W żywiole obcego słowa. Poliglotyzm i jego implikacje w świetle „Podróży” Jana Potockiego
In the element of a foreign word. Polyglotism and its implications in the light of Jan Potocki’s „Voyages”

Author(s): Maria Janoszka
Subject(s): Polish Literature, Philology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Summary/Abstract: This article dwells on Jan Potocki’s polyglotism and his remarks included in his Voyages on the interlingual and intercultural dialogue, translation as well as the possibility of understanding foreign cultures. Born in a Polish aristocratic family, raised in a French-speaking environment, an excellent example of 18th-century cosmopolitan and a savant with an insatiable desire for knowledge, Potocki seems to live in multiple cultures and times at once, using his speaking skills and vast erudition as means to a better cognizance of foreign civilizations (European as well as Eastern), their history and everyday existence. He also reflects upon the conditions facilitating communication between varied languages and traditions (not to mention epochs), as well as the alienation or a sense of non-familiarity experienced by a voyager not only in contact with radical otherness but sometimes also in the surroundings seemingly well-known, yet profoundly changed in times of revolution.

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