Kłopoty z „rasą” – przypadek Ludwika Krzywickiego

Author(s): Damian Włodzimierz Makuch / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2018

The article presents the transformations of Ludwik Krzywicki’s views on race. First,based on the biographical and intellectual context, an important place of anthropologicalreflection of the author of Ludy [Peoples] is pointed out. Krzywicki, aware of the threatscoming from the young discipline, perceived it, however, as the chance for the developmentof science and society.Further in the article, the problems of researchers with ambiguous value judgmentsabout race appearing in the anthropological works of the Polish Marxist are discussed andcompared with the difficulties of Krzywicki himself, who from the very beginning of dealingwith ethnographic research tried to systematize the reflection on the subject. The fuzzy scopeof meaning, ideological burdens, arbitrariness, relativity, and conventionality of the conceptof race ultimately led the author to reject the problematic category but also contributed tothe development of quantitative and qualitative sociological analysis in his later studies.

Zbiorowość i tożsamość w polskojęzycznych czasopismach nurtu asymilacyjnego (1870–1910)

Author(s): Magdalena Piekara / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2018

The article is devoted to discussion taking place in the Polish-language Jewish press inthe second half of the 19th century concerning the concepts of identity and community. In theperiod covered by this paper, there were political and social processes, in which the abovementioned terminology played a key role. The anti-Semitic slogans appearing more andmore often in the 1870s made the Polish maskils develop a unified discourse on nationalityor tribalism. Similarly, since the 1880s supporters of assimilation entered into a dispute onthe fundamental matters with the Zionist movement. All these factors “enforced” specificdefinitions, sometimes even declarations, placed in the press.

Rasa jako kategoria waloryzująca i estetyczna (na przykładzie opisu postaci)

Author(s): Tadeusz Budrewicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2018

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.

„Połniejszyj bardak i untiergang”. O degeneracji w literaturze (z nieustającym odniesieniem do Maxa Nordaua)

Author(s): Eliza Kącka / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2018

The article deals with the topic of degeneration, thereby bringing back the name MaxNordau for reflection on the literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.Nordau’s writings are not, however, the subject of autonomous reflection or ideologicalreconstruction here. The aim is to present a model of the attitude stigmatizing everything thatthe author of Entartung considered a disease. Branding literature and art as degenerate meetswith the crisis of the late nineteenth century – partly envisaging this crisis, partly aggravatingit. In this perspective – tracing the signs of degeneration not following Nordau, but referringto his diagnoses – I read selected works of H.G. Wells, Wacław Berent, Jerzy Żuławski, andStanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz. The theme of degeneration itself is differently functionalizedand metaphorized in their writings. Common for them appears to be a pessimistic attitudeto evolution as in fact involution, increasing morbidity, bestiality, misfortune.

Podróżniczki wobec Innego. Rasa w rozumieniu Marii Rakowskiej i Heleny Pajzderskiej (na przykładzie Podróży Polki do Persji i nowel z tomu Z dalekich lądów)

Author(s): Ida Jahnke / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2018

The article presents the perception of the concept of race in texts of two travel writers:Maria Rakowska and Helena Pajzderska. It points to similarities and differences betweenthe concepts of the authors and the anthropological discourse of the second half of the19th century. Further, it is demonstrated that the authors extended racial typologies based onthe physiological difference with reflection on social and cultural diversity (the concept offamily, everyday life). The final remarks lead to considerations on the relationship betweenthe literary genre and the 19th-century travel discourse.

Między poczuciem wyższości cywilizacyjnej a autoidentyfikacją, między rasą a narodem. Polska i Chiny w drugiej połowie XIX wieku

Author(s): Anna Kołos / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2018

The article discusses, on the one hand, three stages of developing views about raceand superiority of European civilization reflected in the second half of the 19th century in aggressivesocial-Darwinism of positivists, and on the other it confronts racial generalizationswith nation-centered thinking, which played an extremely important role in identity discourseof the Poles. On the example of China and the Siberian-Chinese borderland, it can be noticedthat perception of geography and the ethnic diversity in the world through the prism of greathistoriosophical and racial constructions is manifested in quite widespread adaptation oforientalizing language of the hegemon speaking about backwardness, lack of maturity formodernization and definite supremacy of Europe, while resistance to the oppression ofthe partitioners, and more broadly to the colonial policy of the European powers allows inPoland, contemptuously called Halb-Asien, like in the case of Indians and Boers, creatinga kind of auto-colonial identification with the seemingly “exotic” nation.

