The image of Lodz in selected literary works of the Russian-language press of Lodz

Abstract

This article discusses the image of Lodz as depicted in two parodic poems by the Russian author N.G. Kuzmich: My Uncle and Demon, which appeared in the Russian-language Lodz newspaper „Lodzinskiy Listok” in the last years of the 19th century. Both of these works are remakes of Russian 19th century classics – two poems by the great Russian Romantics: Alexander Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin and Mikhail Lermontov’s Demon. The author sets the prominent characters he has chosen from his eminent works, the leading and episodic characters, in the developing, industrial Lodz of the late 19th century. The following research methods were used in this article: analytical, confrontational, cultural-historical, intertextual. As a result of the research, a picture of a developing industrial city – Lodz – and the people forming its financial elite is presented. Kuzmich’s use of the works of Russian classics allowed him to highlight the differences between the romantic heroes and the consumerism of the characters he created, typical of Lodz at the time. The works discussed in this article, which combine Russian classics with the image of a developing turn-of-the-century Lodz, are undoubtedly interesting examples of a ‘Lodz text’, written by a Russian-speaking resident of this multicultural city at the end of the nineteenth century.