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Based nearly exclusively on Tymon Terlecki’s home archive (letters, notebooks, press releases and other forgotten texts), the article is an attempt to reconstruct the literary evenings organized by the Polish Society of Academics in Chicago in 1964—1978, initiated by Terlecki. Thanks to the initiative and organizational effort of the Polish Society of Academics, the Polish community could meet various artists of multiple talents. During the inauguration of the academic year, writers and academics delivered speeches, among them: Danuta Mostwin and Florian Śmieja. Poetic evenings were held for Beata Obertyńska or Czesław Miłosz. From among the writers residing in America, the following presented their works during the literary evenings: Rόża Nowotarska, Bohdan Pawłowicz and Zbigniew Chałko, whereas Zofia Romanowiczowa came from Europe especially to participate. Among national artists presenting their literary works one could mention: Zbigniew Bieńkowski and Małgorzata Hillar, Jan Jόzef Szczepański, Artur Międzyrzecki and Julia Hartwig (winners of the scholarship offered by the University of Iowa) as well as Maria Dłuska and Tymoteusz Karpowicz. Special attention was given to theatre artists: Elżbieta Dziewońska-Krzemieńska, Mieczysława Ćwiklińska, Elżbieta Barszczewska and Łukasz Łukaszewicz. The successof these meetings was largely due to the active participation of the members of the Legionof Young Polish Women, the sponsors of the Chair of Polish Literature at the University of Chicago.
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The article is devoted to various means of artistic conceptualisation of the transfigurations in the Upper Silesian cultural landscape that took place at the turn of the 20thcentury as a result of industrialisation. Characteristic features of literary descriptions of such a landscape are as follows: specialised vocabulary, metaphors connected to darkness, fire, billows of smoke, or staffage, which refers to traditional eschatological ideas, and emotional tone, which searches for linguistic means to “express the inexpressible.” In turn, typical features in painting are veristic technical details of buildings, and idyllic rural or night landscapes contrasted with images of manufacturing plants, which were modelled on the connotations with Pluto’s realm, visions of Final Judgement, or volcanos such as Etna or Mount Vesuvius. For the authors of literary descriptions and visual representations, an encounter with an industrial landscape constituted above all the experience of the sublime. Initially, the descriptions could be characterised by uncritical fascination with the changes, while in the second half of the 19th century, ambivalence in the evaluation of the transfigurations of the Upper Silesia began to grow.
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The article endeavours to characterise the means of creation of the world and thefigure of a person with a disability in Polish and foreign texts from the period of YoungPoland to the contemporary times. Chosen literary works representing various tendenciesand genres from, among others, children’s literature, non‑fiction, but also fairy tales, form the ground for the author’s observations. The article reflects upon the means of hiding disabled people behind certain metaphors, as these people evoke extreme emotions, from fear to full acceptance. It focuses on the ways of representing the relations between a person and a society, oscillating around hostility and cooperation, in the context of otherness. The author also contemplates upon the notions of norm and normality, the issues connected to freedom, self‑determination, and having one’s own place in the world. Finally, remarks on the ways of domesticating otherness in literature are provided.
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Czarny Ląd. Warszawa [The Black Land. Warsaw] is a collection of reportages byWanda Melcer, institutionally and ideologically linked to Wiadomości Literackie weekly, and deeply involved in the social campaigns held under the auspices of Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński. Explicitly ideologised, these accounts of the journeys to the “black lands” – Warsaw’s district inhabited by the traditional Jewish people and nearby shtetls – aroused a number of controversies in the last years of interwar Poland. The aim of this article is to show the means of exoticising this community that are undertaken by the writer, taking into consideration the tradition and realised cultural scripts.
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The author of this article reflects upon the ways of creation of the world in Polishrural prose, which enforce bodily activity on the narrators and characters. What is analysed is the relation between everyday agricultural handwork – organising the plot of the pieces – and its preservation in the narration. The description includes the structures that make it possible for the writers to interlace the work of hands with the work of language when weaving the action, the events, and the story. The author also makes remarks on the axiological character of handcraft, fist fight, and the motif of a hand as inherent elements involved in the world creation that define rural prose, with a special emphasis on the works by Stanisław Czernik, Tadeusz Nowak, and Wiesław Myśliwski.
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This paper is devoted to familiarisation of the reality depicted in Jarosław Grzędowicz’s novel, entitled Pan Lodowego Ogrodu (The Lord of the Ice Garden). Particularly, it covers the means of dealing with the unknown, basing on the example of the protagonist of this cycle – Vuko Drakkainen. The first problem tackled in this paper is the way in which the aforementioned hero and narrator describes the world; precisely, it includesthe attempts to make the new and hostile reality familiar, and the consequences of such an act. The second issue is a change in the viewpoint of the protagonist throughout the saga, and its influence on his ways of defining the surrounding world. Hence, it becomes possible to track how an unaware and hostile coloniser turns into a nearly fully assimilated member of the community, which previously has been unknown to him.
