The article deals with the oeuvre of Karl Dedecius, including his translation work as well as his literary criticism and editing. In the history of Polish-German cultural transfer, Dedecius was one of the most prominent actors and organizers. After WWII he has become a forerunner of German-Polish reconciliation. He was the head of the Deutsches Polen-Institut in Darmstadt, which largely prepared the public opinion in West Germany for a normalization of the political relations with Poland after the 1989–90 breakthrough. Today, he is considered the greatest ambassador of Polish literature in the German-speaking countries in the 20th century. The article has been written to mark the centenary of his birth.

The present paper consists of two parts. In the first part, the literary output of the Sanskrit poet Kālidāsa (4th/5th cent. AD) is briefly characterised. Particular attention is paid to his poem “Kumārasaṃbhava”, presenting the story of the union of Śiva and Parvatī. Canto 1 of this poem gives an extensive description of Himālaya (the divine ruler of the mountains), followed by an account of his daughter Parvatī. Himālaya is presented both as a person (Kālidāsa stresses his qualities as a good ruler) and as the mountain range, a dwelling-place of various mythological figures. The poet introduces here in a subtle way two main motifs of the poem – asceticism and love. By placing the description of Himālaya at the beginning of the poem, Kālidāsa not only emphasises his daughter Parvatī’s royal origin, but also draws the reader’s attention to her, who is in fact the main character of this mahākāvya. The second part of the paper gives a Polish translation of Canto 1 of the “Kumārasaṃbhava” supplied with an ample commentary.

The analysis of passages selected from Ajñeya’s works in Hindi: poems, short stories, and a drama, aims to show the context, in which the writer uses the “sukh-duḥkh” compound, known from the Nāṭyaśāstra (Nāṭyaśāstra, 5 B. C. – 5 A. D.), an old-Indian compendium on dance and theatre written in Sanskrit, where it occurs in the meaning of “the nature of the world”. Therefore the contexts in which this very compound has been used in the “Nāṭyaśāstra” have been analyzed. The most important one refers to the nature and process of an aesthetic experience “rasa”. It also occurs in passages providing characteristics of persons recollecting past events or in the state of numbness. The results of the analysis of selected Ajñeya’s works prove that he uses the “sukh-duḥkh” compound in convergent contexts in his works as in the Natyashastra, what has been illustrated by the quoted passages. The writer seems to be an advocate of preserving and modifying the achievements of Sanskrit poetics, including the idea of rasa, to which the term “sukh-duḥkh” refers as “happiness and unhappiness”, being the nature of the world, subjected to the proces of universalization in theater and in a literary work.

This papier presents some approaches to the interpretation of the motifs from the Aesop’s fables in the Buddhist Jatakas (fables about the previous incarnations of the Buddha, so-called birth stories of the Buddha). Many scholars like Maurice Winternitz or Merlin Peris regard Jatakas as simple non-Buddhist stories with evident Greek or folk origin, but Naomi Appleton indicated the importance of context in the interpretation of these works. This paper shows how some of the Greek motifs were modified to adapt them to Buddhism (in Jatakas like: “Veḷuka-jātaka”, “Kacchapa-jātaka”, “Gaṅgeyya-jātaka”, “Maṇisūkara-jātaka”). It also presents the possibility of the interpretation of Jatakas – even these inspired by Greek sources – as parts of Buddhist group of texts, by focusing on the conception of “saṁsāra” (transmigration) and the Buddha’s own account of reminder of his previous incarnations in the canonical literature.

The article presents all of the epigrams of Martial which refer to usury and loans on interest and without interest. It appears that these works are scattered across the twelve books of epigrams and they unite in a big cycle with a common theme or a motif of the loan. The author analyses these poems, as it concerns the employed legal terminology and many aspects of “fenus” and “mutuum” such as: concluding a contract, duration of the agreement, rights and obligations of the creditor and the debtor, termination of the contract, inability to fulfil a contractual obligation. Furthermore, the article considers several questions concerning the presented epigrams of Martial as literary works – particularly it discusses their satirical nature and the fictional features of the characters appearing in the epigrams. Finally, the author shows other possible connections between the poems which could be arranged in smaller cycles inside the main loan-cycle.

Lucan uses two negative adjectives to describe Marc Antony in Book V, in the scene where Caesar calls his officer to come with the troops from Brundysium (496–497; l. 478: “audax”, in the narrator’s discourse; l. 487: “ignavus”, in Caesar’s speech). On the one hand, these adjectives evoke the mutineers from ll. V 237 ff. of the poem, on the other hand, they refer the audience to Roman love elegy, and especially to Ovid’s “Heroides” 18 and 19 (like many other elements in the scene). The intertextual play with love poetry seems to confirm Antony’s laziness, cowardice and disloyalty, but when we take a closer look, it denies Caesar’s and the narrator’s accusations.

