OSTASZ Gustaw

Born on 15 April 1940 in Majdan Nepryski in the Zamość region. Son of the farmers Marcin Ostasz and Marianna, née Gontarz. He attended the Grammar School in Józefów, near Biłgoraj, completing his advanced secondary education in 1957. He worked for a year as a teacher at the Primary School in Jędrzejówka. In 1958, he started a degree in Polish philology at the Higher School of Education (WSP) in Krakow, graduating with a master's degree in 1963. He spent the next years teaching Polish in secondary schools, first in Gdów, near Wieliczka, until 1964, and then in Czudec, near Rzeszów, from 1964 to 1966. In autumn 1966 he was employed by the Higher School of Education (WSP) in Rzeszów, where he worked as librarian at the Chair of Polish Literature and Language and taught classes on modernist literature. He was also responsible for record-keeping at the Department of Polish Literature (as a volunteer until 1970). He made his debut in 1966 with a review, Gospodarstwo wyobraźni Juliana Kawalca (Julian Kawalec's farm of imagination), addressing the author's volume of short stories, Marsz weselny (Wedding March). Ostasz's review appeared in "Kwartalnik Rzeszowski" (no. 3). In autumn 1967 Rzeszów WSP made him an assistant. In that role he taught on world literature and twentieth-century Polish literature, poetics and literature theory, and literary analysis and interpretation. In 1969/70 he was secretary of the faculty recruitment commission. During this period his articles and essays appeared primarily in the WSP's humanities yearbook, "Rocznik Naukowo-Dydaktyczny WSP w Rzeszowie. Nauki Humanistyczne" (intermittently 1968-76). He was awarded a doctoral degree from Krakow WSP in 1975 for his dissertation Powieści historyczne Stanisława Szpotańskiego na tle jego prac naukowych (Stanisław Szpotański's Historical Novels in the Context of his Scholarly Research), which was supervised by Prof. Wincenty Danek. He continued to work at Rzeszów WSP as a lecturer at the Chair of Polish Literature and Language, which in 1982 became the Institute of Polish Literature. His research in the field of literary history focused on historical literature and stories with rural themes. He joined the Scientific Society of Rzeszów, serving on its board from 1975 to 1980, and the Rzeszów Branch of the Adam Mickiewicz Literary Society, serving on its board from 1980 to 1993. As associate dean, he served as vice-rector for youth affairs at Rzeszów WSP in 1977, while in 1981/82 he was deputy director for scientific affairs at the Institute of Polish Philology (IFP) there. He collaborated with Rzeszów WSP's yearbook in Polish philology, "Rocznik Naukowo-Dydaktyczny WSP w Rzeszowie. Filologia Polska", serving as scientific editor on issue 15, vol. 54 (1983). He also published essays in journals including "Prace Humanistyczne" (1979 and 1982; in 1986 he was editor of this periodical, series I, no. 27). He was awarded the WSP rector's prize on several occasions (1975, 1979, 1981, 1983, and 1995) in recognition of his scholarly achievements. He was awarded a habilitation degree in 1994, having presented his study W cieniu„Herostratesa”. O tradycjach romantyzmu w poezji polskiej lat 1914-1939 (In the Shadows of "Herostratus": On Romantic traditions in Polish poetry, 1914-1939), for assessment at Krakow WSP. In 1993 he was appointed associate professor at Rzeszów WSP, where his research focused on twentieth-century lyric poetry. He edited selected issues of "Zeszyty Naukowe WSP w Rzeszowie. Seria Filologiczna. Historia Literatury" (1998, no. 31; 1999, no. 34). Following structural reforms and the creation of the University of Rzeszów (UR) in 2001, this literary history journal was named "Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Rzeszowskiego. Seria Filologiczna. Historia Literatury", with Ostasz editing issues in 2004 (no. 21), 2008 (no. 52), and 2009 (no. 59). Between 1998 and 2006 ,he collaborated with Radio Rzeszów and Via Radio in Rzeszów, participating in discussions on literature and culture. In 2004, he was made state-appointed professor. From 2006 until his retirement in 2010, he was head of the Department of Twentieth-Century Polish Literature at the Institute of Polish Philology at UR. His essays and reviews appeared in various journals and publications, although he never became a regular contributor to any particular publication. He received the Gold Cross of Merit in 1989, the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta in 2003, followed by the Officer's Cross in 2011, and the Medal of the Commission of National Education in 2006. He married Janina Aleksandra Skowron, a biology student at the time, in 1963. They have a son, Grzegorz (b. 1964). He lives in Rzeszów.