Pułkownik Tadeusz Wyleżyński, przyjaciel czy „substytut” ojca Zygmunta Krasińskiego

Abstract

Colonel Tadeusz Konstanty Wyleżyński bearing the Trzaska coat of arms was an extremely colourful individual. However, in studies he is mentioned in two contexts only. Specialists in literature refer to him as the prototype of Paz from Balzac’s Fausse Maîtresse. They less frequently speak of him as Zygmunt Krasiński’s friend and confidant. However, the profound intimacy between Zygmunt Krasiński and Tadeusz Wyleżyński can be seen in the letters of the first, both those addressed to the latter, as well as those in which Zygmunt writes to other people about Wyleżyński, They allow to judge that Wyleżyński was more than a friend to Zygmunt. Although the supposed conflict between Zygmunt Krasiński and his father, General Wincenty Krasiński, is but a fallacy, it is indeed true that Tadeusz Wyleżyński, participant in the November Uprising, was in Zygmunt’s eyes closer to the ideal of a patriot than his father. Moreover, Tadeusz Wyleżyński’s private life and letters have been of interest to the scholars specializing in the life of Honoré de Balzac, since Wyleżyński used to be Ewelina Hańska’s first love.