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The article is an analysis of three book published in 2014 devoted to the literature of the interwar period: Joanna Krajewska’s "Dispute about women’s literature in the interwar period", Margaret Büthner-Zawadzka’s "Warsaw through the eyes of women writers. The image and experience of the the city in Polish women’s prose, 1864–1939" and Urszula Glensk’s "History of the weak. Reportage and life in the interwar period (1918–1939)". In all of these publications, the authors refer to Foucault’s categories of “mapping” and “topography” to discuss important cultural, sociological and political contexts that shaped the literature of the period. The key question addressed in the article is how adopting a cultural perspective (one sensitive to issues of gender, class and ethnicity) changes our previous knowledge about the history and literature of the interwar period.
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The topic of this paper is discussed on the basis of two stories, ‘The Bog’ (‘Boloto,’ 1903) and ‘The Black Lightning’ (‘Chernaya molnia,’ 1913), and the short story cycle ‘The Laestrygonians’ (‘Listrigony’, 1911) by an eminent Russian writer of the turn of the 20th century, Aleksandr Kuprin. The stories bring images of the four basic natural elements – earth, fire, water and air. In particular, in ‘The Laestrygonians’ Kuprin shows the power of the sea, combined with the unimaginable force of the wind. The author presents man fighting a one-sided battle with the forces of nature. There are, as well, obvious analogies between the four elements and the elemental aspect of human nature. The stories under analysis not only depict the most important elements of the natural world, but also have particular social overtones.
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The author examines various types of transformations which a musical texts undergoes when it is introduced into a different culture. As the material for the analysis served poems of Jonasz Kofta, relying strongly on Russian motifs, Russian music and song lyrics. It turns out that the Polish version is not necessarily a translation: it may also be a parody, a completely new text or even a mystification.
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For the sake of the present analysis, definitions of values and emotions or affects are taken from Aristotle’s “Rhetoric” and from modern typologies of emotions. Selected Polish reportages of the 20th and 21st century have been chosen to illustrate the rhetoric of emotion. The paper elaborates on the following affects: anger, compassion, indignation, ambition, fear, courage, shame, sympathy, boredom, sadness, disappointment, admiration, respect. Examples of persuasive strategies (‘ethos’ and ‘pathos’) as well as linguistic expression of emotions are also taken into consideration.
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Researchers interested in Jan Kochanowski have paid little attention to the impact of German Humanism – as represented in Königsberg – on both the writing and the life of the poet. The aim of this article is: first, to present literary sources testifying to the poet’s stay in the capital of the Duchy of Prussia and his contacts with Prince Albert von Hohenzollern and humanists from the Albertina University; and second, to discuss Kochanowski’s view of Prussia (both Royal Prussia and the Duchy of Prussia) in his poems, and the possible influences of Georg Sabinus upon the Polish poet’s works. So far the connections of the Polish poet with Königsberg University (Albertina) and the court of the Prussian prince (actually duke) Albert Hohenzollern have been researched in the majority by Stanisław Kot, to whom we owe the publication of Kochanowski’s letter to the prince and his reply, and Janusz Małłek, who has verified Kot’s intuitional remarks using sources from the Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz in Berlin, but only from an historian’s biographical perspective. Kochanowski went to Königsberg for the first time in summer or autumn 1551 and stayed until the following spring. He returned for a second visit in spring 1555 and remained at least until mid-1556. The Polish poet’s second stay in the Prussian capital, especially, has been well documented thanks to Kochanowski’s autographed letter written to Prince Albert on April the 6th, 1556, and the prince’s reply dated April the 15th. Moreover, important information is recorded in the Prussian court’s expenditure accounts (Ausgabe-Bücher) from 1555 and 1556. These documents give explicit evidence of the Polish poet’s links with the ducal court. They also give implicit proof of his relations with humanists from the university (Georg Sabinus, the first rector of the Albertina) and the court. Of all Kochanowski’s works, the most important source for his feelings towards Prussia is his Proporzec albo Hołd pruski. He celebrates there the homage paid in 1569 to Sigismund Augustus by Albert Frederic (1553–1618), the son of Prince Albert, whom Kochanowski introduces as the very model of a good monarch: a virtuous, faithful and wise prince (v. 25–36). Whereas it is Royal Prussia itself that is praised by the poet in his Satyr albo dziki mąż (v. 85-90). Less known is the fact that Kochanowski’s poetry was influenced not only by Italian but also by German humanists: by the authors of handbooks of poetics and rhetoric such as Philipp Melanchthon or Joachim Camerarius, and especially by the poetry and theoretical treatises (e.g. Fabularum Ovidii interpretatio) of Georg Sabinus (1508–1560). The paper’s author concludes that the period (in total two years) which the young poet spent in the Duchy of Prussia was important for at least three reasons: the experiences gained at the court of Prince Albert definitely helped the poet in his further career as a courtier of Sigismund Augustus; ducal patronage helped Kochanowski in at least one trip to Italy; and the ducal library and acquaintance with Georg Sabinus obviously influenced the poetry (especially Latin poetry) of Jan of Czarnolas.