‘Yellow Race’ in Polish and Serbian Travel Writing from the Second Half of the 19th Century and the First Half of the 20th Century

Author(s): Tomasz Ewertowski / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2018

The main goal of the paper is to show how a discourse on the so-called yellow racefunctioned in the Polish and Serbian travel writings from the second half of the 19th centuryand the first half of the 20th century. Examination of the semantics of the term ‘yellow race’is also proffered. Analysis of writers from Poland and Serbia makes it possible to introducean interesting comparative perspective. Three main problems analyzed in the article are:a conflict of races, interracial relationships and the so-called yellow peril.

„Dziwni to ludzie, ci Aryjczycy!” Utopia rasowa w Gościach z Marsa Władysława Satkego

Author(s): Wacław Forajter / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2018

The paper discusses the forgotten science fiction novel entitled Goście z Marsa byWładysław Satke with regard to “racial” ideology of the turn of the century. It primarilyfocuses on reconstruction of the ideological and intertextual background with particularreference to the 19th-century typologies of “races” and scientific theories based on them.Furthermore, the article addresses the issue of utopia and its limitations as a literary genre.

„Polscy Aryjczycy”. Pomiędzy naukowymi podstawami mitu a mitycznymi korzeniami nauki w dyskursie słowiańskim XIX wieku

Author(s): Marta Taperek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2018

The article is devoted to reflection on the role of the Aryan discourse in the researchof Slavophiles of the 19th century. Traditional studies on the ethnogenesis of the Slavsconducted by historians on the basis of ancient “scraps” and incomplete sources did notgive the answer that would satisfy the political ambitions of the Poles. The inclusion ofethnographic and linguistic methods into the Slavic studies helped create the narrative inwhich the journey, made by the early Slavs from the Land of Aryans, became a full historyof the people’s origin. The conviction about the Indo-Iranian origin of the Slavs shaped themythical thinking and attempts to create a story legitimizing the right to self-determinationand the historical significance of this group. The belief in ancient Aryan heritage considerablychanged political orientation and the pursuit of a new identity – free of inferiority complexwith respect to the West and ready to dictate its own conditions. Discussing the issues relatedto race and racial differences between particular peoples, including the ones belonging to theSlavic family, showed the authors’ political views and the future of the nation they envisaged.It also deepened the split within the Slavic studies. The sources available and studied by theSlavic history researchers did not provide clear answers to the question whether the Slavs aredirect descendants of the Aryans, therefore the research and texts that are examined in thearticle have creational and commentary nature and serve the function of creating narrativesshaping the community. The aim of this approach will be to reflect on how scientificdiscourse creates the foundations for identity myths.

Czy Wanda umarła?

Author(s): Joanna Godlewicz-Adamiec,Tomasz Szybisty / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2018

The Jews and the Messianic Ethos of the Second Polish Republic. Stanisław Rembek’s Interwar Literary Writings

Author(s): Rachel Feldhay Brenner / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2018

Rembek’s conviction of Polish “chosenness” is expressed in the characterizations ofthe Jewish protagonists in his fiction. While Rembek’s diaristic writing reveals his anti-Semitic prejudices, in his novella Dojrzałe kłosy [Ripe spikes], and novel Nagan [Revolver]he portrays the Jews as patriotic officers fighting for Poland. These characterizations ofthe Jews highlighted Poland’s democratic open-mindedness toward its Jewish citizens.Nonetheless, as Jews they were excluded from the nation’s Christian destiny. Time andagain, the Jewish officers in Rembek’s fiction articulate their despondency over their failureto accept Christ despite their irresistible attraction to the Christian faith. The failure pointsto their inability to achieve grace. Their sense of religious inadequacy elucidates a theologicalperspective which posits that a Jewish presence was indispensable to Poland’s redemptivedestiny; the Jew as an affirming witness sanctioned the Polish claim to a messianic calling.To achieve legitimacy, the Polish national messianic mission needed to be acknowledged byJews. The perspective in Rembek’s fiction illuminates an important facet in the complexityof the Polish-Jewish relationships in reborn Poland.

