Stories by Foreign Authors: Polish, Greek, Belgian, Hungarian

In Short

This volume gathers nineteenth-century short fiction from Poland, Greece, Belgium, and Hungary, translated to introduce English readers to the distinct narrative voices of Eastern and Continental Europe. The stories range from Henryk Sienkiewicz’s tender tale of an exiled Polish veteran finding solace in a lighthouse to Demetrios Bikelas’s wry Greek comedy of romantic misunderstandings, Camille Lemonnier’s graphic and poignant Belgian tales, and Maurus Jókai’s dramatic chronicle of a Russian peasant rebellion. The anthology has endured as a vivid cross-section of European literature, capturing the shared human frailties, longings, and historical cataclysms that transcend national borders.

The Story

The anthology unfolds across four distinct national landscapes, beginning in Central America with the story of Skavinski, an aging Polish exile who secures a position as the lighthouse keeper in Aspinwall, near Panama. Exhausted by forty years of wandering, war, and misfortune, the old soldier welcomes the extreme solitude of the island tower. His daily routine is simple and monotonous, consisting of cleaning lenses, watching passing ships, and feeding the local sea-mews. Tranquility descends upon his life until a shipment of supplies unexpectedly includes a book of Polish poetry. Reading his long-unheard native tongue breaks the dam of his suppressed nostalgia. Overwhelmed by emotion, Skavinski falls asleep on the balcony while reading and forgets to light the beacon, causing a ship to run aground and forcing his immediate dismissal back into the wandering world.

The narrative scope shifts to the sunny island of Syra, Greece, where a humorous comedy of errors takes shape between Mr. Plateas, a pedantic high school professor prone to spouting Homeric verses, and his friend Mr. Liakos, a local judge. After Liakos saves Plateas from drowning, the judge attempts to organize a marriage between the professor and the elder daughter of a local gentleman named Mitrophanis, hoping it will pave the way for his own marriage to the younger daughter. Misunderstandings multiply rapidly as the professor resists the idea, offends his savior, suffers nightmares of ingratitude, and finally resolves to marry the elder sister out of pure duty. A series of awkward social maneuvers ensues, involving an amused cousin and confused family arrangements, detailing the comical friction between rigid scholarly ideals and the messy realities of courtship.

The collection then descends into dark historical and social realism with Belgian stories. "The Massacre of the Innocents" reimagines the biblical tragedy within a snow-bound sixteenth-century Flemish village invaded by brutal Spanish soldiers. The narrative depicts the helpless terror of the villagers as armored lancers tear children from their homes, culminating in a somber aftermath where grieving parents clean their blood-stained cottages under the moonlight. This is paired with "Saint Nicholas Eve," a tale of Flemish boatmen. Old Tobias and his family celebrate a cheerful holiday meal of tripe aboard their vessel, but the festivities end in tragedy when a young father, Dolf, leaps into the freezing, treacherous waters of the Scheldt to save a drowning man, leaving his laboring wife behind as the river closes over him.

Finally, the collection concludes in Russia and Siberia with Maurus Jókai’s historical narrative of the Cossack rebel Pugasceff. Rising from the decadent, lawless inner circles of "The Nameless Society" in St. Petersburg, Pugasceff impersonates the dead Czar Peter III. Gathering thousands of oppressed peasants, Cossacks, and Siberian tribes, he wages a bloody campaign against the imperial army, hanging officers and capturing fortified strongholds. Despite initial victories against inept generals, he is relentlessly hunted across frozen wildernesses and muddy morasses by the determined officer Michelson. Betrayed by his own starving bodyguards in the desert, Pugasceff is captured, taken to Moscow, and executed, bringing the collection to a stark close on the rise and fall of absolute ambition.

How It Unfolds

An exile finds peace An elderly Polish veteran, Skavinski, takes a job as a lonely lighthouse keeper on a small island near Panama, seeking quiet after decades of war and failure.

The voice of home arrives A package containing a book of Polish poetry reaches the isolated tower, stirring powerful, forgotten memories of his homeland and causing him to neglect his duties.

A comical debt of honor In Greece, Professor Plateas is rescued from drowning by his friend Liakos and feels agonizingly compelled to marry an elder sister to satisfy a sense of obligation.

Navigating the courtship Through family intermediaries, awkward visits, and Homeric quotations, the pedantic professor clumsily attempts to secure a bride while his friend tries to marry the younger sister.

