Monografia dr Marii Antoniny Łukowskiej Mit Wielkiej Brytanii w literackiej kulturze polskiej okresu rozbiorów. Studium wyobrażeń środowiskowych na podstawie zawartości wybranych periodyków jest próbą odtworzenia stanu wiedzy Polaków na temat kultury brytyjskiej i wyobrażeń o tym kraju i jego mieszkańcach, budowanych przez okres rozbiorów Polski od 1772 do 1918 r. Jako materiał do badań posłużyły przede wszystkim ówczesne źródła masowego przekazu, począwszy od gazet rękopiśmiennych, kalendarzy, aż po wybrane tytuły prasowe. Celem pracy było ukazanie procesu budowania swoistego mitu Wielkiej Brytanii w okresie redefiniowania własnej tożsamości pod wpływem utraty przez Polskę niepodległości. Tworzony mit stał się przyczyną oczekiwań Polaków wobec Wielkiej Brytanii jako kraju i społeczeństwa. Jednocześnie w pracy ukazane zostały wpływy kultury brytyjskiej na kulturę polską w jej szerokim rozumieniu, w aspekcie jej materialnego, społecznego i duchowego wymiaru.
Monografia poświęcona mitowi Wielkiej Brytanii w kulturze polskiej może zatem służyć zarówno literaturoznawcom do badania paradygmatów innych krajów i narodów w kulturze polskiej, antropologom i socjologom kultury do badania rzeczywistego stanu wiedzy i mentalności społecznej, jak i politologom i dziennikarzom do poznawania roli wyobrażeń w procesie podejmowania decyzji politycznych w stosunkach międzynarodowych, tworzeniu wzajemnych sympatii, antypatii i uprzedzeń.
The monograph is the culmination of several years of studies on the re-
construction of collective social perceptions of Polish people with regard to
Great Britain as a result of the process of building a certain myth of this co-
untry and its people in the Polish reality of the period of Partitions based on
the sources of universal impact on the collective imagination.
The aim of the work is an attempt to reconstruct the myth of Great Bri-
tain present in Polish culture from the end of the eighteenth century to the
independence of Poland. The historical framework of the project symbo-
lically opens and closes in the years 1772 and 1918, respectively, although
in the work are also included, if necessary, earlier and later periods. In the
context of the monograph the myth is understood metaphorically as a social
perception of the country and its people as well as its culture in the broad
anthropological sense, based on direct (trips to the UK, mutual contacts,
friendships) and indirect sources of knowledge (press releases, reports, dia-
ries and memoirs of people who visited Britain, fiction, belles-lettres and
popular literature). These sources are treated as cultural texts representa-
tive of the respective cultural and literary periods, which can be isolated in
a designated time frame. The foundations of the myth of Great Britain ori-
ginated in the period preceding the third partition of Poland, in the form of
a fascination with the country and its culture. To its spreading contributed
the attempts of civilisational and political uplift of the country undertaken
by the Polish reformers and the establishment of the first permanent diplo-
matic mission in London. Of significance was also the fashionable trend
among Polish aristocracy to travel to Great Britain in accordance with the
established educational programme. The character of this fascination was
however elitist and it concerned a small community of aristocratic intellec-
tuals, which was reflected in the contemporary press. It was the period of
the Partitions, though, that was to become the most dynamic in terms of
the creation, dissemination and transformation of the myth of Great Bri-
tain in Poland. It begins with a sentimental literary fascination formed in
the Puławy circle, romantic historicism, the emergence of literary trends in
Poland in relation to English literature, as well as the first direct transla-
tion from the English language. Another source of knowledge were national
uprisings, as part of their participants emigrated to Great Britain. In the
period between 1831 and 1864, Great Britain became the hub of political ef-
forts to restore Polish independence, and subsequently the site of activity of
exile groups with different political orientations. Especially after the Spring
of Nations they maintained contact with both British and émigré political
parties coming from other European countries. This image was also affected
by the Polonophile activities of the British (eg. C. Lord D. Stuart, and later
Laurence Alma Tadema). The year 1864 began a new era in Polish attitudes
towards Great Britain, the symptom of which was but sparse Post-January
emigration to this country. Britain ceased to be perceived as a country who-
se political intercession to be reckoned with, and it became the place of eco-
nomic emigration or a stop on the way across the Atlantic Ocean. This ten-
dency became visible especially in a country where the Warsaw positivists,
inspired by, among others, the British positivists and the theory of evolution
considered Great Britain as a country that represented the highest stage of
civilisation. In the press of the second half of the nineteenth century, one
may find vast knowledge and numerous commentaries with regard to Great
Britain, from the information devoted to famous historical places, its econo-
my, culture, society, the British social institutions, to the scientific achieve-
ments, etc. The United Kingdom had become a destination for those Poles
who followed the models of British agriculture and industry with the in-
tention to transplant modern solutions in these fields onto their native soil.
