagonists take part in an expedition into an extensive Underground cave complex in the middle of Australia, whose ecosystem lacks Verne's more ambitious tropes such as Dinosaurs.
Umiński's next work classifiable as sf was Samolotem naokoło świata ["Around the World by Plane"] (1909-1910 Przyjaciel Dzieci; 1911). This tale, a modernized retelling of Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days (1873; trans 1874), replaces the balloon with an advanced aeroplane that can carry five passengers, reach an altitude of 10 kilometres, has a speed of 540 kilometres per hour, and can apparently land on the top of Mount Everest (see Transportation). The novel is also notable for coining the Polish word for aeroplane: "samolot". This again represents Umiński's tendency to build upon existing inventions; by that time planes, as widely reported by newspapers, could cross distances of some two dozen kilometres.
For the next several decades, Umiński's gadgets were again timid. His Czarodziejski okręt ["Wizardly Ship"] (1914-1915 Przyjaciel Młodzieży; 1916) features an advanced yacht that carries a seaplane, as well as a wireless telegraph and a radio (called by Umiński "metatelefon" or metatelephone) with a range of 5,000 kilometres. While such inventions were being tested (including by the military) in prior years, Umiński's innovation was to improve their capabilities, give them to civilians, and describe the resulting empowerment: one plot point concerns the surprise of those who did not expect the protagonists to be able to communicate so swiftly over large distances.
W głębinach oceanu ["In the Depth of the Ocean"] (1920) was again inspired by Verne's work, this time Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870 2vols; trans 1872). It features an expedition to the North Pole by an advanced submarine which "can sink to a depth of two hundred metres and reach twenty knots while sailing four thousand miles without respite" (see Under the Sea).
The novelette "Przygody łodzi podwodnej" ["Adventures of a Submarine"] (in Przygody łodzi podwodnej i inne opowiadania ["Adventures of a Submarine and Other Stories"] coll 1925) could be termed Military SF. Likely influenced by World War One, this is the story of a German submarine tasked with crippling the English and French fleets. Here Umiński seems to have departed from his more tame predictions, speculating about anti-submarine vessels called "wyławiacze" ["fishers"] that literally cast nets which can drag submarines to the surface. Another military gadget appears in his earlier novel Krzyż i półksiężyc ["Cross and Crescent"] (1913), perhaps the first example of Polish military SF, set during the First Balkan War and featuring the concept of "flying artillery".
The postwar years saw Umiński's most ambitious science fiction work yet: Zaziemskie światy ["Extraterrestrial Worlds"] (finished and dated 1948 but delayed by communist censorship to 1956). That novel ostensibly features more plausible futuristic gadgets (such as atomic-powered Space Flight), but departs from his previous timidity in scope and vision: the protagonists of the novel do, in fact, carry out their interplanetary voyage, visiting and returning from Venus; the characters and narrator argue that life, including sentient life, must be common in the universe (see Life on Other Worlds). (In fact, the novel is set in the same continuity as Umiński's above-cited W nieznane światy, and states that its protagonists were indeed successful at establishing Communication with Mars, which has since has expanded to radio communication.) The novel, however, is also widely seen as Umiński's new manifesto – a Dystopian critique of unchecked technological progress and materialistic desires that lead to disasters like the just-ended World War Two. Venusians, for example, here consider themselves morally superior to "barbaric humans", as they have eschewed most worldly desires, and are vegetarians living in harmony with nature. Descendants of Earthlings who traveled to Venus long ago (from Atlantis), they have also developed powerful Psi Powers: Telepathy and Telekinesis.
In the 1950s, Umiński is said to have begun work on the probably sf-themed novel «Świat za lat tysiąc» ["The World in a Thousand Years"], which, however, he did not manage to finish and about which nothing else is known; it has been speculated that this work marked Umiński's departure from Verne's style, likely moving towards works like H G Wells's The Time Machine (1895), which sounds plausible considering the themes of Zaziemskie światy above.