The paper focuses on the analysis and interpretation of the dedication letter placed at the beginning of “Chronica Polonorum” written by Matthias de Miechów. A dedication letter (epistola nuncupatoria) written by the publisher of the text Jodocus Ludovicus Decius, was addressed to Sigismund, the King of Poland. The composition of the text, which makes it possible to distinguish individual parts of a rhetorical work (exordium, narratio, probatio, refutatio and conclusio) and the names of the ancient and contemporary for Decius writers, indicate a sophisticated literary culture and the author’s erudition, despite the fact that he had no formal university education. The main content of the dedication can be divided into three thematic groups. The first touches on the place of history in the life and development of human civilization. The second one shows the great and important role that literature and writing skills play in preserving and consolidating the cultural traditions. Decius considered the invention of the printing press to be particularly important for mankind and he also believed that it was important for a nation to have good native writers, who can reliably write the history of their own country. The third part, which was mostly dedicated to the “Chronica Polonorum”, contains very important reflections on the overarching role of truth in a historical work. The topics discussed and the narrative method indicate that Decius was aware that the historical work of Matthias de Miechow could meet with an unfavourable reaction from Polish magnates and he deliberately wrote a text whose aim was to dispel some of the doubts of the recipients. His hunch turned out to be correct, as the first edition of Miechowita’s work was confiscated for political reasons and only the second, revised edition, gained approval. It is worth noting that in both editions of the chronicle the text of Decius remained unchanged.

The aim of this article is to compare the syntax section of the two 17th-century grammar books of Polish: “Grammatica seu institutio Polonicae linguae” by Franciszek Mesgnien-Meniński (1649) and “Tractus ad compendiosam cognitionem linguae Polonicae” by Bartłomiej Kazimierz Malicki (1699). By analyzing these grammars, I want to examine how grammatical description of Polish was influenced by Latin grammatical terminology, widely used in the 17th century teaching process. A comparison of forms and constructions distinguished by the authors with those really existing in 17th-century Polish will reveal whether the authors recognized and described the actually existing grammatical categories or they suggested the existence of certain categories only by analogy with Latin. The material examined shows that Latin was a strong and noticeable reference point for teaching Polish grammar because such a strategy was the most functional and effective way of learning for foreign readers.

This article presents the character of so called magical hymns, a collection of 26 poems dated from 4the BC to 7th century AD. It analyses their structure, content, as well as rhythmic and euphonic values that were supposed to enhance their magical power. It compares the spells from the magical hymns to some passages from Hellenistic poets: Theocritus, Apollonius of Rhodes and Lycophron. The article also contains a Polish translation of the “Hymn” XVIII (PGM IV 2786–2870) together with a commentary to the text.

As justly observed by Czesław Miłosz, “Laments” (Treny) by Jan Kochanowski “should be ranked with the world classics”. This fact has not escaped the notice of many translators, who have been trying to make the work available to speakers of other languages. The article deals with the English and German translations of one lament from the cycle, that is “Lament IX”. It has been chosen on the one hand because of its profound importance within the whole cycle and on the other hand because – in contrast to “Lament X” – it does not seem to attract attention from scholars specializing in translation studies. The authors carry out an in-depth analysis of three translations of the poem into English (Prall, Czerniawski, Heaney – Barańczak) and three its translations into German (Wukadinowić, Erb, Kiermeier), selected with a view to providing a diverse array of translation strategies. They conclude their article with a comparison between those strategies in relation to the formal characteristics of “Lament IX”, its stylistic features, changes in imagery, and archaizing.

The author of this article analyses the latest poems by a German poet; Therese Chromik, published in the volume “Blau ist mein Hut” (Berlin 2019). Their selected translations are presented in the collection: “Niebieski kapelusz” (Wrocław 2021). This article presents an overview of selected works, offers a proposal for their interpretation and shows motifs and themes, present therein. Research on the latest lyrical output by Therese Chromik allows for defining the most important features and directions of her work.

The aim of this paper ist to present, to confirm the occurence and to explain the function of controlling system within such special sorts of translation as consecutiv and sight translation. In this way the text describes use, module struckture and function modality of this metacognitiv instrument to manage the translation process in order to echieve its quality. Interpretative analysis of this issue is rooted in anthropocentric translation paradigm, which effectively allows the explanation of this complicated mental-cognitive mechanism within the translation process.

In this article, an attempt has been made to analyse the role of parallel texts in certified translation of school documents. For this purpose, second grade promotion certificates awarded in elementary schools in Poland and in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein have been made subject to a comparative analysis. Both the macrostructure of both types of documents and the way in which descriptive evaluations are formulated have been studied. Parallel texts are undoubtedly the most credible source of terminological and text-normative information. They help understand the source text better, they contain up-to-date terminology, and are a perfect source of language conventions that apply to specific types of text. However, a comparative analysis of school certificates awarded in the second grade of elementary school showed that when confronted with this type of documents, the translator will not find help in parallel texts. It should not be forgotten that school certificates belong to a group of documents of legal significance, thus performing a specific function. While doing their job, the translators must exercise utmost care for their translations to be as close to the source texts in the given field in the target language as possible, as well as fully understood by native language users.

