SZTURC Włodzimierz

Born on 16 January 1959 in Wisła in the Cieszyn Silesia region; son of the bookkeeper Gustaw Szturc and the sawmill administrator Hermina Śliż. He was initially a pupil in Wisła, with his education including three years in the accordion class at the specialist music primary school, which was a branch of the State Music School in Cieszyn. He continued his education at the Grammar School in Wisła. While in the third class there, he was a finalist at the Olympiad of Polish Literature and Language. He made his debut in 1976 with the poems Bukowa zima (Beech winter), which appeared in the periodical "Zwrot" (no. 9), and Domy modrzewiowe (Larch houses), which was published in the newspaper "Głos Ludu" (no. 98). Both pieces received prizes at the Third Literary Competition held as part of the Week of Beskid Culture. After completing advanced secondary education in 1977, he took a degree in theatre studies and philosophy at the Jagiellonian University (UJ) in Krakow. From 1979, he was also on an individual study programme in Polish philology. In 1981, he was awarded a master's degree having submitted a dissertation titled Ewolucja idei kosmosu w twórczości Słowackiego (The Evolution of the Idea of the Cosmos in the Works of Słowacki), which was supervised by Prof. Maria Żmigrodzka. He was subsequently appointed assistant at the Department of the History of Nineteenth Century Polish Literature at the Institute of Polish Philology (IFP) at UJ. That year, he made his debut as a literary historian with the essay O modelach kosmosu w literaturze. („Ja” liryczne wobec harmonii wszechświata) (Literary Models of the Cosmos: The lyrical "I" and the harmony of the universe), which appeared in the literary and scholarly periodical "Warsztat". His research focused primarily on nineteenth-century literature and culture, in particular theatre, while in later years he also investigated questions related to the imagination, mythology and Classical culture. He made his debut as a theatre reviewer in 1981, discussing a performance of Fritz Hochwälder's Der öffentliche Anklager (The Public Prosecutor; in Polish as Oskarżyciel publiczny) in the daily "Echo Krakowa" (no. 34). He stopped collaborating with the newspaper following the imposition of martial law in December of the same year. He remained active as a scholar, publishing articles primarily on Romantic literature and drama, as well as literary and theatre reviews, and translations from French, including some that appeared in "Ruch Literacki" (intermittently 1982-85, and 1989-90) and "Nowe Książki" (1983-90). During the 1980s, he was also active as an editor, collaborating with independent publishing houses. His articles also appeared in the periodical "Robotnik", which was published outside the reach of state censorship, under the alias WSW. He also wrote poetry and painted. He was a lecturer at the Faculty of Acting and the Faculty of Directing at the Ludwik Solski State Theatre School (PWST) in Krakow. In 1989, he was awarded a doctoral degree for his thesis Ironia romantyczna – ogniwo przemian i sporów pomiędzy Sokratyczną i retoryczną ideą ironii (Romantic Irony: A source of transformation and controversy between the Socratic and rhetorical ideas of irony), which was supervised by Prof. Ewa Miodońska-Brookes. In 1991, he left for Paris, where he lectured in Polish literature and culture at Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO). He also collaborated with Centre de Recherche sur L'imaginaire (CRI) at the Stendhal University in Grenoble, where in 1994/95 he lectured on cultural anthropology. Together with his students and several acquaintances who were already associated with amateur theatre, he formed the theatre group Théâtre de l’Avenir-bemoll in 1993. He adapted works for the stage and directed performances there. He collaborated with the Frans Roggen Theatre Institute in Gent. His articles, essays and reviews appeared in periodicals including "Przegląd Humanistyczny" (1990 and 1996-97), "Teatr" (intermittently 1990-94, and 2001), "Revue des Études Slaves" (Paris, 1993), "Przegląd Artystyczno-Literacki" (1996-98; from 1997 "PAL Przegląd Artystyczno-Literacki"). He made his debut as a dramatist in 1994 with the piece Magnifikat (Magnificat), which appeared in "Dialog" (no. 12). He returned to Krakow in 1995, where he worked at the IFP at UJ and at the State Theatre School (PWST). He left for France again in 1997, where he lectured in comparative literature and the comparative history of theatre, in particularly Classical drama, at Université François Rabelais in Tours. During this period, he became acquainted with the French actress Charlotte Lafont and in 1998 they revived Théâtre de l’Avenir-bemoll. After returning to Krakow, he was employed at the Chair in Comparative Literature and then at the Chair in Theatre (later the Chair in Theatre and Drama) at the Institute of Polish Studies (from 2004 the Faculty of Polish Studies) at UJ. He was awarded a habilitation degree in 2000 from UJ for his study Teoria dramatu romantycznego w Europie XIX wieku (The Theory of Romantic Drama in Nineteenth-Century Europe). That year, he was appointed chair of the Polish Comparative Literature Association and became a member of the International Comparative Literature Association. In 2001, he served as one of the scholarly editors of the University of Bialystok's publication series Antyk Romantyków (The Romantics' Antiquity). In 2002, he was appointed associated professor. That year he started lecturing in comparative mythology at the Faculty of Polish Studies at UJ. He also continued to teach the history of theatre and drama at the Faculty of Acting at PWST in Krakow (which in 2017 became the Stanisław Wyspiański AST National Academy of Theatre Arts). Between 2002 and 2005, he gave dramaturgy workshops as part of the Postgraduate Programme in Literary and Artistic Studies at UJ. Under his tutorship, students of the programme wrote the play Desperados, which subsequently appeared in the periodical "Portret" (2002, no. 12, pp. 162-165). In 2007, he joined the editorial board of the University of Bialystok's publication series Czarny Romantyzm (Black Romanticism) and the editorial board of the journal "Litteraria Copernicana", which is published by the Academic Publishing House (Wydawnictwo Naukowe) of the Nicolaus Copernicus University (UMK) in Torun. He joined the Association for the Study of Theatre History (Towarzystwo Badań Historii Teatru). He lectured at universities in Germany (Giessen and Berlin), Norway (Bergen) and France. He continued to write dramas, including the unpublished pieces Triforium (written 2004) and Niewolnicy sprzątają najlepiej (Slaves Tidy Up Best; written 2005). He travelled widely abroad, including visits to Greece and Indonesia in 2004, while in 2007 he went to Tunisia. In 2013, he joined the Scientific Council of the library studies and bibliology journal "Bibliotekarz Podlaski" and became a member of the Editorial Board of the occasional philology periodical "Próby", published by the Academic Circle of the Humanities Scholars' Club at the University of Bialystok (UwB). His articles and reviews appeared during this period in periodicals including "Bez Porównania" (2006; including a selection of poems in the cycle Czuwania [Vigils]), "Literacje" (2011-12), "Musica Antiqua Europae Orientalis" (2012 and 2014), "Próby" (2013-14), "Słowo i Myśl" (2013), "Didaskalia" (2014), "Teksty Drugie" (2014), "Pamiętnik Teatralny" (2015), "Slavia Orientalis" (2016), and "Konteksty" (2017). He was engaged in social initiatives, organizing educational activities for children in rural locations. He received the Meritorious Activist of Culture honour in 1999 and the Silver Cross of Merit in 2017. He lives in Krakow and Wisła.