Department Name

Polish Studies Curriculum 

The UF Polish Studies curriculum is an interdisciplinary one. Courses introduce key cultural, social, and intellectual trends to students through literature, historical and political writing, documentary and feature films, popular and classical music, art, and theater.

Language Courses

The language program offers beginning and intermediate level Polish with the possibility of directed studies for advanced language students. Courses are offered in sequences that rotate between Fall and Spring semesters. The language courses are geared toward developing proficiency in the areas of reading, writing, speaking and listening. A significant part of the courses is dedicated to building cultural proficiency, as well. Through innovative use of the internet, students learn where to find information on Poland, be it by surfing the site of the Polish State Rail System or by "visiting" Café Blikle, a famous café in downtown Warsaw known for its splendid desserts and atmosphere!

POL 1130 Introduction to Polish Language and Culture 1

Credits: 5.
First of a two-semester Polish language sequence, this course will introduce students to the basics of Polish language and culture.

POL 1131 Introduction to Polish Language and Culture 2

Credits: 5; Prereq: POL 1180, POL 1130 or placement test.
Second of a two-semester Polish language sequence, this course helps students expand their vocabulary and command of Polish grammar, as well as their ability to speak Polish.

POL 1180 Elementary Polish: Review and Progress 1

Credits: 3; Prereq: instructor permission.
Alternative to POL 1130 for students with some previous experience in Polish but who are not yet ready for intermediate work in the language. This course reviews basic grammar principles and improves reading, writing and listening skills.

POL 1182 Elementary Polish: Review and Progress 2

Credits: 3; Prereq: instructor permission.
For students with some experience in Polish. Reviews basic grammar and improves reading, writing and listening sills. Prepares students for POL 2200.

POL 2200 Intermediate Polish 1

Credits: 4; Prereq: POL 1131, POL 1182 or placement test.
Students will improve their speaking, reading, writing and listening comprehension skills by reviewing and expanding the language principles introduced in POL 1130 and 1131, or POL 1180 and 1182.

POL 2201 Intermediate Polish 2

Credits: 4; Prereq: POL 2200 or placement test.
Students will improve their speaking, reading, writing and listening comprehension skills by reviewing and building upon the language principles introduced in POL 2200.

Courses in Polish Culture, Literature, and Society

Courses on modern and contemporary culture and society introduce and examine the ways in which Polish literature and media have readily and creatively adapted themselves to the altered political and economic circumstances. At the same time, while emphasizing the open-ended evolution of contemporary Polish culture, the program seeks equally to establish a knowledge of and ability to reflect critically on the legacy of Poland's more than one-thousand-year history. All courses are part of the East-Central European Studies Minor curriculum (http://www.ces.ufl.edu/eces/index.html); they are taught in English, with the option of reading materials in Polish.

PLT 2560 Poland Through Movies

This course is a survey of over one thousand of years of Polish history, illustrated on film by some of Poland's most internationally renowned and talented filmmakers. Poland has had a remarkably turbulent and colorful history.  Perhaps not surprisingly for a nation that is both proud of as well as obsessed with its own national past, Polish filmmakers have turned again and again to their history as a tremendous reservoir not only of dramatic stories adaptable for the screen, but also as a series of models or blueprints for reflecting on how to act as Poles in the present.  Nearly every major director has essayed at least one, if not multiple attempts in the genre of the historical film, while nearly every major event of the past one thousand years has received one, if not successive, filmic treatments.  In this course, we will view film adaptations of the founding and Christianization of Poland in the tenth century, the martyrdom of St. Stanisław at the hands of Polish King Bolesław the Bold in the eleventh century, Casimir the Great's restoration of unity to the fragmented Polish kingdom of the fourteenth century, the victory of Polish armies over the Teutonic Knights in the fifteenth century, the court intrigues of Stefan Batory, 16-century king of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, the Ukrainian Chmielnicki Uprising of the 17th century, the Swedish-Polish wars of the 17th century, the struggles of Napoleonic Poland of the early 19th century, the January Uprising of 1863 and the struggles of modern capitalism in 19th century Poland, the Polish experience in World War II, and the events of the communist era.

EUS 3930/PLT 3504 19th Century Polish Literature

The general aim of this course is to provide an overview of the major literary, cultural and social movements of 19th --Romanticism, Positivism and Young Poland—in a European context. We will be reading fiction, poetry, essays and political writings of the era and interrogate them from two perspectives. First, we will study these texts within their historical context. Second, we will consider the purpose of these texts from an artistic or rhetorical perspective. In addition we will consider how Polish identity survived though Poland as a state which lacked geopolitical borders for over a century. We'll examine the responses of poets, writers, journalists, painters and philosophers to their own unique political circumstances as they shaped Polish culture against the odds of censorship, exile, and "depolonization." We will also take a special look at the debates surrounding the November Uprising of 1830, the January Uprising of 1863 and the 1905 Revolution and explore how these discussions are integral to modern Polish cultural identity. Readings include: Adam Mickiewicz, Maurycy Mochnacki, Bolesław Prus, and Aleksander Świętochowski.

