Patriotic Education. Eliza Orzeszkowa and Conservative Imagination in Russia-occupied Poland (1880–1905)

Abstract

Setting down Eliza Orzeszkowa’s works and public initiatives as a point of departure, the Author analyzes patriotic education of Polish women in the late 19^th century Russian Poland. The “close reading” approach to various sources – letters, articles, literary works – provides not a mere description of the Orzeszkowa’s biography, but gives an insight into the then conservative imagination, in which crucial role was assigned to the woman, literature and culture. A critical usage of different sources enables to study social and national contexts of both Orzeszkowa’s initiatives and conservative imagination of the public sphere of Russia-occupied Poland.