On the pages of “Kurier Literacko-Naukowy” (supplement to popular Cracovian “Ilustrowany Kuryer Codzienny” the fragments of unrealized interview with the Polish journalist under the nickname ELK with Gerhart Hauptmann appeared. The present article analysis the alleged reasons of a refusal to do an interview by a German writer and corrects the inaccuracies, which sneaked into the very text of a Cracovian reporter. The article “ELK” is in the annex in 1937.

This article was written on the occasion of the 70th birthday of Krzysztof A. Kuczyński and shows the variety of topics with which Kuczyński is involved in his academic work. The focus of the selected publications is on the german poets and brothers Carl and Gerhart Hauptmann. The publications mentioned here show a broad spectrum of the topics examined by Kuczyński and are evidence of a profound and varied research. The résumé presents not only his most important and siginificant texts about the silesian writers, but also gives the priority to his scientific interests and inspirations. The aim of this publication is to give a summary of Kuczyńskis previous reachings regarding to knowledge about work and life of Hauptmann-brothers.

The topic of the article is the correspondence of the pianist and composer Anna Teichmüller with Marta and Carl Hauptmann. The correspondence from the years 1900 – 1904 is in the collection of the Silesian Library in Katowice. As part of the legacy of Carl Hauptmann the correspondence was transferred to Katowice from the Storehouse of Secured Libraries after the war. On the basis of the preserved letters there was made an attempt to present the composer and the relations between her and the Hauptmann family (mainly Marta Hauptmann).

In this essay, the author looks for references to football in contemporary Polish poetry. The found fragments indicate the formative nature of participation in the game, the shaping of character and knowledge about the world and interpersonal relations. The author also found traces of historical events illuminated in a specific way by the experiences of the hero involved in the game or merely watching it. Apart from texts of this type, there were found works presenting a broader perspective, containing philosophical and existential reflection. An additional thread turned out to be the problem of football criticism in connection with its commercialization.

The figure of a gravedigger, rich in cultural meanings, has become a source of many literary inspirations. The most important works dealing with the theme of a gravedigger and gravedigging include William Shakespeare’s tragedy “Hamlet” (the so-called graveyard scene), Rainer Maria Rilke’s short story “The Gravedigger”, Isaac Bashevis Singer’s novel “Mendel the Gravedigger”, and the novels: “The Gravedigger’s Daughter” by Joyce Carol Oates, “The Gravedigger” by Peter Grandbois and “Rozmowy na trzech grabarzy i jedną śmierć” [Conversations for Three Gravediggers and One Death] by Tomasz Kowalski. The subject of the present study is the variety of creations of the gravedigger shown on the pages of selected works (their selection is the result of a deliberate decision of the author). Thus, the author’s interest focused on artistic representations of the digger as: a sage who possesses knowledge on the passing of time, inevitability of death and the process of thanatomorphose, a home-grown pathomorphologist and anatomist, a mocker and ironist who looks at death with a distance characteristic to himself, or even disregard, as well as an intermediary between the ordered world of the human ecumene and the undifferentiated area of the afterlife (the one who talks to the spirits of the dead and to Death itself). In the analysed works, as it has been shown in the course of the analysis, the “spade virtuoso” also appears as a man of the road, a visitor from nowhere, a scapegoat, a bearer of the plague, in one word, a demonic and alien being, subject to social exclusion and stigmatisation. Among the numerous creations of the performers of the “wicked profession”, the author distinguished also the figure of a merciful gravedigger who, in accordance with the principles of the Jewish religion, prepares the dead for burial, accompanies them on their last journey and places their bodies in graves. The article uses the conceptual apparatus from the area of anthropotanatology, suicidology, cultural anthropology, cultural sexology, nozology and sociology.

The article is devoted to a “national” staging of a body in literary texts, it is, the portrays of allegedly Slavonic/Polish or Germanic/German appearance, physiognomy. It is about the question how in Polish and German discourses on the Others a body/carnality of a German man/German woman, Polish man/Polish woman or representatives of other nations is being materialized. The analysis concerns a work from “Ostmarkenliteraturtrend” – “Der große Pan” novel by Marianne Mewis. The bodies of her characters say nothing about the current national identity, and the world presented by Mewis is not black and white or dark and light but full of ambiguity and intermediate tones and the only distinct boundary between people is set by their social background. This fact significantly distinguishes her creations from other texts of this type.

The article describes the way St. Anne’s Mountain has been presented over time by giving it different meanings and (re)interpretations on religious and historical-political levels. The religious description of this place is defined by a pompous narrative style and appealing to readers’ emotions. In the historical-political dimension, the mechanism of national mythologization and instrumentalization of St. Anne’s Mountain were shown. It was also pointed out that after 1989 another reinterpretation took place, taking the form of the reconciliation rhetoric. The role of the Catholic Church in the process is presented and the dangers are indicated: reducing reconciliation to a vapid expression or oversimplifying the complicated history of the Mountain.

