Maria Rółkowska, „Nieprzetapialni” [Un-melted down] – the image of American Polonia in the works od Henryk Sienkiewicz and Sygurd Wiśniowski
Key words:
Henryk Sienkiewicz, Sygurd Wiśniowski, the Poles in the North America, Polish diaspora in America, Polish emigration in the 19th century
Summary:
„Nieprzetapialni” [Un-melted down] – the image of American Polonia in the works od Henryk Sienkiewicz and Sygurd Wiśniowski Henryk Sienkiewicz, one of the most famous Polish writers, and Sygurd Wiśniowski, a great Polish traveller and nowadays a forgotten writer, were in the United States in the 70s of the 19th century. They both observed, among others, the “birth” of the Polish diaspora in America because in the middle of the 19th century Polish economic emigration in the New World began. Both authors wrote about everyday life and the situation of Polish people in the USA concerning many subjects: the ways of attracting Polish peasants and workers, the number of the emigrants and their conditions of life, the role of Polish clergy, Polish press and schools, and changing of the Polish language under the influence of the American English language.
The picture of the Polish community in America, shown by the both writers in their literary works – which complemented each other – is rather sad and pessimistic but very true and has a documentary value. The authors were against the increasing of the number of Polish migrants in the United States.jh