Wokół projektu biografii Adama Podgóreckiego: wyzwania koncepcyjne, metodologiczne i społeczne
On the Project of a Biography of Adam Podgórecki: Conceptual, Methodological and Social Challenges

Summary/Abstract: Podgórecki’s path of life, abounding in paradoxes and dramatic turning points, remains uncharted. Therefore, this article offers first a brief sketch of Adam Podgórecki’s biography, based on memoirs, original works, official documents and other “personal documents”. Post-war years are analyzed in particular, including student period and participating in the Club of the Logophagoi, a unique, unofficial discussion group. The experience of the communist order in the academia indicates the real price to be paid for those “disobedient in thinking”. The case of Podgórecki reveals the mechanisms of gradual exclusion and, as the result, an exile from the country. Discrete yet powerful role of communist secret service is also recognized. Secondly, the text presents some problems concerning writing a biography of the intellectual. The author explores different sociological approaches to biography. Certain conceptual and methodological constraints and obstacles are emphasized here. Writing a biography is also shown as a social practice which requires facing dilemmas concerning career path of a biographer as well as a challenge to a hierarchy within Polish sociological milieu.

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