Emocjonalny wymiar polemiki prasowej o Eusapię Palladino i mediumizm w felietonach Aleksandra Świętochowskiego
The emotional dimension of the press polemic on Eusapia Palladino and mediumship in Aleksander Świętochowski’s columns

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to conduct a stylistic and rhetorical analysis of the press debates on Eusapia Palladino and mediumship that took place in Warsaw’s press at the end of the 19th century. The primary material consists of columns written by Aleksander Świętochowski published in “Prawda” from January 1893 to January 1894. The analyses focus on identifying stylistic and rhetorical indicators subordinated to the emotive function, taking into account the genre context. The research has shown that the main goal of Świętochowski’s column-writing was to ridicule and deprecate spiritualist practices and the individuals (scholars) promoting these phenomena. To this end, the journalist frequently employed linguistic devices that served illustrative functions (metaphors, comparisons, luminous lexicon) and those that were persuasive (religious lexicon, value-laden vocabulary from various semantic fields).

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