Eksperymenty fizjonomiczne u Orzeszkowej na podstawie Ostatniej miłości
The Physiognomical Experiments in Orzeszkowa’s Ostatnia miłość

Author(s): Ewa Skorupa
Subject(s): Studies of Literature, Polish Literature, 19th Century
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Johann Caspar Lavater; Eliza Orzeszkowa; novel; beauty; ugliness
Summary/Abstract: The article concerns Eliza Orzeszkowa’s fi rst experiments, which are examined on thebasis of the writer’s novel from the 1860s Ostatnia miłość. It was then that Orzeszkowa began heradventure with Lavaterism and initiated a long literary journey of mastering portrait studies. Inthe novel Ostatnia miłość attempts at physiognomic portrayal were accompanied by a discussionabout the ancient and Lavaterian beauty of man. The characters of the novel are divided intotwo groups: they are either externally beautiful, without having to offer character traits worthyof imitation, or combining internal and external beauty with the inner embodiment of a worthyimitation of the ideal. The writer’s intention was to take part in the discussion about Lavateristviews on beauty and ugliness. The theory of the pastor from Zurich was a metaphysical exampleof joining the soul and the body.

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