Kultura pańsko‑ziemiańska w huculskiej tetralogii Vincenza
Noble and Landed Gentry Culture in the Hutsul Tetralogy of Vincenz

Summary/Abstract: Vincenz’s cycle On the High Uplands was at first interpreted as a work built upon artistically digested folklore material. The motifs pertaining to the noble and landed gentry culture that appear in it have not been yet analysed, meanwhile they fulfil an important role – especially in two volumes: Listy z nieba (Letters from Heaven) and Barwinkowy wianek (Periwinkle Wreath). A worldview from the perspective of landed gentry can be found in them, being represented by various characters, which is also explicitly taken into account by the narrator. In the setting as well as in the structure – for example, genealogical one – of the literary work considered were the stereotypical features of the noble world, depicted were its advantages and disadvantages. The deep reflection thereon, what in its nature is nobility, appears in the statements of characters, especially in the discussion of the inheritor of Krzyworównia with the Armenian Jakobènc. Vincenz by no means ignores the traditionally understood nobility, but through transgressing its narrowly understood limits he points out the necessity of discerning noble characteristics amongst the representatives of different social classes as well as shaping the sense of honour based on honesty and sense of responsibility for oneself and others. The first instance, to whom one is responsible, is in the first line one’s own conscience, and throughout it – the realm of spiritual values.

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