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The aim of this study is to establish the place of Jan Kochanowski’s Lyricorum libellus (1580) in the history of Polish Renaissance Neo-Latin ode presented against a wider European background. The development of this genre in this historico-literary period in Poland has received only fragmentary reporting, e.g. in relation to Horatianism in literature or as a background for the vernacular ode. Yet, as Carol Maddison argues in her Apollo and the Nine, the Neo-Latin ode is, in a sense, a new genre revived and newly “devised” by Renaissance humanists. In her fundamental work, Maddison also presents the development of the ode and its variations in Italy and France. According to ancient patterns used by poets, Horatian odes (including Kochanowski’s odes) can be divided into the “pindaric” and the “anacreontic-sapphic.” To some extent this division coincides with the classification of odes as “political” or “private.” Similar categorisation criteria adopted by various researchers (Zofia Głombiowska, Jacqueline Glomski, Józef Budzyński) may result in individual odes being assigned to several different categories. The first part of the paper, therefore, emphasises the identity of the Neo-Latin ode and its status as a new genre strongly related to Renaissance Humanism. In the second part, the author attempts to assign particular poems from Lyricorum libellus to patterns indicated by Maddison, and deals with previous attempts at classification based on differentiating between political and private odes. She also underlines that Kochanowski frequently imitated both pindaric and anacreontic patterns through Horace. In the third part, the author analyses the strophic organisation of individual odes and their metre as well as their logical-rhetorical structure. The odes are here classified with regard to these criteria and interpreted in accordance with their historical context. The author pays close attention to the genre’s borderline between ode and hymn, stylistic “nobilitation” of lyrical poems and the outright Horationism of the collection. Lastly, she presents conclusions concerning the role of Lyricorum libellus in the development of the ode. Before Kochanowski, a significant role in the evolution of the genre was played by the so-called “university ode,” which was popular in Silesian and German poetic circles, as well as in odes by Paweł z Krosna. Kochanowski’s odes, however, bear little resemblance to this stage of the development of the genre in Poland. Imitating Horace in the spirit of such poets as Michal Marullus or Giovanni Pontano, Kochanowski demonstrates a mature awareness of the Neo-Latin ode, formed at the meeting-point of ode and hymn and constituting an element of a cycle organised in accordance with a certain idea.
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The purpose of this article is to find Classical references in Jan Kochanowski’s amorous foricoenia, as yet not systematically studied. Scholars have focused on the meaning of the title Foricoenia (Szatyńska-Siemion) or on the ancient references (e.g. the presence of Terence in some epigrams or the translations from Greek, studied by Głombiowska), but have not studied the amorous epigrams as a whole. At the beginning the author indicates some topoi that are common to elegiac poetry (recusatio or the heroes treated like elegiac lovers). Firstly, the author shows that Kochanowski uses elegiac material and topoi in his epigrams, presenting to the reader a little epigrammatic Ars Amatoria, based on Ovid’s model. Secondly, he argues that even when Kochanowski translates epigrams from Greek, he chooses those that are more appropriate to his literary project, i.e. the “elegization” of the epigrams. Conclusions: Kochanowski “elegizes” his epigrams, first of all presenting a small Ars Amatoria, and then writing his texts according to the elegiac tradition, both in terms of topoi and textual imitations. After singling them out, I propose an interpretation of Kochanowski’s choices: I argue that he engages in a long-distance dialogue with Ovid’s Ars amatoria and more in general with the whole ancient amorous-elegiac tradition, which he sometimes denies. I bring forward a few examples, starting from a comparison between Kochanowski’s epigram XVI and Ovid’s Remedia Amoris 501–502 and Ars amatoria I 45–48 (i.e. the hunter caught in his own nets). Epigram V, In paellas venetas, introduces a special Ulys-ses, described as amorous, a lover rather than an epic hero, exactly as Ovid taught for this character. Furthermore, writing epigram LXIX to his friend Torquato, Kochanowski assures him he can make people fall ill with love, as well as cure his friend of such a “disease;” similarly, Ovid teaches how to make people fall in love (Ars amatoria) and how to recover from love (Remedia amoris).
