Człowiek to przepaść, której nie można zasypać. Z profesor Haliną Krukowską rozmawia Łukasz Zabielski

Abstract

Prof. Halina Krukowska (1937–2019), cofounder of the Polish Studies Department in Białystok, had been preparing since 2017 to deliver a lecture devoted to the interpretation of a mystical poem by Adam Mickiewicz entitled The Vision as part of the series “Master Talks”. Unfortunately, the scholar’s illness and death interrupted these plans. In 2018, Łukasz Zabielski, PhD, a close collaborator and student of Professor Krukowska, conducted an interview with her in her hometown of Wasilkowo, which is published as part of our series. The scholar was known for her great reluctance to speak about herself. For this reason, the mere fact that sha had agreed to the interview should be regarded as exceptional. Halina Krukowska, senior professor and doctor honoris causa of the University of Białystok (2018), was one of the most eminent academics of the Polish Studies community in Białystok, which she created from its beginnings in 1969 to her retirement in 2007. She initiated the research on the Enlightenment and Romanticism by the academic circles in Białystok, establishing the Department of Literature of the Enlightenment and Romanticism, as part of which the “East – West” Department of Philological Research was created, headed by her student Prof. Jarosław Ławski. Another achievement of hers was the establishment in 1994 of the Scientific Publishing Series „Czarny Romantazym” (“Black Romanticism”), wellknown both in Poland and other countries (by 2021, fifty volumes of studies and critical editions of Polish and European Romanticist literature were published). She was the author of a classic monograph on Polish Romanticism: Noc romantyczna (Mickiewicz, Malczewski, Goszczyński). Interpretacje [Romantic night (Mickiewicz, Malczewski, Goszczyński). Interpretations. 1985, ed. 2: Gdańsk 2011] and works devoted to the nocturnal, dark side of Romanticist imagination, including: Noc Fausta, noc Konrada (Faust’s night, Konrad’s night); Szkoła ukraińska w poezji romantycznej (The Ukrainian School in Romantic Poetry). She promoted research on “pure poetry” in Polish literature. She is the author of numerous treatises, including: Mickiewiczowski wybór kultury obrazu w kontekście ikonoklazmu (Mickiewicz’s Choice of Image Culture in the Context of Iconoclasm) (2004), Bóg Mickiewicza na tle apofatyzmu wschodniego chrześcijaństwa (Mickiewicz’s God against the background of apophaticism of Eastern Christianity) (2004), Tragizm, heroizm, groza (Tragedy, Heroism, Horror) (2005), Chrześcijańska duchowość Adama Mickiewicza (Adam Mickiewicz’s Christian Spirituality) (2003). She coedited the journal of the Catholic Intelligentsia Club of Białystok: „Słowo” (“Word”). She coauthored critical editions of Lesław by Roman Zmorski (2014), Edmund by Stefan Witwicki (2015) and Myśli nocne (Night thoughts) by Edward Young (2016). She was the editor of such volumes as: Antoniemu Malczewskiemu w 170. rocznicę pierwszej edycji „Marii” (To Antoni Malczewski on the 170th anniversary of the first edition of “Maria”) (1997), Postacie i motywy faustyczne w literaturze polskiej (Faustian charact­ers and motifs in Polish literature) (vol. 1–2, 1999–2001), Problemy tragedii i tragizmu. Studia i szkice (Problems of tragedy and tragism. Studies and essays) (2005). She published a monograph: „Pan Tadeusz” jako poezja czysta. Studia i szkice o Mickiewiczu (“Pan Tadeusz” as pure poetry. Studies and essays on Mickiewicz) (2016). She managed the grant of the National Programme for the Development of the Humanities: „Kontynuacja krytycznych edycji wybitnych, zapomnianych dzieł XIX­wiecznej, polskiej literatury romantycznej w Naukowej Serii Wydawniczej „Czarny Romantyzm w 10 tomach” (“Continuation of critical editions of outstanding, forgotten works of 19th­century Polish Romanticist literature in the Academic Publishing Series ‘Black Romanticism’ in 10 volumes”) (2013–2017). In the interview, the scholar gives voice to her pessimistic and at the same time metaphysical view of man and the world, stressing that: “In my view, human life is precisely about constant search. I often feel that man is an abyss that cannot be bridged. For this reason, he chases after something that will prove permanent, well­established by tradition and wisdom of great poets and writers. This is also what has been in the centre of my attention, and, I would say, I have never been a reckless person nor a reckless reader. Where does this attitude stem from? Certainly from my childhood experiences.” Her childhood was marked by the experience of war and then the oppression of Stalinism in post­war Poland. As she recalls: “I experienced a great deal of hardship and oppression during the war and post­war period. I survived the occupation by Soviets and Germans, who had their transmitting and receiving devices in our room, which meant we had to live in constant fear. Later, when the war ended and it seemed that 1945 would be a year of peace, you would spend your childhood in shelters. For the contemporary youth, the word “shelter” does not connote any­thing disturbing, on the contrary. Our childhood was spent running from shelter to shelter. [...] You ask me why I chose literature. Well, after such childhood experiences, I was not optimistic about the world and I sought comfort in literature – in escapism. It was difficult for me to come to terms with the communist regime coming to power. I don’t know exactly when it happened, but my street, which had always been called Grodzieńska Street, was renamed after Julian Marchlewski as soon as the communists took control. I could never understand the principles behind it. The whole experience, the communism itself and the surrounding lies were so shocking for me, that I longed to escape from the reality that surrounded me and enter the world of literature, which was wonderful and pure. Prof. Krukowska studied Polish philology in Gdańsk and was a student of Prof. Maria Janion, whose didactic skills she praised with the utmost admiration, while not sharing all her views on the history of Polish Romanticism (such as Prof. Janion’s belief in the “twilight of the Romanticist paradigm” in Polish literature and culture after 1989). She always emphasised her attachment to Podlasie, Białystok and the small town of Wasilków, where she spent her life. In 2007, she was presented with a book entitled Światło w dolinie. Prace ofiarowane Profesor Halinie Krukowskiej (Light in the valley. Works Offered to Professor Halina Krukowska) (ed. Krzysztof Korotkich, Jarosław Ławski, Danuta Zawadzka, Białystok, p. 987). She delivered her last public lecture on 28 September 2018 at the VIII High School in Białystok, where she spoke about pure poetry in Adam Mic­kiewicz’s Pan Tadeusz. On 9 November 2018, during the Jubilee Inter­national Academic Conference organised on the 200th anniversary of Adam Mickiewicz’s poetic début: 1818–2018 „Debiuty Mickiewicza, debiuty romantyków. Tradycje – strategie – idee – język” (“Debuts of Mickiewicz, debuts of the Romanticists. Traditions – strategies – ­ideas – language”) she spoke about Mickiewicz’s “Romanticism” as a cultural text. Adam Mickiewicz – alongside Antoni Malczewski – was her favourite meta­physical poet, a master of life and patriotism. She died after a serious illness in Białystok [see Jarosław Ławski, Halina Krukowska (26 września 1937 – 28 lipca 2019). Wspomnienie [Halina Krukowska (26 September 1937 – 28 July 2019) Mamoir], „Pamiętnik Literacki” 1/2020]. In 2021, one of the lecture halls at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Białystok was named after Prof. Halina Krukowska. In one of the few interviews she had given, she commented: “I am an optimist and think that the humanities will never fall from grace, as man without humanistic knowledge becomes a robot. The soul must manifest itself everywhere (2018).” On 11 April 2018, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the philological community in Białystok, Prof. Krukowska was honoured, along with Prof. Alina Kowalczykowa with the doctor honoris causa title of the University of Białystok.