Century Polish Research Articles

Jansenist Education and Racine’s Intertextuality in European Context: Can an Early Modern Translation of Andromaque Help Revisit an Old Concept?

Abstract The article deals with the intertextual dimensions of Jean Racine’s tragedy Andromaque and its rendering by the seventeenth–century Polish translator Stanisław Morsztyn. The analysis is based on an old hypothesis concerning the link between Racine’s intertextual literary practice and his erudite education at the Petites écoles de Port-Royal. The translator, although he had not received Jansenist education, was able to identify correctly and develop the original strategy of quotations and allusions. The article attempts to seek the factors that helped the Polish translator render the intertextuality of Andromaque in another cultural context. Three such factors have been proposed—the tradition of neo-Latin poetry developed both in France and in Poland, the Italian Petrarchism (along with the idea of sprezzatura), perceived not as a store of topics but as a pattern of free operation with Ancient allusions. The similarity between Racine’s education and that of Morsztyn, which combined the influence of the Polish Brethren with homeschooling, could have been the third factor. The article closes with a question concerning the perspectives of cultural studies in intertextual strategies of poets connected with various religious circles of the seventeenth century.

Literatura na łamach prasy polonijnej w Brazylii 1892–1920

Literature in the press of Polish diaspora in Brazil 1892–1920 Literature was published extensively in the nineteenth century Polish diaspora press in Brazil. Even the entire page of a four-page issue could be taken up by a piece of belles lettres. The use of literature, contrary to what has been suggested in the source literature, was not simply an effortless way to fill journals with interesting, popular content. Belles lettres were carefully chosen, for instance based on the author’s worldview preferences. In addition to fulfilling the cultural and ludic functions of the Polish diaspora press, which are of primary importance in this context, literature also served important edu- cational, informative, and religious functions. Publishing literary works was a way to maintain boundaries with the language and culture of the country of origin, and Polish diaspora activists used satire to conduct debates.

Climate and disease in historical urban space: evidence from 19th century Poznań, Poland

Abstract. This study examines the relationship between temperature levels and precipitation amounts as explanatory variables for the probability of death due to waterborne and airborne diseases in historical urban space. To date, the literature has not focused on the climatological epidemiology of 19th century Polish urban areas. We used individual mortality data from Poznań parish death registers between 1850 and 1900. Each deceased individual was assigned average monthly temperature values and precipitation amounts in the month of death, LAG1 (1-month-lagged) temperature and LAG1 rainfall, and place of residence. We studied the relationship between weather conditions and mortality using formalized statistical models reflecting the discrete nature of the response data (via multinomial logistic regression). Lagged monthly average temperature levels and lagged monthly average precipitation amounts were better predictors of airborne and waterborne disease mortality than the concurrent (non-lagged) monthly averages. The lagged effects of temperature and precipitation on waterborne and airborne diseases were significant (except for the smooth lagged average monthly temperature effect for airborne diseases). There was also significant spatial heterogeneity (differences among city quarters) in the prevalence of deaths due to waterborne and airborne diseases.

Polish Philosophy of the XX – early XXI Centuries through the Eyes of the Russian

Introduction. In the modern world we can note an increasing interest in problems and thinkers who have not been included in the classical history of philosophy for a long time. In the Russian tradition, Polish philosophical thought was considered within the narrow framework of the ideas of N. Copernicus, the revolutionary democrats, representatives of the Lviv-Warsaw schools. As a result, the impression was formed that in the 20th century Polish thought did not generate anything significant and interesting. In this work, the author made an attempt to rethink the attitude of Russian people to Polish thinkers of the 20th century to highlight the figures of those who can be perceived as spiritually close to the Russian understanding of philosophical issues. Philosophical novels and novellas have always existed in Russian culture. Russian thinkers sought to act as an artist of the word, which is not limited by academic frameworks.Methodology and sources. As in any historical and philosophical work, the historicalcomparative approach was used in this article. To implement the tasks set, the analysis of the works of Polish thinkers of the twentieth century L. Kolakovsky, J. Bohensky and S. Lem, who were the sources of this work, was carried out.Results and discussion. In Russian culture, philosophy (love of wisdom) has never been limited only to the framework of academic traditions. It is impossible to put thought in the “Procrustean bed” of clear rules and schemes, especially philosophical thought, therefore the author includes in the circle of study Polish thinkers who in their work sought to work outside the boundaries and established frameworks. L. Kolakovsky, J. Bohensky and S. Lem represent an unusual vision of familiar concepts. They demonstrate in their works that the "buffoonish" view can be present in the philosophical tradition, that an aphorism is the quintessence of thought. In the works of L. Kolakovsky, J. Bohensky and S. Lem, one can see a world of paradoxical worldview, a world of laughter at “unshakable” principles, a world that makes one wonder. And it is with surprise, according to Aristotle, that philosophy begins.Conclusion. Grotesque, oxymoron, paradox in the works of L. Kolakovsky, J. Bohensky, S. Lem represent a form of philosophical understanding of modernity. The Polish thought of the twentieth century shows that philosophy can and should have many variants of its implementation.