Pernicious City: Mythologization of Kaunas in the Lithuanian Literature of the Interwar Period

Author(s): Viktorija Šeina / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2018

The article analyzes the mythologization of Kaunas, the temporary capital of Lithuania,in the Lithuanian literature of the interwar period. The methodological approach of theresearch is based on the research methods of urban mythopoetics by Vladimir Toporov andthat of topological semiotics by Algirdas Julien Greimas.Due to objective historical and social circumstances, the formation of the Lithuanianurban literature started only at the beginning of the 20th century. The intensive period inthe urbanization of the Lithuanian literature was that of the interwar period when literaryreflections on Kaunas started gaining certain dominant symbolic images of the city, repeatingplots and characters typical of Kaunas. The literary myth of the temporary capital asa pernicious city which becomes a moral trial for an individual is revealed in the articlethrough the analysis of Part III of the novel Altorių šešėly [In the shadows of altars] byVincas Mykolaitis-Putinas, the most prominent Lithuanian novelist of the interwar period.

Toward the Idea of Polishness: Implications of 1918 for the Former Eastern Galicia, 1918–1939

Author(s): Jagoda Wierzejska / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2018

The paper analyzes the Polish literary discourse on the former Habsburg province ofGalicia, developing after the restoration of Poland’s independence (1918) and the Polishvictory in the Polish-Ukrainian War of Eastern Galicia (1918–1919). Before WWI, especiallybefore the epoch of Galician autonomy (1867–1914), the prevailing discourse on the provincewas imbued by the idea of multi- and transnationalism grounded upon the Habsburg politicalculture. After the war, when Galicia became a part of the reborn Poland, the discoursepertaining to the region underwent a fundamental change. In the interwar Polish literature,the idea of multi- and transnational Galicia was a subject of specific transfers: sometimes ina continuative, usually, however, in a deconstructive version. Namely, it was disassembledand its components, referring to a revised political context, were ideologically used tostrengthen the representation of reality from the exclusive, Polish point of view. The paperfocuses on literary representations of the Polish-Ukrainian War of Eastern Galicia. It discussesthe stages of the aforementioned disassemblement, from the idea of Polish-Ruthenian“brotherhood” to the vision of Polish-Polish brotherhood, i.e. the homogenous Polishnation, from which the Others (Ukrainians, Jews and Austrians), depicted as enemies, wereexcluded with no exception. Such a vision prevailed in the Polish literature up until 1939;it has also had its continuations nowadays.

Jane Austen (dla) Josepha Conrada

Author(s): Karol Samsel / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2019

The understanding of Jane Austen was for Joseph Conrad (probably) the condition of the understanding of the English soul as such. And, even if we roam around fascinating hypotheses, it is worth formulating them – mainly because they are a new key to the reading of the works of the author of Lord Jim. His problems with the literary heritage of Austen could be affected by different, numerous factors: 1) the growing popularity of Janeites; 2) the authority of, appreciating the author of Mansfield Park, Henry James; 3) the feeling of being lost of the Polish writer in the situation of the late novelist debut; 4) the literary tradition of the Ukrainian School in the Polish Romanticism, in which he was raised and he formed his personality. Conrad could make an attempt of dealing with, incomprehensible for himself, Austen in the 1910s, in the period of jubilees of the editions of her novels. In this spirit, it is worthy to read again such prose texts of Conrad, as: Zwycięstwo (1915) and Ocalenie (1920), but above all – the earliest from this group – Gra losu (1913).

Drugie życie Dumy i uprzedzenia. Tennant – Austen

Author(s): Aleksandra Budrewicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2019

The article is a comparative study of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen and the contemporary novel by Emma Tennant Pemberley, which is a continuation of the story of Austen’s characters. Tennant enriched the description of certain protagonists of Sense and Sensibility; for example, the new information about Elizabeth come from the sources which are connected to the biography of Austen herself (letters, memoirs). The theoretical background of the paper is based on research of A. Fulińska, A. Stoff etc.

Kształcenie postaw wobec zwierząt w XIX-wiecznej literaturze dla dzieci i młodzieży

Author(s): Paweł Pasieka / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2020

Despite the continued tendency of 19th century literature to use traditional fables with animalcharacters to reveal human virtues and vices, there rapidly grew up a movement of literaturefor young people whose only aim was to cultivate moral attitudes towards animals. By meansof various literary genres, the younger generation was educated to achieve a sensitivitytowards the pain and suffering of animals. Learning about the consequences of cruelty, youngreaders were taught to avoid maltreating animals. Literature prompted compassion in theyoung readers. Not only were particular examples condemned – of cruelty, beating, abuse –but the moral consequences of these violations were demonstrated. Following ImmanuelKant, it was assumed that harming animals weakens our moral sensitivity, which leads toa person becoming cruel not only towards animals but towards people as well.

