CZY GEORG FORSTER NIE LUBIŁ POLAKÓW? PENDANT DO REFLEKSJI NAD LITERATURĄ PODRÓŻNICZĄ JAKO ŹRÓDŁEM HISTORYCZNYM
DID GEORG FORSTER DISLIKE POLES? A PENDANT TO REFLECTIONS ON TRAVEL LITERATURE AS A HISTORICAL SOURCE
Author(s): Jacek KordelSubject(s): Social history, 18th Century
Published by: Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: national stereotypes in the early modern era; image of Poland in the eyes of the intellectual elite of the Enlightenment; travel literature; Georg Forster;
Summary/Abstract: The picture of Poland and Poles painted by the hand of Georg Forster, botanist and traveller staying in Vilnius between 1784 and 1787, has been covered with a thick layer of varnish by successive generations of historians. It decayed, darkened, and lost its transparency, making it impossible to see the details of the composition. The author tries to pull back this veil by analys- ing Forster’s correspondence from his stay in the Commonwealth against the broad background of the late eighteenth-century literary phenomena. He also undertakes a polemic against the myth of Forster as an objective observer and cosmopolitan.
Journal: Kwartalnik Historyczny
- Issue Year: 130/2023
- Issue No: 3
- Page Range: 493-528
- Page Count: 36
- Language: Polish