Finish—Spare the Shame: Realism of Hellish Quart and Alt-Sarmatian Ideology

This article provides in-depth analysis of Hellish Quart: a fighting game set in 17th century Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and cherished for its realism, vis-a-vis Neosarmatian ideology of the Polish alt-right: the current iteration of centuries-old origin myth of Polish nobility. While we do not consider the game a willing participant in the proliferation of Alt-Sarmatian ideas, we claim the pervasiveness of Sarmatism within Polish national identity makes it difficult not to consider the conservative approach to national history a “realistic one.” In this article, we present the shortened history of both Sarmatian myth and the special place sabre-fighting occupies in Polish culture, and utilize them to understand ideological entanglement of the “realism” offered by Hellish Quart regarding the vision of the past and the mechanics of combat.

A Few Observations on the Cultural Aspects of 19th Century Polish Archaeology

The article identifies and discusses several examples of specific perceptions of archeology developing in the 19th century in constructing and sustaining national identity, especially in the face of the loss of the political subjectivity of the state, which sometimes even resulted in outlining an opposition of discovering, collecting and studying artifacts of native “antiquity” against the dynamically developing Mediterranean archeology (ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome) in Western Europe.

Keywords in Religious Literature of 17th and 18th Centuries in Light of the Data from the Electronic Corpus of 17th - and 18th -Century Polish Texts

Abstract This paper discusses the application of standard keyword extraction methods from corpus linguistics for the study of old Polish language. The unfolding analysis is based on writings included in the Electronic Corpus of 17th- and 18th-century Polish Texts. The aim of this analysis is to select keywords from over two million tokens derived from texts tagged as religion in the corpus and compare them with the reference corpus containing over nine million tokens, while verifying the applicability of the log-likelihood method for the analysis of old Polish language and developing a part of the research model.

Revealing Privacy in Epithalamia: Royal Possessions during Wedding Festivals at the Court of the Jagiellonians: Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus

This article analyses the wedding poems (epithalamia) from the Jagiellonian courts of Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus in order to understand what privacy was and how it was comprehended in the sixteenth century Polish Lithuanian-Commonwealth courts. Applying the terminological and the heuristic zone approach, this article deals with the idea that in early modern Central-Eastern Europe, privacy could have an ambiguous meaning. On the one hand, it could be grasped as family ties, especially in poems following the classical tradition where priv* words appear, and on the other hand, as the King’s personal property understood as an artifact commissioned or possessed by the ruler that formed part of his domestic belongings. The epithalamia also let us observe the wedding rituals and customs practiced by the Jagiellonians and prove their derivation from Western European court traditions.

19th Century Polish Literature and Nature, Cities, and Ecology

19th Century Polish Literature and Nature, Cities, and Ecology

Was the Constitution of 3 May 1791 a Source of Inspiration for 19th Century Polish Constitutional Drafts? The Problem of Using Polish Constitutional Heritage in the Congress Kingdom of Poland in 1815 and 1831

The article focuses on the problem of using legal heritage based on the example of the Constitution of 3 May 1791. This issue is considered in relation to two selected moments in the history of the Congress Kingdom of Poland – 1814/1815 and 1831. What connects them and, at the same time, makes them unique periods in the political and constitutional history of Polish territories under the partitions is the relative freedom the Polish elites had in their right to decide on the constitutional foundations of their own statehood. In 1814/1815, Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski was granted the emperor’s consent to prepare a draft which, after corrections, became the basis of the Constitutional Act granted by Alexander I on November 27, 1815. Similarly, in 1831, after the dethronement of Tsar Nicholas I, the insurgent elites were free to embark on an unfettered constitutional debate on the systemic reform of the state. Both in 1814/1815 and in 1831, Polish political and intellectual elites faced a dilemma as to whether the Constitution of 3 May could serve mainly as a monument to and symbol of Polish history, or whether it still had the potential to be directly applied; and if so, then to what extent and under what conditions? The publication is devoted to exploring the answers to these questions.