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The purpose of this paper is to take a closer yet temporally distant look into the issues connected with the complexity of literary communication in the Polish prose of the 90s. It covers techniques, methods, and means which aim at constructing the relations between an addresser and an addressee with regard to changing historical conditions. The paper poses as its subject matter Polish prose of the 90s, that is – works by Marek Bieńczyk, Zbigniew Kruszyński, Jerzy Pilch, Zyta Rudzka, and, especially, Grzegorz Strumyk. Moreover, it focuses on the revisions of the traditionally understood fictionality, which has always been a cornerstone of the contract with an addressee and a guarantee of readerly success. The key question raised in this paper thus becomes “What instead of a plot?,” or, in other words, “Which fictionality?” The paper therefore deals with the issues rooted in poetics and literary theory in the context of the particular literary notions concerning fiction. Furthermore, the reflections on mimesis in relation to the contemporary methods of creating a plot are presented.
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The article presents the works by Wojciech Widłak – one of the most popular contemporary authors of children’s literature – in the context of the motifs of the homely andthe foreign present therein. The conducted analysis has shown that in Widłak’s pieces the motifs related to foreignness dominate in terms of both quantity and quality (as they connote more meanings). The “foreign” can function as a synonym for something unknown, dangerous, unwanted, inappropriate, distant, primordial, and instinctual. The author attempts to form the plot and action in such a way that this “foreignness,” with its negative implications, is challenged by the end of the work. As a result of such “domestication,” it becomes something known and thus homely. At times an unknown feeling or object becomes so intriguing that it encourages the characters – and readers – to explore it and to gain knowledge on the subject. The article also describes the way in which Widłak uses the so‑called defence mechanism, which makes it possible for the reader to concretise and get familiarised with the dangers, and, consequently, to domesticate them, restoring the feeling of safety. In turn, the motif of homeliness in Wojciech Widłak’s oeuvre is related to that which is desired, known, and safe. Also the literary devices utilised by the author make it easier for young readers to understand the actions of the characters and the laws in force in the depicted world, they lend colour to the narration, and they make the described reality coherent and harmonious. In such a way, the world from Wojciech Widłak’s short stories is safe and homely, while the situations in which the author places his characters activate non‑adultreaders to take various actions and gain new experiences.
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In his diary kept from 1963 to his death, Józef Pilch (1913–1995) – a bibliophile and historian of the region from Ustroń – shows not only the social and artistic life of Cieszyn Silesia, and the reality of the Polish People’s Republic, but also the extraordinary image of his home in a hamlet called Goje. The article attempts to examine his writings in terms of the means of creating the “spirit” of this place, which was significant for the author as both his own private haven built not without difficulty at this picturesque site, and an anchor of the most precious values. As regards the latter, their vehicle is mainly the library, but also discussions with friends – among others from the world of culture – about Poland, books, history, and contemporariness. In this article, it is shown in what way Goje becomes in Pilch’s Dziennik not only an oasis of kindness and hospitality, but also a mythical locus amoenus, and, at the same time, the quintessence of Cieszyn Silesia and the centre of Polishness: a new Soplicowo. The author of this paper ponders upon whether it is only the idealisation that blurs the general uprooting, or the diarist remains an uncritical mythographer, but also upon the purpose of such a representation of Goje. It turns out that this Arcadia of books and nature makes it possible for the hosts and their guests to reclaim their past and to maintain the continuity despite the decline of tradition, the historical politics of the Polish People’s Republic, and the situations on the border.
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The article is grounded upon three texts: Marzenia i tajemnice by Danuta Wałęsa, Między nami by Małgorzata Tusk, and Towarzyszka panienka by Monika Jaruzelska. It reflects upon the genre studies oriented and rhetorical character of these texts, and a sui generis referential pact – a combination of autobiographism and biographism. The author also delineates persuasive elements – that is, an aim and a type of persuasion – connected to the subject of one’s own or someone else’s biography. The final part of the paper includes the remarks on the relation between authorship / co‑authorship (written autonomously, edited by…, inspired by…) and the final form of the text.
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The aim of this article is to compare the means of creation of fantastic worlds in the works by Jelena Dołgopiat and Anna Starobiniec. Both writers are apparently characterized by similar perceptions of the problems of a contemporary human being, which can be seen in analogical spatial‑temporal constructions of their pieces.The starting point for both Dołgopiat and Starobiniec is the reality familiar to the reader, in which, however, a certain extraordinary displacement or intrusion of foreign forces takes place. Anna Starobiniec – whose oeuvre is placed by critics on the verge of fantasy and metaphysical thriller – derives from the legacy of the 19th century fantasy, yet she adds a modern touch to it. Classifying Jelena Dołgopiat’s work causes more difficulty. The most adequate term to characterise her short stories seems to be ultra fiction; still, it does not embrace the complexity of these works.
