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Taking as its starting point the radical transformation of the Polish cultural and historical landscape that has resulted from Poland’s post-1989 Jewish revival, this article presents a proposal for a substantial reconfiguration of ethno-nationally, philologically based University programs in Polish Studies. Proposed is a reimagination of Polish Studies – and by extension other Slavic Studies programs- as inherently multilingual, culturally pluralistic spaces of encounter; and attendant changes to degree requirements that reflect this post-national shift in perspective. Making reference to the concept of doikeyt or “hereness”, a cultural and political attitude promoted within the pre–World War II Jewish world, particularly within Bundist and Yiddishist discourse, that saw Jewish culture and languages as native to Eastern Europe—as belonging in Poland and in Russia—the author asks whether Jewish languages (Yiddish and Hebrew), and by extension other minority languages and cultures, should have an equal place within the curriculum and course requirements that contribute today to a degree or a major in Polish Studies.
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Despite the polemic with Fyodor Dostoevskyin Joseph Conrad’s “Russian” novel, Ivan Turgenev’s presences can also at some point be identified in Under Western Eyes, and various details of a descriptive, psychological and intellectual nature can be faced back to Turgenev’s political novels: Smoke,Rudin, On the Eve and Virgin Soil. Preoccupation with dreams and fantasy also echoes in Turgenev and Conrad’s works. Both writers shared with the German Romantics their beliefs in the significance of dreams and fantasy, and in the borderline world where dream seems to merge with reality. Whereas Turgenev’s dreams are purely prophetic and visionary, in Conrad’s Under Western Eyes illusion and hallucinations are seen to be bound up with the moral culpability of preferring subjective fantasies to objective knowledge. The more Conrad’s protagonist acts selfishly the more subject he is to hallucinations and misperceptions, and the more a person flees from the truth the less he knows what the truth is. The mysterious and strange events that fascinated Turgenev and Conrad are another manifestation of the theme that constantly absorbed them – man’s helplessness before the dreadful and inexplicable forces of nature which are hostile to him and threaten him with inevitable destruction. Is it a chance or fate? This is the question that runs through all of Turgenev and Conrad’s works, and Turgenev’s Insarov, Nezhdanov, and Conrad’s Razumov are either casualties of absurd chance or victims of malevolent and implacable forces which control man.
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The prose writer Eva Tvrdá (1963) is interested in the life fates of ordinary women from the region of the town of Hlučín which has a powerful history linked with the Third Reich. She places more than sixty years of history, which are parts of memorial and recollective pictures, into the prose of the so-called Silesian Trilogy which have been published in a collected form as Dědictví (Heritage), Třešňovou alejí (Cherry Lane) and Okna do pokoje (Windows to a Room). The motifs of family, home, travels and motherhood, which are linked with social and regional identity, are repeated in her work.
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The theme of the tragedy at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant remains topical one in the prose of Ukrainian writers. It is represented in the number of works by Katerina Motrych, in particular in the short story “Zvizda Polyn” in which the contemporary author artistically treats the problem of ecology of soul and nature. In the article the title of the short story is decoded; the following aspects are considered: semantic-intonational parts highlighted by the author of the article, somewhat “shifted” composition, peculiarities of individual writer’s style; moral issues are conceptualized.
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Śląsk Cieszyński is a very specific region on Polish-Czech border. Śląsk Cieszyński is geographical, historical and cultural idea and rarely the border of Śląsk Cieszyński identified with administration divisions. An intricate history of Śląsk Cieszyński is a source of multicultural backgrounds. Over the years polish national minority has created an interesting and specific literature, closely associated with a Polish literature. The literature of the region behind the Olza River that by its development and content most reflects the complexity of the frontier spirit. An important role in creating a distinctive, Těšín “genius loci” in the context of the national literature (Polish and Czech) is played by the work of two authors – Renata Putzlacher and Bogdan Trojak. In this article the author analyzes only poetry was written by Renata Putzlacher.
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The main concept of this work is the presentation and analysis of a specific motif occurred both in hagiography and iconography – cephalophory. It consists of three main aspects: martyrdom, decapitation and carrying a head. A severed head symbolized posthumous glory of a martyr, but it got more universal meaning connected with hierophany which sacralized a concrete space. The legend of cephalophory was created in the Latin West, however it was adopted in the Christian East and in the Slavia Orthodoxa area, where it was covered with new meanings.
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The paper provides a (far from exhaustive) overview of references found in Tacitus’ historical works (Annales, Historiae, Agricola) and in Pliny the Younger’s Epistulae to people who may be defined as “intellectuals”, notably to orators, historians and philosophers. The historian Tacitus is, in general terms, somewhat uninterested in those people in their capacity as men of letters; his focus is, rather, on their involvement in Roman politics (but he makes some interesting side-comments on their intellectual activity). Pliny, on the other hand, is more inclined to emphasize their mental pursuits and, also, to praise their achievements. However, a closer reading of passages devoted to such intellectuals in the Epistulae reveals that he uses them to promote his own image as an ideal Roman, devoted not only to studia but also to officia publica and officia amicorum, and an upholder of humanitas.
