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Recent shifts in the trends of contemporary arts manifesting in more and more frequent consideration of culture studies have greatly widened the range of vital research issues so far ignored by scholars. The latest trends in culture and literary research well correspond with Wincenty Kraiński’s (1786–1882) writings. He was a man of letters, a lawyer, the captain of the National Guard in the November Uprising, an emigrant, a preacher, a university teacher in Wrocław, a fierce opponent of Romanticism and Mickiewicz. He was the author of poetic and dramatic texts, with some traces of scribbling though, also texts devoted to historic and legal issues (including history of law), religious studies, student’s books of Polish language and the history of literature. There are 68 volumes of Kraiński’s scripts, preserved in the collection of Poznań TPN Library, on average 1000 pages long each. However, neither his political actions, nor publicist nor literary works have interested researchers so far, though his plenty works evoke a lot of questions referring to sociology of literature and culture, psychology, theory of communication, psychological aspects of esthetic, philosophic and ideal concepts of the époque or the times when he lived and worked. Moreover, Warsaw archives, in turn, so far little explored, if at all, reveal another view of Kraiński: as an efficient and energetic activist of the Great Emigration, an active secretary of the Emigration Parliament, one of the main founders of Polish School in Paris, a candidate for the first headmaster of the school. Finally, he appears to be a talented epistolographer, whose correspondence delights with efficient language, colorful and powerful utterances, a cautious observer and chronicler of contemporary events. This is Kraiński – the chronicler of the époque, whose reports provide a crucial source of acknowledgement of Great Emigration issues.
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The article is devoted to intertextual meanings of the myth of Mickiewicz’s death in his contemporary times, at the turn of the centuries and currently. The first point of reference is Biblical and national context; the next one is ideological, the vision of ‘the alliance of nations’ and of the political situation of the nations aspiring to independence; finally the outline indicates how consecutive Mickiewicz’s funerals contributed to registering his function of the creator of a new model of identity in Mid-Europe, the identity by culture. The international and ecumenical character of the funeral participants in Istanbul probably prefigurated the actions and funeral of John Paul II, the spiritual successor of the poet.
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Poema Piasta Dantyszka by Juliusz Słowacki were not well received by his contemporary readers. However, the later comparatistic analysis, placing the work in the context of mainly The Divine Comedy by Dante, but also in the tradition of the literature of Polish Enlightenment and Romanticism, reveals its intertextual dimension. The work may also be read as an ironic comment to the remains of Sarmatian culture.
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What made the pictures of Krzemieniec rich and varied were the picturesque landscape, characteristic architecture and the culture of the urban society, not homogenic ethnically,as it comes to customs or religion. In Godzina myśli (The Hour of Thoughts) and in lyrical poems motives of mountains, water, as well as floral ones create an idyllic landscape, making Krzemieniec a mythical Arcadia of childhood. In Kordian, the tale of Grzegorz’s about Janek who made shoes for dogs, enhances moral values of a motive excerpted from a folk tale about a castle on Bona’s Mountain, inhabited by devils. Then again, in Złota Czaszka and in the so-called fragments about Heliasz, the picture of Krzemieniec obtains universal qualities. Motives describing the society and the urban topography make it the figure of all the Republic of Poland, whose citizens are ready to fight for freedom or to realize the genesian plan of salvation. The motives of Krzemieniec are composed into clear picture-semantic lines. The Volynian town is once an idealized space of happiness, then it hides in the vagueness of tales and legend, to finally become the Polish Republic in a micro scale.
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The subject of the article is the role of the biographic material in Słowacki’s literary work, excerpted from a Volynian legend, concerning the character of the East borderline weirdo, Ignacy Ścibor Marchocki. The figure of Marchocki, whose mansion was visited by Słowacki after the eccentric owner had died, appears in several works: The King of Ladawa, Beniowski, Fantazy. The article includes a reflection on the manner and direction of creating a hero, a kind of reinterpretation of biography as a culture text made by Słowacki in the unfinished novel Le roi de Ladawa. Słowacki does not only mean to show antiques of a well known individualist, but also to create, based on his life, a certain parabol about creative abilities of an individual, about existence as a task, leading to achievement of coherence between one’s own life and more than the individual sense of the world. Słowacki realized all of the project in his genesian period.
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The article is a presentation of the motive of a pilgrim in Cyprian Norwid’s writings. The author of the outline places the pilgrim in the context of European symbolism, drawing attention to lyrical poems of Artur Rimbaud and Reiner Maria Rilke. Thus the text denies the importance of Norwid’s relation with Romantic tradition which so far has determined the image of Norwid’s wanderer. The pilgrim is a humble servant of ‘silent sky’ and he constantly watches the light-musical movement of the sky on earth. Norwid’s wanderer represents times of ‘urbanization of religion’, when faith ‘steps’ on earth, while co-realization of the faith is semantically marked metaphor and broadly understood reality.
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The compositional-ideal axis of the novel Nad Sprewą by J.I. Kraszewski is a story of a relationship and an unsuccessful marriage of a Pole, Kajetan Wolski, and a German woman, Wilhelmina von Riebe. Knowing only too well German realities, Kraszewski used a rather banal story to raise a much deeper truth. It tells about historic and cultural differences between the Polish and the German, which, apparently, make it impossible for the two nations to come closer or to communicate.
