ZABIEROWSKI Stefan

Born on 3 May 1940 in Gorlice (Lesser Poland voivodeship); son of Stanisław Zabierowski, who was then a teacher in underground education activities and later literary historian at the University of Silesia (UŚ), and of Jadwiga, née Łobaczewska, who also worked as an underground teacher and was later a lecturer at the Training College for Primary School Teachers (Studium Nauczycielskie) in Katowice. In 1953, he became a pupil at the Adam Mickiewicz Grammar School No. III in Katowice, where he completed his advanced secondary education in 1957. He then studied Polish philology at the Jagiellonian University (UJ) in Krakow. After graduating with a master's degree in 1962, he was accepted to a one-year internship at the Collective Chair in the History of Polish Literature at UJ and then to the four-year doctoral programme. His research focused largely on the life, works and reception of Joseph Conrad before later turning to World War II-era literature. He made his debut in 1964 with a review of the edited volume Wspomnienia i studia o Conradzie (Memories and studies of Conrad; Warsaw 1963). The review, titled Conrad w oczach polskich krytyków (Conrad in the eyes of Polish critics), was published in the periodical "Ruch Literacki" (nos 5-6). He continued to publish reviews and articles there (1965-66 and 1969; also as: ZAB). He made his debut as a literary studies scholar in 1967 with the article O Conradzie i Sienkiewiczu (On Conrad and Sienkiewicz), which appeared in the monthly "Miesięcznik Literacki" (no. 12). In 1968, he published a review of B. Kocówna's book Polskość Conrada (Conrad's Polishness) in the journal "Conradiana" (no. 1), based in College Park, MD. He was awarded a doctoral degree from UJ in 1969 for his dissertation Joseph Conrad w Polsce. Główne problemy recepcji krytycznej w latach 1896-1961 (Joseph Conrad in Poland: Key issues in critical reception, 1896-1961), which was supervised by Prof. Henryk Markiewicz. He then started teaching at the Institute of Polish Philology at the University of Silesia (UŚ; in 1977 it became the Institute of Polish Literature and Culture; in 1991 the Institute of the Study of Polish Literature – INoLP, which in 2005 was named after Ireneusz Opacki). He was initially a tutor before being appointed as a lecturer in 1970. He was a member of the Polish Teachers' Union (ZNP) from 1970 to 1980. In 1974, he became a member of the Literary History Commission of the Katowice Branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) and the Publishing Committee with the Commission's series Spotkania z Literaturą (Encounters with literature). From 1974 to 1991, he worked at the Department of Polish Literature, the Department of Post-Romantic Literature, and the Department of Literary Theory. He remained active as a researcher, publishing studies, reviews and articles in periodicals and journals including "Przegląd Humanistyczny" (1974, 1985, 1987, 1990, and 1994), "Ruch Literacki" (1975, 1984, 1991, 1993, 1996-97, and 1999), "Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Śląskiego w Katowicach" (1977-78, 1982, 1990, and 1994), "Komunikaty Polskiego Klubu Conradowskiego" (1976) – which later became "Informacje Polskiego Klubu Conradowskiego" (1980, 1983, 1986, 1989, and 1992; he was a member of the editorial board) – and their English-language counterpart "The Conrad News" (Gdansk), "Pamiętnik Literacki" (1985), "Odra" (1986, 1988, and 1993), and "Prace Polonistyczne" (1987-88). He became a member of the Polish Conrad Club in 1975. He was a co-organizer of the structures of the Independent Self-governing Trade Union Solidarity at the Faculty of Philology at UŚ in 1980. That year he was also appointed deputy chair of the Circle of Employees in Polish Philology, where he served as chair for two years after 1989. Between 1988 and 1989, he was employed at UŚ as a senior lecturer with a teaching focus. He was awarded a habilitation degree from UJ in 1988 for his study „Autor-rodak”. Pisarze polscy wobec Conrada ("Author-Countryman": Polish writers on Conrad). In 1989, he was made senior lecturer and then in 1991 associate professor. During this period, he was employed at the Department of Literary Culture at INoLP a UŚ, serving as head of Department from 1992 until his retirement in 2010. He was deputy director of research at INoLP at UŚ from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2005 to 2008. He was also director of Doctoral Studies at the Faculty of Philology at UŚ from 1993 to 1999. In 1993, he was a founder member of the Upper Silesian Literary Society. In 1995, he joined the Polish Conrad Society and was a member of its Board. In 2002, he became a member of the Polish Cultural Studies Association (PTK). He remained active as a researcher, publishing articles and reviews in periodicals including "Tytuł" (1994, 1997-98, 2000, and 2002), "Śląsk" (1998, 2000-01, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2013, 2015-16, and 2018), "Kresy" (2005), "Kultura Współczesna" (2008), "Teksty Drugie" (2009), "Ruch Literacki" (2012 and 2016), "Konteksty Kultury" (2012, 2014, and 2016), "Alma Mater" (2014), "Arcana" (2017), and "Rzeczpospolita" (2017). He was made state-appointed professor in 2007, the same year that he was appointed to the Committee for Celebrations of the Joseph Conrad-Korzeniowski Year in Poland. In 2010, he joined the Scientific Council of the Joseph Conrad Research Centre at the Faculty of Polish Studies at UJ. He received the Prize of the Minister of Science, third class, in 1972 and 1989, as well as the UŚ Rector's Prize on numerous occasions. He was awarded the Silver Cross of Merit in 1979 and the medal For Services to the University of Silesia in 1992. He married the linguist Krystyna Dziedziól in 1980; they have a son, the historian Maciej (b. 1981). Zabierowski lives in Katowice.