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Stanisław Makowski (1931–2008) identified himself with literary research trends in which text in the broad sense was most important. Word, however, was, for him, unity with designate. Therefore, he did not throw away traditional literary studies, based on biographism and verification realities. He considered the latter ones as hermeneutic undertaking. In his philological books, he used experiences from journeys following poets’ footsteps. He focused on the literature of Polish Romanticism. He traced uniqueness of the culture of that period from multiculturalism and the dialogue of ideas. He enhanced the fact that the trend combined living-room traditions and folk culture values, that it united Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Belarusian inspirations with Polish tradition. He searched for new interpretations assuming that reception of literature occurs within the dialogue with contemporariness. He was interested in the theory of editorship. He realized significant editorial undertakings. He did not ignore popularization. In his texts addressed to teachers and students, he presented the outcome of his studies. He was an author of school books. He led and inspired research of Warsaw. He organized scholarly life. He persistently pursued transformation of research methodology into an universal tool of culture communication.
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The article describes the content, the role and historical meaning of the preface to volume I of Poezyje by Adam Mickiewicz dating back to 1822 in the light of the so-called struggle between classics and romantics and in the perspective of originating of Polish Romanticism. The author confronts the formed ex post legend concerning the origins of Romanticism and later historic-literary interpretations of the preface with its rhetorical structure and Mickiewicz’s literary attitude that he actually presented at the beginning of 1820s. The content and the structure of the preface, according to the author, reveal that the initial intention of the Polish poet was not unconditioned condemnation of Classicism in general but, quite contrary, a distinction of the great tradition of the Greek Pericles Classicism and minor forms of Roman and French court classicism. Contrary to the later legend, which viewed the preface of 1822 as an explicit proclamation of Romantic ideas and a total break-off with Classicism, Mickiewicz, as an educated classic philologist himself, presented in the preface an interesting an innovative for Polish conditions concept of a synthesis of selected Romantic plots and the great heroic tradition of Greek Pericles Classicism. The argument between the Classics and the Romantics made the postulate of the Classicism-Romanticism synthesis less relevant in the 1820s, 1830s and 1840s, in the eyes of Mickiewicz and his contemporary. Then the poet’s attitude evolved towards messianism, mysticism and towianism. Thus, it is a historic paradox, that the preface and volume I of Poezyje by Mickiewicz obtained, in the course of originating of Polish Romanticism, the meaning which is contrary to the original, while Mickiewicz himself, being under the influence of his supporters and excitable patriotic public, became a Romantic extremist. The trend towards Classic époque turned into a retreat from it, while the Classic breakthrough unexpectedly became Romantic.
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Conrad’s novel Chance appeared in 1912, in the times of extreme pursuit of philosophical precision and subjecting it to the critics of reason. (There was a British analytic school of realists in the years 1904–1912). The method is popularized in Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (1910), in a scholarly study supported by numerous works referring to philosophy. Apparently, “Chance” preserves in its meaning the primitive faith in fate, but on the other hand, acquires modern qualities referring to the theory of probability and the concept of chance. The notion of “Chance” does not, actually, deny causality. It includes neither good nor bad, nor it has any moral meaning. Conrad’s novel shows traces of the times and has qualities corresponding to the assumptions of realists’ philosophy: ‘to acquire an open attitude and not to foresee the outcome’. The motto of the work is the most accurate comment: ‘Those, that hold that all things are governed by fortune had not erred, had they not persisted there’. Conrad attacks the total power of fortune and reminds other meanings of the word ‘fate’, ‘necessity’, ‘lot’, ‘destiny’ – when it comes to the inevitable. ‘Chance’, however, in the sense of an objective happening, is called by Conrad ‘pure accident’ and is defined as follows: ‘By accident I mean that which happens blindly and without intelligent design’. The notion includes disposition, potential which a man can alone and should use. The adventurous-sensational plot of the novel includes a great degree of Romanticism in the story of a maid alienated by life and her husband, captain of the ship ‘Ferndale’. With slight irony, Conrad presents lofty chivalry of the hero in the course of action. Precise analytic thinking, associated with the development of the couple’s love, among extremely complex events of other people’s reality, provides room for deep interest in human fortune in Conrad’s works. Each character faces a chance which can be won. The success of the novel has been reflected in its translation into European languages. Ideas for titles of individual translators reveal difficulties to achieve the ambiguity of the English word ‘chance’. The most successful seems the title of the German translation: Spiel des Zufalls.
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The outline deals with the philosophical question of the evil of modernity in the novel by Joseph Conrad from 1899 Heart of Darkness (colonial context) and in the film by Francis Ford Coppola Apocalypse Now (the war in Vietnam). The analysis not only deconstructs European discourses of ethics and civilization but it also reveals human interaction leading to a kind of secular "redemption”: acknowledging the “horror” of the world and inner judgement. As an adaptation of Conrad’s book, the film highlights the insanity of civilization and presents Conrad’s initiation scheme in devilish colours. The sacrifice motive, which is the “climax of action”, brings neither redemption nor catharsis. The question of the evil of modernity shows in both the works as a decline of the logo-centric course and the appearance of “hollowed people”, motivated only by instincts. The possibility of interpersonal redemption, as a kind of secular salvation, appears only in Conrad’s novel.