Polski krytyk teatralny Andrzej Wirth – mistrz przemieszczania się i jego rola w kształtowaniu nowego oblicza teatru w Niemczech

Andrzej Wirth, a 20th century Polish essayist, philosopher and theatre critic, is one of the often forgotten theatre and drama scholars in Poland, perhaps due to his long life in exile. A recognized expert in theatre studies and philosophy, he has lectured at many universities around the world, especially in the United States and Europe. He gained particular recognition as the founder and director of the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies at the University of Giessen in Germany. The aim of this article is to introduce Wirth’s personality, outline his life between cultures and highlight his importance for the development of theatre studies in Germany, as well as his great contribution to the promotion of Polish literature in Germany in the mid-20th century. Andrzej Wirth’s life was beyond borders and divisions, although with a particular attachment to the culture of his homeland and Germany; he was rooted in childhood memories and a desire for theatre as a liberated art in an age of evolving media technologies.

Czy Konstytucja 3 maja stanowiła źródło inspiracji dla XIX-wiecznych polskich projektów konstytucyjnych? Problem wykorzystania dziedzictwa prawnego w pracach nad reformami ustrojowymi 1815 i 1831 r.

Was the Constitution of May Third of 1791 a Source of Inspiration for 19th Century Polish Constitutional Drafts? The Problem of Using Polish Constitutional Heritage in the Congress Kingdom of Poland in 1815 and 1831 The article focuses on the problem of using the legal heritage based on the example of the May Third Constitution. This issue is considered in relation to two selected moments in the history of the Congress Kingdom of Poland – 1814/1815 and 1831. What connects them, and at the same time makes them unique periods in the political and constitutional history of Polish territories under the partitions, is the relative freedom the Polish elites had in their right to decide on the constitutional foundations of their own statehood. In 1814/1815, Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski was granted the emperor’s consent to prepare a draft which, after corrections, became the basis of the Constitutional Act granted by Alexander I. Similarly in 1831, after the dethronement of Tsar Nicholas I, the insurgent elites were free to embark on an unfettered constitutional debate on the systemic reform of the state. Both in 1814/1815 and in 1831, Polish political and intellectual elites faced a dilemma as to whether the May Third Constitution could serve mainly as a monument and symbol of Polish history, or whether it still had the potential to be directly applied; and if so, then to what extent and under what conditions. The publication is devoted to exploring answers to these questions.

Some Remarks about the Idea of ‘A Second Japan’ in 20th Century Polish Political Thought

The article discusses several examples of Japan’s presence in the Polish discourses on modernization in the first decades of the twentieth century. Significant figures from across the Polish political and cultural spectrum referred to Japan as a model of successful modernization. Several Polish leaders (such as Józef Piłsudski and Roman Dmowski) travelled to Japan during the Russo-Japanese war in 1904 and sought support for their rival visions of Poland’s future. Four prime ministers of the re-created Polish state after 1918 had been trained by Japanese operatives at a secret intelligence training centre in Switzerland. Several other important Polish political, cultural and religious figures travelled and lived in Japan in the first half of the twentieth century – each of them became impressed by different aspects of Japanese culture and society. Notable examples of Poles profoundly influenced by Japanese culture include journalists and writers (such as Wacław Sieroszewski and Aleksander Janta-Połczyński), a former political prisoner turned ethnologist (Bronisław Piłsudski), and a Roman Catholic priest (Maksymilian Maria Kolbe). In many of their accounts, Japan was presented as an example of successful modernization, where Western and Eastern values co-existed in a supposedly harmonious manner.

