Na Ujbackim stepie... Kreacje Tatarów w poematach Tomasza Augusta Olizarowskiego

Abstract

The article presents literary images of Tatars, which can be found in two poetic novels by the forgotten Romantic author, Tomasz August Olizarowski (1811–1879). The first of them, printed in 1836, is "Krzyż w Peredylu. Pieśń wołyńska" ("The Cross in Peredil. A Volhynian Song"), published for the second time in a revised version as "Topir-Góra. Powieść wołyńska. Wedle miejscowego podania" ("Topir-Mountain. A Volhynian Novel. According to a Local Folk Tale"). The second one, which in its title already refers to the Tatars, is "Car-dziewica. Powieść tatarska" ("The Virgin-Tsar. A Tatar Novel"), written in 1866. In "Krzyż w Peredylu" and in "Topir-Góra", the poet shows Tatar people as representatives of the nocturnal, Romantic side of the world. In Car-dziewica, on the other hand, the barbaric methods of action used by the Tatars are recalled in order to expose the hypocritical laws, which the Western civilization is ruled by; the civilization which, like all great civilizations (at least according to the poet) is becoming monstrous, and transforms into a bloodthirsty beast, devoid of spirit, abandoned on the arena of a frenetic spectacle of history.