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The aim of this paper is to show how Polish Renaissance poets reinterpreted the legend of Wanda and modelled the character of the princess depending on the chosen genre and the target readers. The author analyses the following source texts: Jan of Wiślica, Bellum Prutenum; Klemens Janicki, Vitae Regum Polonorum; Georgius Sabinus, De nuptiis Sigismundi Augusti et Elissae; Petrus Roysius, Hedvigis and Ad Proceres Polonos de matrimonio regio carmen; Joachim Bielski, Istulae convivium. In nuptiis Stephani Primi Regis Poloniae et Principis Annae; Jan Kochanowski, Elegiarum libri IV. In the canon of ancient rulers of Poland there is a woman called Wanda, daughter of Krak. This gallant virgin-king (in Poland a king could be male or female) who can be found in the oldest chronicles is also a character in Neo-Latin poetry. Jan of Wiślica in his epic poem Bellum Prutenum and Klemens Janicki in his cycle of historical epigrams Vitae Polonorum principium praise Wanda as a brave woman who equals Camilla, Semiramis and Tomyris in valour. In these two works the poets place the emphasis on Wanda’s heroic qualities as an excellent ruler and leader. On the other hand, Petrus Roysius looks disparagingly upon Wanda. In his poem Ad Proceres Polonos… he criticises her suicide as a sign of recklessness and concentration on her private life, which resulted in her shirking responsibility for the state she was entrusted with. Wanda’s story is a persuasive exemplum that was supposed to induce Sigismund August to consider a new matrimony that was crucial for reasons of state. In another poem, Hedvigis, Roysius reproaches Wanda for her exaggerated bashfulness, which drove her to such a desperate act. Wanda is also a character in royal epithalamia. Georgius Sabinus in his De nuptiis… presents Wanda as a beautiful, gallant and pure woman who lived the life of an Amazon. Her beauty attracted the attention of Istul, the god and king of Vistula. He kidnapped Wanda into the current of the river and made her his wife. In Istulae convicium… Joachim Bielski also depicted her as the unusually charming and refined spouse of the king of rivers. In both of these epithalamia Wanda does not commit suicide, but instead enters into matrimony. This is an innovation that departs from the canonical version of the legend. Jan Kochanowski dedicated one of his most beautiful elegies to Wanda, in which the Cracow Amazon becomes a responsible ruler and leader who acts according to the ethos of chivalry. The elegy is an aitiological epyllion that explains the origins of the name Mogiła upon Vistula. It is also in artistic rivalry with Propertius (IV 4). Here the brave Wanda becomes the opposite of the traitor Tarpei. For Renaissance authors the legend of Wanda is an opportunity to cleverly combine the ancient history of Poland with the tradition of ancient heroes, or a native legend with the legacy of Roman poetry, and thus to undertake emulation of the ancient poets.
