Nie Zachód, nie Wschód : Francja i Polska w oczach niemieckich podróżnych w latach 1750–1850
The following publication is a extended version of the doctoral dissertation and is the
result of many-year research carried out in major German libraries specializing in
modern times, such as Staatsbibliothek Berlin, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek
Göttingen, and Herzog-August-Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel. German-language travel reports on
Poland and France published in between 1750 to 1850 were used by the author as the
source material. The author collected 352 reports on France and 116 reports on Poland.
All descriptions come from actual travels and do not contain fictitious descriptions.
They are a collection of feelings and views of their authors. Moreover, these are the
reports that reached the public and formed a part of the discourse in both countries.
Based on source texts, the changes in the perception of Poland and France covering the
period of 100 years have been presented. The main point of the publication revolves
around the question regarding the perception and description of France and Poland. The
author also takes into account the comparability of both images and analyses their
similarities, differences and occurring changes. The book is divided into three chapters. In the first part, Struck considers a few basic
issues, i.e. who and when wrote the travel diaries and what content was to be saved and
thus conveyed; who among the bourgeois society at that time belonged to the educated
group of people traveling and compiling the diaries; and who conveyed and to whom among
the societies, unknown images of foreign countries and societies through reports written
in the form of diaries. The author presents profiles of the travellers and authors of
the analysed diaries, and focuses on their social, professional, geographical and
religious origin. He begins with the statement that the social profile of travellers and
writers-travellers underwent a change in the 18th century. Until then, it was mostly
nobility that had travelled to foreign countries. However, in the second half of the
18th century, travels and their literary heritage acquired a much more middle-class
character. On the basis of on the analysed sources, Struck draws a conclusion that
a great number of travellers came from a middle-class background, and
spent a substantial part of their lives in cities, getting education, or working
professionally. Only a small number of travellers came from nobility and they usually
held the title of baron. The vast majority of the authors came from North German
Protestant areas, graduated from universities and held higher education diplomas. Among
the representatives of the lower nobility, only a few did not have education, and their
distinguishing feature was the ownership of land. When it comes to the age of the
travellers, this group was quite homogeneous. Mostly working people in their 40 with the
adequate social and financial status travelled to foreign countries. A smaller group
consisted of young noblemen and patricians who would set off on a journey at the age of
about 20 - right after graduation. Travellers also held professions that allowed for
mobility - they were usually lawyers and educators, scientists, physicians, clergy, as
well as writers and journalists, for whom the expansive development of the book market
at the end of the 18th century created great opportunities of earning. It was
characteristic of travellers to write about the issues related to their profession.
Women can also be found in the analysed group of traveller for whom the educational and
professional opportunities were limited, but the developing book market and literature
gave them some opportunities to make money, even though their profits were far from
handsome. Further on, the author focuses on the motives and typology of traveling to France and
Poland. In the case of travelling to France, education had an unquestionably strong
position. Educational travelling was primarily focused on Paris, which was the centre of
not only the French, but also European culture and enlightenment. Medical purposes
started gaining popularity, as the waters of the Pyrenees attracted many expeditions.
Later on, traveling through the provinces caused by agrarian and economic reasons also
became popular. However, such trips also had educational and medical nature. In
comparison to France, Poland remained on the margins of European travel destinations,
because after all it was not such an interesting country. The lack of educated networks
in large cities meant that the trip to Poland almost always came down to visiting the
provinces and was usually caused a particular occasion, such as family reunion, or a
visit. Later on, political educational travel became very popular, especially in the
1780s and 1790s. The popularity of this type of travelling was caused by the events such
as the announcement of the Constitution of May 3, the Kościuszko Uprising, and the
second and third partitions. Making a classic educational journey was then difficult due
to the lack of big cities, which, being cultural centres, could serve as a destination.
