Napis (Jan 2018)
Ilja Erenburg i Dmitrij Fiłosofow: dwa spojrzenia na Polskę okresu międzywojennego
Abstract
The article presents an attempt at a comparative analysis of how Poland was perceived by Russian poets and writers who visited the country in the interwar period (Ilya Ehrenburg, Vladimir Mayakovsky), or emigrated to it (Dmitry Filosofov). Their views and opinions stem not only from the differences of life experience, spiritual horizons, or ideological stance, but also from the degrees of familiarity with Polish reality and culture. The, initially superficial, outlooks and judgments of Ilya Ehrenburg were evolving as he was becoming more acquainted with Polish culture; conversely, Dmitry Filosofov’s perceptions of Poland relied on deep immersion into Polish literature, history and contemporary reality. At the same time, correlating Polish and Russian experiences, neither of them was free from wishful thinking: Ehrenburg would build an imaginary portrait of a country of happiness and justice, and Filosofov dreamt of the ‘third Russia’ that would follow the tradition of Pushkin and Tolstoy.
