The literary salons of the 19th century Europe in the prospective of travel writing: Antoni Edward Odyniec’s Weimar and Milan
A.E. Odyniec’s Listy z podróży (Letters from Travels), set within the context of multinational testimonies from the epoch, become a pretext for a meditation on the phenomenon of the Romantic „salon” as a form of cultured life which is being enacted in the author’s private home, where an audience-instigated meeting between the writer and his admirers is taking place. The observations concerning the writers’ international contacts are also accompanied by remarks on the self-creative measures used by Odyniec as well as on the possibility of interpreting his controversial Listy… (Letters from Travels) in the context of research on the literary image of the period. The main subject of reflection is the ritual of visits to the homes of eminent artists which constituted one of the significant elements of educational trips in Europe; this is illustrated by examples of such institutions as Goethe’s Weimar and Manzoni’s Milan homes.
The literary salons of this period, which grew out of the Enlightenment tradition, turn out to be an important element of a supra-national republique des lettres, whereas the experience of a direct contact with an outstanding individual (documented among others by J.P. Eckermann, Stendhal, F.L. von Raumer and many others) have been shown in the above-mentioned account from a journey, through the angle of „I” and portrayed in the categories of personal experience.

A.E. Odyniec’s Listy z podróży (Letters from Travels), set within the context of multinational testimonies from the epoch, become a pretext for a meditation on the phenomenon of the Romantic „salon” as a form of cultured life which is being enacted in the author’s private home, where an audience-instigated meeting between the writer and his admirers is taking place. The observations concerning the writers’ international contacts are also accompanied by remarks on the self-creative measures used by Odyniec as well as on the possibility of interpreting his controversial Listy… (Letters from Travels) in the context of research on the literary image of the period. The main subject of reflection is the ritual of visits to the homes of eminent artists which constituted one of the significant elements of educational trips in Europe; this is illustrated by examples of such institutions as Goethe’s Weimar and Manzoni’s Milan homes.
The literary salons of this period, which grew out of the Enlightenment tradition, turn out to be an important element of a supra-national republique des lettres, whereas the experience of a direct contact with an outstanding individual (documented among others by J.P. Eckermann, Stendhal, F.L. von Raumer and many others) have been shown in the above-mentioned account from a journey, through the angle of „I” and portrayed in the categories of personal experience.