MICHAŁOWSKA Teresa

Born on 6 July 1932 in Chełm, in the Lublin voivodeship, into a family of teachers; daughter of the historian and teaching theorist Jerzy Kruszewski, and the Polish teacher Zofia, née Naramowska. She spent the German occupation in Lublin. In 1947, she settled in Wroclaw, where she completed her education at the J. Poniatowski Grammar School No. I. From 1951, she studied Polish philology at the University of Wroclaw (UWr), graduating with a master's degree in 1955. She made her debut in 1956 with the article Funeralna poezja Jana Kochanowskiego na tle poetyki renesansowej (Jan Kochanowski's funereal poetry in the context of Renaissance poetics). It was published in the journal "Prace Literackie" (no. 2) in the university's series "Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego". Between 1956 and 1960, she worked at the Library of the Ossoliński National Institute in Wroclaw. In 1961, she married the engineer Bronisław Michałowski. She moved to Warsaw the same year, where she took up a post at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IBL PAN), initially as a research assistant at the Department of Old Polish Literature. She was awarded a doctoral degree in 1964 for her dissertation „Różne historyje” – studium z dziejów nowelistyki staropolskiej ("Various stories" – A study of the history of Old Polish novellas), which was supervised by Prof. Julian Krzyżanowski. In her research, she focused on the history of Old Polish literature, in particular historical poetics and aesthetics. She published studies and sketches in various scholarly journals, including "Pamiętnik Literacki" and "Zagadnienia Rodzajów Literackich". She was awarded a habilitation degree in 1970 for her study Między poezją a wymową. Konwencje i tradycje staropolskiej prozy nowelistycznej (Between Poetry and Oration: Conventions and traditions of the prose of Old Polish novellas). The following year, she was appointed lecturer and director of the Department of the History of Old Polish Literature (which in 1993 became the Department of Medieval Literature) at IBL PAN. She was a member of the Scientific Council of IBL PAN from 1971 to 2005, while from 1971 to 1996 she was a member of the Committee on Polish Literary Studies at PAN (which in 2003 was renamed the Committee on Literary Studies. KNoL). She received research grants to travel to Paris (1969, 1979, 1986, and 1988), Rome (1987, 1990, 1994, and 1996), and Uppsala (1993). She was made associate professor in 1983 and full professor in 1991. She occasionally taught at the University of Warsaw (UW), on the Doctoral Programme at IBL PAN and in Rome at Università di Roma. From 1991, she was editor of IBL's publication series Studia Staropolskie (Old Polish Studies). In 1995, she received an award from the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP) in the field of humanities and social sciences for her literary historical overview of the Middle Ages Średniowiecze (Middle Ages). In 1996, she joined the Polish PEN Club and the Warsaw Learned Society, where she became a full member in 2004. She was made a corresponding member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (PAU) in Krakow in 1999, before being appointed a full active member in 2006. She founded and edited the IBL publication series: Studia Staropolskie. Series Nova (Old Polish Studies: Series Nova; launched in 2000; honorary member) and Bibliotheca Litterarum Medii Aevi. Artes-opera (launched 2006). In 2003, she joined the Polish Medieval Studies Committee (Komitet Mediewistów Polskich). Until 2007, she was professor at the Institute of Literary Research at PAN and was head of the Department of Medieval Literature. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University (UKSW) in Warsaw. She received the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta in 2012. She lives in Warsaw.