This problem also concerned France, where apart from Paris, there was no other centre
that would attract travellers to such an extent. When it comes to Poland, medical travel
practically did not exist. Over time, the trips changed into agrarian-economic
expeditions during which the cultivation of land, farming and wood management were
observed and analysed. In terms of some sources, it is impossible to distinguish
typological forms of traveling and to assign specific types of travelling to specific
social groups. In chapter one, Struck also pays attention to the preparation for the trip done by the
traveller. He analyses previously published works, which the authors referred to, and
wonders how these texts influenced the perception of foreign countries and the
expectations of travellers before setting off. In Poland, the number of such sources is
significantly lower. Struck refers to the publications, their authors and titles, and
briefly discusses them. He outlines the profile of emerging public opinion, reading
practice and the reception of travel literature. He also focuses on the recipient of
travel reports. He concludes that between 1760 and 1830 travel reports were the basic
medium for passing on the information of foreign countries. Such reports had a wide
circle of readers and regardless of the form of publication they initiated debates and
caused opinion-forming perception of France and Poland. At the end of chapter one, the
author focuses on the practical aspects of traveling. He analyses common means of
transport, i.e. carriages that were used initially, and steamships and railways that
were used later. He concludes that such a change, though positive from a time saving
point of view, significantly influenced the intensity of perception of the environment
as well as blurring the experienced space. Approx. 1800, one of the most important means
of transport was a post stagecoach, which resulted in a number of travellers’
descriptions regarding the speed of travel and the condition and quality of the roads.
In terms of this aspect, both France and Poland were favourably assessed. However, in
the case of Poland one can find several negative opinions. The author also examines
travel practice in relation to the reports about innkeepers and guests, as well as with
reference to language skills and ease of communicating. At the beginning of chapter two, geographical differences between the eastern and western
parts of Europe are analysed. Struck summarizes the most important concepts by which
Europe was divided and defined in modern times. He notices that regardless of the
presented geographical patterns, Germany always serves as the dividing line. He points
out that in travel reports East and West used as geographical terms did not play any
significant role until the 1820s and 1830s, as the dividing line was more related to the
northern and the southern part of the continent. Struck finds it interesting that according to German travellers, Poland was clearly
associated with the northern part, i.e. with Scandinavian countries. This opinion was
due to the specific climate, poor urbanization and economy, low population, but also
historical events, the nature of the country and its people. Until around 1800, France
was also perceived as the country divided into North and South, rather than East and
West. According to travel reports, the territory of France occupied both the southern
and northern parts. The northern regions of France were much less frequently visited by
German travellers than the southern parts of the country. Then Struck moves on to the aspect of perceiving and describing various forms of
boundaries that constitute an imaginary map in the minds of travellers, i.e. state
borders, language, currency, culture, politics, administration, economy, social issues,
and even religions and faith. He hierarchizes the categories from the perspective of
perceiving borders, and analyses the categories that simply appear in the reports. He
also focuses on the fact whether these borders tend to change depending on the period,
or region in which the traveller is located. Struck also tries to differentiate between
the actual and perceived boundary. He also considers the criteria travellers used while
crossing the borders and traveling in the vicinity of border areas. He analyses cultural
differences and similarities of Poland and France. The descriptions of crossing the French and Polish borders presented by Struck are by no
means unique. For the traveller from the end of the 18th century, the national border
did not seem to have any meaning yet, and its exact description did not appear in any of
the quoted reports. The differences between border areas in the pre-revolutionary period
and until the beginning of the 19th century were presented as gradual changes and
described as ethnological phenomena. Around 1800, travellers used spatial and point
references while describing borders. Linear or nationally contextualized descriptions
were not used. The perception of clear borders was used rather with reference to
provinces and cities, e.g. at the entrance to Strasbourg. At that time, the authors were
more interested in changes in landscapes, various cultural differences, the condition of
the roads, the image of villages, as well as languages and dialects. Many features of the described German-French border region had a significant role
determining cultural differences, as perceived by travellers. These descriptions
included: depictions of natural and topographic conditions, which often derived from a
physiocratic view of the country and its agriculture, architecture style, and culinary
culture; different social relations in the countryside, customs, outfits, language,
dialects; facial features of local population. The German-French border described as
linear and national – did not play any significant role until the period after 1820. In
terms of the change in the perception of borders, the breakthrough came only after the
Napoleonic wars, which had an impact on then similar description patterns of
German-French and German-Polish border space. Struck concludes that from 1840 terms such
as „state” and „nation” as well as „German” and „French” seem to have come into use in
the context of describing the German-French border. He also claims that the period
between 1815 and the 1830s can be regarded as the time of development of national
thinking and designation of the nation. Travellers visiting France around 1800, similarly to those visiting Poland, travelled
across these areas without crossing a clear, linear border. In these regions, until the
19th century, travellers did not have to comply with any rules related to national
borders. Territorial changes and the new border layout on both sides for a long time had
little impact on their perception and description. Until the beginning of the 19th
century in France and Poland, cultural, linguistic, economic or regional differences and
borders in relation to the neighbours were treated as real borders regardless of the
actual state borders, and played a greater role than the nation related aspects. While
in the case of the German-French border the perception of the border evidently changed,
no such phenomenon occurred in Poland. It was caused by the lack of a real territorial
and state border. The travellers focused on mainly larger cities as their main destination for the.
