Ruska miłość w czasach autonomii galicyjskiej, czyli o romansach w bibliotekach greckokatolickiego duchowieństwa

Abstract

The article presents how the libraries of Greek Catholic priests in the Galician clergy houses of the second half of the 19th century shaped and managed the horizon of the matrimonial expectations of Ruthenian readers i.e. daughters of the priests. I interpret romance novels by Ivan Havryshkovych (1827–1907) and Fylymon Kalytovsky (1841–1912) which were addressed to them and printed in a literary supplement to the conservative Ruthenian magazine “Slovo”. The issue under consideration has not been the subject of literary studies so far. I treat these literary texts as an artistic representation of the Galician social structure. The overarching aim of the research is to interpret, using the sociological theory of Eva Illouz, the ecology and architecture of romantic choices of the Ruthenian elite. More specifically, I look at the socially shaped matrimonial conditions reflected in the romances and conventions that accompany them, as well as at the relationship of romantic choices with social transgression of the protagonists. Moreover, I attempt to show what political factors formed and disciplined the literary representations of erotic love and what these representations can tell us about the socio-national order in Galicia designed by conservative Ruthenian writers.