Nuo botanikos iki istorijos: Paluknio dvaro literatė Aleksandra Volfgangaitė : Aleksandra Tekla Sofia Wolfgang, 1805-1861

EN[...] Aleksandra Wolfgang was bom in Vilnius on 29 January 1805 in the family of said Professor at Vilnius University Jan Fryderyk Wolfgang and Aloiza z Pacowskich Wolfgangowa (vel Helena Aloiza z Pacowskich Wolfgangowa, 1785 vel 1786-1846), a noblewoman of Trakai (Pol. Troki, Rus. Троки) borough. The biggest influence on Aleksandra Wolfgang's intellectual activity was her father. [...] In November 1821, the sixteen-year-old girl made her debut in Vilnius press with a biographical sketch on John Howard (1726-1790), an English lawyer, writer, philanthropist, researcher of mass infectious diseases, and advocate for the prison reform. This very first publication pointed to the young woman's exceptional finesse with the quill - her writing was captivating, sensitive, expressive. In a year, Aleksandra Wolfgang published five more essays in Vilnius press, in which her role was not of a botanist but rather that of a litterateur keen on social affairs, and charity in particular. [...] After one year, she would make an appearance in two more genres: educational sciences and poetry. [...] Even before the advent of the translation of Vaucher's book, in 1822, Aleksandra Wolfgang had started publishing in Vilnius press an overview of teaching the deaf and mute, which served as a basis for her second book - the monograph Rys historyczny usiłowań w uczeniu głuchoniemych i zakładów na ten ceł przeznaczonych (Wilno, 1830) - that was published seven years later. [...] In the book's seven chapters Aleksandra Wolfgang discussed the legal and moral situation of the deaf and mute. [...] Aleksandra Wolfgang did not start a family of her own. On 23 July 1809, Jan Fryderyk Wolfgang purchased Paluknys Manor [...] and the Wolfgangs would summer there ever since [...].Under the cover of her Felicyan Tustanowski pen-name, in 1837 she translated into Polish and published the memoirs Le mie prigioni (Pol. Moje więzienia, Wilno, 1837) by the globally-renowned Italian writer Silvio Pellico and the novel Le Medecin de Campagne (Pol. Lekarz obywatel, Wilno, 1838) by Hon- orė de Balzac. Why she decided to go incognito at the ripe age of over thirty instead of in her younger years, is difficult to explain. [...] In Paluknys she was more involved in her botanical work than in Vilnius: together with her father, she would go on expeditions, experiment with new species of plants, keep on adding new items to and managing herbariums, help compile a glossary of botanical terms, take care of science-related correspondence. [...] Aleksandra Wolfgang's biography also unfurls within a space that is narrowly defined by three points: Vilnius, Paluknys, and Druskininkai. The scientific, literary, and charitable doings of this woman could not have vanished without a trace from the histories of these places. Therefore, through the letters written to Aleksandra Wolfgang by the Carthusian monk and pastor of the Senieji Trakai parish Gieniusz we can also observe an epilogue to the history of the Senieji Trakai Benedictines as if from within. The "queendom" of Paluknys also stands to illustrate how the unmarried woman was received by the society of the 19th century, intellectuality often walking hand in hand with solitude back then. Aleksandra Wolfgang's example shows that tolerance to such a lifestyle of a woman was much higher than one might have expected. Studies of the biographies of Aleksandra Wolfgang and her brother, doctor and publisher Ksawery Wolfgang can provide insights into the feelings of the female writer of the period, her tensions and fears. The biographies of the Paluknys Manor women are interesting yet from another exploratory perspective - that of the study of stages in a woman's life.What is more, they provide a unique testimony to the emotional life of a family and the interactions between father and daughter, brother and sister in particular. [...] The life of Jan Fryderyk Wolfgang, just like the lives of his children, Aleksandra Wolfgang among them, did not revolve around personal interests but was rather dedicated to serving the community.Hence the family's unique benefaction and devotion to science as the road to universal good. The manuscript legacy of the Wolfgang family bears witness to the exceptional purpose of the science of botany, too. For Lithuania, botanical studies - herbaria, field experiments with plants - were important not only for the sake of the development of this branch of science, but also as a form of therapy, a pursuit of psychological and emotional relaxation. The ample legacy of manuscripts of the Wolfgang family sheds a new light on the post-university period in the history of Lithuania and clearly shows that the shutdown of this establishment of tertiary education did not put an end to all kinds of scientific and creative expression. Paluknys Manor, an important intellectual island of the era, more than just bore a distinct mark of the former Vilnius University: it also carried on the tradition of life at the academy, serving as a place where research was conducted, scientific texts written, and scholarly discussions held. Only opposite to the university, this manor of science and creative work was open to feminine expression. [Anotacija knygoje]