The article discusses an episode in the biographies of Jadwiga Toeplitz-Mrozowska, an actress, traveler, writer, as well as the wife of one of the most influential Italian bankers of the 1920s, and Gabriele D’Annunzio, a poet, patriot, and author of many scandals. They most likely met only once, at the end of 1927. However, their acquaintance survived for three more years, sustained by correspondence. The purpose of the article is to trace this relationship and factors that influenced its character. The analysis is based on the documents preserved both in the Jagiellonian Library in Kraków and in the poet’s archive at the Vittoriale degli Italiani in Gardone Riviera.

The purpose of this paper is to shed some new light on the role of the male character in medieval Arabic literature. It focuses on the model of the ruler which features in Andalusian adab literature in Al-^cIqd al-Farīd, a work of Ibn ^cAbd Rabbih. The description of the ruler’s powers, privileges, tasks, and duties are included in the first chapter of the work, which is a typical example of paraenetic literature outlining specific patterns of conduct related to one’s position. Presenting the model ruler, Ibn c Abd Rabbih used the same sources that were known in the East and selected those that, in his opinion, made up the image of a perfect ruler. The fundamental features of the ruler described in his work indicate that there were some universal attributes of the dynast in the Middle Ages.

The article aims at offering an overview of directions of interpretation regarding the motif of vampire in popular literature from the 19th to the 21st century. It focuses on the most important, representative texts of culture that have had the greatest influence on the evolution of the vampire figure from Romanticism to the modern times, such as Dracula, Salem’s Lot, Interview with the Vampire, Twilight. The article intends to present various ways of reading and analysing vampirism depending on different methodologies. Undoubtedly, the approaches regarding interpretations of films and literary works featuring vampires have been conditioned by exegetical possibilities brought about by the methodological development in literary and cultural studies.

Martin Mosebach’s novel Mogador confronts two cultures; the protagonist, a young, successful, German bank employee must spend some weeks in Morocco among the locals. He has to deal with foreign customs and another rhythm of life among people who seem to have much more time and don’t have to subject themselves to the pressure of the clock. The article focuses on the depictions of time perception (e.g. during leisure time, meals, waiting, etc.), which seems to be one of the most important differences between them. The article aims to describe the human longing for dignified handling of time, for slow life, which seems to be a yearning hidden under the anxiety and speed of the modern world.