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This paper presents the history of a motif that the author calls De consolatione somni. It is based on the Boethian pattern of consolation brought about by a woman who appears in a dream. Lady Philosophy, who in De consolatione Philosophiae morally and philosophically comforts Boethius when under sentence of death, is later introduced by Dante and Petrarch into the Renaissance poetry. The motif was applied to two ends: to express love in amorous poetry and grief in poetry of mourning. In Dante’s Vita nova and Petrarch’s Canzoniere (the author analyses poems No. 282 and 359) the deceased beloved appears to the bereaved lover in a dream and brings him comfort. Boccaccio, the third jewel in the “Tuscan crown,” in his eclogue Olympia introduces this motif to literature of mourning, creating the patterns of poetry dedicated to deceased girls (his influence is visible, for instance, in the Middle English poem The Perl, in the Dialogue en forme de vision nocturne by Margaret of Navarre or in Lament XIX by Kochanowski). The 15th-century lyric bonds mourning and erotic elements together even more strongly, adding a sensual dimension. Giovanni Pontano, in his poems dedicated to the memory of his late wife (the author analyses works from Lyra 9, Eridanus II 1; II 32, Hendecasyllabi II 29), evokes dream visions in which her spirit visits him. This consolation, however, had a clear sensual and erotic character, for the dead wife would come to her husband’s bed. He also likewise envisioned the prospective unification of the spouses in Elysium. In the next two centuries, in anti-Petrarchan poetry such consolation experienced in erotic dreams appeared both in poems of mourning (when the beloved passed away) and in love poems (when fulfilment was impossible for other reasons). The latter option is here illustrated in elegy I 10 by Secundus. A dream that compensates for the deficiencies of reality is a frequent motif in baroque poetry (G.B. Marino, A. Morsztyn). Yet the target point of this study is determined by the works that constitute the compositional frame of book II of Jan Kochanowski’s Elegiarum libri IV. Here we come across a rather unusual idea. A betrayed lover wishing to free himself from his humiliating love has a dream in which the goddess Venus appears (elegy II 4). Like Lady Philosophy (the Boethian pattern is particularly visible in a previous version of the elegy that is preserved in a manuscript), Venus tries to convert her charge to her domain, that is, to renew love in him. (This character, and especially her way of reasoning, is reminiscent of the creation of the Mother in Lament XIX). The triumph of the comforter is not long – elegy 11 brings another concept: a suicide committed in a dream that symbolically puts an end to unhappy love. Another significant aim of this paper is to draw attention to the influence that Boethius and his version of Platonism had on Renaissance poetry, and on Jan Kochanowski in particular. It seems especially important for recognising the sources of Lament XIX and elegies from book II of the printed volume. The first to have noticed Boethius’ impact on Kochanowski’s work was Izydor Richter (1912) but his discovery has not been exploited by later researchers. To sum up, the paper presents the history of a non-obvious (singled out by the paper’s author) motif in modern poetry and its relation to both love poetry and poetry of mourning as well as the Neoplatonic basis of Renaissance erotic lyric. It also explains the origin and the meaning of the dream vision in Kochanowski’s book II of Elegies and (although it is not the chief aim of the paper) the genesis of the comforting Mother who appears with Orszulka, the departed daughter of the poet, in Lament XIX.
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The following article presents the most important stages in the history of dialectic in the light of the changes of the topoi theory, from Aristotle’s Topics and Rhetoric, to Cicero’s Topica, Boethius’s tractates (In Ciceronis topica and De topicis differentiis) to the Medieval tradition. The author explains the most important shifts in the nature and function of loci between the 4th c. BC and the 16th c. AD, which allows a better understanding of the reasons of the fierce criticism of dialectic by Renaissance humanists, such as Lorenzo Valla or Rudolf Agricola, as well as the attempts they made to reform it. Aristotle is considered the first creator of topoi that he discussed in the Topics and the second book of the Rhetoric. The right context for understanding the function of loci is a dialectical disputation with its specificity. It seems that for Aristotle topoi were sources of arguments as well as sources of argumentation premises. He acknowledged topos in at least two ways: as a strategy for finding an argument that allows to win a dialectical discussion and as a rule of inference. For the later tradition of loci Cicero’s and Boethius’s commentaries on Topics were significant. Cicero wrote his Topica for a lawyer, Gaius Trebarius Testa, and ignored the context of dialectical disputation that was so important for Aristotle. For Cicero, topos (or locus) is the seat of arguments (sedes argumentorum). Referring to Aristotle’s division of rhetorical modes of persuasion, Cicero divided loci into intrinsic and extrinsic topics. Loci seem to work as pigeon holes, general headings under which one should look for arguments. Following the Stoics, Cicero considered dialectic and rhetoric to be two parts of the general science of logos. He also adopted the Stoics’ conception of dialectic as ars bene disserendi and divided it into two parts: the finding of arguments, i.e. ratio inveniendi (topike), and the judging of them (ratio iudicandi). Boethius, a crucial figure in the history of dialectic as a translator of Aristotle’s Organon, abandoned Cicero’s definition of topos as the seat of arguments and adopted Themistius’ (an early commentator on Aristotle) understanding of locus as a tool for justifying inference. Moreover, he identified topics with propositiones maximae, which are universal and well-known propositions that ‘need no proof (probation), but rather themselves provide proof for things that are in doubt’. Loci are also understood by Boethius to be genera of these universal and undoubted propositions (so called differentiae) and to contain them. According to Boethius, loci are principles of demonstration, they guarantee the validity of an argument. Such approach distinctly subordinates the art of inventing an argument (inventio) to the art of justifying its conclusion (iudicium). Medieval logicians, such as Abelard, Petrus Juliani, Albert the Great, William Sherwood or Lambert of Auxerre, adopted Boethius’ rather than Cicero’s or Aristotle’s approach to the loci. It was not until the Renaissance humanists tried to change the state of the matters, that projects of “new dialectic” were created. Humanists, such as Lorenzo Valla and Rudolf Argicola, aimed to rediscover the real meaning of Aristotle’s Topics and to broaden the way loci were used. Their efforts had a common source: the belief that scholastic dialectic was inadequate to what it was supposed to be in Aristotle’s view.
