The article presents the role of utilitas – usefulness, one of the most important items used in the medieval accessus ad auctores. These introductions consisted of the subject matter (materia) of the book, author’s intention (intentio scribentis), the benefit to be gained by the reader (utilitas) and assigned the book its part of philosophy (cui parte philosophiae supponitur). The medieval approaching to classical authors was more or less ambiguous. Knowledge of pagan literature was undoubtedly necessary, but the books included also many ideas inappropriate for Christian pupils. Accessus enhanced the prestige of secular literature. The commentators in their prefatory notes endeavoured to underline, above all, didactic and moral aspects of presented works. The point called utilitas was to serve this purpose. The examples of utilitas – usefulness presented in the article show the spiritual and practical benefits to be gained from studied texts, which should help people to observe everyday life. With accessus rich and varied literature of antiquity had been included into framework, in accordance with the mentality of the Middle Ages. I consider utilitas, that indicated the meaning and value of the work, an essential element of accessus.

For the marriage of King Sigismund Augustus of Poland to Catherine of Austria in 1553 the halls of the royal Wawel Castle were adorned with a set of Flamish tapestries. The decoration was immediately described by rev. Stanisław Orzechowski in his Nuptial Panegyric. Due to several factors he could not see the figural tapestries well enough, so not all the details in his ekphrasis could be accurate. However, he rallied his vast classical erudition and imitated (in fact emulated) a number of ancient sources, in particular the Tablet of Cebes. The material, workmanship and realism of the arrasses were praised lavishly. The author’s visual culture was probably based on his selective knowledge of classical literature. Even though Orzechowski admitted that the nude First Parents depicted there aroused wanton members of the public, all the Eden scenes provided the royal couple with beneficial moral teachings. To account for this paradox, a vast number of ancient, early Christian and Renaissance literary sources is studied here in an attempt to find such an interpretation that would turn the alluring nudes to the moral benefit of the beholders. The justification could be found in the doctrine best expressed by St. Augustin in his City of God. The impeccable nudes of Adam and Eve set before the bride and groom an ideal example of innocent marital feelings. According to Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski, a secretary to the king, lascivious scenes could thus become “the material to exercise virtue”.

The author presents ways in which Klemens Janicjusz (Clemens Ianicius, 1516–1543), certainly the most significant neo-Latin poet of early Renaissance in Poland, constructs the image of Italy in his autobiographical cycles of elegies (Tristium liber unus, Variorum elegiarum liber unus). Janicjusz, born in the peasant family, could have studied at the University in Padua thanks to a scholarship funded by his patrons. He gave to Italy a status of an exceptional place that combines features typical of Arcadia (a mild climate, a humanfriendly nature, the unique customs of inhabitants) with the atmosphere favourable to scientists and artists (the place where Muses moved from Greece). The poet had to leave Padua because of his illness, which meant to him a kind of exile from the ideal land and made him aware that his dreams about artistic fame and completing his humanity would never realise.

The article describes the heraldic motifs of Lviv in poetry and historiographical works of J.B. Zimorowic. It’s goal is to explain by what means, why and what for they are used by the poet. The important factor is an allegorical tradition of the bucolic, which heraldry is a part of. The author quotes and discusses poems and inscriptions by Zimorowic, known only through his work Leopolis [...] obsessa, that was originally placed on the gates of the Lviv (including emblems). Zimorowic had a deep knowledge of the history and coat of arms of Lviv, as he was a great admirer of the city. During his lifetime he was recognized by readers and residents of Lviv as familiar and local poet. The references to various aspects of Lviv that appear in his works are part of an overall strategy (poetic as well as lifetime one) – by writing about his family and local matters he hoped to improve Lviv.