Crime and the memory of it are the important elements of public identity discourses. This makes it all the more important to reflect on the issues of crimes and their place in the collective memory of societies who are devoid of political goals. Conducting historical policy in the public space takes place on many levels, starting from school education, through the commemoration of the victims of crimes and the stigmatization of the perpetrators, to scientific, journalistic and political identity debates. Born in Bad Hall in Austria, Martin Pollack who was a journalist as well as a writer, devoted his journalistic work to the search for places of mass crime, which were often forgotten as a result of deliberate historical policy; while as a writer, examined them in his literary texts. The aim of the article is to analyze the concept of “memory topography” in the context of the research on cultural landscapes. As the author himself emphasizes, history is easier to understand if we deal with it from the perspective of a microscale, i.e. individual experiences in order to be able to better understand the historical processes on a macro scale. In his book, Pollack focuses on the phenomenon of repressing traumas, both individual and collective; he also discusses the attempts to standardize the memory, undertaken under the guise of building a specific historical narrative, which is thus appropriated and consequently distorted.

The paper aims to present a detailed analysis of Chinese children’s literature since the founding of the PRC in 1949 to late 1980s. It shows a transformation of children’s literature from Mao Zedong’s ideological battlefield into a “flourishing garden” in the post-Maoist era and its dependence on political situation in country. It also presents the ways that children were treated and understood in these times and main factors that changed the image of children in 1980s in China.

The war effort carried out throughout the centuries including victories and defeats were a source of the extraordinary pride for the Polish. The glory and fame of the Polish arms and the knight/soldier chivalry have been created in the Polish culture and the art both in the country and abroad. Popular culture incorporated that ethos and modified it according to their cognitive standards. Being shaped in this way, the awareness of mass audience eliminates the unsolicited content or transforms the others so as to satisfy the demands of a prefigured image. The emphasizing of victorious battles is particularly noticeable, whereas defeats are pictured either through the prism of a heroic battle against overwhelming enemy forces or resulting from the accumulation of unfavorable powers independent from the combat capability of troops. A military defeat is contrasted with a moral victory and an exceptional attitude on a battlefield. Such a view characterized military historiographers that in the 19th and 20th centuries being classical historians, thus searching for the objective truth and accepting only the hard historical facts, were not able to resist emotions related to the assessment of the Polish forces. It seems that the perception of the Polish knighthood/military, characterized by the emotionality, dominates in the Polish culture and has been disseminated across other linguistic cultures as it happened with the ethos of the Polish pilots in the Great Britain or with the documentaries and memories from the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944.

Nowadays, in times of new media, a meme is one of the basic forms of culture texts. Popularity of memes comes mostly from their convention, clarity and humorous character, but what is especially crucial to this article, memes are often also a certain commentary on the current social and political situation. Through the memes, because of their presence and activity in public life, the individuals from the political scene are most commonly described. The scope of analysis of this article are memes devoted to Angela Merkel, as both, the character of Polish-German relations and the fact that the head of state of one of the most influential European country is a woman, makes them a noteworthy object of research. The aim of the article is an attempt to find the answer to a question on how the Polish perception of Angela Merkel is being depicted (or, looking from a wider perspective, perception of German women/German men in general), as well as a question about functionalization of these materialization. In what contexts were they used and what was the purpose of these adaptations? What auto- and hetero - stereotypes are emerging from the image created by memes.

