Ofiary brata Chodźki
Brother Chodźko’s sacrifices

Alexander Chodźko’s participation in the circle of god’s cause

Author(s): Inga Walc
Subject(s): Cultural history, Studies of Literature, Polish Literature, 19th Century, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Alexander Chodźko; Adam Mickiewicz; Andrzej Towiański; Circle of God’s Cause; Towianism; Great Emigration; Collège de France; mystical sects
Summary/Abstract: Aleksander Chodźko (1802–1891) was a poet, diplomat, translator and scholar of Persian literature, and finally Adam Mickiewicz’s successor at the chair of Slavic languages and literatures at the Collège de France. In the years 1842–1846, he also took an active part in Andrzej Towiański’s Circle of God’s Cause, which he joined under the influence and at the instigation of his close friend, Mickiewicz. This article presents the figure of Aleksander Chodźko through the prism of his participation in Andrzej Towiański’s Circle of God’s Cause. Aleksander Chodźko’s position is analysed from the point of view of his role in the Circle, showing at the same time the reasons and mechanisms that led him to accept considerable sacrifices for the Cause: his career plans, a considerable fortune brought from Persia, and his marriage plans. This short period of membership in the sect largely determined Chodźko’s fate as an emigrant in Paris from 1842 to 1891.

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