When Maria Dąbrowska entered the literary scene in Poland with her first short stories, "We Francji" ("In France"), "Janek" ("The Little John"), etc., she was under the influence of the Polish literary tradition, but she was soon to absorb impulses from such important literary sources as Scandinavia, England, and Germany (less observable are French contemporary influences). Polish literature at the time was mainly the continuation of West-European Realism with some admixture of Romantic dreams on the one hand, and on the other, of utilitarian ideas of literature as an instrument for bringing about social and political changes…. [From] an early stage Dąbrowska succeeded in avoiding epigonism and in striking new, fresh, and independent notes in her stories based on authentic observations and a true human and artistic outlook.

Dąbrowska's rapidly widening literary horizons were due to her interest and studies, and later professional and social work in Belgium, England, Scandinavia, and other countries. One of the more important early literary encounters which left a deep trace in Dąbrowska's work was her contact with the work of the Danish writer, Jens Peter Jacobsen, whose novel Niels Lyhne she translated into Polish and preceded with a penetrating introduction which reveals some aspect of her own artistic credo. Especially characteristic is her remark on what she believes constitutes one of the most essential elements of Jacobsen's writing, namely, his "love and understanding for the secrets of human life."… [One] can see that this remark can easily be applied to her own work. In her first really important volume, a collection, Ludzie stamtąd ("The People From Yonder," 1927), this formula is partly the key to the work, the key without which some of the stories may easily be misunderstood. The writer depicts here poor peasants trying to penetrate into the sphere of their inner life. In this world, certain thoughts and dreams take place which may seem incompatible with their social and intellectual status; they are possible only on the metaphysical level where a miracle of "inner transformation" can occur. Formally, from the point of view of the principles of Realism, such a literary device can be subjected and indeed was subjected to criticism as excessive poetization of thoughts and feelings normally not considered common to uneducated proletarians. However, in the introduction to the second edition of this volume, Dąbrowska defended her right to this approach, using the argument that even from the social point of view it can be justified by a natural desire of such people to break out of their existing social conditions. (p. 11)

[Already] in her short story collections certain features of novelistic composition were clearly present. The volume Ludzie stamtąd bears all the marks of a uniform larger structure, with the typical novelistic preamble followed by a number of dramatic conflicts, and then by the anti-climax of philosophical reflection and the acceptance of fate.

Dąbrowska's novel entitled Noce i dnie ("Nights and Days") is actually a whole cycle, a monumental tetralogical structure…. (pp. 11-12)

The novel belongs to the genre of "family chronicle," and the influence of novels such as Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks and John Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga is clearly noticeable. But the influence is largely formal; Dąbrowska's ideological perspective, her grasp of contemporary reality, and her insight into individual psychological problems make her work completely independent.

On the ideological level the main difference is that while both in The Buddenbrooks and in The Forsyte Saga the stress is on the gradual decline of the respective families when they deviate from those traditional principles on which their wealth and importance had grown, in Dąbrowska's novel the emphasis is rather on the problem of creating new values for the landless and hardworking former landowning class. (p. 12)

While Dąbrowska's novel is formally related to the work of Thomas Mann and John Galsworthy, the analysis of various philosophical truths revealed in the words and deeds of her heroes often shows a closer similarity to the moral attitude of Joseph Conrad…. In presenting the problem of moral values as opposed to material wealth, Dąbrowska comes quite close to some of the more significant reflections in Conrad's novel Nostromo. Dąbrowska, who reviewed this novel in 1929, pointed out some of the problems which later finds a clear echo in her presentations of Bogumil's and Agnieszka's struggle in Noce i dnie. For example, Dąbrowska points out Conrad's stress on the relative value of worldly possessions: the "treasure, the loss of which won't make one single poor man any poorer." Let the treasure perish," concludes Dąbrowska, "if it becomes the people's master instead of servant."

From the formal point of view Dąbrowska combines tradition with some modern devices. The novel begins with a customary preamble—an introduction to the history of Bogumil Niechcic and Barbara's families and their social and economic antecedents. However, from the beginning Dąbrowska applies a device of eliminating certain elements and even larger fragments of the heroes' biography and then returning to those moments and revealing one or another significant detail while the course of events is already in full development.

Here again Joseph Conrad's technique comes to mind. Both authors seem to possess a similar gift of recreating recollections "as they come," i.e., not necessarily in chronological order. How much of this is spontaneous process and how much conscious artistic device is another matter…. In Conrad's and Dąbrowska's work the so-called "Pack of plan" is a carefully devised artistic structure.

On the other hand, neither Conrad nor Dąbrowska hesitate to resort to such traditional methods as the old-fashioned and "anti-realistic" principle of the author's omniscience in narrating what the various people think and feel. The same goes for the well known device of stressing the state of human emotions by harmonizing or contrasting them with descriptions of nature. (pp. 12-13)

Dąbrowska's postwar volume, Gwiazda zaranna ("Morning Star"), published in 1956, was a true triumph for this great, independent artist, who, even under the most difficult conditions of strict political controls, continued to remain faithful to her moral and artistic ideals. If there is a certain compromise with the demands of socialist realism, it is one without humiliation. During this period, too, Dąbrowska quite often returned to the moral principles of Joseph Conrad, whose ideals of individual human integrity she defended against some eager Marxist critics. In her story, "Trzecia jesień" ("The Third Autumn"), the hero, though he stands alone outside the collective, nevertheless proves useful and is loved by many because of his fidelity to his concept of human right and duty. Here, too, is manifested a striking similarity to many of Conrad's heroes.

Alone does not necessarily mean lonely in Dąbrowska's philosophy…. [In her work, as in Conrad's,] although men "live like they dream, in loneliness" there is a distinct desire of "community of man with humanity."…

[The] rare gift of uncovering and disclosing individual and universal "simple truths" is inherent to an eminent degree in Dąbrowska's work. This quality and also the Polish writer's great freedom in applying various technical devices, both traditional and new, both Polish and foreign, make her work an unusually interesting literary document of her time, a document which is at the same time unique in its grasp of individual human struggle, yet universal in its simple, but deep moral conviction and suggestiveness. (p. 13)