Odessa Edmunda Chojeckiego

Abstract

The author shows an unusual – for it is negative and ironic – picture of Odessa in the first half of the nineteenth century, seen through the eyes of a bilingual writer, Edmund Chojecki (in France called Charles Edmond), who published Wspomnienia z podróży po Krymie (Memoirs from a Journey to Crimea) in Warsaw in 1845. The author of the paper argues: "Because of Chojecki's interest in history, the less than forty-seven years old Odessa does not impress him much. He mocks the city, seeing in it an exaggerated caricature of the contemporary West. Chojecki's Odessa seems to be a rather inept imitation of European cities. Everything seems to be only similar, and, thus, imperfect and caricatural. He criticizes the opera, the architecture, the interest in art, and the everyday life of the inhabitants, which relies only on the interest in trade and apparel. As the author of the memoir notes, even the summer period differs from other seasons only because of an increased number of people on the streets. Chojecki does not refer to the social structure of the city, the national diversity or the colour typical of harbour cities."