However, arriving at these cities had to be accompanied by previously travelling through
provincial, rural and agricultural regions. At first, these areas did not enjoy popular
at all and consequently their descriptions were neglected. They gained importance only
in the 18th century. Struck presents patterns of perception and description of
rural-provincial areas as well as the descriptions of nature and landscape in travel
literature. He focuses on transformations in the perception of space, nature and
landscape. Referring to the description of both countries, he tries to capture
similarities and differences as seen by travellers. There was a sparse network of cities in the Polish-Lithuanian state. For that reason,
travellers understood country’s culture as the agrarian-economic situation and
utilitarian-functional use of land. The reports on travelling around Poland contain a
lot of information on commercial products, exported and imported goods, animal
husbandry, fish factories, manufactures, land use, forestry, mining, and even wood
management. Travellers also mentioned the villages which were typical of the image of
rural areas. These observations were usually superficial as they were mostly carried out
from behind the windows of a moving carriage. These accounts show Poland as a backward
country, and the images presented in the travel diaries are rather bleak. The
descriptions often contain extensive criticism and suggest changes in improvements in
the social situation. However, this kind of pattern of perception of foreign reality was
characteristic of the Enlightenment discourse and similar descriptions can be found in
literature describing different regions in Germany. A clear line separating progress and backwardness ran between the city and the village.
This contrast is clearly evident in the descriptions of travellers visiting the French
province. Although in agrarian and economic terms France was regarded as a fertile
country, the agricultural land in the north was contrasted with to the poorer south. The
differences of individual regions were emphasized. In this case, the descriptions also
abounded in critical remarks. The descriptions of poverty and backwardness are very
similar to those referring to Poland. Struck pays a lot of attention to analysing the
description of begging in the French territories, which was to derive from the
combination of inadequate, backward agriculture and Catholicism. Struck notices,
however, that the poverty was described and criticized from the viewpoint of an
enlightened city dweller. The province was observed through the eyes of the urban
observer, or was interpreted in accordance with an urban context. Rural areas in France
and Poland were assessed by ‘urban’ travellers. Their social background, profession and
awareness of being enlightened had an impact on their descriptions and criticisms, which
were similar both in relation to France and Poland. So the main line of cultural and
civilizational divisions was the opposition between the city and the village, or the
contrast between the urban and rural world, and consequently the difference between
backwardness and enlightenment. A clear change in the perception of rural space and the appreciation of nature and
landscapes took place in the last decade of the 18th century. Struck says that the
change in the paradigm of perceiving nature and the way it presents its value first of
all concerned the descriptions of France, or at least part of it - a country of leisure
and tourism. This is particularly true for the south of France. Lengthy and idyllic
descriptions of the extensive French regions in the south became very popular. Nature,
or landscape appealed to travellers due to their aesthetic features. This part of the
country became a place for recreational tourism. And when it comes to Poland, the
landscape was rather far from idyllic. In travel accounts, such rich and picturesque
descriptions of nature are rare. The change took place in the second half of the 19th
century, when the charm of the idyllic landscape of southern Poland was discovered.
