Proverbs – The Opium of the People
Item
Abstract
In this feuilleton, author and journalist Antoni Słonimski criticizes Polish culture through its proverbs, which he claims are retrograde, ignorant, parochial, and marked by obscurantism and bigotry. In his analysis of certain Polish proverbs, Słonimski claims that they displays anti-intellectual reliance on tradition and experience rather than on intellectual creativity and innovation. By naming his feuilleton “Proverbs - The Opium of the People,” the author subverts the Marxist vision of religion as the opium of the people, ridiculing the cult of the Polish language in independent Poland and criticizing the narrow vision of Polish culture espoused by nationalists.
Title (English)
Proverbs – The Opium of the People
Title (original)
Przysłowia Opium dla Narodu
Date Issued
1928
Place issued
Author
Language
Content type
Feuilleton
Translator
Academic Language Experts, Zosia Niedermaier-Reed and Ofer Dynes
Contributor
Ofer Dynes
URI
Keywords
Folklore, nationalism, modernization, modernity, Polish culture, proverbs
Item sets
Slonimski_original_Proverbs_Peoples_Opium Slonimski_translation_Proverbs_Peoples_Opium Slonimski_commentary_Proverbs_Peoples_Opium