Multilingual aspects of old L'viv postcards and their contemporary reception

Anna Niżegorodcew

pp. 133-156

in: Larissa Aronin, Michael Hornsby, Grazyna Kiliańska-Przybyło (eds), The material culture of multilingualism, Berlin, Springer, 2018

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to reflect on the role of old postcards from L"viv in preserving the material and spiritual heritage of the past and to discuss the implications of the reception of the postcards by the contemporary inhabitants of L"viv. The old postcards from L"viv are part of the material culture of a multilingual bygone city. A contemporary reception of old postcards shows the impact of past multilingual and multicultural heritage in two ways. One way is the awareness of particular historical monuments presented in images and captions. The other is a holistic impression created by images rather than by captions. This small-scale research indicates that contemporary Ukrainians are not fully aware of the multicultural and multilingual heritage of L"viv but they are holistically impressed by the images on the postcards.