Zygmunt Gloger wobec nowoczesności. Refleksje wokół książki „Dolinami rzek”

Abstract

The article focuses on the presentation of Zygmunt Gloger's attitude to the world of modernity with its three basic attributes: the idea of social equality, the thesis on continuous progress, and Darwin's vision of man. The discussion is limited to Gloger's Dolinami rzek (Through River Valleys, 1903), disregarding the author's works from the period 1867–1905. Analysing typical examples from the book by the traveller and archaeologist of the Podlasie region, the author comes to the conclusion that Zygmunt Gloger's attitude to modernity is ambivalent: it reflects the inner dilemma of a man who, out of necessity, is a citizen of Tsarist Russia, but deep down does not accept the imposed “Russian mir”, making therapeutic journeys in "search of lost time", preserving in his travel accounts the “phantasm of the Polish Republic” (in Jarosław Ławawawski's words).