Masterpieces of Polish Literature

Timetable

WEDNESDAY, 8.00-9.30 / 9.45-11.15; Collegium Maius, Fredry 10 Street, Śniadeckich Hall.

Module aim (aims)

• acquainting the students with the masterpieces of Polish literature connected with reference to the general context of historical and cultural change;
• improving of analytical and interpretative skills with a particular stress on historical specificity of texts, comparative approach and evaluation of literary works;
• practicing of usage of historical and aesthetic categories;
• seeking proficiency in using such categories as an author’s biography, literary era (with a stress put on Polish literary periodization), literary current, style, genre, aesthetic terms (irony, grotesque, tragedy, realism, symbolism, expressionism etc.)
• practicing of unassisted oral presentations and written papers in English.

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences (where relevant)

Syllabus

Course learning content:

Polish masterpieces in historical context

The criteria allowing to distinguish a masterpiece in literature

Literary currents, conventions, genres and types of literature in a culture

A work of art as a carrier of certain values and worldviews and the essential element in a tradition

A work of art as a source of historical knowledge and history as a context for interpretation of a literary work.

An author’s biography and interpretation of his work

Adaptations and paraphrases of a literary work as ways of its presence in the social consciousness

Reading list

1. Medieval Literature of Poland: an Anthology. Ed. Michael J. Mikoś. New York: Garland. [now Oxford, UK: Taylor & Francis]. 1992.
2. Kochanowski, Laments, transl. S. Barańczak, S. Heaney
3. Sęp Szarzyński, The Poetry of Mikołaj Sęp Szarzyński, R. Sokolski Ed., Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1990.
4. Polish Baroque and Enlightenment literature: an anthology, Michael J. Mikoś Ed, Columbus: Ohio Slavica Publishers [1996].
5. Potocki, The manuscript found in Saragossa, transl. I. Maclean, London: Penguin 1996.
6. Polish Romantic drama: three plays in English translation, selected and edited, [translated from the Polish and] with an introduction by Harold B. Segel, Ithaca; London: Cornell University Press, 1977.
7. Orzeszkowa, On the Niemen, transl. Michelle Granas […] 2014.
8. Prus, The Doll, transl. D. Welsh, New York: Hippocrene 1993.
9. Sienkiewicz, With fire and sword, transl. W. Kuniczak, New York: Copernicus Society of America 1991
10. Żeromski, Ashes, transl. H. Sienkieiwcz-Zand, New York-London, A. A. Knopf, 1928.
11. S. Reymont, The Peasants, transl. M. H. Dziewicki, London: Jarrolds 1925-28.
12. I. Witkiewicz, The Witkiewicz reader, edited, translated and with an introduction by D. Gerould, London: Quartet 1993.
13. Schulz, The Street of Crocodiles – Sanatorium under the Sign of Hourglass
14. Nałkowska, Medallions, Northwestern University Press 1999.
15. Gombrowicz, Diary, New Haven – London: Yale University Press 2012.
16. Mrożek, Streptease – Tango – Vatzlav, New York: Grove Press 1981.
17. Fifteen Polish Modern Short Stories. An Annotated Reader and Glossary, A. M. Schenker ed., New Haven – London: Yale University Press 1970.
18. The Eagle and the Crow. Contemporary Polish Short Fiction, Teresa and George Hyde Eds., Serpent’s