Polish Literature in the European Context

compulsory

Central European and Balkan Studies

1st cycle

Course aims:

- acquainting students with important and/or representative phenomena of broadly understood Polish literature, its prominent representatives and its reception within a comparative approach (the main ideas, currents, trends and genres of the global literature) and building skills of finding wide-ranging references to their cultural and historical background (global and Polish histories),

- developing the skills of analysis, interpretation and evaluation of a literary work within a basic theoretical and historical frame of knowledge with a particular stress on Polish literature’s uniqueness and its selected representatives in the light of various forms of intercultural contact (the flux of ideas and currents, the translations to foreign languages, the reception of masterpieces of the world literature),

- developing of skills in using historical and aesthetic categories and in putting in use an organized knowledge, skills and competences from other modules of humanities studies.

Year 2

English skills at the B1 level.

Lecture with a multimedia presentation, interactive lecture, problem-based lecture, discussions, text-based work, case study work, creative methods, group work.

5

Course learning content:

- transitions in ideas, currents, trends and genres (eg. humanism, manierism, historicism, messianic, epic, irony, modernism, postmodernism…),

- polish literature in the context of European literatures (the writer’s place in socjety, reception strategies, literary market),

- global literature in relations to the world’s history (literary works in relations to important historical events: the dusk of antiquity, Renaissance, the French Revolution and the industrial one, Napoleonic wars, the colonization and the decolonization, totalitarian regimes and the Holocaust, globalization processes…),

- the masterpieces of the world’s literaturę with their Polish translations and reception (eg. Oddysey, Hamlet, Faust, Madame Bovary, Anna Karenina, The Magic Mountain),

- polish writers and their reception of foreign influences (np. Górnicki vs Castiglione; Kochanowski vs Horace; Morsztyn vs Marino; Krasicki vs Rousseau; Mickiewicz vs Goethe; Norwid vs Baudelaire; Komornicka vs Woolf; Berent vs Nietsche; Iwaszkiewicz vs Mann).

Reading list:

A Companion to Comparative Literature, ed. by A. Behdad and D. Thomas, Wiley Blackwell 2014 (artykuły Davida Ferrisa, Davida Palumbo-Liu).

A Companion to Comparative Literature, ed. by A. Behdad and D. Thomas, Wiley Blackwell 2014 (artykuły Mary Louise Pratt, Allison Van Deventer / Dominica Thomasa).

Peter V. Zima, Komparatistik. Einführung in die Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft, A. Francke Verlag Tübingen und Basel 2011, s. 19-67.

Komparatistik, Evi Zemanek, Alexander Nebrig (Hg.), Berlin 2012, s. 21-33.

Angelika Corbineau-Hoffman, Einführung in die Komparatistik, Berlin 2013, s. 113-131.

R. Fieguth, O europejskich wartościach klasyków literatury polskiej, [w:] Humanizm polski. Długie trwanie - tradycje - współczesność (Wstęp do badań). red. A. Nowicka-Jeżowa, M. Cieński, Warszawa 2008-2009, s. 341-361.

J. Axer, Central-Eastern Europe, w: A Companion to the Classical tradition, ed. by C.W. Kallendorf, Wiley Blackwell 2010.

I. Krasicki, Rozmowy zmarłych. (wobec Lukiana i Fénelona)

F. S. Dmochowski, Iliada, pieśń 1. (wobec Homera)

Mme de Stäel, O Niemczech (BN, wybór).

C. Norwid, Vade-mecum. (wobec Baudelaire'a)

B. Prus, Faraon.

H. Sienkiewicz, Quo vadis.

On successful completion of this course, a student will be able to:

- place Polish literature in the midst of selected European and global esthetical and philosophical currents and eras,

- show relations between selected processes observed in Polish literature with equivalent trends in other national literatures,

- compare works of selected Polish authors with works of the most prominent authors of European literature,

- describe selected literary phenomena like multilingual literature, literary masterpiece, emigre literature, literary reception…

- characterize selected currents, genres, ideas of global literature which had a major impact on Polish literature in its history and those currents, genres, ideas in Polish literature which inspired and influenced other national literatures – and using those skills in required forms of written or oral presentation.

Assessment criteria:

very good (bdb; 5,0): a very good knowledge of selected masterpieces and various works of Polish literature analyzed during classes, a very good skill of abridging their problematics with reference to literary studies terminology, a very good knowledge of fundamental philosophical and aesthetic ideas, a very good analytical and interpretative skill connected with usage of selected literary theories and methodologies, a very good skill in using the required forms of scholarly presentation.

good plus (+db; 4,5): as above with minor shortcomings, a slightly lower analytical and interpretative skill connected with usage of literary theories and methodologies, slightly lower skill in using the required forms of scholarly presentation.

good (db; 4,0): possible further shortcomings: slightly diminished knowledge of selected masterpieces and various works of Polish literature analyzed during classes, a slightly lower skill of abridging their problematics with reference to literary studies terminology, a slightly lower knowledge of fundamental philosophical and aesthetic ideas.

satisfactory plus (+dst; 3,5): a satisfactory knowledge of selected masterpieces and various works of Polish literature analyzed during classes, a satisfactory skill of abridging their problematics with reference to literary studies terminology (with possible help from an examiner in the form of additional questions during the finals), a satisfactory knowledge of fundamental philosophical and aesthetic ideas, a satisfactory analytical and interpretative skill connected with an usage of literary theories and methodologies, a satisfactory skill in using the required forms of scholarly presentation.

satisfactory (dst; 3,0): a satisfactory knowledge of selected masterpieces and various works of Polish literature analyzed during classes, a satisfactory skill of abridging their problematics with reference to literary studies terminology (with possible help from an examiner in the form of additional questions during the finals), a poor knowledge of fundamental philosophical and aesthetic ideas, a poor analytical and interpretative skill connected with a poor knowledge of selected literary theories and methodologies, a low skill in using the required forms of scholarly presentation.

unsatisfactory (ndst; 2,0): an unsatisfactory knowledge of selected masterpieces and various works of Polish literature analyzed during classes, a lack of skill in abridging their problematics with reference to literary studies terminology. An unsatisfactory knowledge of required philosophical and aesthetic ideas, a lack of analytical and interpretative skill connected with scarce or no knowledge of selected literary theories and methodologies, a lack of skill in using the required forms of scholarly presentation.