Historia anegdotyczna z listów wyczytana, czyli próba odpowiedzi na pytanie, dlaczego Mickiewicz uciekł ze szwajcarskiego raju

Abstract

The author of this article tries to uncover the reasons beyond Adam Mickiewicz’s decision to leave Switzerland, despite favourable living conditions and good relations with Lausanne university authorities. The author presented not only the political arguments (an offer to chair a department of Collège de France, which could have been beneficial for Poland; longing for active participation in the life of Polish emigrants in Paris), but also the personal ones (the real threat of thyroid illnesses concerning the poet’s children). She also tackled the important issue of the strangeness of the language used by Mickiewicz during his lectures. It can be related to the prophetic tone, appearing already in Lausanne, and to the poet’s sensitivity to the sound of respective languages (bright French, dim Slavonic languages).