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The article presents a way of using two opposing words – war and peace – in LesyaUkrainka’s letters. What is worth noting is the fact that so far there has been no linguistic research concerning this issue. It has been observed that lexemes war and peace influence the shaping of the inner world of the author of the letters. The analysed epistolary texts contain binary oppositions (including the war / peace pair), which first and foremost mirror the values held by the author, expressed in moral maxims and aphorisms.The nominative form of the word war is verbalised primarily by means of such lexemes as war, army, military, martial. What is worth noting is the personal engagement of the author in the real descriptions of the days during the war, as well as the usage of aphorisms and reflections on the subject of the war. In the letters, the stereotypical phrase go to war recurs in its figurative meaning (for instance, war as an illness). Lesya Ukrainka uses numerous words deriving from the word peace: they calmed down, she/he made peace, to reconcile, it is (not) beseeming, peacefulness, peaceful, peacefully, faithful, Myrophora. Frequently, the lexeme agree appears with the following meaning: to reach an agreement, to agree with other people’s opinion. Studying the binary pair of war – peace confirms the multidimensionality and universality of these phenomena, and the words and phrases that describe them.
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Volume 8 in the series introduces Polish readers to the work of Andrea Alciato (1492-1550), a Milanese jurist and humanist, considered the father of the canonic emblem, a literary genre combining picture and text, which flourished in 16th and 17th century Europe. The book contains the first Polish translation of Alciatus’ work together with a critical commentary and a comprehensive preface.
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The first part of a new publishing series titled Introduction to Croatian Literature and its Polish Reception presents the recent history of contemporary Croatian literature. It discusses the most significant phenomena in Croatian literature and culture, in particular the following decades: the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. The publication is the only one on the market that shows the most important trends in literature taking into account a broad socio-political and cultural background (references to music, comics, photography, film, political events in Croatia and the world, scientific achievements, technological innovations, major events that affected reality not only in this part of Europe, etc.). The contextual approach ensures that literature is not seen and presented as a field of human activity suspended in a vacuum. This gives the reader a more complete understanding of the processes taking place in culture. This book is also a story about the modern world and literature and culture being a product of the surrounding reality on the one hand and on the other hand constructing it. In the analyzed texts of Croatian culture one can easily recognize problems, themes, literary forms present in other cultures and literatures, not only Slavic or European ones.
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The book is the first Polish monograph on the anonymous poem Pervigilium Veneris, which has had many literary and instrumental-vocal interpretations. Analyze of the unusual similarities of phrases and motifs that appear in Pervigilium and in Nemesianus’ poetry led to confirming Monceaux’s thesis that the author of the work may be Nemesianus, a Carthaginian poet writing in the 3rd century AD. The author analyzes the techniques of portraying Diana and Venus and the sisters Philomela and Procne, comparing them with prefigurations contained in poems by Lucretius, Catullus, Statius and Nemesianus among others. The subject of reflection are also the enigmatic words Terei puella and Illa cantat, nos tacemus, which refer to the motif of women’s silence, strongly emphasized in ancient literature.
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Tatian is an early Christian writer - an apologist from Assyria from the 2nd century, a student of St. Justin the Martyr. He is the author of the first evangelical harmony (Diatessaron)1 probably in the Syriac language2, which was introduced into liturgical use in the Syrian Church and only later replaced by the four separate Gospels. In 546, Bishop Victor of Capua initiated a translation of Tatian's Gospel harmony into Latin. It is assumed that the Latin Codex reached Fulda via Boniface. The translation from Latin into the East Frankish dialect was apparently a joint effort3 of the monastic school under Abbot Hrabanus Maurus, who was a teacher at the monastery of Fulda until 822 and then abbot. Since the 10th century, the first evangelical harmony (Diatessaron) was translated into Latin. The 171-page manuscript Codex G № 56 is located in the Abbey Library of St. Gallen in Switzerland since the 18th century. The Latin and Old High German texts of the Gospel Harmony are arranged in two parallel columns - the Latin text on the left and the Old High German on the right. According to the editor of the Tatian Gospel Harmony in Latin and Old German, Eduard Sievers, despite some minor deviations, there is no doubt that the Latin source of the Old High German translation of Codex Sangallensis 56 is the Latin text from the 6th century revised by Victor of Capua (the so-called Codex Bonifatianus 1 of the Hessian State Library in Fulda, also Codex Fuldensis) ist.4
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The monograph Cynegetica by Grattius Faliscus: Hunting in Ancient Times addresses a research gap concerning Grattius and his poem. The study focuses on the relationship between hunting and warfare, as well as the dynamics between hunter and game. The first part provides essential information on ancient hunting practices, details about Cynegetica (Grattius’s life, the poem’s dating, structure, and references to military expeditions, didactic and hunting terminology), and various editions of the work. The second part presents the first Polish translation of Cynegetica, accompanied by a philological commentary. The research examines the poet’s use of artistic expression, linguistic phenomena, references to ancient mythology, and the poem’s political undertones.
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E-book UCRAINICA XI, published by VUP in 2025, is a collection of scientific papers and contributions from the XII. Symposium of Ukrainianists of Central and Eastern Europe. The proceedings contain the following sections: issues of synchronic and diachronic linguistics, issues of contemporary literary science and folklore studies, issues of didactics, philosophy of culture and resource studies. Scholars from many institutions and universities from Ukraine, Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic have contributed to the proceedings.
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