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Józef Chałasiński and Władysław Grabski are two characters associated with Polish sociology of the countryside, whose ideas the author refers to. The former one warned against the change of peasants’ ID, while the latter one recognized peasants’ own ‘unique identity’. Independently of the differences, they two met a number of years later developing the concept of cultural identity. Contemporary dilemmas associated with countryside are especially appealing in the rhetoric of the decline of peasantry, family bonds, territorial and cultural ones. The author objects the view. She proves that globalist trends give way to the return of traditionalism and pre-modernity. The approach is supported by Halina Kapciak, Elżbieta Tarkowska, Bogdan Jałowiecki, Wojciech Łukowski, and Paweł Starosta. The latest diagnosis in Polska wieś 2008 (Polish Countryside 2008) provides frames for empirical support of the author’s theses. They bring the change in latest projects of countryside reforms, addressed to local authorities in villages rather than to regional authorities situated in towns, as it was before. Thus, the projects underline the significance of cultural identity of rural communities.
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Chałasiński’s studies on contemporary history of African nations from methodological point of view was similar to his works about identity-awareness of Polish peasants. He has analyzing autobiographies and literary texts written by leaders of African political or cultural life. The role of Chałasiński in Polish studies on Africa also consist in creating of a sociological team at the Polish Academy of Science and editing of “Przegląd Socjologiczny”.
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NACJONALIZM CZY NACJONALIZMY? Agata Kotowska NARODZINY NOWOCZESNEJ IDEI NARODOWEJ Maciej Gloger ZAPROSZENIE DO LICZENIA Igor Piotrowski WYCHOWANKOWIE UNIWERSYTETU WILEŃSKIEGO W ŚWIETLE KORESPONDENCJI, WSPOMNIEŃ, DOKUMENTÓW Izabella Rusinowa OLGA FREIDENBERG W OKOLICACH LITERATUROZNAWSTWA Marcin Adamiak POWAŻNA INICJATYWA DIALOGU POLSKO-NIEMIECKIEGO Anna Skwarska
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The Diary Written by Night was being written for 30 years and published in series in “Kultura” edited in Paris by Jerzy Giedroyc. Among many other topics mentioned there, the author dedicates a great deal of it to Russian writers such as: Cvetaeva, Mandelshtam, Achmatova, Pasternak, Bulhakov, Shalamov, Solzenicyn, Platonov, and Pilniak. All of them suffered restrictions from the communist system and many of them, like the author himself, were persecuted and sent to labour camps, ‘lagrs’. Grudziński writes mostly about Solzenicyn, who wrote One Day of Ivan Denisovich. Grudziński’s story Another World describes the life of people in a ‘lagr’, and so does Solzenicyn’s book and the series of Kolymskie Stories, written by Shalamov. The reason why Grudziński says so much about other authors is that he does not only want to talk about himself but he wants to create a portrait of the epoch for the future generations to know their history. The excellent knowledge of the Russian culture and literature let Grudziński clearly portray Russian reality and the attitude of the authorities to remarkable artists and writers. Therefore The Diary Written by Night is the piece of enormous historical value depicting the totalitarian system and people who lived in it.
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Recently, apart from advertising, propaganda and social slogans, another type of slogan has appeared – the religious one. The author defines it as a brief message excerpted from the general appeal for faith, characterized with transparent, clear language. It includes intention of releasing actions according to the system of values and ethic instructions associated with the supernatural. These language forms belong to peripheral religious language variations, which may be called the first contact evangelization genres (e.g. contemporary religious song, religious chat, evangelization text message, religious advertisement etc.). However, they serve one of three basic religious functions: human immersion in spiritual reality, a description of the human vision of the supernatural and/or defining the system of values and moral code of conduct. The author draws special attention to the phenomenon of colloquial motives expansion in religious language due to changes in general colloquial language variations.
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The author of the article analyses connections between M.K. Sarbievius, L. Staff, Z. Herbert and the neostoic tradition. In the author’s opinion, the poems of these authors are in the position of a dialogue with Marcus Aurelius philosophy. The rhetorical analysis shows the fundamental ideas of this poem (Latin: Fatum, Fortuna, Mens) and their association with the principle: discors concordia. At the end of the article, the author confronts the poem by M.K. Sarbievius (Lir., III.6), his English translation by G. Hils and the poems by Leopold Staff (Marcus Aurelius speaks), and Zbigniew Herbert (To Marcus Aurelius). The thesis of the article is: only Lir., III.6 by M.K. Sarbievius is a manifestation of the discussion, from the Christian point of view, with the neostoic tradition.
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PIĘKNA TEORIA; Michał Mrugalski ŚWIAT ZAKLĘTY W LISTACH; Witold Zakrzewski „ŚWIAT SIĘ ROZLUŹNIA”; Andrzej Cieński
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The second part of the thirties of the 20th century characterized with increasing tension in Europe and all over the world. It can be explained by increasing expenditure on arms. Poland definitely had a lower population, economical and military potentials than Axis. The state budget could not afford the costs. Therefore, Polish president Ignacy Mościcki created a fund, encouraging the society to contribute to its growth on 9th April 1936. Then on 27th March 1939, the government created another fund to improve Polish air force. Cultural circles were highly involved in those actions. Jan Kiepura, an opera singer known all over the world, belonged to those. Among the donators on Polish armament were also sportsmen. Such actions were supported by Polish Radio. They evoked the sense of unity and patriotism in Polish society. Artists drew attention of the general public to the issue of state defense.
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My article aims at analyzing selected short stories by J.G. Ballard in reference to the end of the 20th century culture. His early “psychoanalytic” stories describe the inner space of contemporary people who live in permanent stress. His later texts belong in avant-garde and are influenced by socially traumatic events such as the assassination of J.F. Kennedy, the war in Vietnam, and the end of the Apollo program. The latest stories are a critique of the TV society with its propensity for sex and violence.
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