Motywy ukraińskie w polskiej muzyce gitarowej XIX wieku

The elements of Ukrainian folk music have appeared in Polish guitar music at the early 19th century, both in music The elements of Ukrainian folk music have appeared in Polish guitar music at the early 19th century, both in music for English guitar tuned in G major (sources for this instrument appeared chronologically first) and for 6-string Spanish guitar. Composers have used stylized dances, mainly kozachok, for composing simple technical arrangements intended for domestic parlour music. Apart from four anonymous manuscripts for English guitar there are two anonymous kozachoks in manuscripts from the National Library of Poland in Warsaw and the Princes Czartoryski Library in Krakow and one kozachok in manuscripts from the National Library of Poland in Warsaw and the Princes Czartoryski Library in Krakow and one kozachok by Eduard Salle neuve. Also another form – duma / dumka – is popular among the19th century Polish guitarists; it has appeared both in the solo and in the original version, intended for vocal with accompaniment. The authors of dumki are, among others Jan Rywacki, and anonymous dumas are preserved in the Jasna Góra Monastery (Library of the Pauline Fathers in Częstochowa), the Jagiellonian Library in Krakow and in mentioned Princes Czartoryski Library. Solo improvised dumkas have been performed by the greatest Polish 19th century virtuosos – Stanisław Szczepanowski and Marek Konrad Sokołowski, as evidenced by extensive press coverage. Three composers – Jan Nepomucen Bobrowicz, Felix Horetzky and the less known Cyprian Leonowicz – also used the Ukrainian folk melodies, mainly as a basis for virtuoso sets of variations. Leonowicz’s piece, which is a kind of written improvisation, is based on the famous song Ikhav Kozak za Dunaj. The melody used by Bobrowicz is more difficult to identify, although the title of the piece indicates the Ukrainian element – Air d’Ukraine varié. Horecki arranged two melodies, including the song Ikhav Kozak za Dunaj, in technically simple arrangements. The Ukrainian thread also appears in the biographies of some 19th century Polish guitarists, including Sokołowski,Numa Łepkowski and Karol de Wyhowski. This article shows that Ukrainian folklore was the strongest foreign element in Polish guitar music of the 19th century. Areas requiring further research are also indicated – related to little-known sources(such as guitar manuscripts from Jasna Góra, the Jagiellonian Library or from the collection of Oskar Kolberg), as well as those concerning Ukrainian guitar music from the 19th century, practically unknown outside Ukraine.

Genologia wobec rewolucji cyfrowej. Przypadek reportażu

I compare the concept of today intermedial reportage to that before the Internet era. Several features of this genre, usually considered as purely contemporary ones, can be found in the works of 20th century Polish writers including interwar period. Multi-, trans- and intermedial reportages, multiplication of their editorial channels and some forms of participation can be discovered before the time of World Wide Web, on condition that we take into consideration newspaper editions, not only those in the books. Digital revolution then looks merely like a change of carrier rather than a huge turn in the history of some literary genres. Moreover, what it offers (internet channels, social media), is of much less durability than traditional paper texts, and readers’ participation here is frequently limited to commentaries or some cues for authors. Many of them vanish shortly afterwards, what makes a ‘participatory culture’ a cultural illusion.

Józefa Mehoffera konkursowy projekt polichromii kościoła Franciszkanów w Krakowie, 1894. Próba rekonstrukcji koncepcji dekoracyjnej artysty

Józef Mehoffer’s competition design for the painting decoration of the Franciscan Church in Kraków in 1894 has not yet been found. This article is an attempt to reconstruct the artist’s decorative concept on the basis of the surviving sketches for the project, as well as notes drawn and written in a sketchbook from 1893–1894. The artist, who was in Paris in February 1894, heard about the competition from Tadeusz Stryjeński. The project he sent to the jury in May 1894 did not meet the formal requirements; it was too sketch-like and unpolished and was not accepted. Mehoffer began work on it with detailed studies of sources and iconography, documented by his drawings and notes in his sketchbook. These bear witness to his technical dependence on Jan Matejko and the painters of the historicist school. The artist’s meticulous approach in this respect was perhaps one of the reasons why the project was not completed within the three-month deadline set by the jury. A stylistic analysis of Mehoffer’s sketches for the decoration of the Franciscan Church leads to the conclusion that they were created under the influence of Matejko’s polychrome decoration of the presbytery of St Mary’s Church in Kraków, as well as other sacral decoration of the second half of the 19 th century, associated with the current of academic historicism – an important model for the Polish artist was undoubtedly the polychrome decoration of the chapels of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris – by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and Maurice Ouradou. Mehoffer owed much of his inspiration for the iconography of his design, in which the dominant motifs were depictions of 13 th -century Polish saints, nuns, female rulers and Piast princes, to Matejko’s work, "The Defeat of Legnica – The Rebirth of Poland. 1241", 1888. The overall vision for the decoration of the Franciscan Church, which he did not include in the competition design but described in his notes, went beyond historicism. It demonstrates the artist’s sensitivity to the new trends in art at the turn of the 20 th century, and the fact that he was already aware of the profound changes taking place in the style of monumental painting and in the perception of its function.

