Polacy w Odessie. Studia Interdyscyplinarne

Abstract

The present volume gathers the articles and papers delivered during the 4th International Conference “Odessa and the Black Sea. Polish-Ukrainian Cultural Relations”, which took place on 10–11 September, 2018 in the Museum of Literature in Odessa, Ukraine. Its main topic was “Poles in Odessa and on the Ukrainian Coast of the Black Sea. History – Legacy – the Coexistence of Multicultural Community in the City”. The Conference was organized by the Ukrainian Ministry of Science and Education; Odessa I. I. Mechnikov National University (the Chair in Ukrainian Literature at the Faculty of Philology); the Chair in Philological Studies ‘East – West’ at the Faculty of Philology, the University of Białystok; the Museum of Literature in Odessa; and the Scientific Department of the Łukasz Górnicki Library ‘Książnica Podlaska’. The main organizers were Professor Jarosław Ławski (the University of Białystok) and Professor Natalia Maliutina (Odessa I. I. Mechnikov National University and the University of Białystok). Besides, Professor Evgen Chernoivanenko (Dean of the Faculty of Philology at the Odessa University), Tetiana Liptuga (the Museum of Literature), and Jolanta Gadek (the Łukasz Górnicki Library) significantly contributed to the organization of the Conference. Thirty-nine scholars from Ukraine and Poland addressed the following problems: – The history of Polish settlements in Odessa from 1794 up to now. – Literature, art, architecture as the evidence of the presence of Poles in the multi-religious and multi-cultural milieu of Odessa. – The Poles on the Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea: history, testimonies, and records. – The myth of Odessa in Polish culture – The Poles in Odessa in the eyes of Ukrainians, Russians, French people, and other nationalities living in the city. – Various nationalities in Odessa and their mutual relations. – The sea as an element of the Odessa myth in the experience of the Polish community in Odessa. – Polish contribution to the economy of Odessa. – The Poles at the Richelieu Lyceum of Odessa and at Odessa I. I. Mechnikov National University – The history of the Poles in Odessa and at the Black Sea. – The history of the Roman-Catholic Church in Odessa. – The culture and science of the Poles living in Odessa. – The multiculturalism of Odessa from the European and world perspectives. The articles included in the present volume focus primarily on the contribution of Poles to the development of Odessa from the beginning of the 19th century up to 1918. After that time, the population of Poles decreased (as a result of the Great War, the Revolution, the returns of Poles to independent Poland, or Stalin’s repressions). Among the activists and writers whose depictions of Odessa are analyzed in the volume are Adam Mickiewicz, Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Apollon Skalkowski, Ludwika Śniadecka, August Iwański, Zygmunt Gloger, and Zeev Żabotyński. The articles demonstrate the ways the phenomenon of multi-cultural Odessa was recorded in literature; in particular, it shows how the city, retaining its ethnic and language richness, created a unique and original world, governed by the spirit of the ‘Odessa-ness’. In their investigations, the authors of the articles assume an interdisciplinary perspective, combining the elements of traditional literary studies, modern historiography, art history, and sociology. The volume was edited by Professor Natalia Maliutina, the researcher in the relations between Russian, Ukrainian, and Polish literatures, who works in Białystok and Odessa, and by Doctor Robert Szymula, a linguist working at the Language College, the University of Białystok. The volume was compiled and prefaced by Professor Jarosław Ławski, who in 2012 initiated the Odessa studies in Białystok. The volume is the 5th part of Odessa Studies, published in Odessa and Białystok. The 2019 Conference concentrated on “The Myth of Odessa in World Culture. Texts – Media – Perceptions” (Białystok, 24–25 September 2019).