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In my paper I examine a literary work, virtually unknown, of the Spanish journalist, writer and liberal politician of the late nineteenth century, Nilo Fabra, who builds an imaginary story with the background of the island of Crete. He describes the situation of the island during the period, in which Crete is going to be liberated from the Ottomans by the Western powers. The writer uses the dialogue between a well-known personality of the ancient Crete and an occasional traveller to describe allegorically the moment in which the events take place and its relationship with the past times of the island.
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Nowadays, a German minority in the Czech Republic accounts for only fraction of its once numerous representation. According to the census, the minority amounts to 18,772 members; only very few of them maintain a German language at the level of a native language. According to the latest census, none of the municipalities registers at least 10% of Germans, which would grant this minority some benefits anchored in Czech legal system, such as using the language in communication with the authorities or establishing bilingual names of municipalities. The paper herein examines the attitudes of citizens in the cities in Krušné Hory (Ore Mountains) in Karlovy Vary region vis-à-vis such activities. In three of them which were selected - Abertamy, Pernink, and Horní Blatná – the share of 10% was, actually, exceeded in the years 2001-2011. Yet, the minority there never claimed such rights. The research is both qualitative and quantitative and, besides a questionnaire research, it also contains interviews with the persons of German nationality.
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„Poradnik Językowy” („The Linguistic Guide”) was established by Roman Zawiliński, a Kraków teacher, in 1901. The aim of the journal, as intended by its creator, was mainly language consultancy, indication and explanation of errors, introduction to the principles of proper language use, arousal of the public’s interest in linguistic issues, and documentation of the contemporary condition of the language. Zawiliński was the editor and publisher of „Poradnik Językowy” until 1931. From 1932, the journal was a body within Towarzystwo Poprawności Języka Polskiego (the Society for Proper Usage of the Polish Language), it was also moved from Kraków to Warsaw. For several months, the function of the journal’s editor was fulfi lled by Kazimierz Król, while from November 1932 the position was held by Witold Doroszewski. The title was not released in the period 1913–1918 (according to R. Zawiliński, in the years 1915, 1917–1918), 1924, 1928. The total number of 299 issues were published, with the average volume of each being 1 sheet. In the years 1913–1914, 1916, Poradnik językowy was a section of „Język Polski” („The Polish Language”), a new journal the founder of which was also Zawiliński.
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This paper depicts the history of the only monthly in Poland that presents the issues of language – „Poradnik Językowy” („The Linguistic Guide”). It is the oldest academic journal of this type in Poland. The paper describes the period following the Second World War – years 1948–2015. The entire discussed period is divided into terms in which the journal was managed by successive editors-in-chief: Witold Doroszewski (1948–1976), Mieczysław Szymczak (1976–1985), Danuta Buttler (1986–1991), Halina Satkiewicz (1991–2008) and Stanisław Dubisz (2008–2015). Organisational framework of the journal’s operation (editors, editorial meetings and editorial boards) and its contents are discussed for each of the periods. The paper demonstrates the transformation process of „Poradnik Językowy” from a journal where contents popularising the knowledge of the Polish language were dominant into one with academic contents prevailing. Yet primarily, the paper presents the infl uence of the individual editors of „Poradnik Językowy” on its shape and nature.
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„Poradnik Językowy” („The Linguistic Guide”) is one of the three oldest Polish linguistic journals. Its history can be depicted in fi ve periods: 1901–1931, 1932–1939, 1948-1976, 1977–2008, after 2008. The proportions between the cultural linguistic and the academic function of the journal are slightly different in each of the periods. In the initial development phase, the former prevailed, while from 1948 the latter one became increasingly more clearly outlined; today both are pursued to a similar extent, which is proved by the journal’s readership, diversity of subjects touched upon in its issues and annals, as well as its position on (domestic and international) ranking lists.
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This paper is dedicated to indeterminate points in principles governing Polish punctuation. It indicates that new phenomena, which are not covered by the standard, have occurred in the Polish language. Moreover, it notices that the writing practice of educated language users is alarmingly often inconsistent, also where there should be none as the standard has been considered obvious with this respect to date. There are also issues that are described in principle in a prescriptive, yet too generalised, manner, which fails to allow for all questionable structures. The discussed problems are exemplified with authentic sentences containing controversial punctuation solutions accepted by language editors.
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This paper presents methods of describing and codifying Polish punctuation in the major grammars of the Polish language of the late 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. I am interested in connections of punctuation with spelling and with syntax, as well as the evolution of grammatical concepts and terms in textbooks and general purpose handbooks of those times (from Onufry Kopczyński to Antoni Krasnowolski and Stanisław Szober). I confront the old Polish theoretical and prescriptive tradition in this fi eld with newer (almost contemporary) publications, in particular with studies by Stanisław Jodłowski and Jan Tokarski.
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This paper discusses special and specialised (yet extra-punctuation or at least quasi-punctuation) uses of brackets (round, square, double square, curly, angle, pointy and slash ones), quotes (single and double curly, French and German angle ones), as well as typographic strokes (hyphen, en dash and em dash). These marks, along with other non-letter typographic marks, are a type of markers that assign meanings to individual fragments of a text or at least determine the semantic repartition of the text in the contemporary writing practice.
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