Realpoetik in Poland

Abstract

In his book Realpoetik... Paul Hamilton presents an ingenious attempt at a revision of European Romanticism. This comparative study interprets the works of German, French, and Italian romanticists as a strong, allusively politicized (for Hamilton the conditions and consequences of the Congress of Vienna are the most important context) development of the former ethos of the republic of letters, and at the same time evidence of polemic reading of Kant’s philosophy, especially Critique of Judgment. The paper attempts to present the usefulness of Hamilton’s concepts in the reflection on the Polish romantic literature. There are many obstacles that prevent an easy assimilation of Realpoetik, the title idea, such as poor and typically distrustful reception of Kant’s philosophy, the limited liveliness of the British literary contexts (which are Hamilton’s major negative point of reference), and, perhaps most importantly, the heavily political Polish Romanticism. The example of Maurycy Mochnacki allows to show that despite the difficulties with applying the theses from Realpoetik… on the Polish ground, they can still prove to be inspiring in reading the works of the Polish romanticists, and moreover, they complete the picture presented by Hamilton with an important, Slavonic perspective.