Kobieta w dawnej literaturze polskiej. Inspiracje, wzorce, twórczość

Author(s): Danuta Künstler-Langner / Language(s): Polish Issue: 13/2020

This paper presents the images of women in European culture and Old Polish Literature. The works devoted to women from the Middle Ages to Baroque focused on their social and political duties or artistic creation. The authors chosedifferent literary forms: chronicles, poems, epigrams, laments, odes, sonnets,or epic works. The created characters included: a saint, a beloved lady, a donnaangelicata, a hero of a chronicle or an autobiography. The works described theirlife, creative activity, or artistic aspirations. Some of them are panegyric poems,religious works, meditations, or love poetry. Women with an amazing sense ofobservation were discovering the space of literature and were participating ina world in its dynamic changes. They were excellent creators of humanisticand religious literature, referring to ancient tradition and European values.

Elementy poetyki ludowej w powieści Rzeczy uprzyjemniające. Utopia T. Bołdak-Janowskiej

Author(s): Agnieszka Goral / Language(s): Polish Issue: 13/2020

The aim of the article is to analyse the elements of folk poetics in the novel Pleasant things. Utopia by T. Bołdak-Janowska. The category of folklore is understood in a rather narrow way, and at the same time it is most often used in critical and literary works as meaning a set of cultural features (customs and rituals, beliefs and rituals, symbols, beliefs and stereotypes) whose carrier is the rural folk. The analysis covers such elements of the work as place, plot, heroes,folk system of values, folk rituals, customs, and symbols. The description is conducted based on the analysis of source material as well as selected works in the field of literary text analysis and ethnolinguistics. The analysis shows that folk poetics was creatively associated with the elements of fairy tales and fantasy in the studied work, and its role consists of – on the one hand – presenting the folk world represented and – on the other – presenting a message about themeaning of human existence.

From Baranowski to Baranauskas, from James to Ngũgĩ: Post-Colonial Aspects of Linguistic Switch

Author(s): Paweł Bukowiec / Language(s): English Issue: 13/2020

The article attempts to perform a comparative study of the phenomenon of theso-called linguistic switch, i.e., a change of languages in which the writer createshis/her works. One side of the analysis focuses on nineteenth-century Lithuanianpoets, represented mainly by Antanas Baranauskas, and the other on thecontemporary Kenyan prose writer Ngu˜g˜ wa Thiong’o. The juxtaposition of ısuch extremely distant authors: 1. allows a better understanding of the specificityof multilingualism in both eighteenth-century Lithuanian literature andcontemporary fiction; 2. proves once again the universality of postcolonialsensitivity; 3. constitutes an attempt at comparative thinking in the context ofworld literature.

Problematyka polskich emigrantów sezonowych na Łotwie na łamach tygodnika „Nasze Życie” w latach 1936–1939

Author(s): Jerzy Grzybowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 13/2020

In the 1930s, Latvia was one of the main target countries for economic emigration from Poland. Emigration to Latvia was seasonal. Between 1936 and 1939, each year about 40,000 Polish agricultural workers were employed in Latvian agriculture. Polish seasonal migration was the object of attention of the contemporary press, both Polish and foreign. A very valuable source of knowledge about Polish seasonal migration is the newspaper Nasze Życie (Our Life). This applies especially to various aspects of Polish migrants’ everyday life. It was the only Polish newspaper in Latvia (it was published in Riga).From 1936, the newspaper had a special section devoted to seasonal workers.It contained information and messages addressed to the migrants. The editorialteam’s task was to provide the workers with comprehensive and reliable help.In this regard, advice and guidance was given on the organisation of workers’lives and work. These advices were difficult to overestimate. The newspaper alsocovered religious and moral topics. At the same time, the newspaper was themain link between the workers and the Polish consular service. It publishedmessages of the Polish Consulate in Riga. Unfortunately, the weekly reached fewseasonal migrants. Most workers did not read or subscribe to the newspaper forvarious reasons. The article analyses the content of the newspaper Nasze Życie.The author confronted the content of the newspaper with other available sourcesregarding the issues of Polish seasonal migration in Latvia.