A negative linguistic view of Poland in the English travel writing of the second half of the 18th century

Maciej Laskowski, Leszek Szymański

Abstract


The primary goal of this article is to analyze the linguistic view of Poland and Poles contained in selected texts of the English travel writing of the second half of the 18th century. This view, subjective by definition in this type of texts, came from English authors who traveled around Poland at that time and described it. This is an almost completely unfavorable view of Poland and Polishness, as had already been established in previous research. This study attempts to explore the very basis of the unfavorable judgments projected by the English authors. It also investigates to what extent the negative opinions about Poland and Polishness were justified, and to what extent their importance was disproportionate to the actual status quo. The conclusions of the analysis are compared with the stance of contemporary scholars, mainly from Poland and Great Britain.

Keywords


linguistic view of Poland; English travel writing; travel book; Polonophobia

Full Text:

PDF (Język Polski)

References


Bartmiński Jerzy, 1999, Punkt widzenia, perspektywa, językowy obraz świata, [w:] Językowy obraz świata, red. Jerzy Bartmiński, Lublin: Wydawnictwo UMCS, s. 103–120.

Bartmiński Jerzy, Ryszard Tokarski, 2004, Językowy obraz świata a spójność tekstu, [w:] Tekstologia. Część pierwsza, red. Jerzy Bartmiński, Stanisława NiebrzegowskaBartmińska, Lublin: Wydawnictwo UMCS, s. 210–228.

Borm Jan, 2012, Defining travel: On the travel book, travel writing and terminology, [w:] Travel writing: Critical concepts in literary and cultural studies, red. Tim Youngs, Charles Forsdick, London: Routledge, s. 1–14.

Brückner Aleksander, 1931, Dzieje kultury polskiej, t. 3, Kraków: Krakowska Spółka Wydawnicza.

Brückner Aleksander, 1939, Encyklopedia staropolska, t. 1, Warszawa: Trzaska, Evert i Michalski.

Chisholm Hugh (red.), 1911, Malmesbury, James Harris, 1st Earl of, Encyclopædia Britannica, t. 17, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ćwikliński Krzysztof, 2000, Emigracyjne dzienniki podróży – próba rekonesansu, „Archiwum Emigracji. Studia – Szkice – Dokumenty” 3, s. 7–19.

Davies Norman, 1983, The languor of so remote an interest: British attitudes to Poland, 1772–1832, Oxford Slavonic Papers, New Series 16, 79–90.

Davies Norman, 1998, Boże igrzysko. Historia Polski, t. 1, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Znak.

Gyr Ueli, 2010, The history of tourism: Structures on the path to modernity, [w:] European History Online, Mainz: The Institute of European History, http://www.ieg-ego.eu/gyru-2010-en [dostęp: 09.10.2024].

Koźmian Stanisław E., 1862, Anglia i Polska, t. 1, Poznań: Nakładem Jana Konstantego Żupańskiego.

Krajewska Wanda, 1975, Powstania polskie w poezji angielskiej XIX wieku, „Pamiętnik Literacki” 66 (2), s. 159–174.

Laskowski Maciej, 2018, Unfavourable standpoints on the Polish nobility in the diaries, memoirs and correspondence of British travellers in the second half of the 18th century, [w:] Linguolaborese: Language and communication in action. Advances in elinguistics, red. Marlena Bielak, Stanisław Puppel i Wojciech Maliszewski, Piła: Wydawnictwo PWSZ im. Stanisława Staszica, s. 257–268.

Lipoński Wojciech, 1994, Three papers on Polish-British and Polish-American relationships, „PolishAnglosaxon Studies” 5, s. 83–100.

Lord Eversley, 1915, Future of Poland: A great problem, „The New York Times” 27 June 1915.

Łukowska Maria, 2016, Mit Wielkiej Brytanii w literackiej kulturze polskiej okresu rozbiorów, Łódź: Wydawnictwo UŁ.

Moroz Grzegorz, 2020, A generic history of travel writing in Anglophone and Polish literature, Leiden: Brill.

Radzilowski Thaddeus C., 2007, Anti-Polish stereotypes, [w:] Rethinking Poles and Jews: Troubled past, brighter future, red. Robert Cherry i Annamaria Orla-Bukowski, Lanham, MD: Rowman Littlefield, s. 23–26.

Rietbergen Peter, 2001, Europa. Dzieje kultury, Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza.

Sławiński Janusz (red.), 1998, Słownik terminów literackich, wyd. 3, Wrocław: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich.

Thompson Carl, 2011, Travel writing, London: Routledge.

Wichowa Maria, 1995, Problemy metodologiczne w badaniach nad literaturą stosowaną (na przykładzie twórczości Jana Ostroroga II), „Napis. Pismo poświęcone literaturze okolicznościowej i użytkowej” 2, s. 5–18.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/et.2026.38.199
Date of publication: 2026-10-08 20:42:19
Date of submission: 2024-10-11 15:25:23


Statistics


Total abstract view - 0
Downloads (from 2020-06-17) - PDF (Język Polski) - 0

Indicators



Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2026 Leszek Szymański

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.