„Teraźniejsze mody” w wierszach Mazurów pruskich

Abstract

In the article „Teraźniejsze mody” w wierszach Mazurów pruskich [„Current fashions” in the poetry of prussian Masurians] the author analyses the conservative stances of the rural community, expressed in the Masurian literature of XIXth and early XXth century. The word „fashion” appears here in the negative sense and means reprehensible stances and behaviours of social life – namely choice of clothing, personal approach to religion and work, and leisure. „Fashion” is perceived as an evil from other lands which corrupts tradition, causing conflicts between parents and children. Pursuit after fashion is reprehensible. It is the reason for liabilities and poverty, and it also is a cause for divine retribution. „Fashion” was also seen as connected to political problems. The Masurians criticised assassination attemtps on kings and emperors as a manifestation of fashionable, wrongly understood freedom. The approach to fashion in the Masurian literature was a symptom of fear of modernisation and industrialisation.