KORYTOWSKA Maria

Born on 7 December 1947 in Krakow; daughter of the architectural engineer and musician Adolf Cieśla, and Stanisława, née Batko. She attended the Józefa Joteyko Grammar School No. 9 and then the Zofia Nałkowska Grammar School No. 7 in Krakow, completing her advanced secondary education in 1965. She then took a degree in Polish and Romance philology at the Jagiellonian University (UJ) in Krakow. After graduating with a master's degree in Polish philology in 1970, she worked at the Chair in Nineteenth Century Literature at the Institute of Polish Philology (later the Institute of Polish Studies and, since 2004, the Faculty of Polish Studies) at UJ. Her research largely focused on Romantic literature and culture, the history of ideas, the connections between literature and art, and comparative literature. She made her debut as a researcher in 1972 with a review of Maria Janion's book Romantyzm. Studia o ideach i stylu (Romanticism: Studies on ideas and style), which appeared in "Teksty" (no. 5). The same year she was awarded a master's degree in Romance studies. Her reviews, articles and translations have appeared in periodicals and journals including "Pamiętnik Literacki" (1973, 1994, and 2003), "Teksty" (1974, 1979), "Literatura" (1976, 1977), "Ruch Literacki" (1978, 1982, 1992, 1994-95, and 2015), "Znak" (1983, 1986, and 1993), "Teksty Drugie" (1996), "Kwartalnik Filozoficzny" (1997, 2016), "Prace Komisji Filologicznej. Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk" (2007-08), "Acta Poloniae Historica" (2014), "Rocznik Komparatystyczny" (2015), and "Alma Mater" (2017). In 1975, she defended her doctoral thesis, Mityczna struktura wyobraźni Słowackiego (The Mythical Structure of Słowacki's Imagination), at UJ. She was supervised by Prof. Kazimierz Wyka and was subsequently appointed lecturer at UJ. That year she left for France where she was a tutor in Polish language at Université Nancy II until 1977. She held a fellowship with the Oxford Colleges Hospitality Scheme in 1985. In 1988 she was awarded a habilitation degree in Polish and comparative literature from UJ for her study Romantyczna poezja mistyczna. Ballanche, Novalis, Słowacki (Romantic Mystical Poetry: Ballanche, Novalis and Słowacki). She has participated in international conferences and congresses in cities including Paris, Lille, Grenoble, Nancy, London, Oxford, Leiden, Freiburg, Athens and Istanbul. In 1990, she founded the Department for Comparative Literary Studies at the Institute of Polish Philology at UJ. In 2000, this became the Chair in Comparative Literary Studies, which she held until her retirement in 2017. She founded the Polish Comparative Literature Association (which is a member of the International Comparative Literature Association, ICLA/AILC) in 1993, serving as its chair. Between 1998 and 2000, she was also a member of the Executive Committee of ICLA/AILC. In 1999, she was made state appointed professor, following which she was nominated for the post of associate professor at UJ and in 2006 full professor. In 2007, she was appointed editor-in-chief of the UJ publication series Komparatystyka Polska. Tradycja i Współczesność (Polish Comparative Literature: Traditions and Contemporaneity), which she also established. By 2015 seventeen volumes had appeared in this series. In 2009, she joined the Social Committee for the Renovation of Krakow's Monuments (Społeczny Komitet Odnowy Zabytków Krakowa). In 2010 she set up the degree programme (bachelor and master's) in comparative Polish studies at the Faculty of Polish Studies at UJ, as well as the interdisciplinary and comparative postgraduate programme (Studies in literature, culture and art). In 2013, she became a corresponding member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (PAU). She received the UJ Rector's Prize (first class in 2011 and second class in 2012). She has received several awards and honours, including the Gold Cross of Merit (1998), Meritorious Activist of Culture (2000), the Medal of the Commission of National Education (2002), the Gold Long-Service Medal (2011), the Cross of Freedom and Solidarity (2011) and the Honoris Gratia Award for outstanding service to the city of Krakow (2017). She lives in Krakow.