prof. dr hab. Ryszard Wolny
BIO-NOTE
Ryszard W. Wolny (b. 1957) is Professor and Director, Institute of Literatures, University of Opole, Poland. He is a graduate of University of Silesia, Katowice, from which he received his Master’s Degree in English Literature for “The Concept of Space in Metaphysical Poetry” (1982) and Doctor of Philosophy (English) for “The Philosophy of Death in John Donne and the Earlier Seventeenth-century Poetry and Prose” (1991). Prof. Tadeusz Sławek (Ph.D., D.Litt.) supervised both theses, and later, in 2004, reviewed his habilitation (higher doctorate) for the professorship at the University of Opole.
He also undertook postgraduate studies (English) at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia, under the supervision of Prof. Andrew Taylor (MOA, D.Litt.) between 1992 and 2000.
His interests focus largely on British and Australian literature and culture. He is an author of about ninety scholarly publications which include, among others, The Ruinous Anatomy: The Philosophy of Death in John Donne and the Earlier Seventeenth-century English Poetry and Prose (Perth, Western Australia, 1999), A Cry over the Abyss: The Discourse of Power in the Poetry of Robert Browning and Algernon Charles Swinburne (Opole 2004), Australia: Identity, Memory, Destiny (with S. Nicieja, Opole 2008), Crosscurrents: Culture, Literature and Language (Kielce 2008), On Time: Reflections on Time in Culture, Literature and Language (Opole 2009), Culture and Postcolonial Studies (Kielce 2012), Evil Ugliness Disgrace in the Cultures of the West and East (with S. Nicieja, Opole 2013), and The Masks of Ugliness in Literary Narratives (with Z. Wąsik, Frankfurt 2013). In 2013, he also completed a monograph entitled Patrick White: Australia’s Poet of Mythical Landscapes of the Soul (Wrocław), and the following year he co-edited Poisoned Cornucopia: Excess, Intemperance and Overabundance across Cultures and Literatures (Frankfurt 2014). He is currently working on The Outlandish, Uncanny and Bizarre across Cultures and Literatures (Peter Lang).
Since 2013 he has been Editor of Peter Lang Series Silesian Studies in Anglophone Cultures and Literature (with Ewa Kębłowska-Ławniczak, Wrocław) and sat on Board of Polish Association for the Study of English (part of European Society for the Study of English).
So far, he has supervised over 100 Master theses (Opole and Wrocław) and 3 Doctorates (Opole) and reviewed six other Doctorates and Higher Doctorates. He also took part in 60 conferences, both at home and abroad, and read over 55 papers there. He was a guest lecturer at various Universities around the globe, starting from the most recent lecture at English Department, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Osijek (Croatia), through Budapest University (Hungary), Daugavpils University (Latvia), Ostrava University (Czech Republic) and La Coruna University, Cordoba University (Spain), to Taiwan National University of Taipei (Taiwan), Fujian Normal University (PR China), University of New South Wales at Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, and Edith Cowan University (Perth, Western Australia).
He has been awarded Minister of Higher Education Award (Poland, twice).
LIST OF PUBLICATIONS
AUTHORIAL:
- Patrick White: Australia’s Poet of Mythical Landscapes of the Soul. Man – Language – Autobiography. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Wyższej Szkoły Filologicznej we Wrocławiu, 2013.
- A Cry over the Abyss: The Discourse of Power in the Poetry of Robert Browning and Algernon Charles Swinburne. Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego, 2004.
- The Ruinous Anatomy: The Philosophy of Death in John Donne and the Earlier Seventeenth-century English Poetry and Prose. Perth, Australia Zachodnia: Polish Australian Cultural Society, 1999.
- Patrick White’s Theatre of Australia. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2016 (forthcoming).
BOOKS EDITED OR CO-EDITED:
- Culture, Literature, Language (red. Ryszard W. Wolny). 1/23. Kielce: Wydawnictwo Wszechnicy Świętokrzyskiej, 2006.
- Myśl wędrująca (red. Ilona Dobosiewicz, Jacek Gutorow, Ryszard W. Wolny). Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego, 2006.
- Australia: Identity, Memory, Destiny (red. Ryszard W. Wolny i Stankomir Nicieja). Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego, 2008.
