Polska krytyka szekspirowska w dwudziestoleciu międzywojennym

Abstract

The article presents achievements of selected Polish Shakespeare scholars of the inter-war period. The growing demand for English literature, which began in Poland at the beginning of the twentieth century, created conditions for setting up Polish universities which could provide specialists in the field. In 1908 the first Chair of English Language and Literature was established in Cracow and Roman Dyboski became the first specialist in the new academic discipline. After World War I, in the re-born Poland, Warsaw and Lvov universities opened English departments, with Władysław Tarnawski and Andrzej Tretiak, both specialists in literature and culture, as their chairs. The three scholars did research and published works on different aspects of English literature, but all of them focused primarily on Shakespeare. Their books and articles not only made the English dramatist more accessible to Polish readers and improved understanding of his dramas, but also initiated Polish research in Shakespeare’s works. The scholars knew and used the critical output of foreign specialists in Shakespearean studies, but their works presented the results of their own research. Their contribution to Shakespearean studies and their achievements in scholarship were so important that their memory should be revived and their work should be brought closer to people in our times.