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Leo Borovsky
Borowski Leon Sevastyanovich (27.06.1784 – 04.04.1846)
Philologist, historian and literary theorist, critic, poet, translator.
Leon Borowski was born near Pinsk. He finished school in Postavy (Vitebsk region). From 1801 he worked in the office and at the same time he studied at University of Wilno, from which he graduated with a degree in Philosophy in 1803. From 1807 he worked as a teacher of Literature, Theory of poetry, Greek and Latin Languages at Svisloch gymnasium, from 1811 at Grodno gymnasium, and from 1812 at Wilno gymnasium. Since 1814 he was a teacher of rhetoric, poetry, philosophical grammar at University of Wilno. In 1816 he received Master's degree in Philosophy. In 1818 he was an associate, in 1821 an extraordinary, and in 1823-1832 a full Professor. From 1833 till 1842 he was a Professor of theoretical and practical homiletics in the Roman Catholic Theological Academy in Wilno and board member of the Academy. In 1823-1839 he served as a member of the Wilno censorship committee. In 1842 he retired with the rank of Councillor of State. He died and was buried in Wilno (now Vilnius, Lithuania).
He started his literary career in 1806 with a translation of Moliere's comedy "The Miser". He translated from Latin, French, English into Polish. Among his translations are Moliere's comedy "Women philosophers", fragments of works of Titus Lucretius Carus, Shakespeare, Milton and Byron. His translation of Servantes`s "Don Quixote" from the Spanish original into Polish was left in handwriting. He published the poem "Monachomachia" by Ignacy Krasicki with own comments. In 1815-1826 he worked as a contributor to the magazine "Dziennik Wilenski", in which one of his major works "Notes on poetry and rhetoric in terms of their similarities and differences" was originally published. He was the author of several works in pedagogics. He greatly influenced Adam Mickiewicz, the founder of Romanticism in Polish literature. Borowski was the first to call Mickiewicz a genius and he was one of the supporters of his poetry.
© National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 2011
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