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The aim of this study is to show how Kochanowski imitated Horace in various ways and at different levels of his poetry. As to this moment, the matter has been discussed, mainly in regard to the Lyricorum libellus, by Zofia Głombiowska and Józef Budzyński. In this paper, the author briefly summarises their statements and comments upon them expressing her own view. She also mentions some other publications dealing with the Horatianism of the Polish poet to a lesser degree. The text is divided into four sections. In the first one, the author makes a brief comparison between Kochanowski and Petrarca in the context of their mental kinship with Horace that resulted in poetry which is “Horatian” not only in terms of the verba but also some ideas. The second section is devoted to the Horatianism of Kochanowski’s collection of odes (Lyricorum libellus). The author begins with a brief summary of the previously mentioned scholars’ views. She also demonstrates that some of these views may oversimplify the question of Horatian imitation in case of at least several of Kochanowski’s poems. To illustrate this, she presents an analysis of ode XI (In equum) in the context of its Horatian models; the conclusion is that in this poem, as well as in the entire collection, Kochanowski imitates Horace in a sophisticated and polyphonic way. The third part of the text, after a brief mention of the “loci Horatiani” in Kochanowski’s elegies, shows the interplay of ideas between Horatian poetry and Kochanowski’s Elegy III 1. The author puts emphasis on the fact that Kochanowski adapted some of the elegiac themes to the Horatian rhetoric. Concluding her disquisition, the author argues that Kochanowski’s Horatian imitation is neither superficial nor confined to the imitation verborum, but reaches deep in the structures of Horace’s poetry.
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The aim of this paper is to draw attention to an understudied mid-seventeenth-century manuscript copy of Przestroga (A Warning) by Jan Latosz (Joannes Latosinus, ca. 1539–1608). All three copies of the printed version of Przestroga, published in Cracow in 1595, that were known before the World War II are now considered to be lost and the manuscript held at the National Library in Warsaw (MS 6631 III) appears to be the only extant witness to this text. In the article, the author gives a brief characteristics of the manuscript, provides an outline of its contents and makes an attempt to draw further research and editorial trajectories related to this document. He makes an argument that the future critical edition of the text of Przestroga should shed some new light on the astrological and chronological views of this controversial Cracow scholar, and that the further study of the manuscript as a material object can provide additional information about the possible reception and reinterpretation of Latosz’s text half-century after its publication.
