Emanuel Murray (1751-1822) – obrońca polskiego oświecenia

EMANUEL MURRAY (1751-1822) – DEFENDER OF THE POLISH ENLIGHTENMENT

Emanuel Murray (1751-1822) is a very interesting figure of the Stanislaus Enlightenment and the first decades of the nineteenth century. He was a military man, academic teacher, journalist, translator, literary critic, theaterologist and a historian. Murray’s achievements in the above professions, which he practiced for half a century in Krakow, Warsaw and Puławy, should have attracted the attention of many researchers of the Polish culture. However, they did not. With just one book published in Warsaw in 1800, the Polonised Frenchman fell into deep oblivion. His numerous manuscripts found today in Polish libraries, primarily in Krakow, prove that the story was unjust to Murray. The main argument for defining Murray as the defender of the Polish Enlightenment is his book De l’état des études, des lettres et des moeurs en Pologne pour servir de réponse à l’essai critique sur l’éducation polonaise (On the state of science, literature and morals in Poland – answer to a critical essay on Polish education) which in March 1800 was published by Le Brun in Warsaw. Murray’s other works also testify to his attachment to the reforms carried out during the reign of Stanislaus August. He remained faithful to the ideas of Stanislaus Enlightenment until the end of his life.