KRASUSKI Krzysztof

Born on 8 June 1946 in Wroclaw; son of the civil servant Czesław Krasuski, and the teacher Irena, née Adamska. He was a pupil at Grammar School No. X in Wroclaw, completing his advanced secondary education in 1963. He then studied Polish philology at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Wroclaw (UWr), while also participating in the Interfaculty Education and Cultural Programme (Międzywydziałowe Studium Kulturalno-Oświatowe) for two years. During his studies he was active in the Circle of Polish Philology Scholars. He was also editor of the Circle's monthly, "Glosy". During this period he also wrote his first pieces of literary criticism, making his debut in 1967 with a review titled Dreptanie w miejscu (Treading Water). The text was on E. Kabat's novel Żółwie (Turtles) and appeared in the student literary and cultural monthly "Agora" (no. 17; it was printed with a mistake in the by-line: Krzysztof M. Krasucki. He continued to publish articles in the same periodical. He graduated with a master's degree from UWr in 1968, subsequently working as an assistant at the Institute of Polish Literature at UWr until 1969. He considers his review of the anthology Hemingway w oczach krytyki światowej (Hemingway as Seen by Literary Critics around the World), which appeared under the title Blady portret Hemingwaya (A Pale Portrait of Hemingway), in "Odra" in 1969 (no. 9; again with an error in the by-line : Krzysztof Krasucki), to be his actual debut as a literary critic. He continued to publish in this periodical until 2005 (likewise as K.K. and Kras.). Throughout the 1970s, his articles and reviews also appeared in "Poglądy" (1971-75) and "Życie Literackie" (1975-76, 1979). Between 1970 and 1972, he worked as a librarian at the Ossolineum – Ossoliński National Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). He was also involved in a research team exploring popular literature led by Prof. Czesław Hernas. He made his debut as a literary scholar in 1972 with the article Geneza i funkcje powieści zeszytowych (The Origins and Functions of Serialized Novels), which appeared in the journal "Literatura Ludowa" (no. 6). He was appointed assistant at the Institute of Polish Language and Literature in 1973 (in 1991 it became the Institute of the Study of Polish Literature, while in 2005 it was named after Ireneusz Opacki) at the University of Silesia (UŚ). Between 1974 and 1976, he was a tutor in Polish language and literature at the chair of Slavonic studies at the Comenius University in Bratislava. He continued to expand his research output, focusing largely on literary criticism and contemporary literature. His articles and essays appeared in journals including "Pamiętnik Słowiański" (1976-77), "Pamiętnik Literacki" (1976-77), and the Czechoslovak publication "Slovenská Literatúra" (1976, 1978). He was awarded a doctoral degree from UŚ in 1978 for his study Normy i formy. Konstanty Troczyński – teoretyk i krytyk literatury (Norms and Forms: Konstanty Troczyński as a literary theorist and critic), which was supervised by Prof. Tadeusz Bujnicki. In 1982, he spent one semester as a visiting scholar at the Charles University in Prague. He became a member of the Literary History Commission of the Katowice Branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Katowice in 1987. He was awarded a habilitation degree from UŚ in 1990 for his study Społeczne ramy literatury. Wątki socjologizujące w polskiej krytyce literackiej. (1900-1950) (The Social Frames of Literature: Sociological Tropes in Polish Literary Criticism , 1900-1950). In 1994, he was appointed associate professor at UŚ. In 1996, he founded the Department of Literary Criticism at the Institute of the Study of Polish Literature, of which he remained head until 2007. In 2008, he moved to the Chair of Comparative Literature. He remained active as a literary critic, publishing, for example, reviews in the monthly "Śląsk" in 1996. In 1997, he co-founded the T. Parnicki Literary Society (Towarzystwo Literackie im. T. Parnickiego) in Katowice, which was associated with UŚ. He was a visiting lecturer and speaker at universities in Bratislava, Banská Bystrica and Vienna. In 2001, he held a language-learning fellowship at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and also served as a consultant on translations of Polish prose published in the Ljubljana-based monthly "Literatura" (2001, nos 125-126). He was made state appointed professor in 2006. He became a member of the Katowice branch of the Polish Historical Society (Polskie Towarzystwo Historyczne). He published articles and reviews in "Tygiel Kultury" (2011), "Konteksty Kultury" (2012), "Porównania" (2012-13), "Topos" (from 2012), "Postscriptum Polonistyczne" (2014) and the yearbook "Slavia Occidentalis" (2014). He received the Gold Cross of Merit in 2005. He married the Polish language teacher Anna Nowak in 1981. They have two children, Zbigniew (b. 1982) and Anna (b. 1985). He lives in Katowice.