Śladami Najdera
In the Footsteps of Najder

Author(s): Joanna Skolik
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Essay|Book Review |Scientific Life
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: Joseph Conrad; Zdzisław Najder; biography; Polish Joseph Conrad Society
Summary/Abstract: I write about my acquaintance with Professor Najder, thanks to whom I have beeninterested in Joseph Conrad all my life. The history of my acquaintance with theProfessor is at the same time the history of my adventure with Conrad. ProfessorNajder first became my Guide to the writer’s works and then my Guiding Light. Andit all started with my MA thesis. It was at the end of the 1980s, when I was writinga thesis on two visions of the apocalypse (Coppola and Conrad). Looking for materialson Conrad, I mainly reached for Najder’s texts. Many years later, I met the Professorand under his supervision worked on my PhD thesis. Later we worked togetheron a collection of Polish Conradian documentary sources. I recall the Professor asPresident of the Polish Joseph Conrad Society and write about the important rolehe plays in Conrad studies. Listening to the discussions that took place around thepapers delivered during the sessions (and also backstage) of the conferences I attended,I understood the importance of the things Professor spoke and wrote about, especiallyin texts published in English and addressed to an English-speaking audience. I writeabout the fact that the Professor’s dream of creating a Conrad Centre eventually cametrue in 2006, when the Conradianum – The Jagiellonian University Joseph ConradResearch Centre – was established in Cracow.

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