Publisher: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego

At the Crossroads of Aesthetics. Rachilde and Her Novelistic Writing 1880-1913

Au carrefour des esthétiques. Rachilde et son écriture romanesque 1880-1913

Author(s): Anita Staroń / Language(s): French

Rachilde, qui a toujours aimé les poses et les effets théâtraux, a le don de se dérober à des affirmations catégoriques lorsque l’on en vient à l’analyse de son œuvre. Elle présente à ses lecteurs des visages multiples et contradictoires. Aussi n’est-il pas étonnant que les chercheurs arrivent, dans leurs analyses, à des conclusions très variées. En fonction de la perspective choisie, ils peuvent, en effet, découvrir une facette parmi plusieurs de cette personnalité miroitante. Cependant, l’œuvre de Rachilde est le plus souvent perçue comme représentative de la Décadence ; la présente étude entreprend de la montrer également tributaire d’autres esthétiques. Après des débuts décadents, la romancière trouva sa place au sein du mouvement symboliste, avant de s’intéresser au concept du roman d’aventure.

The Hidden Secrets: Late Byzantium in the Western and Polish Context

The Hidden Secrets: Late Byzantium in the Western and Polish Context

Author(s): Małgorzata Dąbrowska / Language(s): English

Keywords: late Byzantium; history of Byzantium

Professor Małgorzata Dąbrowska, a distinguished scholar dealing with the history of Byzantium in the Middle Ages, belongs to the few Byzantinists who have become internationally acclaimed. A considerable part of her output concerns Polish-Byzantine relations which are hardly known to foreign scholars because of the language barrier, and yet they attract the interest of scholars all over the world as a new aspect of Byzantine studies. The publication of English and French works by Małgorzata Dąbrowska will thus facilitate better understanding between the Latin and Orthodox milieux in the European world. The author’s style is absolutely superb, regardless of the fact whether her texts are written in Polish or in other languages. This adds another quality to her oeuvre. // From the review by Professor Maciej Salamon

To be in the minority, to be the minority

Être en minorité, être minorité

Author(s): / Language(s): French

Keywords: minority

This multi-author publication collects works of specialists from many scientific fields (including literary studies, cultural studies, sociology, history and more), representing various research centers (from Poland, France, Canada, the Czech Republic, and Saudi Arabia). Although this book’s main purpose isn’t to deal with myths regarding minorities in today’s society, it does provide a deeper understanding of minority-majority relations, based on solid historical and theoretical arguments.

Diverse through the Arts. Artistic Education in Culturally Diverse Communities

Różnorodni przez sztukę. Edukacja artystyczna w środowiskach zróżnicowanych kulturowo

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: individualism in arts;artistic creative work;artistic education;cultural diversity; pluralism in arts

The aim of this collective work is to encourage the readers to reflect on the current state of artistic education – now and looking into the future.

The interest rate as the transmission channel of the Federal Reserve System’s monetary policy

Stopa procentowa jako kanał transmisji polityki pieniężnej Systemu Rezerwy Federalnej

Author(s): Dominika Brózda-Wilamek / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: interest rate; monetary policy transmission mechanism; Federal Reserve System; stopa procentowa; polityka pieniężna; System Rezerwy Federalnej; bank centralny USA; Fed

In this monograph, the attention is focused on the role of interest rate in monetary policy. Interest rate policy is important both for the context of the national policy and from the point of view of international finance. The internationalisation of financial markets has led to the stronger impact of Fed’s monetary policy, not only on the U.S. economy, but also on the global economy. However, the scale and the strength of this impact are still the subject of many studies. The aim of the monograph is to investigate the mechanism and effectiveness of the interest rate as the Federal Reserve System’s monetary impulses transmission channel in the years 1984-2015. It also attempt to synthesize theoretical views of the role and importance of interest rate influence on economic processes and present the Fed’s monetary policy objectives and strategies in the last thirty years. The detailed study on the monetary policy transmission mechanism indicates in the one hand a reduced effectiveness of Fed’s monetary policy since the mid-90s of the twentieth century and in the other hand the relatively high efficiency of the Fed’s anti-crisis monetary policy. Between 2008-2015 forward guidance policy and quantitative easing policy have provided additional economic incentives, which have had favourable effect on economic activity of the U.S. economy. // Publikacja dotyczy współczesnych finansów międzynarodowych, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem polityki stóp procentowych i mechanizmu transmisji impulsów polityki pieniężnej. Ma charakter unikatowy, stanowi wartościowe, kompleksowe, a zarazem oryginalne opracowanie naukowe podejmujące istotny i aktualny problem oddziaływania stopy procentowej Systemu Rezerwy Federalnej na poziom cen oraz przebieg realnych procesów gospodarczych w Stanach Zjednoczonych. Jest adresowana do studentów kierunków ekonomicznych, a także do czytelników chcących pogłębić wiedzę z zakresu finansów międzynarodowych, zainteresowanych zmianami zachodzącymi w sposobie prowadzenia i realizacji polityki pieniężnej w gospodarce globalnej. Może stanowić cenną lekturę dla specjalistów w dziedzinie finansów, bankowości oraz osób zajmujących się zawodowo polityką makroekonomiczną.

