ZIENIEWICZ Andrzej

Born on 30 November 1949 in Warsaw; son of the civil servants Bogdan Zieniewicz and Marianna, née Pilich. He attended the Stefan Batory Grammar School No. II in Warsaw between 1963 and 1967. He then took a degree in Polish philology at the University of Warsaw (UW). He made his debut as a critic in 1972 with the review Niestety – melodramat (A Melodrama – Unfortunately), which discussed Z. Oryszyn's novel Melodramat (Melodrama). The review appeared in "Nowy Wyraz" (no. 3), where he published further reviews into 1973. During this period, he was also a critic for "Nowe Książki" (1972-74). After graduating from UW with a master's degree in 1973, he was employed at the university as an assistant at the Department of Twentieth Century Literature. His research focused on interwar-era poetry, the history of twentieth-century literature and historiosophy in literature, while also working on the role of literature as testimony and on studies of prose forms on the boundary of fiction of autobiography. Between 1976 and 1979, he regularly contributed reviews and articles to the weekly "Literatura", where he served on the editorial board in 1977/78. He also published scholarly articles and book reviews during this period in "Poezja" (1975-86), "Przegląd Humanistyczny" (1977, 1981, 1983), "Miesięcznik Literacki" (1982-87). In 1980/81, he was deputy editor of "Nowy Wyraz". He was awarded a doctoral degree from UW in 1981 for his dissertation Program ideowo-artystyczny i praktyka poetycka „Żagarów” wileńskich (The Ideological and Artistic Programme and Poetic Practice of the Wilno Żagary group), which was supervised by Dr. Janusz Rohoziński. From 1986 to 1994, he was a lecturer in Polish language and literature in Ankara and Istanbul, where he also founded departments of Polish philology. After returning to Poland, he resumed his post at UW. He published research and essays in "Wiadomości Kulturalne" (1995-97), "Rocznik Towarzystwa Literackiego im. Adama Mickiewicza" (1996-97), "Regiony" (1997), and "Teksty Drugie" (2003-04). Between 2000 and 2010, he gave courses in cultural studies and on the social and cultural role of media at the Giedroyc College of Communication and Media (Wyższa Szkoła Komunikowania i Mediów Społecznych) in Warsaw. He was awarded a habilitation degree from UW in 2002 for his study Obecność autora. Style rzeczywistości w sylwie współczesnej (The Presence of the Author: Styles of reality in contemporary silva). That year, he began teaching on the Philology for Media programme, one of the specialist vocational courses offered by the Faculty of Polish Studies at UW. In 2003, he co-founded the literary quarterly "LiteRacje", serving on its editorial board between 2010 and 2013. He was appointed professor at UW in 2004. Between 2005 and 2013, he was head of the Department of Twentieth Century Literature, which in 2014 became the Department of Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Literature at the Institute of Polish Literature (ILP) at UW. In 2006, he also joined the team at the Centre for the Anthropology of Literature at ILP at UW. From 2007 to 2016, he was director of the Polonicum Centre of Polish Language and Culture for Foreigners. In 2016, he was appointed chair of the Centre's Scientific Council. He collaborated with Radio TOK FM, appearing on programmes including Światopogląd (Worldview) and Wielka Loża Komentatorska (The Grand Lodge of Commentators; 2013-16). In 1974, he married the political scientist Ewa Pietrzyk. He lives in Warsaw.