Wizja Syberii w pamiętnikach zesłańców 2 połowy XIX wieku. Struktura relacji - podstawowe cechy

Abstract

The subject of the article entitled The Vision of Siberia in the Memoirs of the Deportees of the Second Half of 19th Century. Structure of Report - Basic Features, concerns memoir recollections of Poles deported to Siberia as a result of the defeat of the 1863 uprising. The analysis comprised the memoirs of the representatives of all social and professional groups living on the territory of the Polish Kingdom at that time (i.e. gentry, priests, peasants, townsmen, intellectuals). Among the introductory remarks, constituting the initial part of the text, there are considerations of the history of Siberian deportations, authors of the memoir accounts, and motivations of recording memories. Here as well, the thesis of the paper is presented, which is developed in the two main parts of the study. The first one concerns the creation of diverse deportation countries, recorded among the reminiscences of the deportees. The reading of the memoir books allows one to distinguish a triple vision of the areas beyond the Urals, perceived as a land to be “tamed”, a martyrdom “cursed land”, and the territory of the fascinating Siberian nature. The second part of the study concerns the elements comprised in the complex structure of the 19th century memoir accounts. The polymorphic nature of the recollective texts is influenced by the fragments of diaries of former convicts included in them. The lack of composition homogeneity of the texts is augmented by the dialogue forms put in them, as well as the elaborate characteristics of the fellow deportees. The presented memoirs combine features of travel accounts, descriptions of nature and also customs of the encountered people. Furthermore, the narration structure is made more attractive by means of the quoted examples of lyric work of the memoirists. The analysis of the Siberian memoirs has been supplemented with remarks taken from the book by Stanislaw Burkot, devoted to the problems of Polskie podróżopisarstwo romantyczne (Warszawa 1988). The works of researchers undertaking the subject of memoir accounts were also useful. One should mention here the works by: Andrzej Cieński, Pamiętniki i autobiografie światowe (Wrocław 1992), Bronislaw Gołębiowski, Motywy społeczne i osobiste pisania pamiętników ("Przegląd Humanistyczny”, no. 2, 1969), Regina Lubas-Bartoszyńska, Style wypowiedzi pamiętnikarskiej (Kraków 1983), and also Agata Roćko, Pamiętniki polskich zesłańców na Syberię w XVIII wieku (Olsztyn 2001). Final conclusions are presented in the summary of the text of the paper.