O powojennej działalności i wzajemnych relacjach Manfreda Kridla i Wiktora Weintrauba
On the Postwar Activity and Mutual Relations of Manfred Kridl and Wiktor Weintraub

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Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on two Polish literary scholars, Manfred Kridl and Wiktor Weintraub, who, after leaving Poland during World War II, lived and worked in exile in the United States of America. In order to describe their postwar activities and mutual relations, attention is paid to the published and unpublished works of the two scholars, their correspondence, and other documents deposited in library archives. Despite the difference in age, Kridl and Weintraub had much in common in their academic pursuits: as historians of Polish literature they both had similar interests and both worked as professors at prestigious American universities (Kridl at Columbia and Weintraub at Harvard). These facts, as well as the scholars’ attempts to collaborate with each other, are among the topics covered in the article. The other issues discussed here include the contrast between the two scholars, especially Kridl’s critical evaluation of Weintraub’s research efforts and Kridl’s concern for literary theory to which Weintraub seemed indifferent. In assessing their postwar scholarly activities, the argument is presented that despite the adverse circumstances of the life in exile both Kridl and Weintraub were remarkably successful. Their highest achievements lay in Polish literary history and in strengthening Polish studies in America.

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