Transport of goods in the “One Belt and One Road” project as a component of the global supply chain

Transport towarów w projekcie One Belt and One Road jako component globalnego łańcucha dostaw

Author(s): Urszula Motowidlak,Monika Kujawa / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: One Belt One Road; the New Silk Road; global supply chains; a resource-efficient and competitive transport system; rail transport; Europe; Asia; łańcuch dostaw; transport towarów; logistyka; transport kolejowy

The main inspiration for the undertaken scientific research was assessment of transport possibilities related to the implementation of the “One Belt and One Road” initiative and a significant expansion of the scope of sales of goods to the Chinese market, also for Polish enterprises. The results of this study are presented in the monograph. The research focused on searching for the answer to the question what conditions should be met, in order the assumptions of the “One Belt and One Road” initiative bring the expected benefits to the Polish economy. This direction of research was determined by the complexity of the issues related to the sustainable development of the transport system, in the context of challenges created by the processes of globalization, integration and transformation. The research results show that the increased activity of Chinese enterprises, as part of the implementation of the “One Belt One Road” initiative, will contribute to an increase in the scale of foreign direct investment and inflow of capital on the markets of European countries and the whole world. By creating links with global value chains and export markets, this initiative creates unique development opportunities for the Polish economy. Due to its location, Poland has the opportunity to become some kind of forwarding center or hub for the Chinese economy, enabling the distribution of goods to other EU Member States and vice versa.

Atlas of Polish Trade in Value-Added. Export

Atlas polskiego handlu wartością dodaną. Eksport

Author(s): Aleksandra Nacewska-Twardowska / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: Polish export; trade in value added; value added trade; global value chains; GVC; production networks; maps

The atlas aims to bring the reader closer to the basic theoretical issues related to global value chains and value-added trade and to present statistical data on Polish exports in graphic form. The recent economic history of Poland is a model example of how transformation, liberalization of the economy and regional integration processes (joining the EU common market) affect the structure and trade turnover. The complexity of available data is a factor which may particularly discourage deepened studies of international trade concerning gross or value added. Therefore, the atlas contains a series of maps that illustrate the evolution of phenomena related to foreign exchange. Maps allow presenting information on both the extent and intensity of Poland's exports. Besides, for each branch, information on the participation and position of Poland in global value chains has been presented.

Complementarity of Space and Time in Distance Representations.

Complementarity of Space and Time in Distance Representations.

Author(s): Jacek Tadeusz Waliński / Language(s): English

Keywords: space;time;linguistic perspective;language;cognition;distance

This book presents a cognitive linguistic study of distance representations carried out using the British National Corpus and the National Corpus of Polish. Corpus­based examination of linguistic expressions of spatial expanse in the semantic context of motion events suggests that as language users we are at certain liberty to choose either spatial or temporal conceptualization of distance according to what suits our subjective profiling needs relevant to a particular situation. From the perspective of research presented in this book, the entanglement of time and space in cognition is a rabbit hole phenomenon that runs deep beyond the ties that bind space to time in motion, on the one hand, and the socio-cultural sedimentation of meaning through commonly used phraseology, on the other. It appears to hinge on a higher-order ontological and epistemological distinction between objects and events, which may influence our spatial-temporal reasoning. Additionally, this book demonstrates a cognitive schema of temporaI horizon emergent from the frequency of expressions denoting temporaI distance found in spontaneous informal conversations. Taken together the research presented in this volume indicates that, at least in certain contexts, space and time can act in a complementary manner in cognition.

Biology of early agricultural human populations of the Brześć Kujawski Group of the Lengyel Culture (4600–4000 BC)

Biologia wczesnorolniczych populacji ludzkich grupy brzesko-kujawskiej kultury lendzielskiej (4600-4000 BC)

Author(s): Wiesław Lorkiewicz / Language(s): English,Polish

Keywords: neolit;bioarchaeology;early agricultural human populations;Brześć Kujawski Group;Lengyel Culture

The paper discusses the results of an anthropological study of 183 Neolithic skeletons representing the Brześć Kujawski Group (GB-K) of the Lengyel Culture, dated to 4600–4000 BC. The paleodemographic analysis additionally includes data for three skeletons from the Linear Pottery Culture dated to5400–4800 BC.

