Motyli przystanek. Odessa Mickiewicza („Dumania w dzień odjazdu”)

Abstract

The article is an attempt to reflect on the place of Odessa in the biography and works of Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855), the great Polish Romantic poet. The researcher examines his lyric entitled Dumania na dzień odjazdu (Meditations on the Day of Departure), placing it in the biographical and philosophical context. After the process of Philomaths, in late January 1825, Mickiewicz, together with Franciszek Malewski and Józef Jeżowski moved to a place of exile in Odessa. Already during the trip to the south, Odessa was changed to a further, central governorates of the empire. Therefore, the three friends would strive to stay in Moscow. Jeżowski and Malewski moved to Moscow already in July of that year, while Mickiewicz stayed in Odessa until November 1825. Odessa was, thus, a place almost from the beginning marked by temporariness, a place – a momentary pause – on the way to their due final point of exile. Nevertheless, Mickiewicz spent in Odessa almost nine months, during which he also made a trip to the Crimea. The Odessa period can be considered one of the breakthroughs in his work. According to the author, Mickiewicz's experience of Odessa is a prefiguring of the experience of the postmodern human existence.