In cooperation between the Research Centres for Early Modern Studies and for Polish-Lithuanian Studies, University of Aberdeen, with the Zakład Antropologii Historycznej i Teorii Historii Instytutu Historii Jagiellonian University, Kraków.
This symposium brings together three scholars, from Nijmegen, from Krakow and from Aberdeen, to discuss the cultural and international entanglement of Poland from the Renaissance to the eve of the First World War through selected examples, which include translations of Renaissance and Enlightenment literature, Dutch influences in 17th-century Poland/Lithuania and artistic circles of pre-WWI Poland and France.
Room: Sir Duncan Rice Library, 7th floor, Seminar Room 3
Dr Derrick McClure (Universrity of Aberdeen): Problems of Translation between Renaissance Poland and the Scots language
Dr Derrick McLure was a member of the English department at Aberdeen for many years before his retirement. He taught the Scots language and Scottish literature, with a special focus on the Renaissance period. He began attending the University of Warsaw’s series of biennial conferences on Scotland in Europe; and those regular visits to Poland prompted him to ‘learn some Polish’ as he puts it in order to translating Polish poetry into Scots: a highly fitting procedure in view of the long-standing social and cultural links between Scotland and Poland. He has published, as well as some individual poems, the eighteen Crimean Sonnets of Adam Mickiewicz, and is now working on an anthology of Polish poems with facing-page Scots translations which is nearing completion. He will talk about the pleasures and problems of translating Polish poetry into Scots, from Kochanowski to Mickiewicz.
Dr Paul Hulsenboom (Dutch Language and Culture, Radboud University, Nijmegen): The Muses of the Mothertrade: Literary exchange between Danzig and the Dutch in the Seventeenth Century.
From circa the year 1600, hosts of Polish-Lithuanian noblemen travelled to the Low Countries, for example to gain military experience, study at one or more of the renowned universities, or simply to enjoy the wonders of “the marketplace of the world”. All of these historic contacts shaped a number of ‘images’ or stereotypes, which the Dutch and Poles had of one another. Paul Hulsenboom aims to answer the following question: how and why did the Poles and Dutch perceive each other during the long seventeenth century? How did literary exchange further or change these mutual perceptions during the ‘long’ seventeenth century? After studying Classics as an undergraduate, Paul Hulsenboom received his doctorate in October 2023 from the Department of Modern Languages and Culture at Radboud University, Nijmegen, where he is a lecturer and researcher in the fields of cultural and literary exchange, as well as diplomacy.
Dr Izabela Curyłło-Klag (Jagiellonian University, Kraków): Polish Artists in Paris and Brittany: Community, Connections, and Cultural Representations
The paper focuses on the presence of Polish artists in the creative communities of Paris and Brittany during the early 20th century. It examines the phenomenon of artistic migration from partitioned Poland, driven by the pursuit of creative freedom and engagement with avant-garde movements. Special attention is given to the literary echoes of this migration as well as the stereotypes that emerged around Polish émigré artists and their interactions with other bohemians. The lecture also analyses the mutual perceptions between Polish and foreign artists, exploring how these perspectives shaped both their reception and self-representation.
Izabela Curyłło-Klag teaches in the Department of Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture, Institute of English Studies, at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Her research interests include the study of modernism along cross-cultural and international lines. She has published a monograph on representations of violence in early modernist fiction as well as numerous articles on avant-garde, modern and contemporary literature and art.
For a link to the event, which takes place in person, please contact k.friedrich@abdn.ac.uk
- Speaker
- Dr Paul Hulsenboom, Dr Derrick McClure, Dr Izabela Curyłło-Klag
- Hosted by
- CEMS and CPLS
- Venue
- Sir Duncan Rice Library, seminar room 3, 7th floor
- Contact
-
Please contact Professor Karin Friedrich k.friedrich@abdn.ac.uk