The Cultural Importance of Water from the Perspective of 16th Century Polish Medical Guides

Water had a special cultural significance in human life. Water was a cheap and widely available resource for everyone. Water has fulfilled a wide variety of functions over the centuries. People even believed in the magical properties of water. The water also had a symbolic effect - it cleansed the body from sins. However, it was during this period in Western Europe that drinking water was considered harmful to health. In spite of this, in the 16th century the poorest peasants and monks who lived the harsh monastery life were drinking water in Poland, also the monarchs from the Jagiellonian dynasty, who were afraid of poison, drank water. However, the richer social strata drank beer or, more rarely, wine. It was believed that stagnant water (in reservoirs) was spreading epidemics. The authors of medical guides claimed that drinking such water could cause infertility, dysentery and other diseases. Only boiling the water was a way to improve its properties. To eliminate the smell they were adding garlic, salt, and vinegar, the Tartars brought from Asia the custom of adding so-called Tatar herb, later called calamus, and other herbs (eg. mint, sage) were also added to the water.

On “Savage and Deformed Slave”: Bodily Difference in Selected Contemporary Productions of The Tempest in Poland

Dis/ability is a dynamic category produced in a complex constellation of factors that includes not only stigmatised mental and physical constraints or physiological differences, but also a manifestation of incapacity that is recognised or produced by law, social norms and the very way of thinking about the nature of bodily vulnerability. The meanings of dis/ability are thus culturally and historically dependent. Therefore, the manner in which dis/ability is presented on a theatrical stage can be considered not only as an important factor influencing the interpretation of a given production but also as a test for the dominant thinking of disability at a given point of time, in a given culture. The departure point for this paper is a brief discussion of the visibility of medieval models of dis/ability in Shakespeare’s plays and a reflection on how the reception of these dramatic texts has changed over time depending on the paradigmatic shifts in thinking about dis/ability, especially with the emergence of disability studies and the growing theoretical reflection on the position of dis/ability in theatre. An especially interesting case in point is the reception of Caliban as a character whose stigmatisation can be expressed through bodily difference. Thus, the paper focuses on what seems to be a systematic aberrant decoding of The Tempest in three twenty-first century Polish productions of the play.

František Alois Hora (1838–1916) – Ambassador for Polish Culture in West Bohemia and his Relations with 19th century Polish Intellectuals

This paper is dedicated to František Alois Hora (1838–1916), a Pilsen teacher, writer and translator, who broke down borders between Czechs and Poles. He translated more than 50 Polish authors, in particular Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Stanisław Grudziński, Adam Pług, Eliza Orzeszkowa, Władysław Bogusławski, Wilhelmina Zyndram-Kościałkowska, Helena Janina Boguska – Hajota, Józefa Sawicka – Ostoja, Zygmunt Miłkowski – T. T. Jez, Bolesław Prus and Henryk Sienkiewicz. He established personal friendships with most of these writers, and his papers in the Pilsen City Archives contain many interesting letters in Polish. He compiled and published a Polish-Czech dictionary, Czech-Polish dictionary and Polish practical grammar, organised free Polish language courses and popularised the culture and literature of Poland. Although his work is of great significance, interest of literary or history researchers has remained scant right up to the present day.

School: a sad duty or an enriching necessity? Effects of long-term historical institutions on educational attitudes

ABSTRACT Attitudes towards education vary between regions and countries. These differences cannot be fully explained by socio-economic inequalities or direct inputs such as teachers or class size. The persistence of historical institutions is also an important issue. In this paper, regional differences in attitudes towards education are investigated in reference to events that took place in 19th century Polish territories when Poland was partitioned by Prussia, Russia, and Habsburg Austria and their educational systems were imposed. The results of the quantitative and qualitative research suggest that historical processes have created different attitudes towards education. In some regions, education is seen as a key for gaining general knowledge, yet in other parts of the country, it is seen as a tool for improving practical and technical skills.