CZAPLIŃSKI Przemysław

Born on 6 November 1962 in Poznan; son of the classical philologist Andrzej Czapliński and the doctor Zofia Opatowicz-Czaplińska. He attended the K. Marcinkowski Grammar School (No. 1) in Poznan, where he completed his advanced secondary education in 1981. The same year he started a degree in Polish philology at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan (Uniwersytet im. A. Mickiewicza w Poznaniu – UAM), where he also studied the history of art and philosophy for four semesters. In 1986 he was awarded a master's degree in Polish philology and became a teaching assistant at the Department of Literary Theory (which in 1988 became a chair) at the Institute of Polish Studies at UAM (Zakład Teorii Literatury Instytutu Filologii Polskiej UAM). While focused on contemporary Polish prose, his research also applied approaches drawn from literary theory and criticism. He made his debut in 1988 with the article Powieści Stanisława Ignacego Witkiewicza wobec Teorii Czystej Formy (Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz's Novels and the Theory of Pure Form), which was published in "Pamiętnik Literacki" (no. 2). He continued to collaborate with this journal until 1993, likewise as a translator of English-language works in literary studies. He also published texts in the periodical "Kultura Niezależna" (1989), which was not subject to state censorship, and the underground glossary Do współczesności (To the present; 1989), under the name Pseudo Nim). He was awarded a doctoral degree in 1992 for his thesis Poetyka manifestu literackiego w dwudziestoleciu międzywojennym (The Poetics of Literary Manifestos in the Interwar Period), which was supervised by Prof. Jerzy Ziomek and then, following his death in 1990, by Prof. Janina Abramowska. He was appointed lecturer at the Department Historical Poetics (Zakład Poetyki Historycznej) at IFP at UAM in 1993. In 1994 he spent several weeks in Rennes, France, on a fellowship. His articles, reviews, essays, columns and interviews have appeared in publications including "Wprost" (including contributions to the series Literatura na nowo obecna [Literature that is present again] in 1990, alongside Jan Karłowski, Wiesław Kot and Piotr Śliwiński), "Kresy" (since 1992), "Teksty Drugie" (intermittently between 1992 and 2005), "Tytuł" (1992-1997), "Arkusz" (1995-96; including a series of articles written with P. Śliwiński, Książki, zabawki, artykuły papiernicze [Books, toys, stationery]), the bulletin "Megaron"
(1996-98, under the pen name and abbreviation P.Cz.; mainly interviews conducted alongside P. Śliwiński) and "Res Publica Nowa" (1996-97 and intermittently between 2000 and 2007). He has served on the juries of many literary prizes including the prestigious Nike Literary Prize (1997-2001 and 2011-2013), the prize of the Polish Book Publishers’ Association (Polskie Towarzystwo Wydawców Książek – since 1997), and the City of Poznan Artistic Prize (since 1998). In 1997 he was awarded a habilitation degree for his study Ślady przełomu. O prozie polskiej 1976-1996 (Traces of a Breakthrough: Polish Prose, 1976-1996), before being appointed associate professor at Adam Mickiewicz University the following year. He has collaborated with numerous publications, including the daily newspaper "Gazeta Wyborcza" (since1997), the Catholic weekly "Tygodnik Powszechny" (intermittently between 1998 and 2008), the current affairs weekly "Polityka" (1999-2002 and 2005), and the political magazine "Przegląd Polityczny" (2001-2007). He has won various prizes and awards for his work in literary studies and literary criticism, including Medal Młodej Sztuki (Young Arts Medal), awarded by the editors of the Poznan-based newspaper "Głos Wielkopolski" (1996), the L. Fryde Prize, which is funded by the Polish section of L'Association Internationale des Critiques Littéraires (AICL; 1997), the UAM Rector's Prize (2002), and the 2004 K. Wyka award (2005). In 2001, he initiated the formation of the Centre for Literary Criticism (Pracownia Krytyki Literackiej) at the Institute of Polish Philology at UAM, serving as its director until 2006. Between 2001 and 2008 he was a member of the editorial board of the yearbook "Poznańskie Studia Polonistyczne. Seria Literacka” (alongside P. Śliwiński and Z. Przychodniak). In 2002 he was made a state-appointed professor, Between 2003 and 2006 he was a member of the Committee on Literary Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Komitet Nauk o Literaturze Polskiej PAN). In 2005, together with P. Śliwiński, he established a degree programme in literary criticism at the Institute of Polish Philology at UAM, which from 2015 was named Literary Criticism and Praxis, later serving as programme director. In 2006, together with Barbara Sienkiewicz, he established the Centre for Literary Anthropology within the Institute of Polish Philology where he then worked. In 2007 he was appointed full professor. Since 2004 has served on the jury of Konkurs Teatralny Sztuk dla Dzieci i Młodzieży (a competition for the best plays for children and youth), while making nominations from the realm of literature for the prestigious "Paszport Polityki" awards (between 2005 and 2014). He also served on the jury of the Silesius Poetry Prize in Wroclaw (2008-2010) and the national drama competition Metafory rzeczywistości (Metaphors of Reality; since 2008). He has been a visiting lecturer at many international universities, including institutions based in Berlin, Budapest, Brussels, Dresden, London, Boston and Chicago. He became a corresponding member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) in 2016. The same year he became a member of the editorial board of the journal "Teksty Drugie". He received the silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis in 2014.
In 1984, he married the literary historian and theatre studies scholar Ewa Guderian. He lives in Poznan.