GUTOWSKI Wojciech

Born on 3 June 1946 in Nieszawa; son of the bookkeeper Kazimierz Gutowski and the civil servant Mieczysława, née Ignaczewska. He started attending the Grammar School in Aleksandrów Kujawski in 1960, completing his advanced secondary education in 1964. He then studied Polish philology at the Faculty of the Humanities at the Nicolaus Copernicus University (UMK) in Torun. He was a member of the Polish Students' Association (ZSP) during his studies. He made his debut with the poems Początek podróży (Start of a Journey) and Wejście (Entrance), which were published in Almanach Poezji (Torun 1966). After graduating with a master's degree from UMK in 1969, he was employed as an assistant intern before being appointed teaching assistant, serving in this role between 1970 and 1978. He made his debut as a literary critic in 1970 with a review titled Edmunda Puzdrowskiego poezje trzecie (Edmund Puzdrowski's third poetry), which discussed his book Rzecz kaszubska (A Kashubian Piece). The review was published in "Pomorze” (no. 3). The same year, he became a member of the Torun Scientific Society (Towarzystwo Naukowe w Toruniu – TNT), serving as secretary between 1983 and 1989, followed by a period as chair of its Philological Commission until 1997. Between 1997 and 2004 he was a member of the Society's Board and editor-in-chief of TNT's publishing houses. He was also a member of the Adam Mickiewicz Literary Society, joining the Board of its Editorial Commission in 1996. Between 1970 and 1975, he was a member of the Torun branch of the Club of Catholic Intelligentsia (Klub Inteligencji Katolickiej – KIK). Between 1970 and 1980, he was a member of the Polish Teachers' Union (ZNP). He published his first academic article, Problematyka powieści Tadeusza Micińskiego. „Nietota”, „Xiądz Faust” – próba reinterpretacji (Themes in Tadeusz Miciński's Novels "Nietota" and "Xiądz Faust": Towards a reinterpretation), in 1972 in UMK's journal "Zeszyty Naukowe UMK, Filologia Polska" (no. 48). His research focused primarily on the literature of the Young Poland period, in particular the works of Tadeusz Miciński, and twentieth-century literature more generally. His articles, essays and reviews appeared in journals and periodicals including "Acta Universitatis Nicolai Copernici" (intermittently 1977-96), "Pamiętnik Literacki" (intermittently from 1977) and "Ruch Literacki" (1988, 1992, 2002-06, and 2009). He also published reviews under the pen name Adam Jaśniach in "Literatura" (1976 and 1978) and "Gazeta Pomorska" (1978). He was awarded a doctoral degree in 1978 from UMK for his dissertation Świat poetycki Tadeusza Micińskiego. Symbol-mit-światopogląd (The Poetic World of Tadeusz Miciński: Symbol, myth, worldview), which was supervised by Prof. Artur Hutnikiewicz. Gutowski was subsequently appointed lecturer. He was a member of the Independent Self-governing Trade Union Solidarity (NSZZ "Solidarność") in 1980-81 and from 1989 to 1998. From 1986, he worked in parallel at the Higher School of Pedagogy (Wyższa Szkoła Pedagogiczna – WSP) in Bydgoszcz (now Kazimierz Wielki University). He was awarded a habilitation degree in 1989 for his study Nagie dusze i maski. O młodopolskich mitach miłości (Naked Souls and Masks: On Young Poland's myths of love). He was subsequently appointed senior lecturer before being made associated professor at UMK in Torun and Bydgoszcz WSP in 1990. He also lectured at the Higher School of Pedagogy in Słupsk between 1992 and 1995 and at the now defunct private university specializing in humanities and education, Mazowiecka Wyższa Szkoła Humanistyczno-Pedagogiczna in Łowicz (1995-2005; holding the Chair of the History of Polish Literature between 2000 and 2003). He was made state-appointed professor in 1995. Between 1996 and 2003, he was a member of the Committee on Literary Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Komitet Nauk o Literaturze Polskiej PAN). He resigned from UMK in 1998 and took up a post as full professor at WSP in Bydgoszcz (which in 2001 became Bydgoszcz Academy [Akademia Bydgoska] and in 2004 Kazimierz Wielki University – UKW). He was initially director of the Department of Young Poland Literature, while from 2001 until his retirement in 2014 he held the Chair of Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Polish Literature (which in 2011 became the Chair of Modern and Postmodern Polish Literature of the 19th-21st Centuries) at the Institute of Polish Philology (now the Institute of Polish Philology and Cultural Studies). He was appointed to the Scientific Council of the Interfaculty Department (from 2006 – Institute) of Research on Religious Literature at the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL) in 1998. In 2000, he joined the Programme Council of the Jan Kasprowicz Museum in Inowrocław while also serving on the editorial board of its yearbook "Rocznik Kasprowiczowski". He was awarded the rector's prize at both UMK and UKW on many occasions, while in 2002, he received the prize of the Minister of National Education. In 2007, he was appointed to the Board of the Prof. A. Hutnikiewicz Foundation, the Scientific Council of the Mr Cogito Library (Biblioteka Pana Cogito) and the Editorial Board of the artistic and scholarly quarterly "Temat", which was published in Bydgoszcz. He also published articles and reviews in this periodical between 2005 and 2007. In 2008, he joined the Scientific Council of the University of Bialystok's publishing series Czarny Romantyzm (Dark Romanticism). He was awarded the Golden Cross of Merit in 1991, the Committee of National Education Medal in 1997, the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta in 2000 and the Jerzy Sulima-Kamiński Medal in 2008, awarded by the Artistic Chapter (Kapituła Artystyczna) for services to the Kuyavian-Pomeranian region. He married the Polish studies graduate Maria Mikołajczak in 1972. They have three children: Anna (b. 1977), Marek (b. 1979) and Elżbieta (b. 1980). He lives in Torun.