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Dream is the most frequently described psychic process in Modernist novel. It is about revealing the state of human soul and reaching for the truth hidden deep inside it. There are meaning otherwise unavailable, by which a human being has a different view of the outside world and can understand mysteries he would never expect to exist. The symbolical universe activated within a dream contradicts the univocal character of the relation real – unreal, there is no natural obligation to search for hidden analogies in a dream, but an infinite production of meaning. This symbolical universe opposes Plato’s interpretation, according to which the world of dreams is the world of ideas, pure experiences, free from randomness, while the real world is the shadow of a shadow, though originating from the psychology of depth.
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The metaphor of look occurs in J. Starobinski’s texts on two different semantic levels: it expresses the connection of the artist with reality, as well as a relation between a critic and an analyzed work. In the article, there is an analysis of topic studies of the Swiss critic, devoted to look and his theoretical papers, in which the metaphor of look reflects a critical relation.
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The aim of the article is to outline the picture of nature presented in periodicals, hidden in the topos of “the book of nature”, of symbolical and allegorical meaning. The study focuses on discourses by I. Krasicki, W. Mitzler de Kolof, J.E. Minasowicz, published in “Zabawy Przyjemne i Pożyteczne” (1770–1777), “Monitor” (1765–1785), “Magazyn Warszawski Pięknych Nauk, Kunsztów i Różnych Wiadomości Dawnych i Nowych” (1784–1785), “Nowe Wiadomości Ekonomiczne i Uczone” (1758–1767). The study of the topic of the selected periodicals typical of the 18th century was the outcome of the necessity to consider its role in the general interpretation of attitudes towards the world. Apparently, there is a high frequency of “the book” topos in Enlightenment writings. This topos, including various meanings, belonged to visualization broader than the Classicistic cannon. There was a strong necessity to reveal the rules controlling nature and to learn the mechanism by which it functioned. The topic originated from scientism, rational approach to reality as well as from theological belief in God’s signs either hidden or revealed in the shape of universe. The book of nature described universal principles nature, subordinating also the human being. The approach became popular among physiocrats, advocating “the only constant rules written in nature”. Periodicals from the epoch, once classified as a source of information about state reforms, political programmes introduced at the time, social changes, defined as “didactic”, “of manners”, include a surprising apotheosis of nature, delivering its varied and rich picture.
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This article refers to the existence in Poland of the relatively young Macedonian literature, which originated in a language codified only in 1945. This retrospection endeavours to find answers to the following questions: when were translations made? And also, what was translated? The article supplies documentary evidence that all of the Macedonian texts published in Poland, both poetic and prose, were first included in collected volumes presenting Macedonian achievements in the context of the literature of the Yugoslav nations. It was concluded that later independent editions of Macedonian works usually required some explanations for Polish readers. In those introductions, it was indicated that the literature belonged to the Slavic ethnos. Moreover, it was believed that the writers made constant efforts to come to the standard level of world literature. Those explanatory efforts could have created false impressions that the Macedonian literary corpus only refers to local tradition and beliefs. After the collapse of Yugoslavia, the literature of Macedonia was not forgotten. What is more, it became apparent that it was created not only by Slavic nations but also by the Turks and Albanians residing in Macedonia. Although Blazhe Koneski, the great Macedonian writer, who was a poet and a codifier of contemporary Macedonian language, highlighted that the literature of his homeland belongs to a small nation, it is believed to be strongly rooted in the wider European cultural heritage.
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The article presents the story of the II Polish Republic government with Kazimierz Świtalski (1886–1962) as the leader. It worked from 14th April until 7th December 1929. It was the first of the so-called colonels’ governments, with the leadership of the closest and the most trustworthy workmates of Marshal Józef Piłsudski after the May revolt (1926). The most outstanding personalities of the government were the August Zaleski, foreign affairs minister, and Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski, minister of trade and industry. The main objectives of the government were struggle with central-leftist opposition and preparation to the Common State Exposition in Poznań.
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The author firstly describes the main routes of Polish wanderings, which in the days of the World War II led to the countries of the Middle East. He described the way which in the years 1940–1941 led from Hungary and Romania to Liban, Syria, Palestine, and Egipt, as well as the route of Polish convicts and exiles, who left the Soviet Union together with the so-called “Polish Army” of General Władysław Anders, to find their haven in Iran and in other Eastern countries. As a result of this wandering 125–127 thousand citizens of the Second Polish Republic found themselves in the Middle East; they were mostly Polish, but also Ukrainians, Belarusians, Jews, Tartars and Lithuanians. Further, the author seeks to explain, how the aforementioned exile community managed to establish its own press and book publishing houses. He also indicated the sizes and the most important features of exile publishing activities in this area, showing the most characteristic examples of press and book production. He put it in the context of activities of Polish scientific institutions in the East. The author closes his reflections with a significant passage from an address made by Professor Stanisław Kościałkowski during the inauguration of Polish Studies in Beirut in 1946.
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The text discusses concepts of restoration of the Polish state in the conditions created by the geopolitical situation after World War I. Disputes of the time concerned both the borders of future Poland and its state polity, in particular the nationality issues. This gave a practical dimension to debates lead on theoretical level since the Enlightment: What is a nation? What should be the basis for national identification: cultural community or community of law? How should relations between various nations living within the boundaries of the Polish Republic be regulated by Polish constitution?
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