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The main goal of the paper is to focus on the image of the past suggested by the present state of the studies of early modern Polish literature and to propose a new and more inclusive approach to it. Using the debate on Western canon and its formation as well as the specific example of A Transaction, or an Account of the Entire Life as an Orphan, a memoir by a 17th century author, Anna Stanisławska, the author of the paper argues that what is believed now to be the canon of early modern Polish literature is rather a result of conscious decisions made by present scholars rather than an adequate representation of the past literature. The paper proposes answers to the following questions: What is lost from the image of the past as argued by the scholars when they fail to mention texts like the Transaction? How does the image of the cultural past change when one decides to acknowledge such texts? In Canon’s discourse. Fragments, the first part of the paper, the author relates briefly the debate on Western canon and its formation. He reminds that the different answers to the central question ‘what Western canon is and how it came to be’ translate to different sets of professional and political responsibilities associated with being a scholar. In Canons, syllabuses, reading material. What is ‘early modern Polish literature’?, which is the second part of the paper, the author tries to pinpoint texts which form the canon of early modern Polish literature. It consists of the texts that are actually taught at the faculties of Polish literature and are presented to their students as the early modern literature. The author analyses the curriculums of certain literary courses held in six Polish universities and finds ten recurring authors. He argues then that these authors, although respected, represent only one type of early modern Polish literature – written by the well-educated, Latin-speaking men. Consequently, the author proposes to broaden the perspective of literary studies by including in their focus such texts as the above mentioned Transaction. In Case study. Anna Stanisławska, women’s literacy and writing in the 17th century, the third part of the paper, he recapitulates briefly Stanisławska’s life and proceeds to show strong connection between Anna’s memoir and literary culture of her age (which can be seen in the way she employs topos humilitatis). He also points out that the appearance of such a text in the 17th century of all periods was no accident. During Stanisławska’s life, the number of schools dedicated solely to educating women in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was increasing. Although the literacy remained far below the level achieved in Western Europe, reading and writing became much more widespread among women. The author argues that leaving Stanisławska’s text out of the curriculum results also in failing to properly represent cultural shifts which came to pass in the 17th-century Poland. The author of the paper concludes that practicing literary history focused both on writers well-known as well as neglected like Stanisławska is a valid opportunity for a modern scholar. Not only does it enable them to create more complete narration about the past, but it also helps them grasp the consequences of the images of the past produced by their narration.
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In this paper, the author presents a critical edition of three chapters on rhetorical de-vices excerpted from the treatise O wymowie i stylu (On Eloquence and Style, Warsaw 1815) written by Stanisław Kostka Potocki (1755–1821), an enlightened man of letters. He begins with a brief introduction to a reading of Potocki’s text on some figurative uses of language. The author explains the circumstances in which Potocki wrote his rhetorical manual (the request of the Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning) and discusses its most important sources, both classic (Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Cicero’s On the Ideal Orator, Quintilian’s Institutions of Oratory) and modern (César Chesneau Dumarsais’ Traité des Tropes, Paris 1730, Hugh Blair’s Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, Dublin, Edinburgh 1783). With a few explanatory remarks on the three chapters presenting the nature of figurative language (in particular metaphor, personification, hyperbole and apostrophe) the author examines the connection between the rhetorical considerations on style and the Enlightenment philosophy of language. According to Stanisław Kostka Potocki, the tropes and rhetorical figures, being almost natural expressions of emotions, passions and imagination, should be regarded as the primordial origin of the human language. Thus the Enlightenment, the triumph of analytical (‘pure’) reason over imagination tinged with emotionality, is a period when authors intentionally limited the use of figurative language (although never totally rejected it) in order to reach the simplicity of the linguistic expression.
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The article aims to present a new interpretation of Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski’s De vanitate consiliorum by discussing the way the Latin notion of prudentia and the two-fold argument (disputatio in utramque partem) are employed in the dialogue. The first part of the article briefly discusses the origin and meanings of prudentia as it was employed in the Ciceronian tradition. The notion of prudence as practical judgement in relation to affairs of state is linked here to the Ciceronian mode of arguing in utramque partem, allowing a careful examination of different aspects of any given issue before taking political action. The second part of the article outlines the ways the notion of prudence is used throughout De vanitate consiliorum. Prudentia is referred to by the characters of the dialogue as a faculty that allows the statesman to make the best of contradictory forces influencing the course of political affairs – a faculty which does not ensure success, but allows one to achieve the best possible result in the contingent sphere of human affairs. The third and final part of the article discusses the two ways the image of ‘two-headed prudence’ is invoked in De vanitate consiliorum, either in reference to the prudent judgement which carefully examines different aspects of the issue at hand or to the council’s indecisiveness which hinders the possibility of consensus necessary to take political action. An interpretation of the dialogue as a rhetorical exercise in prudence is proposed in this part, arguing that the way Lubomirski employs rhetorical deliberation in utramque partem invites the reader to constantly exercise his own practical judgement in relation to affairs of state.
