Słowacki, statek parowy i nowoczesność
Słowacki, the steamboat, and modernity

Author(s): Marcin Leszczyński
Subject(s): Studies of Literature, Polish Literature, 19th Century, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Słowacki; Voyage to the Holy Land from Naples; Mr Alphons; steamboat; modernity
Summary/Abstract: In his letters, Juliusz Słowacki often depicts the steamboat prosaically, as an element of ordinary everyday life associated with travel, while in his literary works, both poetic and prose, he draws attention to the uniqueness of this modern vehicle and the exceptional situation of the artist elaborating on the theme of the steamship in a literary manner ('Voyage to the Holy Land from Naples', 'Mr Alphonse'). Słowacki integrates the invention of the steamboat into the framework of modernity, reflecting on its multidimensional meaning through his imagination and artistic language. By treating the steamboat as a metapoetic metaphor, he seeks a new artistic language to describe this new reality. For Słowacki, the steamship also becomes a pretext for reflecting on the various dimensions of modernity – from the technological and scientific to the civilisational, social, political, economic, and gender-related aspects. The abbreviated references to other European Romantics (Byron, Shelley) further highlight the shared experience of modernity.

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