“Ale ponieważ postanowiłem, jak długo będę żył, przekazywać na piśmie...” A writing desire and its masks in Old-Polish memoirs

Abstract

The subject-matter of the work is an overview of the ways the authors of Old-Polish noble memoirs justified the reasons of writing down their memories. A basic difficulty was a conventionalization of this type of declaration, strongly ingrained in author’s awareness on the one hand and subjectivity as well as autocreation typical of any type of egodocuments on the other. Particular memorists pointed to the willingness to inform about the current course of events (although distinctions between the public affairs, understood as a dimension of history, and private ones, constituting the subject of interest was usually rigoristically perceived), a defense of their of their own behaviour in the situation when they had to make morally ambiguous choices, the need to teach their successors about the right ways of gaining the property, God’s grace, curiosity of the world or, finally, manifestation of the native proud. All these reasons, udoubtedly important, could also serve as a peculiar mask behind which the willingness to commemorate the memory about oneself, history and achievements common to everyone.