Terror in the snow Spanish troops invade a quiet Flemish village, ruthlessly carrying out a slaughter of young children while helpless parents and the local priest look on in horror.

A night of contrast Flemish boatmen celebrate Saint Nicholas Eve with warm laughter and traditional food, only for the evening to end in sacrifice when a young man dives into a dark, icy river.

A false Czar rises The Cossack Pugasceff launches an insurrection against the Russian Crown, claiming to be Czar Peter III and gathering thousands of desperate followers across the frontier.

The rebellion crushed Pursued through Siberian morasses by imperial forces, Pugasceff’s army disintegrates, leading to his betrayal by his own men and his ultimate execution in Moscow.

The People

• Skavinski: An old, white-haired Polish soldier who has wandered the world for forty years. He wants only peace, solitude, and a quiet place to end his days, but his profound, buried love for his homeland ultimately undoes his quiet life on the light-tower.
• Mr. Isaac Falconbridge: The United States consul in Panama. Practical and anxious, he needs to find a conscientious lighthouse keeper within twelve hours to prevent shipwrecks along the dangerous reefs of Mosquito Bay.
• Mr. Plateas: A naive, bachelor high school professor in Syra who constantly quotes the Iliad and Odyssey. He wants to maintain his tranquil, scholarly routine, but his overbearing sense of moral obligation pushes him into an unwanted courtship.
• Mr. Liakos: A Greek judge who saved Plateas from drowning. He wants to marry the younger daughter of Mr. Mitrophanis, and he orchestrates complex match-making schemes to find a husband for the elder sister first.
• Dolf: A brave, hardworking young Flemish boatman whose wife, Riekje, is in labor. Despite having everything to live for, his sense of duty forces him to jump into the lethal currents of the Scheldt to attempt a rescue.
• Pugasceff: A ruthless Cossack insurgent who impersonates Czar Peter III. Driven by absolute ambition and a desire for imperial power, he leads a bloody peasant uprising across Russia before being betrayed by his starving inner circle.

In Its Own Voice

"The light-house had become for Skavinski such a half grave. Nothing is more monotonous than life on a beacon-tower."

(Describing the extreme isolation and quiet routine of the old soldier on his tropical island.)

"Listen, Liakos. I owe you my life; it belongs to you. But if you ask me to get married as a proof of my gratitude, I'd far rather go this moment back to the sea, where you saved me from death, and drown myself before your very eyes!"

(Professor Plateas reacting with dramatic panic when he suspects his friend is pushing him into matrimony.)

"The cold river closed about him like a prison. Increasing circles were all that ruffled that black surface, which seemed blacker than ever by the light of the torches."

(Capturing the grim moment young Dolf disappears into the treacherous waters of the Scheldt.)

What It's Really About

Beneath their varied settings, these stories explore how individuals are caught between personal desires and inescapable external forces—be it duty, heritage, history, or nature. Skavinski’s tragedy reveals the inescapable pull of national identity and memory, showing that time and distance cannot truly erase one's roots. The Greek comedic sections gently mock social conventions, vanity, and the rigid application of ancient ideals to modern domestic lives. Meanwhile, the Belgian and Hungarian tales grapple with the brutality of war, social inequality, and violent history, questioning the value of individual human life when pitted against ruthless invaders, unforgiving natural elements, or the grand, destructive ambitions of political usurpers.

Why Read It Today

This collection offers an engaging, unvarnished window into late nineteenth-century European storytelling, free from modern narrative tropes. Readers who enjoy classic literature, historical fiction, and international perspectives will find immense reward in its varied pacing and tonal shifts. The transition from the tranquil, ocean-bound meditation of Polish exile to the witty, lighthearted banter of a Greek island town—and finally to the brutal, visceral realism of Flemish villages and Russian steppes—keeps the reading experience fresh and unpredictable.

The prose, translated with clarity and period elegance, carries a distinct historical weight. Readers should be prepared for nineteenth-century stylistic conventions, including dense paragraphing, sudden shifts into violent historical events, and occasional scholarly references to classical literature like the Iliad. Yet these features ground the work authentically in its time. What remains with the reader long after finishing is the collection's emotional range: the quiet sorrow of a forgotten veteran, the warmth of a humble family meal aboard a barge, and the tragic price paid by ordinary people when history sweeps across their land.