A Transnational Perspective in Biographical Research: The Case of Stanisław Lem

Abstract

In this essay, the author presents biography as a genre of historical writing and argues that it is entangled in the methodological challenges of contemporary historiographical discourses, including methodological nationalism. Placing Stanisław Lem’s biography at the center of her interest, the author analyzes national, ethnic, and class relations in Lviv since the late nineteenth century, and considers the turning points in the history of this city, presenting them from a transnational perspective. In this context, she shows how Lviv’s Center for Urban History of East Central Europe has been transformed and the role it is currently playing in documenting Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.