POPIEL Magdalena

Born on 22 March 1953 in Krakow; daughter of Jan Pelc and Barbara Kurkiewicz. She attanded the B. Nowodworski Grammar School No. I in Krakow. She made her debut in 1970 with a review of Wincenty Danek's book Pisarz wciąż żywy [A writer who lives on] about Józef Ignacy Kraszewski. Her review appeared in the youth periodical "Głos Młodzieży" (no. 12; using the surname Pelc). After completing her advanced secondary education in 1972, she started a degree in Polish philology at the Jagiellonian University (UJ) in Krakow. Between 1975 and 1977, she studied Italian philology at the same university. In 1977, she graduated with a master's degree from UJ, awarded for her study Przestrzeń w „Ziemi obiecanej” Władysława Stanisława Reymonta [Space in Władysław Stanisław Reymont's "Ziemia obiecana" ("Promised Land")]. Her dissertation was supervised by Prof. Henryk Markiewicz. She was subsequently appointed to a post at the Department of Literary Theory and Historical Poetics at the Institute of Polish Philology (IFP) at UJ. In 1979, she published her first academic article, Od topografii do przestrzeni mitycznej. Analiza przestrzeni w „Ziemi obiecanej” Reymonta [From topography to mythical space: An analysis of space in Reymont's "Promised Land"], which appeared in the journal "Pamiętnik Literacki" (vol. 4). Her research focused primarily on studies in the field of literary history and aesthetics of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as well as aesthetic and anthropological approaches to literature, the theory and history of novels, comparative cultural studies, and literary criticism. She continued to publish articles in journals including "Pamiętnik Literacki" (1979, 1983, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2013, 2019, and 2020), "Ruch Literacki" (1980,1989, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2013, 2015, and 2017), and "Teksty Drugie" (1993, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2009, and 2011). She was awarded a doctoral degree in 1986 on the basis of her dissertation „Żywe kamienie” Wacława Berenta. Poetyka i wizja świata [Wacław Berent's "Żywe kamienie" (Living stones): Poetics and worldview], which was supervised by Prof. H. Markiewicz. She was a fellow at the Centro Incontri e Studi Europei in Rome in 1987 and 1993. In 1990, she was awarded the prize of the Minister of Education, while in 2002 she received the Prize of the UJ Rector. Between 1995 and 2007, she was a lecturer at the Chairs of Polish Studies in Udine, Padua and Rome. Between 1996 and 2004, she served as editorial secretary of the Biblioteka Polska [Polish Library] publication series that was published by the Universitas Society of Authors and Publishers of Academic Studies. In 1999, she was awarded a habilitation degree from UJ for her study "Oblicza wzniosłości. Estetyka powieści młodopolskiej" [Facets of Profundity: The aesthetics of Young Poland novels]. She also lectured at the Institute of Humanities in Przemysl in 1998/99 and at the State Higher Vocational School in Krosno between 2000 and 2007. She joined the Editorial Committee of the periodical "Przestrzenie Teorii" in 2004. In 2005, she moved to the Chair of Literary Anthropology and Cultural Studies at the Faculty of Polish Philology at UJ. Between 2005 and 2010, she was scientific editor of the publication series Biblioteka Narodowa [National Library] that was published by the Ossolineum library. In 2008, she received the Individual Prize of the Minister of Science and Higher Education. She was made full professor in 2009. Between 2010 and 2022, she was a member of the Scientific Council of the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IBL PAN). Between 2010 and 2012, she was a principal investigator on the third-party funded project Kulturowa teoria literatury 2. Poetyki, problematyki, interpretacje [Cultural literary theory 2: Poetics, problems, interpretations], while from 2010 to 2013 she was also an editor of a multimedia dictionary as part of the project Sensualność w kulturze polskiej. Przedstawienie zmysłów człowieka w języku, piśmiennictwie i sztuce od średniowiecza do współczesności [Sensuality in Polish Culture: Representations of human sense in language, texts and art since the Middle Ages]. She was responsible for the section on Young Poland. Between 2011 and 2014, she served on the team working on the project Kulturowa historia literatury [A cultural history of literature]. In 2012, she became chair of the International Association of Polish Studies (Międzynarodowe Stowarzyszenie Studiów Polonistycznych. From 2014, she organized the Jan Kochanowski competition, which is aimed at international students of Polish. In 2015, she joined the Programme Council of the Polish studies newsletter "Biuletyn Polonistyczny". She co-organized the VI, VII and VIII World Congresses of Polish Studies in Katowice (2016), Wroclaw (2021) and Krakow (2023). In 2018, she established a digital project that she titled Geopolonistyka [Geo-Polish Studies], which seeks to develop an interactive map showing Polish studies centres around the world while outlining those institute's current and past activities (realized through "Biueltyn Polonistyczny"). The same year, she became coordinator of the Czesław Miłosz Jagiellonian Lecture Series while also serving as project lead on the externally-funded project Światowa historia literatury polskiej. Interpretacje [A global history of Polish literature: Interpretations]. She served on the Disciplinary Council for Literary Studies at UJ between 2019 and 2022, while in 2021 she joined the Literary History Committee at the Polish Academy of Science as well as the Scientific Council of the Rome-based journal "Ricerche Slavistiche". In 2022, she became a member of the editorial board of the publication series Inventio. Antropologia tworzenia-krytyka genetyczna-interpretacja [Inventio: Anthropology of creation, genre criticism, interpretation], which appears with UJ publishing house Wydawnictwo UJ. She was awarded the Bronze (2007) and Gold (2018) Cross of Merit and the Medal of the Commission of National Education (2009). She lives in Krakow. In 1978, she married the theatre and literary studies scholar Jacek Popiel↑; they have two children: Jerzy (b. 1979) and Ewa (b. 1990).