BRZOZOWSKI Jacek

Born on 26 February 1951 in Lodz; son of the construction engineer Leszek Brzozowski and the librarian Maria, née Okulewicz. He attended Grammar School No. XXVIII in Lodz. After completing advanced secondary education in 1969, he started a degree in chemical engineering at Lodz Technical University (Politechnika Łódzka). He abandoned his studies halfway through the summer semester. He then studied Polish philology at the University of Lodz (UŁ) from 1970. In 1975 he was awarded a master's degree and became a tutor at the Institute of Polish Philology at UŁ. He made his debut with the article O symbolizmie „środka” i tragicznej wizji świata Tadeusza Różewicza (On the symbolism of the "centre" and Tadeusz Różewicz's tragic view of the world), which was published in 1977 in the journal "Prace Polonistyczne" (vol. 33). He did year-long military service in 1976 as part of the training programme for reservist officers. Between 1978 and 1980 he was a research assistant at the Department of Historical Poetics (Pracownia Poetyki Historycznej) at the Institute of Literary Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IBL PAN) in Warsaw. He was initially under Prof. Janusz Sławiński and then Prof. Michał Głowiński. In 1984 he was awarded a doctoral degree from UŁ for his thesis Muzy w poezji polskiej. Dzieje toposu do przełomu romantycznego (Muses in Polish Poetry: The history of the topos until the emergence of Romanticism), which was supervised by Prof. M. Głowiński. His research focused on the history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Polish literature, the history of contemporary literature and editing Romantic texts, including the works of Juliusz Słowacki. From 1990 he was a member of the District Committee of the Olympiad in Polish Literature and Language (Komitet Okręgowy Olimpiady Literatury i Języka Polskiego) in Łódź, serving as chair of the committee from 1995. Between 1993 and 2011 he collaborated with Radio Lodz, presenting with Joanna Sikorzanka the series Do piór (Pick up your pens), where they commented on listeners' poems. With her he co-edited volumes of poetry featuring prize-winning poems alongside selected others that had been submitted to competitions. Brzozowski also co-organized other poetry competitions and served on their juries. He also created a cycle of radio programmes on the late works of Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki. Between 1997 and 2000 he gave lectures for teachers as part of the programme "Kształcimy Elity Nauczycielskie" (Training Elite Teachers), which was sponsored by the Stefan Batory Foundation and supported by IBL PAN. In 1999 he was a member of the organizing committee of the commemorations of the 150th anniversary of the death of Juliusz Słowacki. He was awarded a habilitation degree by UŁ the same year for his study Odczytywanie znaczeń. Studia o poezji Mickiewicza (Reading Meanings: A study of Mickiewicz's poetry). Between 2001 and 2010 he collaborated with the periodical "Zeszyty Szkolne", contributing the regular column Czas na wiersz (Time for a poem). He was a member of the editorial boards of the journals "Sztuka Edycji", "Studia Norwidiana" and "Czytanie Literatury". His articles and essays appeared in journals including "Prace Polonistyczne" (1994, 1997 and 2003), "Rocznik Towarzystwa Literackiego im. Adama Mickiewicza" (1996, 1999 and 2006), and "Pamiętnik Literacki" (intermittently between 2008 and 2014). Between 2002 and 2005 he was associate dean of the Faculty of Philology at UŁ, where he was responsible for degrees in Polish studies, library studies, cultural studies and Slavonic studies. Between 2003 and 2007 he was director of the Department of Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Poetry (Zakład Poezji XIX i XX wieku) at the Chair of Romantic, Interwar and Contemporary Literature (Katedra Literatury Romantyzmu, Dwudziestolecia Międzywojennego i Literatury Współczesnej) at UŁ. Between 2004 and 2009 he served as an expert on the University Accreditation Commission. He was a member of the Scientific Council of IBL PAN between 2007 and 2010. He was made state-appointed professor in 2008. That year he also became head of the Chair of Romantic Literature and Tradition at UŁ. He was a member of the academic advisory boards of the journals "Studia Norwidiana", "Sztuka Edycji" and "Czytanie Literatury". He was awarded the UŁ Rector's Prize in academic teaching on five occasions between 1978 and 2005, while also receiving the University's scientific prize ten times between 1981 and 2012. He received the Golden Award (Złota Odznaka) from UŁ in 2004, the Medal of the Committee of National Education in 2005, the UŁ Medal for Service to Society and Science (w Służbie Społeczeństwu i Nauce) in 2008 and the Gold Medal for Long Service in 2010.
He married the chemist Ewa Michałkiewicz in 1972 (d. 2011). They had a son, Konrad, (b. 1976). Brzozowski died on 18 June 2017 in Lodz, where he is buried in St Roch's Cemetery in the Radogoszcz district.