Commission on Modern Languages

Commission on Modern Languages was established on the initiative of Przemysław Mroczkowski. It was formally brought into existence in 1997. Sadly, the professor’s health did not permit him to begin the work of the commission energetically, so that its first gathering, convened to discuss organisation, did not take place until November 1998. It was led by Olga Dobijanka-Witczakowa in the role of deputy chair with Przemyslaw Mroczkowski as chair. The meeting elected Stanisław Widłak as secretary. The commission’s first scientific meeting, which was devoted to a discussion of the Polish Modern Languages Congress, which had taken place a month earlier in Łódź, was held in December 1998. Regular meetings of the commission with papers and a discussion began in January 1999. This year was also the year in which a common programme of action was developed, corresponding to the interests of the representatives of the various modern languages in terms of both literary studies and linguistics.
The first year of the commission’s existence yielded volume I of Proceedings of the PAU Modern Languages Commission, which appeared in 2000 and contained eight articles. Further volumes appeared fairly regularly in the following years, which demonstrated that the commission had established itself as an academic body producing work consistently. The volumes record the lectures and contributions from the floor of permanent members of the commission as well as of numerous guests attending from Kraków or invited from Poland and abroad. Olga Dobijanka-Witczakowa became chair of the commission in autumn 1999 and led it with energy and enthusiasm – devoting a great deal of time to the preparation of successive volumes of the commission’s proceedings – until her death in 2006. The commission members then selected Stanislaw Widlak as chair. Working with vice-chair, Marta Gibińska, and secretary, Barbara Sosień, he organised the commission’s meetings and edited its proceedings. In 2015, he was prevented by ill health from continuing these endeavours. At a meeting in autumn 2015, the commission members elected Barbara Sosień as chair, Marta Gibińska as vice-chair, and Ewa Łukaszyk as secretary. Since 2018, the latter function has been performed by Stanislaw Jasionowicz. In 2021, he became vice-chair of the commission, while Monika Coghen was chosen as secretary.
The commission is populated largely by scholars from the Jagiellonian University and the Pedagogical University of Krakow. Its meetings are always open to all, and all those who attend are invited to contribute to the discussions.  In 2019-2021, under the working title of The Language of the Dancing Body, the commission worked successfully on a project addressing the phenomenon of dance in literature and culture. The project, which highlights the comparative and interdisciplinary aspects of the commission, will produce a multi-author monograph. 

Go to Proceedings of the PAU Modern Languages Commission.

Commission Members