About the Journal
Czytanie Dwudziestolecia [Reading the Interwar] is a journal dedicated to the 20th century interwar literature and culture, founded by the scholars in Polish Studies at Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa, Poland. Having organised five editions of the Czytanie Dwudziestolecia conference already, we decided that an academic journal will mark a prudent evolution of our project, which – as we hope – will become an interesting space in which diverse ideas related to the interwar period and its tropes in the 20th and 21st centuries culture might meet. We sincerely hope that this initiative will meet kindness and openness of researchers in literary and Polish studies. The Editorial Team consists of people previously engaged in the organisation of our conferences. We endeavour to publish the results of our most recent meetings in the first issue of our journal. It has to be noted that this initiative would not be possible without Adam Regiewicz, the Head of the Institute of Literary Studies, who encouraged us to found a journal and has participated in our conference as a panellist.
As literary historians have already noted, the interwar period is a fascinating period in our culture, which for many – also political – reasons has been largely neglected as a field of research. It goes without saying that in the times of the Polish People’s Republic not all the topics and biographies could have met attention and coverage they deserve. Moreover, the multicultural aspect of the interwar period is still largely an uncharted territory.
The title of our journal announces the format and thematic scope of the forthcoming issues. We hope to publish texts devoted to literary and cultural output related to the interwar period.
The academic profile of Czytanie dwudziestolecia is determined by literary studies with special emphasis put on the interwar period as a cultural phenomenon, which might be an object of an interdisciplinary reflection. This, as we hope, might be dedicated – but not limited – to such issues as:
- literary and cultural output of the interwar period read in a diachronic perspective in such contexts as history, philosophy, sociology, geopolitics, or the arts;
- re-readings of the highly acclaimed works of the period using innovative methodologies and modern contexts;
- in-depth readings of the selected works;
- readings of marginal yet interesting works, unwillingly discussed or entirely neglected in literary history;
- genre criticism in the context of the interwar period: transformations, experimentations, idiosyncrasies;
- memory and testimony (authors, genres, manuscripts, archives);
- literary culture and the position of a writer in the interwar period; diverse aspects of literary, theatrical, music, or film culture from 1918 to 1939 and their advocates;
- Polish and international reception of the interwar period in contemporary literature;
- the interwar popular culture;
- comparative studies; the interwar period and European literature; the interwar period and the World literature.
In “Subiektywny przegląd wydawniczy” [“Subjective Overview”], we intend to recognise new and interesting publications dedicated to the interwar period and publish critical reviews.
In “Varia,” we wish to publish valuable submissions that do not necessarily correspond to the thematic scope of our journal; still, we do hope to enrich our issues with various cutting-edge approaches to literary and cultural analysis.
