Po śladach romantyków. O "Listach z podróży po Grecyi i Sycylii" Henryka Bartscha
In the footsteps of the Romantics. On 'Letters from a Journey to Greece and Sicily' by Henryk Bartsch

Author(s): Krzysztof Korotkich
Subject(s): Studies of Literature, Polish Literature, 19th Century, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Henryk Bartsch; journey; Greece; Sicily; epistolary novel
Summary/Abstract: This sketch is devoted to Henryk Bartsch, currently a little-known writer who went down in literary history primarily as the author of 'Memoirs of a Journey to Jerusalem and Cairo and Letters from a Journey to Greece and Sicily'. Both works are an interesting document of a pastor, theologian and journalist searching for traces of antiquity in places that have inspired the greatest poets. 'Letters from a Journey to Greece and Sicily' is an epistolary novel depicting Greece at the end of the 19th century, in which the author pays particular attention to the poor condition of the monuments and the low standard of living of the inhabitants. The writer is particularly critical of the intellectual deficiencies of Plato’s descendants, unaware that they live among the treasures of world culture. Bearing in mind the humanist perspective, understood here as a deep experiencing of culture, which the author was guided by, the essay proposes a comparative approach by referring to J. Słowacki’s famous journey, as well as the one made by Z. Herbert a century later.

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