Refleksje amerykańskie Juliusza Słowackiego

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present Juliusz Słowacki’s statements regarding the American continent. Though the research material is limited, it can be surmised that Słowacki consistently viewed the Mundus Novus (both its northern and southern parts) as a realm of contradiction: on the one hand a place, where positively perceived democratic changes took place, and on the other a land permanently stained with the crime of its colonisers.The introductory part of the text presents the poet’s inspirations from the American prose of Chateaubriand and the adventure novels of James Fenimore Cooper. Further on, I focus on Słowacki’s adolescent works. Although he never chose to depict the idyllic American wilderness, his poems Oda do młodości and Do Michała Rola Skibickiego revealed a strong connection between the symbolism of the botanical world and the historical changes which occurred after the continent’s discovery up till the American Revolutionary War and Bolivar’s activity in South America. The aforementioned contradictions also appeared when Native American characters were mentioned – praise of the noble, innocent savage were mixed with stereotypes and mocking depictions of North American Indians. Another important topic is Słowacki’s change of opinion concerning the US, expressed in a letter to his mother from 1834, in which he makes known how disappointed he is about American pragmatism and lack of ideals. In the final part of the text, I juxtapose Fanny Calderon de la Barca’s traveller’s account from her time in Mexico with Słowacki’s notes on this work and discuss an anecdote about Christopher Columbus from one of the letters to Salomea Bécu.