Antoni Serednicki – Popularizer of Taras Shevchenko's Works in Poland

Abstract

Background. This article analyzes a broad thematic spectrum of theoretical interpretations by the notable Polish critic and literary scholar A. Serednicki, dedicated to the creative figure of Taras Shevchenko. The Polish researcher's literary-critical studies of Shevchenko are systematized and summarized, and the main vectors of his research priorities, themes, and comparative and imagological aspects are outlined.
Methods. The study employs both general scientific research methods–analytical-contextual and general-statistical – and methods of traditional literary analysis – philological-descriptive, historical-comparative, problem-thematic, and others.
Results. It has been established that in his literary-critical work, A. Serednicki repeatedly turned to reviewing and evaluating specific stages of the Ukrainian poet's life and creative path. A. Serednicki vividly details and supplements his Polish literary-critical Shevchenko studies with analytical reflections on a certain ideological bias in the Ukrainian poet's attitude toward the assessment of Polish-Ukrainian relations, caused primarily by the complex course of the dramatic or even tragic twists and turns of their shared historical fate. In his research observations, the critic also addresses issues of T. Shevchenko's interest in and familiarity with Polish literature, and provides a detailed analysis of the dynamics of theoretical receptions of the Ukrainian poet's work by Polish literary and linguistic scholarship in the last third of the 19th century and in the 20th century. A. Serednicki's theoretical studies also devote significant attention to the issue of Polish-language translations of T. Shevchenko's works, as well as to the portrayal of his figure in works of Polish literature addressed to him.
Conclusions. Based on our literary research, we can conclude that A. Serednicki can be considered one of the most ardent supporters of Ukrainian culture and literature, and in particular of the work of its most prominent poet – Taras Shevchenko. The significant value of the Polish critic's literary-critical work also lies in the fact that he largely laid the theoretical foundation upon which Ukrainian Polish studies is built today, particularly in its creative engagement with Polish works on Shevchenko.