Recenzja

Uwagi na marginesie ksiażki Marka Prejsa Oralność i mnemonika. Późny barok w kulturze polskiej Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa 2009 Seria: „Communicare. Historia I Kultura"

Recenzja

Piotr Pirecki, Polska komedia plebejska XVI i XVII wieku. Zarys monograficzny

Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, Łódź 2008, S. 318

Recenzja

Andrzej Wolan, De libertate politica sive civili. O wolnosci Rzeczypospolitej albo slacheckiej, tłum. Stanisław Dubingowicz, wyd. i oprac. Maciej Eder, Roman Mazurkiewicz, Wydawnictwo Neriton, Warszawa 2010, s. 478 (Seria: Humanizm. Idee, Nurty i Paradygmaty Humanistyczne w Kulturze Polskiej, Inedita, t. III)

David Scott Wilson-Okamura, Virgil in the Renaissance, Cambridge University Press 2010

The paper consists of two, closely related, parts, a brief introduction to the reading of the poem written by Neo-Latin poet from Cracow, Andrzej Schoen (Andreas Schoneus, 1552–1615), and the transcription of this text and its translation from original Latin into Polish. The ode dedicated to Jerzy Radziwiłł (Oda ad Georgium Radivilum, Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalem, Episcopum Cracoviensem, Principem amplissimum), bishop of Cracow, fits within the wider context of the imitation (and the emulation as well), concentrating on a literary game with the style of Pindar. Schoen produced his work in a style that mixes a poetic imaginary of the poet from Thebes and Horatian lyric discourse. The poetry created by Pindar is treated in this case as an inexhaustible source of the ideas associated mainly with the concept of a poet and a poetry as well as easily recognizable key-words and phrases taken from his poetic phraseology. The main aim of the perspective adopted in these critical enquiries is to present a variety of intertextual and cross-contextual connections between the lyric of Greek poet and the ode of his early modern imitator.

Artykuł rozpoczyna się tezą o odmienności (otherness) literatury średniowiecznej na tle innych epok, która to inność jest również tematem niektórych utworów średnioangielskich. Judasz, odmienny pod względem religijnym, etnicznym i płciowym, ma w tym utworze także „siostrę”, która tak jak on ilustruje antyżydowskie stereotypy epoki. Judasz jest jednak w tym utworze także postacią uniwersalną, jednym z licznych zdrajców i grzeszników otaczających Jezusa, podczas gdy jego „siostra” jednoznacznie uosabia typ postaci znany jako la juive fatale. Zniewieścienie Judasza (psychiczne, ale może również fizyczne) wydaje się tylko jedną stroną tej złożonej konstrukcji literackiej. Typowy dla innych utworów średnioangielskich brak jednoznaczności w przedstawianiu Żydów dobrze ilustruje czternastowieczny romans Oblężenie Jeruzalem (The Siege of Jerusalem), ale nawet tam pojawia się motyw nie tyle zniewieścienia, co słabości tej grupy społecznej w konfrontacji z Rzymianami. Judasz, tekst bardziej skomplikowany od Oblężenia, uwypukla różnice religijne, etniczne i te dotyczące płci kulturowej, ale też pokazuje główną postać jako rodzaj everymana, pozwalając współczesnym czytelnikom głębiej wniknąć w sferę średniowiecznej wyobraźni.

The first part of 1683 De optimo genere interpretandi sets the scene for Huet’s dialogue and introduces its participants: Isaac Casaubon (1559–1614) is comissioned to lay out his principles of translation, while Fronton du Duc (1558–1624) and Jacques Auguste de Thou (1553–1617) are meant to evaluate his views and ask questions regarding Casaubon’s theses. Casaubon’s lecture begins with a definition of interpretatio as sermo lingua notiore expressus, sermonem lingua minus nota expressum referens ac repraesentans (“a discourse in expressed in a better known language, referring to and representing a discourse in a lesser known language”), which is then followed by remarks separating interpretatio from such terms as aemulatio and paraphrasis. The speakers then discuss the principles of “the best kind of translation” in regard to Casaubon’s notion that the strict semantic, lexical and stylistic accuracy should be preffered by the translators over “appropriating” (convertere) the ancient authors to suit the tastes of the contemporaries. After those basic principles are given, Casaubon, de Thou and du Duc reflect on problems posed by the Casaubon’s approach to translation: mainly, the differences between particular languages, the lexical discrepancies and the difficulties regarding use of Casaubon’s method to different categories of texts (e.g. How important is it to represent the style of the original in the case of scientific texts?).