"Romanticism"

The main theme of this year’s SURVIVAL is Romanticism, in particular the question of what meanings and values derived from the Polish – as well as regional and European – Romantic tradition persist today and how they shape our perception of modernity.

As a trend in Polish art, Romanticism is identified with the struggle for independence and the dream of a sovereign state based on a messianic idea of saving Europe. Throughout Europe, Romanticism accompanied the formation of the concept of the nation – as we understand it today – and in a sense shaped national aesthetics. The Romantic belief in what is invisible, inaccessible to reason and evading scientific knowledge meant that spirits were involved in nation-building processes. Thus, in the Polish tradition, independence turns out to be inseparable from that which is not subject to reason. The motto Frenzy and Independence is borrowed from Maria Janion’s book Gorączka romantyczna [Romantic Fever], in which this eminent expert on Romanticism writes: Romantic fever is fantasy and the experience of the cosmos, it is tragedy and revolution, frenzy and independence, and above all – the discovery of a new wondrousness; it was new, because it turned out that all reality – visible and invisible – is “wondrous”, abounding in unexpected signs and meanings, exploding with “wonders” in even the tiniest events.

One of the most striking features of Romanticism is its spiritual splendour and emotional surplus, this peculiar excess and intensity that makes us see the world as an impenetrable mystery full of symbols, secret messages and more-then-human secrets. Irrationalism becomes a virtue and the uncanny – a reality.

The barrenness of the Romantic approach to questions of nation and identity, which focused solely on the vision of patriotism created by the bards, would resonate for centuries to come. What also matters today is the impact of Romanticism on the collective worldview of Poles, especially the importance of nationality and the belief in the uniqueness of the Polish nation and its history, which in many cases has eventually led to xenophobic and nationalist ideologies. Because of the constant references to the works of the great bards, with their burden of heroic and messianic myths, Romanticism as the “key tradition” of Polish patriotism still influences the language and consciousness of far-right groups. In this context, a profound critical re-evaluation is needed.

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