SŁAWIŃSKI Janusz

Born on 15 March 1934 in Warsaw; son of the engineer Stefan Sławiński, and Aniela née Trafisz. He remained in Warsaw during the German occupation. He joined the Society of Friends of Children Grammar School in Warsaw in 1948, completing his advanced secondary education there in 1951. He then studied Polish philology at the University of Warsaw (UW), graduating with a master's degree in 1955. Between 1953 and 1957, he worked as a sub-editor in the editorial office of "Sztandar Młodych". He made his debut in this daily in 1953 with the article Przegląd naszych sił przed sesją zimową (A review of our forces before the winter session; no. 3). Between 1956 and 1962, he was a regular contributor to the monthly "Twórczość", where he made his debut as a literary critic in 1956 with a review of Jacek Trznadel's book O poezji Mieczysława Jastruna (On Mieczysław Jastrun's poetry). His review was titled Grzechy główne krytyki (Criticism's gravest sins; "Twórczość", no. 2, 1956). In parallel, he started a career as a researcher and lecturer in 1956, taking up a post as an assistant at the Chair of Literary Theory at UW. In his research, he focused primarily on questions related to historical poetics and narrative forms, contributing to the emerging "Polish structuralism" strand of Polish literary studies. He also worked on developing a communicative theory of literary works, concepts of reception as an integral element of literary historical processes, as well as exploring the functions of literary criticism and conducting research on the interpretation and morphology of literary texts. From 1958, he also gave lectures and seminars on literary theory and poetics at the Training College for Secondary School Teachers in Warsaw, while also offering the same from 1960 at the Higher School of Education in Gdansk. Between 1960 and 1964, he was a lecturer on courses on literary interpretation that were offered by UW during summer schools for international Polish philology students. He married the literary historian and literary theorist Aleksandra Stawiarska (Okopień after her first husband) in 1961. In 1962, he took up a post as a senior assistant at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IBL PAN). He continued to give lectures, seminars and practical courses on literary theory and poetics at UW until 1968. Between 1962 and 1986, he was a regular co-organizer of the annual conference on literary theory for Polish philologists, while continuing to offer conceptual input into the events to 2001. He was awarded a doctoral degree from UW in 1964 for his thesis Koncepcja języka poetyckiego awangardy (The Avant-garde's concepts of poetic language), which was supervised by Prof. Kazimierz Budzyk and then, following Budzyk's death, by Prof. Zdzisław Libera. That year he was appointed lecturer at IBL PAN and joined the editorial committee of the publication series Z Dziejów Form Artystycznych w Literaturze Polskiej (The History of Artistic Forms in Polish Literature), serving as its editor-in-chief from 1969. He was involved in the research and administrative activities of IBL PAN; from 1967 he was head of the Department of Historical Poetics, while from 1968 he served on the Directorial College and then joined its Scientific Council in 1969. In 1967, he received the prize of Szczecin Cultural Society in recognition of his research on contemporary Polish poetry. He joined the Polish Writers' Union (ZLP) in 1967, remaining a member until its dissolution in 1983. From 1969 to 1998, he served on the Polish Academy of Sciences' Committee on Polish Literary Studies. He was awarded a habilitation from IBL in 1972 for his study Dzieło, język, tradycja (Text, language, tradition). He was also appointed head of the Centre for Systematics of Literary Forms at IBL, with the Department of Historical Poetics being incorporated into it in 1971. In 1972, he also joined the editorial college of the bimonthly "Teksty", where he was a regular contributor and also published the programme text Teksty i teksty (Texts and texts); from 1981 (vol. 3) he served as its editor-in-chief until the publication was suspending with the imposition of martial law on 13 December 1981. He was founder and then from 1974 editor of the publication series Vademecum Polonisty (The Polish Philologists' Handbook) that appeared with the publishing house of the Ossoliński National Institute. In 1980, he signed the Appeal of 64 intellectuals, writers and journalists that was addressed to the communist authorities, imploring them to enter into dialogue with the striking dockyard workers. In September 1980, he joined the Founding Committee of the IBL PAN branch of the Independent Self-governing Trade Union Solidarity In 1981, he co-founded the Society for the Support and Propagation of Science, where he served as a member of the Executive Board and in 1999 on its Council. Together with Alina Brodzka and Roman Zimand, he co-organized a symposium on Polish émigré literature and second-circulation literature that appeared outside the reach of state censorship. The event, Literatura źle obecna (Badly present literature), took place at the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences from 27-30 October 1981 (proceedings were published in London in 1984 and Krakow* in 1986). From 1982 to 1986, he gave a seminar at IBL titled Zaniedbania historyków literatury (Literary historians' omissions). In 1982, he joined the Polish Philosophical Society and the Adam Mickiewicz Literary Society. He was made an associate professor in 1983 and a full professor the following year. Between 1984 and 1990, he served on the editorial board of the monthly "Kultura Niezależna", which appeared outside the reach of state censorship. He published here using pseudonyms including Józef Drążek, K.N., and Zygmunt Rafalski. In 1984, he and R. Zimand founded and the co-edited to 1990 the second-circulation periodical "Almanach Humanistyczny" (he published using cryptonyms including: J.A.S., J.S.). He also published in other independent periodicals, including "Wezwanie" (1985) and émigré publications, including the London-based "Puls" (using the pseudonym Zygmunt Rafalski). In 1988, he received the prize of the New York-based A. Jurzykowski foundation. He joined the Polish Writers' Association (SPP) in 1989. In 1990, he became a regular contributor to the IBL bimonthly "Teksty Drugie" (with his contributions including in 1998-2001 and 2003 the regular short essay series, Bez przydziału [No allocation]). In 1991, he was appointed head of the Working Group on Publishing Policy of the Committee for Scientific Research, serving until 2004. In September 1991, he joined the recently established Board of the Foundation for Polish Science, initially serving as secretary and then from 1994 to 2004 as its chair. He was also a member of the Publishing Council of the series Monografie Fundacji na Rzecz Nauki Polskiej (Monographs of the Foundation for Polish Science) to December 2013. In 1995, he chaired the Organizing Committee of the Congress of Polish Philologists. In 2000, he was elected corresponding member of the Philological Section of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (PAU). He was awarded honorary doctorates from the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL) in 2006 and the University of Lodz in 2007. He was a recipient of the Honorary Medal of the Foundation for Polish Science. He died on 1 November 2014 in Warsaw, where he is buried at Wawrzyszew Cemetery.