Miejsce na romans łaskawe
Favourable place for love affair

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the type of Polish novel, written at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, in which the action takes place in health resorts. Affairs and adultery are among frequent themes in these novels. The subculture of health resorts is a dialectics of 1) the idea of freedom and biological motivation in people’s decisions, and 2) social norms. Health resorts create an illusion of the beauty of the world and pure feelings. Dreams about a better world are based on the beauty of nature, as well as one’s connection with poetry. The analysis of the novels proves that affairs and adultery in health resorts function as a distorting mirror which shows ugliness and immorality of the characters’ lives in their family relationships. Health resort is often imagined as Eden which is able to re-create the history of mankind. The utopia of platonic love in health resort proves the crisis of culture and the institution of marriage.

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