Why did prose become especially important during Polish Positivism?

During the period of Polish Positivism, prose became the predominant literary form as a natural consequence of the movement's practical, analytical outlook. Following the January Insurrection, Positivists rejected the ideological and visionary nature of Romanticism in favor of a more realistic approach to existing political and social realities.1

Prose was particularly well-suited to the Positivist goal of disseminating new ideas to the emerging urban intelligentsia. Writers utilized the novel and other prose formats to address pressing societal issues, such as social reform, women’s emancipation, and the conditions of peasants and Jews. Furthermore, prose allowed authors to explore complex social structures and political problems—sometimes using historical settings to bypass censorship—in ways that were less feasible through the poetic forms that had dominated the preceding Romantic era.1