- Crosscurrents: Culture, Literature and Language (red. Ryszard W. Wolny). Vol. 2/25. Kielce: Wydawnictwo Wszechnicy Świętokrzyskiej, 2008.
- On Time: Reflections on Time in Culture, Literature and Language. A Festschrift in Honour of Andrzej Ciuk (red. Ryszard W. Wolny). Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego, 2009.
- Crosscurrents: English Linguistics (red. Ryszard W. Wolny i Monika Łodej). 3/31. Kielce: Wydawnictwo Wszechnicy Świętokrzyskiej, 2010.
- Crosscurrents: Culture and Postcolonial Studies (red. Ryszard W. Wolny). Vol. 4/39. Kielce: Wydawnictwo Wszechnicy Świętokrzyskiej w Kielcach, 2012.
- Evil, Ugliness and Disgrace across Literatures and Cultures (red. Ryszard W. Wolny i Stankomir Nicieja). Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego, 2013.
- Faces and Masks of Ugliness (red. Ryszard W. Wolny i Zdzisław Wąsik). Frankfurt nad Menem: Peter Lang Verlag, 2013.
- Poisoned Cornucopia: Excess and Overabundance across Cultures and Literatures (red. Ryszard W. Wolny i Stankomir Nicieja). Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2014.
- The Outlandish, Uncanny and Bizarre in Contemporary Western Cultures (red. Ryszard W. Wolny i Stankomir Nicieja). Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2016.
- A Short History of Australian Literature. Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego (forthcoming).
- The Transformation(s) of Memory: Australia – Poetry – Andrew Taylor. Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego (forthcoming).
BOOK CHAPTERS OR JOURNAL ARTICLES:
- “The Concept of Nothingness in the Metaphysical Poetry as Exemplified by John Wilmot’s ‘Upon Nothing’ and John Donne’s ‘A Nocturnal upon S. Lucy’s Day’,” Zeszyty Naukowe, Filologia Angielska No. 2. Opole: Wydawnictwo Wyższej Szkoły Pedagogicznej, 1986: 143-156.
- “Love as the Main Determinant of Time-Space Relationships in John Donne’s ‘The Good Morrow’,” Zeszyty Naukowe, Filologia Angielska No. 4. Opole: Wydawnictwo Wyższej Szkoły Pedagogicznej, Opole, 1989: 111-118.
- “Baroque Sensibility: An Everlasting Circle. Some Remarks on the Spatial Conceptions in the Seventeenth-Century English Literature,” Zeszyty Naukowe, Filologia Angielska No. 4. Opole: Wydawnictwo Wyższej Szkoły Pedagogicznej, 1989, 119-130.
- “The Image of Death in John Donne’s Love and Religious Poetry,” Zeszyty Naukowe, Filologia Angielska No. 5. Opole: Wydawnictwo Wyższej Szkoły Pedagogicznej, 1991: 179-190.
- “Do You Understand That? Some Key Issues of Vocabulary Teaching/Learning in a Student-Centred Classroom,” Co-Link, No. 21. Fremantle: Fremantle Education Centre, 1994: 3-5.
- “Foucauldian Power and Labourers in Late-Victorian Poetry,” Zeszyty Naukowe, Filologia Angielska No. 10. Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego, 1999, ss. 87-92.
- “The Metaphor of ‘Woman’ in Friedrich Nietzsche and Algernon Charles Swinburne: The Discourse of Power of Love/Love of Power,” Zeszyty Naukowe, Filologia Angielska No. 11. Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego, 2000: 93-110.
- “John Donne’s Biathanatos: Towards the Seventeenth-Century Interpretation of Suicide,” Zeszyty Naukowe, Filologia Angielska No. 11. Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego, 2000: 111- 127.
- “Love and Male Violence in Robert Browning’s Porphyria’s Lover (1836),” Zeszyty Naukowe, Filologia Angielska No. 12. Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego, 2001: 97-103.
- “An Ontological Approach to Death in Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time: Some Seventeenth-Century Literary Implications,” Zeszyty Naukowe, Filologia Angielska No. 12. Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego, 2001: 105-116.
