POLE JĘZYKOZNAWCZO-LITERATUROZNAWCZE W POLSCE
The field of linguistics and literary studies in Poland

In search of structural factors of its rises and fall over the “long 20th century”

Author(s): Tomasz Zarycki
Subject(s): Sociology
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: linguistics; literary studies; poetics; structuralism; formalism; Polish studies
Summary/Abstract: The chapter is an attempt to take a synthetic look at the history of Polish linguistics and literary studies from the mid-19th century to the present day. The proposed approach analyzes the global, international conditions of the dynamics of this broadly defined field, from the imperial context to the fall of communism. A number of comparisons with the dynamics of development of other disciplines are also proposed. The author pays particular attention to the history of the Polish structuralist school (including the formalists). Their example allows him to examine the factors determining the international recognition of Polish humanists and social scientists in certain periods, and its lack in others. He also discusses in more detail the biographies of several scholars who illustrate these mechanisms well, in particular Jan Niecisław Baudouin de Courtenay, Stefan Żółkiewski and Maria R. Mayenowa.

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