From Listy z podróży do Ameryki (“Travel Letters from America”, 1876–1878) to Listy z Afryki (“Travel Letters from Africa”, 1891–1892), or about the evolution of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s writing manner Cover Image

Od Listów z podróży do Ameryki (1876–1878) do Listów z Afryki (1891–1892), czyli o ewolucji warsztatu pisarskiego Henryka Sienkiewicza
From Listy z podróży do Ameryki (“Travel Letters from America”, 1876–1878) to Listy z Afryki (“Travel Letters from Africa”, 1891–1892), or about the evolution of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s writing manner

Author(s): Danuta Kowalska, Magdalena Pietrzak
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Semantics
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego
Keywords: idiolect; artistic language; Henryk Sienkiewicz; travel letters

Summary/Abstract: The article contains a linguistic and stylistic analysis that identifies linguistic exponents of selected stylistic features of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s writing manner and detects the differences in the way he creates landscapes in his two works that represent the same literary genre: “Travel Letters from America” and “Travel Letters from Africa”. The basis for the analysis are descriptive statements (descriptions of sunsets), identical from the thematic point of view. Thanks to the analysis it appears that Henryk Sienkiewicz’s manner of describing nature was formed during his American trip, and later it was visible in his older “Travel Letters from Africa”. The evolution of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s style concerns only the quality of linguistic means, first of all epithets, which in his African letters were selected in a harmonious way and they were subordinated to the realism of the description. In “Travel Letters from Africa” the author maintains more syntactic discipline and cares more about the rhythmic and phonic aspects.

  • Issue Year: 2019
  • Issue No: 18
  • Page Range: 109-123
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Polish