Although Umiński is recognized as one of the earliest Polish sf authors, his works have not aged well. Popular during his lifetime among children and young adults, positively reviewed in the press and even endorsed by the interwar Polish ministry of education, they became politically suspect during the communist era, as many – including most of his sf – featured positive descriptions of the capitalistic American society. His 1948 dystopia was delayed by censorship and eventually published posthumously, in a small edition of 7,000 copies, never since reprinted. With Umiński passing, nobody updated his "realistic but timid" inventions, which quickly became anachronistic. His books were increasingly forgotten, and in the realm of classics, eclipsed by more enduring works of Verne. The last reprint of one of his novels was in 1987.
While Umiński has been occasionally credited with popularizing the sf genre in Poland, this claim is based on thin evidence. While Polish writers of later generations (like Stanisław Lem) surely read some of his works, there is no evidence he was seen as particularly influential, compared to other, more ambitious Polish early science fiction writers such as Jerzy Żuławski or Stefan Grabiński, or international classics like Verne or Wells who have been widely translated and popular in Poland. And while Umiński has been praised for including "Polish flavour" (characters and locales) in his works, making them more appealing to Polish readers, in his seven sf works he did so only thrice. Balonem do bieguna features several Polish characters, but the balloon's three passengers are composed of one Pole ("engineer Gromski") and two Americans; a Pole ("lieutenant Robert") is the protagonist of "Przygody łodzi podwodnej", and an American scientist of Polish origin, Norski, is one of several protagonists of Zaziemskie światy; in others, however, there is no Polish connection at all, and those works might have just as well been written by a generic US writer. Nor can Umiński be credited with being the first to imagine a Polish protagonist in the sf context (see Poland). Overall, most of Umiński's works were adventure and travel fiction with only a few out of several dozen containing sf themes; most of those were not particularly novel or ambitious. Though it is reasonable to recognize Umiński as one of the first Polish sf writers, there is no reason to assume he was particularly influential on the development of Polish sf. [PKo]
Władysław Umiński
born Przedecz, Congress Poland, Russian Empire (now Poland): 10 November 1865
died Warsaw: 31 December 1954
works (highly selected)
- Balonem do bieguna ["To the Pole with a Balloon"] (Warsaw, Poland: Gebethner i Wolff, 1894) [first appeared 1892 Wieczory Rodzinne: pb/]
- W nieznane światy ["Into the Unknown Worlds"] (Saint Petersburg, Russia: Księgarnia Polska K Grendyszyńskiego, 1885) [first appeared 1894 Przyjaciel Dzieci: binding unknown/]
- Na drugą planetę ["To the Second Planet"] (Lviv, Poland: Księgarnia H Altenberg, 1913) [vt of the above: binding unknown/]
- Na drugą planetę ["To the Second Planet"] (Warsaw, Poland: Świat, circa 1913) [vt of the above: published in two volumes: the two 1913 releases of this vt may have been simultaneous: binding unknown/]
- W pustyniach Australii ["In the Deserts of Australia"] (Warsaw, Poland: M Arct, 1896) [first appeared 1895 Wieczory Rodzinne: binding unknown/]
- Samolotem naokoło świata ["Around the World by Plane"] (Warsaw, Poland: M Arct, 1911) [first appeared 1909-1910 Przyjaciel Dzieci: binding unknown/]
- Krzyż i półksiężyc ["Cross and Crescent"] (Warsaw, Poland: Gebethner i Wolff, 1913) [binding unknown/]
- Czarodziejski okręt ["Wizardly Ship"] (Warsaw, Poland: Gebethner i Wolff, 1916) [first appeared 1914-1915 Przyjaciel Młodzieży: binding unknown/]
- W głębinach oceanu ["In the Depth of the Ocean"] (Warsaw, Poland: Gebethner i Wolff, 1920) [binding unknown/]
- Przygody łodzi podwodnej i inne opowiadania ["Adventures of a Submarine and Other Stories"] (Warsaw, Poland: Księgarnia K. Treptego, 1925) [coll: binding unknown/]
- Zaziemskie światy ["Extraterrestrial Worlds"] (Warsaw, Poland: Gebethner i Wolff, 1956) [finished and dated 1948 but delayed by censorship to 1956: binding unknown/]
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