In the perception of Polish provincial areas it was characteristic to describe
landscape as ‘barren’, ‘empty’, ‘boring’, or even ‘sad’. Poland did not live
up to the then ideals of landscape. It was perceived more like rich and fertile country
whose potential is not fully used. The small population made the country seem empty. The
attractiveness of Polish nature and rural areas in terms of travel destination per se
was discovered relatively late. Traveling was largely limited to cities. The discovery
of the landscape and nature did not change the general perception, as it was mostly
treated as a supplementary attraction on the way to the cities that made the whole trip
a bit more enjoyable. Towards the end of the chapter, Struck carries out a comparative analysis of perception
and description patterns that travellers used in relation to French and Polish cities.
Taking into account briefly outlined very different conditions regarding urban
structures in both countries, it is necessary to generalize, at least to some extent, so
as to specifically define comparative units while comparing urbanized spaces in Poland
and France. Poland and France were significantly different in terms of urbanization. The number of
described Polish cities is not very high, which is due to the fact that the level of
urbanization in Poland was low and travel practice quite rare. Travelling to Poland
usually came down to only a few routes. Krakow was described quite comprehensively, and
the descriptions were both positive and negative. A lot of information can be found
about Lviv and Warsaw, which were rated positively and perceived as a well-developing
city. In the next part of his work, Struck moves from the regional to the national paradigm
and presents the political fate of France and Poland. On one hand, he focuses on the
partitions of Poland and erasing the state from the map of Europe, and on the other, on
France and the Napoleonic wars. He deals with travel literature taking into account the
changing cultural perception of the country. He claims that in travel literature the
change took place, i.e. society started being described from a social and political
perspective. Travel reports increasingly more often include open or hidden criticism of
Struck also focuses on several significant events described by travelers. In the case of
France, these are the beginnings of the French Revolution - especially 1791. The issues
related to power and its legitimacy played the main role in these evidently political
descriptions. Constitution, political and social rights, as well as public opinion and
freedom of the press did not go unnoticed in the analyzed reports. Struck points out
that current events and their whereabouts were the major issue in travel descriptions.
The situation in Poland also brought an increase in publications about the country,
which shows that the reforms were noticed and assessed, sometimes critically, though
mostly positively, by the travellers. At the very end, the author analyses the issue of national characteristics. He wonders
how the image of the nation was understood and described in the reports, i.e. by whom,
for whom, and about what. He says that travel literature shows changes in the cultural
perception of the country. Despite the lack of a clear geographical and territorial
division, particular nations were associated with certain attributes which were referred
to as ‘national character’ or ‘people's character’ in travel literature. Struck begins
by analyzing the most negative stereotype of Poland coined in Germany, i.e.
polnische Wirtschaft. Then he proceeds to analysing individual travel descriptions. Poland is depicted as a
dirty and unsanitary country, in which laziness and idleness prevails, and alcoholism
seems to be the order of the day. After the announcement of the Constitution of May 3,
the Kościuszko Uprising and finally the November, definitely positive descriptions of
the Polish national character began to appear in the travel literature, which presented
somewhat exaggerated and idealized image of a noble, brave and freedom-loving Pole.
National pride and readiness to shed blood in the name of freedom were praised. France was not so different from Poland. Lack of hygiene was regarded as an standard
feature of the French character. The travellers complained about dirty cities, inns and
manor houses. Servility, too much attachment to Catholicism, shallowness and
recklessness were criticized as well. However, the French were perceived as hardworking
and there is no information about excessive alcohol consumption in the descriptions.
After the French Revolution, the French were seen as cheerful, polite and kind. Their
negative traits did not seem to be prevalent.
Autor próbuje w perspektywie porównawczej podróżowania do Francji i Polski zbadać na tle ówczesnego postrzegania i wypowiadania się o obu regionach narodowe obrazy obcych, historiograficzne kategorie Europy Zachodniej i Wschodniej i ich normatywne konotacje, jak centrum i peryferie lub postęp i zacofanie. Centralnym punktem badania jest postrzeganie i opisywanie Francji i Polski w niemieckojęzycznych relacjach z podróży, które zostały opublikowane w omawianym okresie. Praca stawia pytanie o porównywalność obrazów tych dwóch społeczeństw.
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