Askenazy – zagadnienie literatury i literackości

Abstract

The article discusses the relations between Szymon Askenazy, a well-known neo-romantic historian, and the literary circle as well as the influence of literature on his historiographical work. Askenazy was a professor of the University in Lviv (in the 19th century it belonged to Austria), but intellectually he was connected to the Warsaw liberal monthly “Ateneum” (this part of Poland was occupied by Russia). What he could not openly say in Russia due to censorship, he would publish in Lviv. Patriotic themes could be discussed in historical works, but they could not be published in Russia. As a historian, Askenazy often gave advice to some writers. Under his influence was written one of the most interesting Polish novels devoted to the history of the Polish Legions - Popioły (The Ashes) by Stefan Żeromski. Moreover, the novels of Wiktor Gomulicki, Tadeusz Miciński, and Kazimierz Tetmajer were also influenced by Askenazy’s work on Napoleon Bonaparte. Several volumes of Artur Oppman’s poetry were influenced by Askenazy’s texts on prince Józef Poniatowski. Askenazy combined Thomas Carlyle’s philosophy of heroism with Hippolyte Taine’s determinism. He used literary style in his historical works and aestheticism was one of the features of Askenazy’s style. The article emphasizes that Askenazy often used mottos from Romantic poetry (Byron, Campbell, Mickiewicz, Słowacki, Delavigne), included quotations from poetry and drama written in the time which he investigated and frequently made use of allusions and literary paraphrase from the literature of ancient Rome, as well as literature of Polish, British and French Romanticism.The above-mentioned methods contributed to the “literariness” of his historical style. Askenazy did care about beautiful style, but the use of allusions narrowed down the circle of his recipients, because not everyone would easily recognize the authors and sources of the quotations. Both language and style of Askenazy reflected the intellectual level of the young generation of the intelligentsia at the turn of the 19th and 20th century, as well as the books they had read. After 100 years, however, such style does not seem to be attractive.