- “The Notion of Death as Departure and/or Departure as Death in John Donne’s ‘The Expiration,’” Ekonomia i humanistyka, Vol. 1, No. 4, Bielsko-Biała: Wydawnictwo Wyższej Szkoły Ekonomiczno-Humanistycznej, 2001: 73-81.
- “Decay and Ashes: John Donne and Jacques Derrida,” Zeszyty Wszechnicy Świętokrzyskiej, No. 14. Kielce: Wydawnictwo Wszechnicy Świętokrzyskiej, 2001: 49-60.
- “Sir Thomas Browne’s Microcosm of Body: A Deconstructivist Reading,” Zeszyty Naukowe, Filologia Angielska No. 13. Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego, 2002: 129-139.
- “Victorian Erotica: The Art of Flagellation in Margaret Anson’s The Order of the Rod,” Zeszyty Naukowe, Filologia Angielska No. 13. Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego, 2003: 141-146.
- “Dennis Haskell, Attuned to Alien Moonlight: The Poetry of Bruce Dawe,” a review, Journal of Australian Studies, No. 16. Perth: Curtin University of Technology Press, 2003: 1-2.
- “Language: Martin Heidegger’s Prisonhouse of Being,” Zeszyty Wszechnicy Świętokrzyskiej, No. 18. Kielce: Wydawnictwo Wszechnicy Świetokrzyskiej, 2003: 27-38.
- “The Dreamy Dream of Reconciliation: Jack Davis’s The Dreamers,” Post-colonial Studies (ed. Mirosława Buchholz), Toruń: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, 2004: 169-177.
- “Paracelsus: Robert Browning’s Übermensch,”The Perspectives on Literature and Culture (ed. Kolek, Kędzierska, Kędra-Kardela). Lublin: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej w Lublinie, 2004: 319-325.
- “Discourse on the Discourse of Power: In Search of a Theory,” Zagadnienia Rodzajów Literackich (ed. Grzegorz Gazda), Vol. 47, 1-2 (93-94). Łódź: Łódzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe, 2004: 79-93.
- „Literatura angielska,” Historia literatury światowej (ed. Tadeusz Skoczek), vol. IV: Barok. Kraków: sms, 2005: 238-256.
- „Literatura Ameryki Północnej,” Historia literatury światowej (ed. Tadeusz Skoczek), vol. IV: Barok. Kraków: sms, 2005: 343-350.
- “Robert Browning’s Power of God,” PASE Papers in Literature, Language and Culture. Part One: Papers in Literature and Culture (ed. Bystydzieńska, Harris i Lyons). Warszawa: Uniwersytet Warszawski, 2005: 391-396.
- „Literatura angielska,” Historia literatury światowej (ed. Tadeusz Skoczek), vol. V: Oświecenie. Kraków: sms, 2005: 242-258.
- „Literatura Ameryki Północnej,” Historia literatury światowej (ed. Tadeusz Skoczek), vol. V: Oświecenie. Kraków: sms, 2005: 363-369.
- “ M. Coetzee’s The Master of Petersburg: The South African Existential Master,” Multiculturalism: For and Against (ed. Andrzej Wicher). Łódź: Wyższa Szkoła Humanistyczno-Ekonomiczna, 2005: 169-175.
- „Obraz miast australijskich w Götterdämmerung Café Andrew Taylora,” Miasto: przestrzeń, topos, człowiek (ed. Adam Gleń, Irena Jokiel, Jacek Gutorow). Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego, 2005: 49-54.
- Andrew Taylor’s Sandstone as a Reflection of Australian Seascape,” Culture, Literature, Language (red. Ryszard W. Wolny). Kielce: Wydawnictwo Wszechnicy Świętokrzyskiej, 2006: 123-132.
- „Literatura angielska,” Historia literatury światowej (ed. Tadeusz Skoczek), vol. VI: Romantyzm. Kraków: sms, 2006: 237-257.
- „Literatura amerykańska,” Historia literatury światowej (ed. Tadeusz Skoczek), vol. VI: Romantyzm. Kraków: sms, 2006: 333-343.
- „Literatura australijska,” Historia literatury światowej (ed. Tadeusz Skoczek), vol. VI: Romantyzm. Kraków: sms, 2006: 354-360.