Competitive to the Diderot’s and d’Alembert’s encyclopedia of Paris, and Protestant in its nature, the work was published in a small Swiss town of Yverdon. It was there in the years 1770–1780 that the Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire universel raisonné des connaissances humaines was published, which contained seventy-five thousand entries in fifty-eight volumes. It differed from the Paris encyclopedia as it did not contain criticism of the Church, entries concerning church matters and theology were developed in the Protestant spirit, and when focusing on certain issues, the critical-philosophical and subjective approach was abandoned in favour of a more neutralized view. With such an outlined vision of the encyclopedia and its Protestant character, it seems obvious that Protestant authors must have dominated the editorial team. The most important collaborators of the Encyclopédie of Yverdon were: Fortunato Bartolomeo de Felice (1723–1798), creator of the work, publisher, translator, author of 685 new or redrafted entries and 140 additions; Elie Bertrand (1713–1797), naturalist and pastor, author of 170 entries in the field of theology, philosophy and natural sciences; César Alexandre Chavannes (1731–1800), pastor and professor of the Academy of Lausanne, author of works on education and anthropology, with 276 entries and 37 additions for the encyclopedia; Gabriel Mingard (1729– 1786), pastor, scholar and theologian, prepared 372 entries and 7 additions to the encyclopedia concerning philosophy, anthropology and theology. In 1772, in the fourteenth volume of the Encyclopédie of Yverdon, the Dissidents entry was published, which was devoted to Polish dissidents. The author of this notion, which in scope belongs to modern church history, was the afore-mentioned Elie Bertrand – an outstanding Swiss scholar, titular counselor to the court of King Stanisław August Poniatowski, in the sixties and seventies of the eighteenth century associated with the Republic of nobility. At the beginning of the notion, its author places a remark concerning the meaning of the term itself, announcing that it will also take into account the Polish context. Then, he discusses the beginnings of Christianity and the development of the Reformation, the progress of religious tolerance in Poland and Lithuania, as well as the beginning of persecution of dissidents. As for crimes committed against dissenters, Elie Bertrand thoroughly discusses individual cases, provides the circumstances as well as the consequences of the reported event. This part of the Helvetian naturalist’s deliberations ends with a sad observation about the persecution of dissidents and intolerance prevailing in the Republic of nobility. Elie Bertrand brings his argument to the Stanisław era by discussing the socio-political situation of dissenters in Poland. The years 1765–1766 were a time of Stanisław August Poniatowski’s intense reform activities. It met a strong opposition from the “patriots” party known as “republicants”, as well as from the St. Petersburg and Berlin courts. On 11 April 1764, a treaty was signed, under which Frederick, King of Prussia, and Catherine of Russia undertook to protect their followers: Orthodox and Protestant citizens of Poland, which was a pretext for internal interference in the affairs of the Polish nobility. On the other hand, dissenters restricted in their rights, resorted to the protection of Russia and Prussia. This led to the establishment of the Lithuanian (Orthodox) confederation in Słuck (March 20, 1767), the Crown Confederation (Protestants) in Toruń (March 24, 1767) and the general one in Radom (June 23, 1767). The general confederation was joined by opponents of reforms, supporters of the dethronement of Stanisław August and the full restoration of noble liberties. The Seym, known as Repninowski (October 5, 1767 – March 5, 1768), passed the so-called cardinal rights, reaffirmed the principles of free election, liberum veto and the right to denounce obedience to the king, and introduced the equality of Orthodox and Protestants. The answer was the Bar Confederation in Podolia (February 29, 1768), the aim of which was to defend Catholicism, oppose Russia, the king, and give equal rights to other believers. As a consequence, it led to a four-year war that thwarted the planned reforms, resulting in the first partition of Poland (August 5, 1772). As an opponent of intolerance, lawlessness and political adventurism, Elie Bertrand observed the development of the situation in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with great concern, and then wrote about it as the author of the entry about Polish dissidents in the Swiss encyclopedia from Yverdon. Therefore, he was not only a critical observer and analyst of the internal situation of the Polish nobility, but also a reliable and extremely competent informant of European public opinion on Polish affairs. It should be remembered that his interest in the internal politics of Poland and international affairs was not incidental. On the contrary – it was the result of great kindness and constant concern for the fate of the Republic of Poland. However, it should also be remembered that with all his true kindness towards Poland and Poles, Elie Bertrand consistently adopted the unwavering attitude of a legalist who was alien to all manifestations of intolerance and fanaticism. The Helvetian pastor and naturalist has always believed that Poland’s economic and socio-political development and its tolerance towards dissenters should result from a properly formed concept of freedom, consisting in respect for the law by everyone and absolute submission to the will of the sovereign.

The present paper is an attempt to explain low motivation levels exhibited by German philology students of the Pedagogical University of Cracow towards one of the university courses, namely “Practical German Grammar”. To this end, the paper considers the role of individual as well as social motivation in the process of learning grammar of German as a foreign language. The paper also discusses the results of a questionnaire study conducted among German philology students of the Pedagogical University of Cracow, in which the participants were asked, among others, about the role of grammar in their future professional career and about the strategies they use to help them learn grammar. The results of this questionnaire study, on one hand, help to explain low motivation levels exhibited by the respondents towards learning grammar, but they also carry more general implications concerning teaching of grammar at the academic level.

Universities tend to focus on quality assurance measures increasingly. Several initiatives specifically dealing with quality in e-learning have emerged in recent years, partially because of the so-called Bologna Process as a series of ministerial agreements between European countries to ensure comparability in the standards and quality of higher-education qualifications. Nevertheless, a common level of international standardization has not been achieved yet. The article provides an overview of selected forms, initiatives, measures and tools like ELQE, EFQUEL, SEVAQ+, EADTU, SEA for quality assurance in academic e-learning.

The aim of this paper is to present the results of empirical research on the cultural adaptation of Spanish immigrants living in Poland. The author focuses on a specific aspect of Polish-Spanish communication: the dichotomy of restraint-emotionality, often used in intercultural research. The results were presented on the basis of in-depth interviews conducted among representatives of this new group of foreigners in Poland. Polish-Spanish cultural differences at the level of non-verbal communication (e.g. proxemic behavior) and verbal communication (e.g. acts of greetings, farewells, small talk) were discussed and illustrated with relevant fragments of interviews.

