Maskarady oświeconych : próba opisu zjawiska

Abstract

The present work consists of two parts. The first one (In the circle of masquerade - like customs) is devoted to an analysis of masquerade elements in the province of the morals of the Enlightenment: while the second part (In the circle of literary masquerades) concerns a description of masquerade motifs in the literature of the Enlightenment. Both phenomena have been presented in the European, not merely Polish, perspective. In the first part, the author described the following phenomena related to the province of customs: fancy - dress balls, the aristocratic society theatre, masquerade happenings, dressing-up and mystifications, and also the masquerade "creations" of adventurers and cheats, and instances of "masquerade transvestism". The picture of the situation sketched out in the present work shows that the customs of the Enlightenment were permeated with masquerade elements. For the representatives of the upper classes of the time, the masquerade "games" became an important form of entertainment, endowed with almost therapeutic qualities, they were an important instrument to fend off boredom. The literature of the Enlightenment abounds in masquerade motifs, which was duly recorded in the second part of the present work. An attempt has been made to provide the reader with a comprehensive survey of the writers of the Enlightenment. In general, 22 literary works (including novels, poetical, and theatrical works, representing Polish, French, and English literature) have been discussed. It is possible to notice a far - reaching correspondence between the masquerade phenomena, described in part one, and the masquerade motifs in literaty works, characterised in part two. This proves that the writers of the Enlightenment w'ere careful observers of the social reality of the time, and that they faithfully recorded the most important phenomena that took place in it. The present work has striven to emphasise this dependence of the literature of the Enlightenment on the extraliterary reality. Both parts of the book: one concerned with customs, and the other with literature, are completed with remarks on masquerade motifs in the painting and architecture of the Enlightenment. Together they form a clear picture of one the cultural phenomena of the Enlightenment, i. e. of the phenomenon that deserves to be called "masqueradomania."