PĄKCIŃSKI Marek

Born on 11 August 1960 in Warsaw; son of the doctor Feliks Pąkciński, and the classical philologist and later professor of the University of Warsaw (UW) Marianna, née Bębenek. He lived in Otwock, near Warsaw, where his father was a doctor at, and later director of, the anti-tuberculosis clinic. Marek Pąkiciński started writing poetry as a child, making his debut in 1975 with the piece Biblioteka (Library), which was published in the magazine "Filomata" (no. 288). Soon afterwards, while aged only 16, he published the novel Owadzia planeta (Insect Planet). He continued to publish poems in "Filomat" until 1981. He completed his advanced secondary education in 1978 at the Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński Grammar School in Otwock and subsequently studied Polish philology (with a major in teaching) at UW. He was awarded a master's degree in 1978 for his dissertation Poezja jako odzwierciedlenie świata społecznego na przykładzie utworów Juliana Kornhausera, Adama Zagajewskiego i Stanisława Barańczaka z lat 1970-1975 (Poetry as Reflection of the Social World in the works of Julian Kornhauser, Adam Zagajewski and Stanisław Barańczak). From 1983 to 1985, he was an assistant at the periodical "Polonijny Świat Młodych” (an émigré spin off of "Świat Młodych"). After completing military service he worked in the debut section of the Iskry publishing house. He continued to write literary works and literary criticism during this period. His prose pieces, articles and reviews appeared in periodicals including "Kierunki" (1984-85 and 1989), "Nowe Książki" (regularly from 1985), "Fantastyka" (1989) and its successor "Nowa Fantastyka" (1990-95), and "Tygodnik Solidarność"(1989). At the same time, starting in 1984, he collaborated with the Department of Positivist Literature (from 1990 the Department of Late Nineteenth-Century Literature) at the Institute of Literature Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IBL PAN). In 1990, he was appointed assistant at the Department. He was awarded a doctoral degree in 1992 for his study „Młodzi konserwatyści warszawscy”. Zarys monograficzny ("Young Warsaw conservatives": A monograph), which was supervised by Prof. Janusz Maciejewski. He was appointed lecturer in 1996. From 1995 he started teaching at IBL PAN, conducting classes as part of the Postgraduate Programme in Polish Philology and the Course in Practical Rhetoric and Critique. His essays and articles appeared in periodicals and newspapers including "List Oceaniczny" (1990 and 1994-95), "Potop" (1991), "Przegląd Literacki" (1992-93), "Życie Warszawy" (1992-93), "Społeczeństwo Otwarte" (1992-93), "Literatura" (1996-97), and "Nowe Książki" (1995-97). In 2006, he was awarded a habilitation degree for his book Maski Zaratustry. Motywy i wątki filozofii Nietzschego a kryzys nowoczesności (Zarathustra's Masks: The crisis of modernity and Nietzschean motifs and themes). As professor, he was head of the Department of Positivist and Young Poland Literature at the Jan Kochanowski University of Humanities and Sciences in Kielce (from 2011 the Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce) from 2007 to 2015. In 2007, he also taught on Positivist and Modernist Literature for one semester at the University of Bialystok, joining the Scientific Council of IBL PAN the same year. In 2009, he was made senior lecture and then associate professor at IBL PAN the following year. In 2010, he became involved in the activities of the Main Committee of the Olympiad in Polish Literature and Language. Between 2010 and 2016, he was deputy editor and later member of the editorial board of "Napis", a yearbook published by IBL PAN and the University of Warsaw. Between 2015 and 2018, he was director of the PAN Scientific Centre in Moscow. He was married to the teacher Urszula, née Siwek (they divorced in 1996); they have one son, Kacper (b. 1987). In 2012, he married the chemistry graduate Jolanta Janiszewska. He lives in Torun and Warsaw.