„1055 wiorst od Warszawy”. Odessa pozytywistów: „Przegląd Tygodniowy” 1866 – 1876

Abstract

The author examines the image of Odessa in press, journalism and fiction of Polish writers who created after 1864 after the defeat of the January Uprising against Russia. The young generation took up the idea of modernization of the Polish culture and civilization. The so-called positivists, clustered mainly in Warsaw, proposed modernization of the industry, agriculture, raising the culture of peasants and other lower classes or minorities (Jews). In the main periodical of this group – "Przegląd Tygodniowy" ("Weekly Review") – in 1866-1876, a huge number of reports on progress relating to science, technology, trade and international exchange were published. In this context Odessa appeared in their writings– as a fast-growing seaport, an example of great civilizational success of the city and the harbour. Since the periodical was subject to severe tsarist censorship, some topics did not appear in it, such as Polish and Ukrainian national aspirations, the national revival of Ukrainians, the struggle for the national language. Positivists, however, created such a language, in which they could allusively signalise the existence of these problems, somewhat beyond the control of the censorship. What was in the centre of their world, however, was the progress, the ideal symbol of which was the economic and social success of Odessa.