BIAŁEK Józef Zbigniew

Born on 21 May 1930 in the village of Zbyszyce near Nowy Sącz; son of the turner Józef Białek and Bronisława, née Augustynowicz. After the Second World War, he moved together with his family to Nowy Sącz, where he attended the King Bolesław Chrobry Secondary and Grammar School. After completing advanced secondary education, he took a degree in Polish studies at the Pedagogical Academy in Kraków (WSP – Wyższa Szkoła Pedagogiczna, since 2008 Pedagogical University of Krakow) between 1950 and 1954. He graduated from WSP with a first-class degree and then studied at the Jagiellonian University (UJ) in Krakow, receiving a master's degree in 1955. In autumn 1954, he was appointed teaching assistant (later becoming senior teaching assistant) at the Chair of the History of Polish Literature at WSP. He published his debut article, Kult Mickiewicza w szkołach w Galicji (The cult of Mickiewicz in Galician schools), in 1955 in "Głos Nauczycielski" (no. 48). His research focused on the exploring prose and literary criticism of the interwar period. He also had an interest in children's and youth literature. His articles and essays appeared in publications including "Ruch Literacki" (1961-65), "Rocznik Naukowo-Dydaktyczny WSP w Krakowie" (1961-68), "Wychowanie w Przedszkolu", "Ojczyzna Polszczyzna", "Głos Nauczycielski" and "Polonistyka". In 1962, he was awarded a doctoral degree for his dissertation Działalność krytycznoliteracka Ludwika Frydego na tle dyskusji o literaturze i krytyce w latach 1929-1939 (Ludwik Fryde's literary criticism in the context of debates on literature and criticism between 1929 and 1939), which was supervised by Prof. Kazimierz Wyka. In 1968, he was awarded at habilitation at UJ for his book Poglądy krytycznoliterackie Karola Wiktora Zawodzińskiego (Wiktor Zawodziński's literary criticism). He was subsequently appointed senior lecturer at WSP. Between 1969 and 1972 he was deputy dean of the Faculty of Philology and History at WSP before serving as Dean of the Department Faculty Humanities there between 1972 and 1981. In both 1971 and 1979 he received the prize of the Minister of Education, 3rd class. He was a member of the Commission on Literary History of the Krakow section of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), also serving as its deputy director and then secretary between 1978 and 1980. In 1978, he was made associate professor at WSP. Between 1978 and 1994 (with a break between 1987 and 1990) he was director of the Institute of Polish Philology and director of the Centre for Polish Literature at WSP. He was a member of the editorial committee of the yearbook "Rocznik Komisji Historyczno-Literackiej PAN" between 1978 and 1980. He authored several entries in Polski słownik biograficzny (The Polish Dictionary of Literary Biography), Nowy słownik literatury dla dzieci i młodzieży (the 1979 and 1984 editions – New Dictionary of Children's and Youth Literature) and Mały słownik pisarzy polskich (The Short Dictionary of Polish Writers, 1981). He was a member of the Committee on Literary Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Komitet Nauk o Literaturze Polskiej (PAN). Between 1984 and 1990, he was involved in the work of the awards committees of both the Minister of Science and Higher Education and the Ministry of National Education.
He was a member of the editorial board of the Polish studies monthly "Polonistyka". Between 1986 and 1992 he was editor of "Rocznik Naukowo-Dydaktyczny Prace Historyczno-Literackie". He co-founded the series Biblioteka Dzieci i Młodzieży (Children's and Youth Library) at Śląsk publishing house in 1987, serving as its scientific editor until 1995. In 1994 he was state-appointed professor and appointed full professor at WSP before retiring in 2000. He died on 27 October 2018 in Krakow and is buried at the city's Rakowicki Cemetery.