The article presents a comparative analysis of the German and Polish language versions of the “Journal of Regulations of the Governor General for the Occupied Polish Territories”. At the very beginning the legal nature of the territories included into the General Government is presented and the issue of the language used in contacts with the German administration and Polish offices is discussed. Then the “Journal of Regulations” – the official publisher of legal acts in the General Government is characterized. About 1,700 legal acts regulating the life of residents in the occupied by the Germans territories were published there during the entire period of occupation. The legal acts were published in German and Polish (for some time in Ukrainian as well). The subject of the analysis was the first issue of this Journal containing the Proclamation of the Governor General, which was a kind of appeal to the Polish population of the occupied areas, and nine regulations monitoring the basic aspects of life in the emerging quasi-state. The emphasis is placed in the article on examining the way of translating the names of the authorities in the General Government, regardless of their nature: civil or military, administrative or judicial, local or national. Apart from linguistic issues, the formal elements of the “Journal of Regulations” were analyzed in the article: its graphic design, a table of contents, components of legal acts. These elements were confronted with analogous fragments of the then German and Polish publishers of legal acts. As a result of the analysis, it can be concluded that the Polish version of the “Journal of Regulations” is an adequate and correct translation of the German version. Although it contains a number of shortcomings, they do not hinder the understanding of the text. In the course of further research, other aspects of the translation should be analyzed, as well as finding the answer to the question whether the identified shortcomings have been corrected in the subsequent issues of the “Journal of Regulations”.

The presented draft consists of two parts: the introduction and the substantive part, showing three faces of Cicero’s eclecticism: from his eclectic education, to eclectic receptionism, especially probabilism and skepticism. The first part of the draft is to show Cicero as the embodiment of the popularizer of the dual ideal of life: vita activa and vita contemplativa. A philosopher “suspended” between abstract Greek culture and pragmatic Roman culture, who knew that the foundation of law was not praetorian ordinances or twelve tables but the depth of philosophy. The second part of the study is an attempt to present the image of Arpinata as the original master of eclecticism, a classic of Roman philosophy, and the only sui generis theorist of state and law who combined mainly the tradition of the Stoics, Platonists and Aristotelians on an unprecedented scale and with an unprecedented ability. It is an attempt to look at Cicero’s literary and philosophical achievements from the perspective of his skeptical and probabilistic views on three branches of philosophy: ethics, philosophy of nature and dialectics. In each of these writing forms, it is worth careful scrutiny by researchers of Roman antiquity who argue on its influence on the shape of European culture.

The present article aims at presenting the attitude of Islam towards biological evolution. It discusses first the Muslim views on abiogenesis – that is : the Miller–Urey experiment; the primitive atmosphere of Earth ; the primordial soup; the second law of thermodynamics ; the RNA world. It expounds the arguments used by Muslims against mechanisms of evolution – natural selection and mutation. Then it presents their discussion against the evidence for evolution from comparative anatomy; embryology; molecular biology; paleontology. Finally it shows Muslim views on human evolution.

In the present paper I explain the term “cultureme” (Poyatos 1976, Oksaar 1983, Veith 2005). I define it in ideational terms as a mentalistically understood unit of meaning. It is connected with specific linguistic realizations (key words). The empirical part is devoted to pop culture texts, whose characters are chrononauts. I applied two analytical methods. I introduced and characterized numerous commentaries concerning varied works (particular plots were indicated, making use of the deliberate selection method). I also carried out a corps analysis of the material enclosed – they were dialogue lists gained from the pilot episodes of the series “Legends of Tomorrow” (CW.tv, 2016–). The results of the research indicate pop culture specific explications of particular notions concerning the phenomenon of time travels.

The “aruḷ / iruḷ” concept which constitutes the basis for the Siddha vision of the release process has been introduced by Nārāyaṇa Guru in plenty of his devotional hymns. The idea emphasises the key-role of Grace (“aruḷ”) – the essential form of the Sole Substance (“oru poruḷ”) identical with Śivaṉ / Śivam, by means of which the ultimate Bliss becomes attained – in the process of transformation of “iruḷ” (darkness = ignorance) rooted itself within the One. The mentioned above concept – when superimposed on the image of backwaters phonomenon – could be used by Guru as an instrument in his attempt to transform the “dark” social status of the low caste people into the “social bliss”. Such a social aspect of the “aruḷ / iruḷ” idea has been depicted by Guru in his “Arddhanārīśvara Stavam”; on the other hand, Guru’s biography itself turns to be an intriguing transcript of this Siddha concept employed in the service of politics. The metaphysical reflection of the social and religious transformations initiated by Guru should be thus considered in terms of Tamil literary sources. In such a case the “poḻi-āḻi-cuḻi” trio presented in “Śiva Śatakam” could be comprehended as follows: 1. “poḻi” symbolizes obstacles = limitations [of any kind], also the turning point [of transformation of any kind]; 2. “cuḻi” means the twists and turns within “saṁsāra-ocean”, as well as the “cakra-whirlpools” activated within the transcendent ocean; 3. “āḻi” symbolizes [the depth of] the ocean = the ocean of phenomenal world, or the transcendent ocean of grace. Both meanings are included in the equivalent of the term “āḻi – tīkkuḻi” (which means the fiery pit [of “saṁsāra”] and the fiery pit [of activated “mūlādhāra cakra”] as well as the “ājňācakra” by means of which the the former type of ocean [“saṁsāra” depth] becomes transformed into the latter [i.e. the depth of Grace or Bliss]).

