Adama Sierakowskiego sztuka podróżowania i pisania listów

Abstract

Adam Sierakowski lived in 1846–1912. He was a landowner, in charge of integration of Poles in the Warmia region, a popularizer of education and a journalist. Sierakowski traveled widely across Europe, Asia and Africa. An account of his adventures is found in the letters written to his wife – Maria from the Potocki family. The letters were published in 1913 in Warsaw. The article focuses on the Sierakwoski’s letters from his trip to the Holy Land in 1883 and to Egypt in 1908. They continue a conventional compositional and stylistic pattern. Also, they include a number of elements of the pre-reportage genre characteristic of the turn of the 19th and 20th century. Their content is variegated. Aside from his own adventures, the author provides the reader with his knowledge of history and contemporary life of the region that at that time was a territory entangled in conflicts; also in political interests and cultural trends. Sierakowski juxtaposed his direct observations with the fancies shaped by the romantic myth of the East that functioned in the European culture. That confrontation made him think that the beautiful, romantic myth lost its topicality over the centuries, and thus began falling into oblivion.