Charakterystyki kobiet w polskich relacjach podróżniczych (XVI-XIX wiek)

Abstract

The author reconstructs the convention of a description of women of other nationalities in the comments of Polish nobility on the basis on Polish travel reports. It appears that women descriptions are subordinated to rules other than the rules guarding the descriptions of men, and are concentrated on the man - woman relationship, the appearance of a woman, her activities, manners, the psyche and character. Much attention is paid to the relation between a man and a woman (a Muslim type of polygamy, role of a woman in home and society in the states of the Muslim and Orthodox East), and the appearance of a woman (her beauty, clothing, jewelry). The activities and manners are described with particular interest only when they remain in a certain deviation from a particular norm. The mentions of character, psychical features of a woman of different nationality are rare; still they are significant, because a Pole differentiates between Spanish, French and Italian women. This differentiation appears to be linked with an attempt at making a mental connection of descriptions of men and women in a consistent profile of the whole nation. An image of a Polish woman seems to have a great influence on the modeling of descriptions of women of other nationalities.