The article concerns the topic of science in Sayyid Quṭb’s “Milestones (Maʿālim fī ăl-Ṭarīq)”, including its place within his other ideas, and within the book, as well as the viability of his ideas of science development. It is mostly focused on internal interpretation of “Milestones”, and less on its place within Muslim thought history. It is argued that – despite the outright claims of admiring science, and obliging Muslims to develop it – the author mostly presents it as a possible danger, attempts to reduce its importance and tries to undermine its appeal to Muslims, as well as sets limits to both its development by them (dividing them in two groups), and acquiring it from non-Muslims. The incongruence between the initial praises, and the general attitude towards it, is explained by expediency, as the attitude declared towards science is secondary to the greater goal of making the reader subdue to his faith, and this has to be achieved in steps, in line with the main motif of the book.

Dante Alighieri plays an important role in Polish literature and generally speaking in the collective and individual memory and imagination of the Poles, too. That’s why we are dealing with a special kind of cultural, literary, artistic and linguistic expression with a strong impact on Polish affairs, called “Dantism”, comprising “Dantomania” as well as “Dantophobia”. Especially since the time of Romanticism Polish literature as well as culture and art were deeply influenced by Alighieri’s narrative drama “The Divine Comedy” (1308–1320), treated as a drama of “its own”. The Polish “Dantism” is also essential for the understanding of the philosophical and literary phenomenon of Polish messianism mainly within a threefold system: Heaven (God), Church, Evil which became a favorite theme of famous writers, poets, artists and painters up to the Polish theatre art in Poland. It was the descent into the netherworld of the last act of the “Divine Comedy” which fascinated a multitude of different literary works dealing not only with human beings involved in the eternal battle between God and Evil but also referring to the atrocities of two world wars, the holocaust, the two experienced totalitarian systems in the 20th century. That’s why many outstanding texts of Polish literature, art and theatre refer, cursorily, indirectly and directly so often to Dante and his “Divine Comedy”. In everyday Polish, the phrase “Dantesques scenes” (sceny dantejskie) became equivalent to “terrifying scenes”, “scary visions”, often combined with eternal topics like loneliness, tragedy of human existence, impossible love, human fears and nightmares. After a rather short stagnation due to stalinism in Poland with its hostile attitude towards “religious things”, also in literature and culture, we may speak of an outstanding and continuous presence of Dante in Poland in the shape of a widespread benevolent, critical and ultra-Catholic “Dantology” in a clear disproportion to the obvious presence of traditional “Dantism”.

On the one hand, “Sarmatian culture” in Poland led to a cultural syncretism blossoming on a large scale; on the other hand, culture closed in, Poland moved inwards in terms of civilisation and space – “provincial art” blossomed and the church congregation became the central cell of administrative and intellectual life. These elements are taken up in Gombrowicz’s “Pornography” and in the process – typical of Gombrowicz’s work – the Polish national tradition (here Sarmatism) becomes a parodic template and a game with the reader.

How to encourage students to read Enlightment literature in a foreign language? This article presents a proven method of working with German philology students with the travel literature of the 18th century. The described project was aimed at increasing the knowledge of students about a region, that is extremely interesting in terms of culture, namely about the Giant Mountains. The Giant Mountains, the border line between Bohemia and Silesia, have been described in various ways in the literature – in the case of aesthetic literature and non-fictional travel reports. The article is devoted to the history of early tourism in the Giant Mountains and the description of the authors of travel texts that were read with students as part of the project. An appropriate project implementation plan is the key to success: the aim is the simultaneous satisfaction of students and their language progress, as well as increasing the knowledge about the history of the studied region. The explanation of the way the project was implemented was described in the second part of the article, opening the possibility of its universal application among students of foreign philologies.