- “Food and Marriage in Edward Lear’s ‘The Owl and the Pussy-Cat,’” Myśl wędrująca (ed. Ilona Dobosiewicz, Jacek Gutorow, Ryszard W. Wolny). Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego, 2006: 215-221.
- „Literatura angielska,” Historia literatury światowej (ed. Tadeusz Skoczek), vol. VII: Pozytywizm, realizm, naturalizm. Kraków: sms, 2006: 261-276.
- „Literatura Ameryki Północnej,” Historia literatury światowej (ed. Tadeusz Skoczek), vol. VII: Pozytywizm, realizm, naturalizm. Kraków: sms, 2006: 345-351.
- „Literatura Australii,” Historia literatury światowej (ed. Tadeusz Skoczek), vol. VII: Pozytywizm, realizm, naturalizm. Kraków: sms, 2006: 362-368.
- “Re-Discovering the Beach: The Littoral Motifs in the Contemporary Australian Poetry as Exemplified by Andrew Taylor’s Sandstone and Other Poems,” English Language, Literature and Culture (ed. Jacek Fisiak), Poznań: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Adama Mickiewicza, 2006: 189-195.
- Literatura angielska,” Historia literatury światowej (ed. Tadeusz Skoczek), vol. VIII: Modernizm. Kraków: sms, 2007: 217-234.
- „Literatura Ameryki Północnej,” Historia literatury światowej (ed. Tadeusz Skoczek), vol. VIII: Modernizm. Kraków: sms, 2007: 323-333.
- „Literatura Australii,” Historia literatury światowej (ed. Tadeusz Skoczek), vol. VIII: Modernizm. Kraków: sms, 2007: 334-340.
- “Sarah Kane’s Mental Landscapes: 48 Psychosis,” Studies in English Drama and Poetry. Łódź: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, 2007: 269-274.
- “Destiny Against History: The Patterns of Care in Andrew Taylor’s Götterdämmerung Café,” For the Love of the Embedded Word – in Society, Culture and Education (ed. Zdzisław Wąsik and Andrzej Ciuk). Wrocław: Wyższa Szkoła Filologiczna, 2007: 121-127.
- „Hybrid Identities in Australian Contemporary Novel as Presented in Melinda Marchetta’s Looking for Alibrandi,” Australia: Identity Memory Destiny (ed. Nicieja and R. Wolny). Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego, 2008: 31-41.
- „The Early Beginnings of White Australian Literature,” Crosscurrents: Culture, Literature and Language (ed. Wolny), Vol. 2/25. Kielce: Wydawnictwo Wszechnicy Świętokrzyskiej, 2008: 65-70.
- „Literatura Ameryki Północnej,” Historia literatury światowej (ed. Tadeusz Skoczek), vol. IX: XX wiek. Kraków: sms, 2008: 305-311.
- „History and Laughter: The Changing Sense of Australian Humour in Recent Popular and Satirical Writing as Exemplified by Robert Treborlang’s A Hop through Australia’s History,”14th PASE Conference Proceedings, Łódź: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, 2008: 409-417.
- „Patrick White – Australia’s Prodigal Son: The Novelist and His Autobiographical Writings,” Margins and Centres Reconsidered: Multiple Perspectives on English Literatures (ed. Barbara Klonowska and Zofia Kolbuszewska). Lublin: Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL, Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II, 2008: 211-221.
- „Algernon Charles Swinburne’s Culture of Waste As Disclosed in His ‘By the North Sea’,” Rubbish, Waste and Litter (ed. Tadeusz Rachwał). Warszawa: Wydawnictwo SWPS Academica, 2008: 164-172.
- “Algernon Charles Swinburne’s Masochism and the Sea as Exemplified by His Later Poetry,” PASE: Culture and Literature (ed. Ewa Kębłowska-Ławniczak). Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, 2009: 277-282.
- „In Search of Emptiness: A Voyage into the Heart of Terra Nullius in Patrick White’s Voss,” Mapping Literary Space(s): Memory, Place, Locality (ed. Wojciech Kalaga and Jacek Mydla). Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego, 2009: 189-199.
- “The Delightful World of Topsy-Turvydom: The Spatial Experiments in Laurence Sterne’s Tristam Shandy,” Exploring Space: Spatial Notions in Cultural, Literary and Language Studies. Vol. 1: Space in Cultural and Literary Studies (ed. Andrzej Ciuk and Katarzyna Molek-Kozakowska). Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars’ Press, 2010: 183-191.