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The paper is an attempt at analysis and interpretation of Emblem 96 by Zbigniew Morsztyn. The author presents the text against a broad comparative background and argues that the work is a particular study of the virtue of prudence, for which anticipating future (or more strictly speaking: last) things is a key issue. To date, the ninety-sixth emblem by Zbigniew Morsztyn, although relatively frequently studied by scholars of old-Polish literature, has not yet been comprehensively interpreted. Models of such analyses are provided in articles by Janusz Sławiński or Maria Renata Mayenowa on Emblem 102, complemented by the works of Janusz Pelc and the recent studies in the subject of emblems by Radosław Grześkowiak and Jakub Niedźwiedź. In the beginning, the author shortly outlines the history of the notion of the virtue of prudence in classical and biblical aretology as well as in Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Thaeologiae, which significantly influenced the definition of the virtue of prudence in Christianity. Later, in a detailed analysis of Morsztyn’s text the author tracks references to various elements of Prudence. It seems that (according to Morsztyn) the most important element of this virtue among those distinguished in aretology is providence, that is, the ability to anticipate future things, since this is what the posthumous fate of a man’s soul depends on. Morsztyn illustrated sensible providence using the metaphor of a telescope. This optical instrument, apparent in the iconographical schema of the original print as presented by Morsztyn, supports the cognitive abilities of man and allows him to discern future things that are crucial for his salvation, that is the last things, which he often forgets when carrying on his worldly matters. In order to show the uniqueness and originality of Morsztyn’s presentation of the subject, the author compares his works with emblem XIV from book I of Herman Hugon’s Pia desideria in the translation of Aleksander Teodor Lacki, the adaptation of Mikołaj Mieleszko and the English version of Hugon’s emblems by Francis Quarles. All these variants differ from each other in that they contain differently detailed deliberations on prudence and the last things, as well as in diverse application of the telescope metaphor. Thus Quarles shaped his emblem as a dialogue between Soul and Body in which Soul is trying to convince her interlocutor of the superiority of the telescope over the prism in the thoughtful cognition of the truth about eschata. Mieleszko, by contrast, built his emblem on the concept of a telescope that is turned over and so distances the eschatological vision. Lastly, in the subscription of Hugon-Lacki’s emblem there is no mention of the telescope whatsoever. Such comparative juxtaposition of Morsztyn’s emblem with other adaptations of the Belgian Jesuit’s work exposes not only the artistry of the synthetic presentation of the subject by the old-Polish poet, but also his aretological awareness.
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The goal of this article is to present a new reading of a short dedicatory poem offered by an outstanding poet of the Italian Renaissance, Torquato Tasso, to Stanisław Reszka, the abbot in Jędrzejów, the secretary of Stanisław Hozjusz, and, in this specific case, the ambassador of the Polish king Sigismund III to the Kingdom of Naples. The poet and the ambassador met in 1594 in Naples, where both were recovering from illnesses. Their meeting took place shortly after the publication of Jerusalem conquered, which was a recomposed version of Jerusalem delivered, published in 1593. The poet wished to present his newly created work to men of letters and in common opinion it would have been difficult to find in Naples anyone more estimable than Reszka in those days. Torquato Tasso offered to Stanisław Reszka a copy of his new book with a dedication in the form of a short, eight-verse poem of his own creation. Until now, the ottava was known from the transcription contained in Bibliografia critica by S. Ciampi and in the Italian edition of Tasso’s letters, published by C. Guasti. In Polish literary circles the text of the poem was known thanks to the work of Professor Windakiewicz, who at the close of the 19th century published it in Polish translation and some time later the original text of the poem. The lead to the British Library copy was discovered during the course of research on early printed books owned or written by Stanisław Reszka and preserved in the collection of the Jagiellonian Library. With the generous help of Stephen Parkin, the curator of the Italian collection in the British Library, the original of the autograph was found, and thus it became possible to compare the existing texts with the original. During the comparison it appeared that the transcription given by Ciampi with the help of the Roman bookseller Giovanni Petrucci differs in some places from the British Library original. The author proposes a new reading of several uncertain places based on his own palaeographic experience as well as on the help of relevant reference works from the epoch.
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The paper discusses the latest edition of the works of a Lithuanian humanist and propagator of the Reformation, Abraham Kulwieć (Abraomas Kulvetis, ca. 1510/1512–1545), edited by a Lithuanian scholar, Dainora Pociūtė. In the first part the author raises the question of Kulvetis’s absence in the contemporary historical studies of Polish Renaissance literature. In the second part of the paper the author reminds the role of this person in the development of humanist culture and Reformation in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the first half of the 16th century.
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