Polish homo religiosus. Religious experience in colloquial reports

Polski homo religiosus. Doświadczenie religijne w relacjach potocznych

Author(s): Emilia Zimnica-Kuzioła / Language(s): English,Polish

Keywords: religious experience;religious acts;religious states;religious people

The aim of my thesis is an attempt to present the Polish homo religiosus, a man who experiences “religious acts and states,” whose main characteristic is a conviction that the transcendent is real.My research sample comprises Christians of varied social and demographic features. They represent different environments, age categories and occupations. My analyses are of a “spotlight” nature, I am throwing light in a specific direction. I was looking for religious people in various milieus,people who were willing to divulge fragments of their “subjective reality,” share the intimate sphere of their own inner world. I wanted to see the characteristics of the groups I singled out all the more clearly, therefore in every one of them I was focusing on slightly different problems. Still, all the addressed issues fall within the wide sphere of religious experience.

In the World of Strangers, Widows and Orphans: On a Certain Variant of Engaged Anthropology

W świecie wygnańców wdów i sierot. O pewnym wariancie antropologii zaangażowanej.

Author(s): Marcin Kafar / Language(s): English,Polish

Keywords: engaged anthropology;anthropology;anthropological practice

The monograph presents program assumptions of one of the variants of engaged anthropology, and attempts to show how it may be introduced―in the office and in the research area―to the anthropological practice.

Poetry of father Jan Twardowski. Encounter with saint Therese of Lisieux

Liryka ks. Jana Twardowskiego. Spotkanie ze św. Teresą z Lisieux

Author(s): Alicja Mazan-Mazurkiewicz / Language(s): English,Polish

Keywords: community of likes;dialectics of love;children's messages;anti-woman phobia;Christian hope;pattern of holiness;patron of poets;Jan Twardowski;Thérèse of Lisieux

The dissertation therefore seeks to read the whole poetic work of Jan Twardowski in the context of Theresian inspiration

Sublimity and macabre in literary images of death

Wzniosłość i makabra w literackich obrazach śmierci

Author(s): / Language(s): English,Polish,German

Keywords: death;a macabre;literary picture of death;love and death;wandering souls;death obsession;depiction of death;catastrophe;horror novel

Innovativeness of Polish Economy in the Transitional Stage of Development

Innovativeness of Polish Economy in the Transitional Stage of Development

Author(s): Joanna Kotowicz-Jawor,Lesław Pietrewicz,Michał Zajfert,Elżbieta Mączyńska,Tadeusz Baczko,Ewa Puchała-Krzywina,Urszula Grzelońska / Language(s): English

Keywords: structural funds; effectiveness; innovations; development stage; enterprise; Knowledge Based Economy; competitiveness; technological gap; intellectual property

A research question that has not been satisfactorily answered in the relevant literature is what are the reasons for low efficiency of EU-funded public support programs dedicated to increasing innovativeness of Polish enterprises. The aim of the study undertaken by the team of researchers at the Institute of Economics, Polish Academy of Sciences is to establish interrelationships between the current stage of development of the Polish economy and determinants of its innovative capacity in the context of absorption of EU structural funds. The first part of study sets the conceptual background in the area of stages of economic development. The conceptual study is complemented by the quantitative analysis of the current stage of development of the Polish economy. The second and the third chapters presents major exogenous barriers to the growth of innovativeness of the Polish economy, and endogenous obstacles to effective transition of the Polish economy. Another parts concerns the demand-side determinants of innovation processes during the transition between the investment-driven and innovation-driven stage of economic development. Next part presents the evolution of theories of innovation, scrutinizes the adaptation of analyzed firms to the conditions of the transitory stage of economic development. The final part of the book is devoted to the role of the science sector in the process of transition of the Polish economy to the innovation-driven stage of development. The study presents a number of recommendations for economic policy directed at increasing the pace of the innovation process.

