Rasa jako kategoria waloryzująca i estetyczna (na przykładzie opisu postaci)
Race as a Valorizing and Aesthetic Category (on the Example of Character Description)

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the concept of race, which was used in the Polish novel in theyears 1870–1930. At that time, the concept became very popular in the language ofthe intelligentsia. The analysis showed the existence of three types of categorization of race:a) ethnic (it included the semantics of the past, space, tribalism, heredity; it positivelyvalorized OUR MEN and negatively STRANGERS),b) socio-cultural (categories of heredity, family, kinship, sphere, custom, tradition, it wasresponsible for solidifying SOCIAL HIERARCHY),c) aesthetic (the category of race in the character description concerned the face, armsand legs; the racial parts of the body positively valorized the character; aestheticism wasbased on frequent comparisons to the sculpture, the ideal of BEAUTY became the Hellenictype.

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