What is it about?
The article describes two accounts of Poland and the culture of its people. The first of these dates from 1784 and was written by the Marquis de Ségur, a French diplomat travelling to St Petersburg. The second, from 1840, was written by the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz, at the time working as a professor at the Collège de France in Paris. I try to show the most important differences between the Enlightenment and Romantic images of Poland. An important context is provided by Larry Wolff’s monograph, which 30 years ago initiated a new phase in research on the European invention of Eastern Europe.
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Why is it important?
The key images of Eastern Europe date from the Enlightenment and are more than 250 years old. However, they still play a huge role in the mutual perception of the eastern and western parts of the European continent. This article discusses one historical French account of a visit to Poland and Russia in the late 18th century. In it, I reflect on the importance of German agency in constructing knowledge about Slavic states and peoples.
Perspectives
Russia's attack on Ukraine started a process in which many old historical beliefs about the entire region were called into question. This is a particularly important moment, in all its depths of tragedy, and forces us to once again look carefully at the accounts of travellers, diplomats and soldiers who wrote down their impressions and memories of Eastern Europe.
Prof. Maciej Junkiert
Uniwersytet im Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Easternisation and Enlightenment. Larry Wolff, Marquis de Ségur and the Younger Europe, Poznańskie Studia Slawistyczne, February 2023, Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan,
DOI: 10.14746/pss.2022.23.2.
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