This article takes a closer look at Juliusz Słowacki's poetic drama Ksiądz Marek ( Father Marek) from the perspective of its links and affinities with some of the prophetic books of the Bible. A comparison of the text of the drama with parallel passages of the Book of Isaiah and the Book of Ezekiel in the Jakub Wujek Bible throws into sharp relief the prophetic-visionary characterization of the title hero (whose real-life prototype the Franciscan friar Marek Jandołowicz was the charismatic leader of the Bar Confederation) as well as other dramatis personae (especially Klemens Kosakowski). Comparing parallel passages not only brings to light Słowacki's use of Old Testament imagery but also reveals a multilevel embedment of the drama in the biblical vision of God's work in the world. It seems that this aspect of Słowacki's creative art has not been fully appreciated in the critical readings of the drama. His relationship with the Bible should be treated as something more fundamental than a an indicator of his religious faith and, also, as a respectful and critical commitment to a narrative model of ageless relevance.

La Bible hébraque nous apporte un certain nombre d’informations sur les sages/ savants cté d’un roi ou au milieu d’une société. Malgré cela il est difficile de définire le rle et la place des sages dans la société israélite comme aussi l’histoire du mouvement sapiential au cours des sicles. Ben Sira vivant vers la fin de l’Ancien Testament est conscient d’eÎtre le dernier et le débiteur de tous ceux qui ont veÂcu et travaillé avant lui. Il est trs conscient de ce qu’il est dans la société contemporaine et il esquisse un portrait trs apparent d’un sage (Siracide 38,24-39,11). Selon lui tous les métiers sont utiles et nécessaires pour le fonctionnement de la cité. Mais le rle du sage dans la société est exceptionnel et tout fait indispensable. Seulement le sage est capable de donner bon conseil dans les cas difficiles et prendre parole dans le gouvernement de l’Etat.

Le sage est un homme qui étudie avec respect l’héritage du passé en particulier les écritures des auteurs inspirés. Mais il est autant soucieux d’enrichir cet héritage par raisonnement, par observation de la vie, par assimilation de la philosophie hellénistique qui a profondément pénétré dans la vie et pensée de la population juive pendant les derniers sicles de l’Ancien Testament. Le sage systématiquement construit sa sagesse par l’étude, par les voyages, par les contacts avec les hommes et surtout par la prire. Ce l’Esprit de Dieu qui finalement donne la sagesse et c’est par la force de l’Esprit que le sage formule ses pensées en tant qu’un prophte. A l’instar d’autres sages Ben Sira enseignait oralement la sagesse dans une école Jérusalem. Il a aussi exposé sa doctrine dans un livre l’usage de ceux qui désirent s’instruire. Il a écrit en hébreu et dans la forme poétique, alors la langue et la forme habituelle pour les livres sapientiaux juifs. Cet idéal présenté par la personne de Ben Sira et par son ouvrage est actuel aussi aujourd’hui: tous ceux qui veulent enseigner les gens, propager leurs idées par la radio, la presse, le livre, doivent d’abord soigneusement élaborer et évaluer leurs concepts et ensuite les exposer dans une forme la plus élégante.

In France, as well as in other countries of the French language, the relationship between the Bible and literature mirrors the dilemma facing the European culture, a culture founded on the Greek and Roman civilization, when it was becoming Christianized. The Christians in the French speaking Europe confront the problem of 'double-fidelity': either to the Bible as the Truth, or to the Greek and Roman culture representing Art. Two trends can be observed. Some would try to prove the artistic superiority of the Bible over pagan literature. Others would attempt to show that even in that kind of non-Christian literature it is possible to observe the presence of supernatural truth. The dilemma abates and loses its importance starting with the XVIII century when literature as such emancipates and becomes an autonomous reality of esthetic character.