- „Jack Davis’ Vision of Australian Aboriginal Forgotten World as Presented in His Drama No Sugar,” Studies of English Drama and Poetry. 2. Reading History, Drama and Film (ed. Michał Lachman). Łódź: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, 2010: 123-131.
- “The Role of Language in Postcolonial Theory,” w: Theory and Practice (ed. Roman Truśnik, Katarina Nemcokova and Gregory Jason Bell). Zlin: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Tomasza Baty, Czechia, 2011: 227-233.
- „Literatura Australii początków XX wieku,” Studia Neofilologiczne. Vol. 5. (red. Małgorzata Mochoń). Kielce: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jana Kochanowskiego, 2011: 67-74.
- “England vs Australia: Patrick White’s Version of Home/Colony Predicament as Reflected in His Early Novels,” Comparative Studies in Anglophone Literatures. Transnational, Postcolonial, and Auto/thematic (re)Considerations and (re)Visions (ed. Grzegorz Koneczniak).Toruń: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, 2012: 107-115.
- “India Re-Loaded: Vikas Swarup’s Slumdog Millionaire,” Crossroads in Literature and Culture (ed. Fabiszak, E. Urbaniak-Rybicka and B. Wolski). Berlin Heidelberg: Springer Verlag, 2012, ch. 18: 1-8.
- “Transgressing Languages and Cultures: Jack Davis’s Input into Making of Black Australian Literature,” Crosscurrents: Culture and Postcolonial Studies (ed. Ryszard W. Wolny). Kielce: Wydawnictwo Wszechnicy Świętokrzyskiej w Kielcach, 2012: 9-16.
- “The Empire Speaks Out: The Discourse of the Body in J.M. Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians,” Only Connect: First ASSE International Conference on British and American Studies. Vlore: University Press, Albania, 2012: 8-15.
- “Australia’s Ugliness in Patrick White’s Writings,” Faces and Masks of Ugliness in Literary Narratives (ed. Ryszard W. Wolny and Zdzisław Wąsik). Frankfurt: Peter Lang Verlag, 2013: 17-25.
- “Reality and Imagination in Patrick White’s Fiction as Exemplified by Voss (1957) and Riders in the Chariot (1961),” Old Challenges and New Horizons (red. Elżbieta Chrzanowska-Kluczewska and Władysław Witalisz). Frankfurt a/Main: Peter Lang, 2014: 225-236.
- „Jerzy Kosinski’s The Painted Bird: Eastern Europe as a Territory of Human Destruction and Annihilation,” Open Europe: Cultural Dialogue across Borders. 2 Historical Collective Memory within Borderlands (ed. Wojciech Chlebda). Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego, 2014: 139-147.
- „Eroticism: Its Excesses and Deadly Masks in Contemporay Consumer Societies,” Poisoned Cornucopia: Excess, Intemperance and Overabundance across Literatures and Cultures (ed. Ryszard W. Wolny and Stankomir Nicieja). Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2014: 153-158.
- „The War Quandary: Some Notes on the Image of the Great War in the Pre-1939 Australian Literature,” Re-Imaginings of the First World War (ed. Anna Branach-Kallas). Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars, 2015: 224-234.
- „Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho (1991): A Study in Consumerist Void of Emotions,” Production of Emotions: Perspectives and Functions (ed. Teresa Bruś and Marcin Tereszewski). Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2016: 43-53.
- „God as Spectre,” The Outlandish, Uncanny and Bizarre in Contemporary Western Cultures (ed. Ryszard W. Wolny, Stankomir Nicieja). Frankfurt: Peter Lang,
- „Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s Languages of African Literature,” Theory and Practice. Zlin: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Tomasza Baty w Zlinie, 2016.
- „Waiting as Gelassenheit and Freedom.” Festschrift for Tadeusz Sławek. Ed. Zbigniew Kadłubek. Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego, 2016.
- “Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s Concept of Deterritorialisation as Globalisation of Culture,” Belgrade (forthcoming).
- “Multicultural Australia: Narratives of Conflict, Narratives of Reconciliation,” Uniwersytet Śląski, Katowice (forthcoming).