Graffiti and Street Art. Word, Image, Action

Grafitti i street art. Słowo, obraz, działanie

Author(s): Agnieszka Gralińska-Toborek / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: graffiti; street art; urban space; visual poetry; letter paintings; style writing; graffiti tagging

Street art is the most popular, dynamically evolving art form in the world today. It also has the largest audience. At the same time, it remains ephemeral, variable and limitless, and is subject to continuous processes of commercialization, institutionalization and mediatization. As a fruit of the remix culture, street art draws on everything that has already appeared in art: it mixes, transforms, copies and pastes. It cannot be easily defined, and the existing criteria for evaluating art seem inapplicable in its case. In no way should this imply, however, that street art cannot be analyzed. In the book, the author describes selected problems of street art and graffiti using both traditional and contemporary concepts, terminology and methods. She focuses on the relationship between word and image, on highlighting the invisible. The reader learns about street art in both its serious and comic manifestations. The author does not strive to exhaust the subject; on the contrary, she puts forward a preliminary reflection on this still unbridled and expansive form of artistic expression, thus initiating a discussion which the world of art will probably soon pick up.

Arithmetic of everyday life. Anthropological analysis of household bills

Arytmetyka codzienności. Antropologiczna analiza rachunków domowych

Author(s): Katarzyna Orszulak-Dudkowska / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: everyday life;household bills;household;economic anthropology

The book analyzes economic and everyday anthropology. On the basis of unpublished source materials – private copybooks with household bills kept for many years by three women of different professional and family background and under somewhat different cultural conditions – the author has conducted an interesting anthropological analysis of Polish housewives in the post–World War II and post-1989 periods.The monograph presents everyday activities related to housekeeping, discusses the kinds of products and services most often bought, eating and consumption habits, residence patterns, rules of body care and hygiene, forms of spending free time, as well as worldview, attitude towards religion and to the Polish cultural tradition.The target audience of the publication are social life researchers: anthropologists, sociologists, economists and experts in cultural studies. Other readers who look for an unconventional and meticulous reflection on Polish everyday life of the last sixty years can also find the book interesting.

G8 as a Global Economic Institution

G8 jako instytucja gospodarki światowej

Author(s): Rafał Matera / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: G8; global economy

The G8, in cooperation with many international organizations, was (and can still be) an effective institution dealing with many global problems that cannot be tackled by individual countries, regional groups or even universal organizations. The huge economic potential of the G8 member countries, the decision-making and financial impact on international organizations, the immense political experience in the role of the world’s great powers, long-term cooperation at annual summits, open exemplification of basic threats to global economy and international relations, allowed the G8 to systematically build common responsibility, both in economic and political relations.

Global business networks. Concept – structure – competitiveness

Global business networks. Concept – structure – competitiveness

Author(s): Magdalena Rosińska-Bukowska / Language(s): English

Keywords: business network;corporation;competitiveness;enterprises;intellectual capi-tal;internationalisation

On Polish Science-Fiction Literature of the Years 1990–2004

O polskiej literaturze fantastycznonaukowej lat 1990-2004

Author(s): Adam Mazurkiewicz / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: political fantasy;social fiction;science fiction;cyberspace

There is a reason why this review of the latest science fiction works should start in 1990 as opposed to 1989. This date should be treated rather symbolically, not as marking the actual beginning of new trends in science fiction. At the same time, however, it is the year of publishing Marek Oramus' One Day’s Journey to Meoria (the original title: Dzień drogi do Meorii) – a novel that summarizes the previous formula of sociological fantasy, dominant since the end of the 1970s. [...] The end date is determined by the time of publication of the sketches collected here and the awareness of establishing new tendencies in science fiction in the first half of the present decade. Moreover, it should be remembered that the specificity of the historical and literary process is continuity, so all divisions must (due to this aspect) bear the hallmarks of artificiality. Since although it is possible to distinguish features typical for a given period and outline its boundaries on their basis, the absolute use of historical periodization must lead to misunderstandings. After all, specific dates are only approximate or even often conventional boundaries of cultural epochs.

Accounting for Lease Contracts. The Current Status and Directions of Change

Rachunkowość umów leasingu. Stan obecny i kierunki zmian

Author(s): Mikołaj Turzyński / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: accounting; lease; leasing; IAS / IFRS; National Accounting Standard

The book describes the state of accounting regulations for lease contracts and suggests potential directions of their change. In the six chapters that comprise the monograph, the author presented the following issues: (1) the process of establishing accounting standards for lease contracts, (2) Polish accounting regulations for lease contracts, (3) the classification of lease contracts on the basis of income tax regulations, (4) regulations of the International Accounting Standard 17, (5) regulations of the International Financial Reporting Standard 16, (6) proposals for changes in the accounting regulations for leasing in Poland. The monograph is relevant for researchers dealing with the topic of accounting for lease contracts as well as accountants and professionals preparing financial statements.