Zaklinanie rzeczywistości. W kręgu uniwersalistycznych projektów Ludwika L. Zamenhofa
Enchanting the reality. On the universalist projects of Ludwik Zamenhof

Summary/Abstract: Ludwik Zamenhof (1859-1817) is known and remembered most of all as the “Esperanto Doctor,” the creator of the artificial, transnational language of the same name. However, his attempts at creating a common basis for people from all over the world to meet, were not limited to the level of language but included also the sphere of religion and nationality. The article analyses these universalist project of Zamenhof and the linguistic strategies present in them, which were supposed to lead to abandoning of the ethnocentric manner of speaking and thinking about the world, and at the same time, to contribute to the creation of a new, “neutral” reality. It also shows that Esperanto was an element sine qua non of a utopia projected by him and that only there could it fully express itself. Moreover, the article discusses the possible influence that Zamenhof's religious and national search had on his experience of Jewishness.

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