The article attempts to characterize magazine “Schlesien” [Silesia] (1956–1996, published and edited by Karl Schodrok and later Eberhard Günter Schulz) from a perspective of political struggles – plebiscite, uprisings – tacking place in Upper Silesia in 1919–1921. The majority of them are historical texts, popular science articles, excerpts from scientific treatises, parts of lectures, epilogues, source texts with comments that were published on the anniversary of the individual historical regional events. The largest part is made up of contributions that were presented to German readers in the 26th year of the publication of quarterly “Schlesien”, exactly fifty years after the plebiscite and the outbreak of the third Silesian uprising. Apart from the cultural-political orientation of the text, all of them contain statements and impressions of contemporary witnesses and present scientifically sound perspectives from researchers, historians, lawyers and locally publicists. In a certain sense they reflect the tendency in the way in which certain historical events are presented from the perspective of the Germans, especially those who were forced to leave their Upper Silesian homeland in the 1920s and 1940s.

The Silesian poets Karl von Holtei (1798–1880) and Joseph von Eichendorff (1788–1857) have met on several occasions, have corresponded and were familiar with each other’s work. They first met in 1819 on New Year’s Eve in Breslau at the house of playwright Heineke. Young Holtei had just performed at the local theater and was slightly depressed, doubting his ability to perform. His conversation with Eichendorff is mentioned in Holtei’s autobiography “Vierzig Jahre”. After an eight-month engagement Holtei leaves Breslau and only crosses paths with Eichendorff again several years later in 1823 when Holtei covers in his own journal Eichendorff’s “Krieg den Philistern” and fragments of the “Taugenichts”. In 1824 Holtei is in Berlin and gets invited by Hitzig to join the “Mittwochgesellschaft”. Later on, also Eichendorff will become an appreciated invitee. In the late Twenties the two meet again in Berlin. Their following encounter only takes place in 1849: it is Holtei who writes Eichendorff with the request to receive autographs from contemporaries. In 1856 Holtei is living with his married daughter in Graz and asks Eichendorff’s contribution to a publication in order to raise money for the protestant cemetery of Graz. In reply Eichendorff publishes the long poem “Ein Auswanderer”, which is highly appreciated by Holtei. In a letter dated on 1863 and written to Prince-Bishop Heinrich Förster of Breslau, Holtei states to be a loyal friend of Eichendorff and that he admires his literary work. Especially Eichendorff’s famous novel “Taugenichts” has made a deep impression on Holtei. He particularly mentions it in his three-piece “Erlebnisse eines Livreedieners”, one of Holtei’s final novels, in which its protagonist draws a parallel between his own life and the life of a miller’s helper who, accompanied by a violin, seeks happiness in the wide world and eventually succeeds to find it. In this novel Holtei gives a description of life. One that does not describe an idyllic imaginary reality, but depicts the experience of a servant exposed to multiple environments. Only once Eichendorff published his opinion in a letter about one of Holtei s novels: “Christian Lammfell”.

The aim of this article is to show the life and opinions of the progressive writer Elsa Asenijeff, who was popular especially in the early 20th century. Her character is interesting not only because of her relationship with Max Klinger, but above all because of her views, which even today seem very progressive. Based on the work “Tagebuchblätter einer Emanzipierten”, the situation of women in the 20th century will be shown. The author sharply criticizes the surrounding reality, the existing social norms and double standards in the upbringing of girls and boys. She also presents her own conception of womanhood and touches on the issue of emancipation.

This paper aims to synthetically present 10 years of activity of the Weimar Triangle Association in Weimar. It turned out, that during the period of political stagnation of the Weimar Triangle, the culture and education were the crucial aspects which shaped the polish-german-french cooperation in the framework of this forum. This fact has been confirmed through the activity of the Weimar Triangle Association, which develops several initiatives regarding institutionalization of the cooperation between young German, Polish and French people mainly in the area of culture.

In the process of learning a second language we are dealing with many factors conditioning not only the course of learning but also with the ones depending on the predispositions of the person learning a foreign language. Besides the phenomena as interlanguage, code-switching and transfer the process of studying will depend on personality traits of the person learning a second language such as openness, stable mentality, extroversion, cognitive style, learning strategies etc., which can make the learning process easier or more complicated. Those are the factors which should be included in every process of learning a foreign language.

The Author of the paper analyses the use of the word-formation-rules first of all in the grammar-book “Deutsche Grammatik” written by Helbig/Buscha (2001), where they exist on the edge of morphological rules. This principle can consider the word-formation-rules to be the complements of the morphological rules, when these have reached the boundaries of their use. The paper shows it on several examples. This principle corresponds also with the redaction of this grammar-book, that differentiates between main rules and their appendices.

The article attempts to compare two narrative texts of Giacomo Casanova (1725- 1798), “Il duello and Histoire de ma vie” in juxtaposition in fragments preceding the duel’s scene between the adventurer and Franciszek Branicki. The analysis indicates that the Italian text presents the vision of their confrontation, through quoted letters and the dialogue of two heroes, announcing in advance the result of historical skirmish. This type of operations are rather negligible in the French text. These differences of the composition of both texts are explained by their audience’s position. “Il duello” was written for Venetian patricians, disapproving Casanova, who desired however to win their favour. “Histoire de ma vie” is addressed to elite’s represents of Enlightenment, friendly to author who attracts them with stories of his adventures.