Grażyna Legutko

Professor Grażyna Legutko is a distinguished scholar at the Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, where she serves in the Institute of Literary Studies and Linguistics within the Department of Polish Literature. With a career spanning several decades, Professor Legutko has established herself as a leading expert on Polish literature at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly focusing on the works of key figures such as Wacław Sieroszewski, Gustaw Daniłowski, and Zenon Przesmycki (Miriam).

Professor Legutko earned her degree in Polish Studies from the University of Warsaw, where she completed her master's thesis analyzing the evolution of narrative in Wacław Berent's prose. Her doctoral dissertation, supervised by Professor Andrzej Makowiecki at the Faculty of Polish Studies, University of Warsaw, focused on interpreting the literary criticism and translation work of Zenon Przesmycki (Miriam). In 2011, she published a dissertation on Gustaw Daniłowski that formed the basis for her habilitation, awarded by the Council of the Faculty of Humanities of the Catholic University of Lublin.

Professor Legutko's research primarily centers on Young Poland literature and positivism, literary criticism at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, literary biography, and editorial work. Her scholarly interests encompass modernist narratives, the Europeanization of Young Poland culture, biblical motifs and erotic themes in Polish literature, revolutionary and independence journalism from 1898 to 1926, modernist myths, and the connections between historical politics and literature. She has compiled and published numerous source documents, including letters from Zenon Przesmycki to various correspondents and mutual correspondence between literary figures of the era.

Her recent scholarly output demonstrates a continued focus on Polish literary history, particularly concerning Wacław Sieroszewski and his family, as well as critical editions and biographical studies of figures from the Young Poland period. Professor Legutko's work bridges literary analysis with historical context, often exploring the intersections between personal experience, political engagement, and artistic creation in early 20th century Poland.

Professor Legutko has authored multiple monographs including "Zenon Przesmycki (Miriam) – propagator of European literature" (2000), "The Sacred in the Eyes of a Revolutionary. On Gustaw Daniłowski's 'Mary Magdalene'" (2005), "Fighters of the Polish Cause. Wacław Sieroszewski and Gustaw Daniłowski on the Thought and Deeds of Józef Piłsudski" (2007), "The Restless Flame. The Life and Work of Gustaw Daniłowski" (2011), and "From Metaphysics to Existence. On the Themes and Figures of Polish Literature at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries" (2014).

Currently, Professor Legutko is preparing a critical edition of Wacław Sieroszewski's diary written between 1939-1944, continuing her longstanding scholarly engagement with this important Polish writer, ethnographer, and political activist who spent significant time in Siberian exile.