The growth of industry in Poland resulted in the arrival of British experts in
coalmining and manufacturing. Literature in the period of positivism sho-
wed the civilization of Great Britain as an unattainable model and created its
image as the most powerful country in the world. At that time appeared the
first magazines devoted to English studies, accompanied by increased inte-
rest in the English language, as well as a peculiar trend to emulate English
customs in Poland. The image of this country gained in popularity, lost its
elitist character, and influenced the development of attitudes and customs
in Poland (Anglomania, Anglophilia, etc.). The amount knowledge about
Great Britain in Poland significantly increased, based on both the direct and
indirect sources such as more specialized press, literary images in the posi-
tivist literature, as well as on the reception of English literature, particularly
novels.
The Myth of Great Britain created in the period of positivism in Poland
was extremely durable and continued until the outbreak of World War I,
when Britain became again a place of political efforts to gain independence,
as well as Polonophile activities. In the period of Young Poland this image
is developed, along with the promotion of British poetry in Poland, and the
complementation of the reception of English Romantic poetry and Victorian
poets and artists representing new aesthetics. One can observe a renewed
interest in Elizabethan artists, so far unknown in Poland, as well as in the
English modernist novel. The regain of independence placed Poland in the
position of a political partner of Great Britain, even though it was treated as
a weak and „occasional” one. This fact substantially changed the Polish refe-
rences to this country and influenced its perception which, however, was not
entirely free from mythological elements. At that time Britain had become
the great unfulfilled love of the Poles.
An attempt to recreate the myth of Britain understood as a collective
social perception constructed in time, based on mostly indirect sources of
knowledge, has forced the author to delve into such materials, which ma-
nifested the state of social mentality of the period, which is the time fra-
me of research. On that account, the syntagmatic analysis of selected press
texts was carried out, treating them as cultural texts and dividing them into
categories such as: direct information about the country, the state and the
empire, and on material, social and spiritual culture. Subsequently, the para-
digmatic analysis was carried out, in effect distinguishing categories such as:
Great Britain, its culture and people in the Polish belles-lettres and fiction;
Britishness in Polish material culture; Britishness in Polish social culture;
Britishness in Polish spiritual culture.
In light of the analysis of Britishness in the Polish press of the period of
the partitions one can notice the existence of some specific myths, which
constitute the essence of understanding of this country, its culture and pe-
ople. It is the myth of liberalism and freedom - political, social, economic,
and cultural, which in turn conditioned the other myths such as the myth
of progress in all areas of life, the myth of rationality and moderation in
making decisions and solving disputes and the myth of pragmatism in eve-
ry action. These myths present in the Polish collective consciousness of the
period of the partitions were displayed in a pragmatic side of the myth of
Britishness in Poland, namely to justify the presence of elements of British
culture in our culture. Apart from these, there was also the negative side of
the myth of Britishness, reflected in the notion of British national megalo-
mania manifesting itself in the faith of the people in the superiority of their
civilization over others, which supposedly justified their possessiveness in
regard to subordinated peoples and territories, and excessive concern for
their own interests. However, the exclusive model of British culture sustai-
ned by a consistently created myth had become a point of reference in the
culture that strove for independence of Poland.
