Strażniczki patriarchalnej Arkadii. Uwagi o postaciach kobiecych w Listach z nieba Stanisława Vincenza

The purpose of the article is to analyze selected female characters in Stanisław Vincenz’s novel Letters from Heaven. The image of women is dominated by the masculine way of judging their appearance and traits and by a patriarchal moral code. Faithful and hard-working wives and mothers are idealized in the novel. This model of femininity is stabilized not only by men, but also by older women characters. The experiences of village women were comprised in two scenes, and were expressed by the dream and silence language. Maria, the wife of a Uniate priest, was presented in the context of her fragmented memories. The room of the birth of the child is the space of women. In the space of men (the main room, where the feast is taking place) Maria was the only woman who took part in discussions, but her voice was marginalized.