Unsurprisingly, in the Middle Ages, the Bible constitutes the crucial source of inspiration for French literature. Authors compose paraphrases and long poems based on Biblical motifs. There appear mystery plays, with their performance often spread over a number of days. In the XVI century, both Catholics and Protestants produce a number of translations of the Holy Scriptures. There appear poetic pa- raphrases of psalms, and also extensive epic poems adopting various Biblical threads. In the XVII century, the genre of poetic meditation appears in addition to the genres already mentioned. On the other hand, the kind of drama based on Biblical themes is in retreat; it finds refuge in the academic theater, when it becomes superseded by works of the classicist character. In the beginning of the XVIII cen- tury, some scholars try to demonstrate the religious character of the works of Antiquity.

Together with the rationalism of Enlightenment, there appears a new attitude towards the Bible. In Voltaire, the Bible is an object of attacks and of ridicule. In Rousseau, it is a paradigm for the kind of discourse that is supposed to take its place. In Romanticism, we can observe the influence of the Bible over both Christian and non-Christian writers. In the works of the latter, the poet becomes a mystagogue interpreting the old myths. The Bible influences poetry; it serves as a stylistic and esthetic model, as a source of themes and motifs, and also as a point of reference for poems in the philosophy of history with the pantheistic or else progressist and utopic message, and for non-Christian apocrypha. In Symbolism, the Bible becomes completely despoiled of its religious value. It is being used in entirely atheistic and subjectivist ways. By the end of the XIX century, and in the first half of the XX century, we observe in France some kind of Catholic renaissance. The Bible is present in the prophetic works of Le'on Bloy. It becomes the object of the exegetical work of Claudel, of the poetry of Jouve and P. Emmanuel. In non-Christian writers in loses its function of the book of faith and becomes a book of myths.

The holdings of the Kórnik Library include a book of abstracts of lawsuits concerning the boundaries of estates in Greater Poland in the 15th–17th century, written in Latin. Its presumed author, the otherwise unknown Piotr Biernacki, had the ability to write in both the Latin and the Cyrillic alphabet. This article focuses on the reading and the palaeographic and linguistic analysis of several Latin sentences, one heading and more than 20 margin notes written in the Cyrillic alphabet. The Cyrillic handwriting found in the book is a Russian skoropis used in Ukrainian areas of Poland in the 17th century. When writing the Latin text with the Cyrillic alphabet, the author utilised the Polish language of the time in the reading of Latin. The cryptograms found in the book have a technical/informative nature and do not contribute any significant information to the text. In combination with the fact that the Cyrillic alphabet was not at all used in Greater Poland, the above suggests that the author was playing with the reader, who was thus forced to look for the meaning of the incomprehensible text.

This article discusses Olga Tokarczuk's idea of the historical novel formulated in her metacritical reflections. It focuses on the concept of conjecture which she herself finds crucial to her writing practice. Tokarczuk stresses the cognitive value of this method which allows her to bring in voices that have been drowned out with their stories and to recover the material, sensual experience of a bygone world. This reading of the Books of Jacob draws on her double-track definition of conjecture to analyze her writing strategy aimed at method this makes use of this double he with stories that have been left out in the past and to fill in the gaps and revise the distortions of the standard, 'written' historical narrative. The affirmation of the value of historical knowledge, tempered by the awareness of its limitations, situates Tokarczuk's fiction within the aesthetic of contemporary neo-historical novel.

This article examines the jubilee book Nasz Plon [Our Harvest] prepared by editors of the Warsaw weekly magazine [Children’s Friend] (1861–1915) to mark the golden anniversary of its first issue. Set to appear in April 1911, its publication, plagued by various delays, did not take place until the following year. The volume, edited in a rather unprofessional manner (probably by Jadwiga Chrząszczewska), was full of errors ranging from misprints to all kinds of factual blunders. Yet, despite its faults it has a special place in the history of the Polish press: it was the first jubilee book of a children’s magazine and thus a notable sign of the rising social status of the children’s magazines.