EUS 3100/PLT 3520 Modern Polish Cinema

This course is an examination of the work of three Polish directors of international renown, with special focus placed on the artistic representation and transformation of the Polish cultural and historical imaginary in three separate cinematic contexts:  the Polish domestic industry, European cinema, and the cinema of Hollywood.  The films of Andrzej Wajda, the premier director of postwar Polish cinema, mold a vibrant strain of Polish popular Romanticism to an eclectic blend of international cinema styles, from surrealism and neorealism to the New Wave and postmodernism, with each film restaging anew the problem of artistic means and narrative ends.  The work of Agnieszka Holland, a "cinema of identities," finely embeds narrative conflicts that cross gender, ethnic, and confessional boundaries into a variety of historical and cultural contexts ranging from the nineteenth century in Poland, France, and the US, through World War II and communism in Poland, to the contemporary US and Europe.  The controversial career of Andrzej Żuławski, a maverick European director, has ranged widely over a number of genres from science fiction, fantasy, and horror/cult films to historical drama, melodrama, and opera, while consistently representing and probing extremes of violence and sexuality. 

EUS 3930/PLT 3564 Modern Polish Culture and Society

This course introduces and examines central issues in Polish culture and society of the last one hundred years.  During this period, stretching from the outbreak of anti-czarist strikes and socialist terrorism in Russian-ruled Poland in 1905 to the country's entry into the European Union in 2004, Poles have lived under no less than eight different political regimes.  The course will place an emphasis on the peculiar dialectic of continuity and change that this political history has impressed on Polish culture and society.   As parliamentary democracy, war, and authoritarianisms and totalitarianisms of both the right and of the left have alternated variously across the political landscape, how has culture in Poland worked to fashion stable national, ethnic, and gender identities? 

EUS 3100/PLT 3930 Polish Sci-Fi and Fantasy

This course introduces and examines one of the most imaginative and currently vibrant artistic currents of modern Polish culture – fantastyka, or "the fantastic," in two of its most popular guises:  science fiction and fantasy.  Our focus in the course will be twofold.  Firstly, developing a conceptual "tool kit" from the writing of Polish science fiction grandmaster Stanisław Lem, we will inquire into (and experience) the pleasure-giving dimensions of these genres, attempting some structural definitions and highlighting the peculiar blend of cognitive or metaphysical ambition and horror that defines the Polish fantastic.  Secondly, considering representations of other worlds as unique reflections of this world, we will attempt to identify and reflect on specific historical and social factors – from wartime catastrophe and communist censorship to the commercialization of publishing and availability of new computer technologies – that have led Poles to practice the genres of the fantastic.

EUS 3930/PLT 3930 Cultural Transition in Contemporary Poland

Throughout the 20th/21st  c., Poland has been confronted by numerous transitional events, such as those from war to peace and a socialist system, from a command economy to a capitalist one, from being eclipsed by the Iron Curtain to peacefully tearing down the Curtain in 1989 and joining the European Union in 2004. Organized around the concept of "cultural transition," this course will consider the response of writers to such issues as censorship and the imposition of a Socialist Realist aesthetic in the 1950s; the mechanisms of propaganda; dissent and assent during the 1960s; the art of peaceful resistance and peaceful resistance as art in the 1980s; the "McDonaldization" of Polish culture and the growth of the mass media; and the rise of pop-culture in a capitalist context. More broadly, this course will also consider (among others) the following questions: What is the relationship between historical events and cultural production? How do transitional moments in the economic or political spheres spark new artistic forms and transformations in the cultural sphere? How do writers and artists contribute to changing definitions of local, national, and European identity?

PLT 3930/EUS 3930/HIS 3931 Magical Realism

One of the most oxymoronic terms of contemporary literary criticism is "magical realism." Popularized through the works of such authors as Gabriel García Márquez, Isabel Allende and Toni Morrison, the inherent contradiction of the marriage between the "magical" and the "real" has been often misconstrued. As a result, the label "magical real" has been casually adopted and even confused with fantasy, science-fiction and fable. Today, the term has become both a point of intrigue and contention for literary scholars around the world. What are the roots of this marriage and why has this mode of writing become common, particularly among authors of postcolonial cultures or societies that define themselves as peripheral to the mainstream? This course will attempt to answer these and other related questions by studying Polish literature in a world context. The reading list includes works by the Polish authors Stanisław Wyspiański, Bruno Schulz and Olga Tokarczuk, as well as works by such non-Polish authors as García Márquez and Jorge Luis Borges. We will also study various artists to examine the genesis of Magical Realism in Polish and non-Polish visual arts.