{Formely happy […] ruthenian countries} – Józef Bartłomiej Zimorowic’s vision of incinerated Arcady Cover Image

{Szczęśliwe niegdy ruskie […] kraje} – Józefa Bartłomieja Zimorowica wizja Arkadii spopielonej
{Formely happy […] ruthenian countries} – Józef Bartłomiej Zimorowic’s vision of incinerated Arcady

Author(s): Ewa Rot-Buga
Subject(s): Literary Texts
Published by: Wydział Polonistyki Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: J.B. Zimorowic; sielanka; Arkadia; {locus amoenus}; {locus horridus}; J.B. Zimorowic; pastoral; Arkadia; {locus amoenus}; {locus horridus}

Summary/Abstract: The author of the article describes the ways the Arcadic vision of the world as well as its contradiction i.e. the dystopia were constructed in J.B. Zimorowic’s {New Rutheniam bucolics}. Both of these are described within literature tradition and in their historical context as well. It is shown how Zimorowic, in his dialogue with Vergil, Ovid and Polish writers, creates the vision of Ruthenia as an Arcadic and also pleasant place ({locus amoenus}). He further creates a vision of {locus horridus} – the burnt Arcady. The Ruthenian Arcady contains the vision of happiness and the golden age in Ruthenia, the Arcadic landscape and the interfusion of the realistic world with the world of myths. Ruthenian Arcady of Zimorowic is destroyed by the war (1648), epidemic and the loss of the loved ones (his wife and brother) – the themes of war, death and vanishing. {New Ruthenian Bucolics} contain contradictory visions, namely, the poetic Arcady of family and Lviv and the Arcady of loss. This dystopia becomes a poetic comment to bloody events of the century and the personal grief of the author. The text shows how the author exploits the {locus amoenus} theme and how he changes it into the theme of {locus horridus}.

  • Issue Year: 2014
  • Issue No: 4 (7)
  • Page Range: 307-332
  • Page Count: 26
  • Language: Polish