Mondays with WUWr #35
What’s new at the University of Wrocław Press?
In our series #MondayswithWUWr, we keep you up to date with the most important events, book news and issues important to the Publishing House! We also encourage you to follow the wuwr.eu website and the Publishing House’s social media – Fb, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. We encourage you to follow!
Success of the Publishing House at the Wrocław Good Books Fair
If you were at the Wrocław Good Books Fair, the booth of the University of Wrocław Press certainly caught your attention. Thoughtful location and colorful design showcasing best-selling and premiere books made us speak of no small success of the fair!
Exceptional meetings with authors – scientists of the University of Wrocław, conversations, book signings, made optimism and energy not lacking.
We remind you of the biggest launches of this fair:
Od lokomotyw do czołgów. Przed Pafawagiem: 100 lat zakładów Linke-Hoffman (1839-1939) by dr Patrick Starczewski
The Linke-Hofmann Werke AG (LHW) concern, on the basis of which the Polish Pafawag was founded after the war, is a legend on the historical map of industrial Wrocław. The foundation for its development was laid by combining the forces of two previously competing companies: Gotffried Linke Wagon Building Factory and Hofmann Brothers Wagon Factory. Linke’s factory took off in 1834 and produced, among other things, horse-drawn carriages, to soon produce railroad platforms and locomotives for the Upper Silesian Railroad, which was just being built. The Hofmann Company started with firefighting pumps, which it converted to railroad and tramway cars fairly quickly.
The merger was followed by one of the largest industrial plants in Europe at the time (200 hectares of land, nearly 80 of which were under roof), employing four thousand people. The Linke-Hofmann-Werke joint stock company switched its production to meet the needs of the military during both world wars. Airplanes, armored trains, semi-tracked tractors and components for Hitler’s secret weapon, the V2 rockets, were made at the factory at the time, including using forced laborers from Poland.
After 1945, the State Wagon Factory in Wrocław (Pafawag) began producing rail vehicles. The history of the corporation until 1939 is described by Patrick Starczewski, a historian and entrepreneur. Thanks to this, in addition to its purely historical value, the book also provides insight into the business aspect of the path that the small Wrocław-based company went through to become a European giant. The book contains more than 200 illustrations and photographs, including many unpublished ones, and presents plans of the architectural and urban layout of the factory.
You can purchase the publication here: https://wuwr.eu/produkt/od-lokomotyw-do-czolgow-pafawag/
Dziedzictwo kulturowe księstwa świdnicko-jaworskiego, edited by prof. Andrzej Kozieł, dr Arkadiusz Muła and dr Dobiesław Karst
The Duchy of Świdnica-Jawor, for years the most powerful and richest in Silesia, is one of the most historically interesting regions in Central Europe. A land that thrived due to its multi-religious and multi-ethnic character and cross-border location. The authors of the book take us back to a time when art flourished in the courts of the Piasts, aristocratic residences, city halls and monasteries, and the landscape was enriched by architectural masterpieces. The Protestant Churches of Peace in Świdnica and Jawor – the largest wooden Baroque churches in Europe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site – are just one example.
The publication also uncovers lesser-known aspects of the daily life of the duchy’s former residents – from brewing to the famous, though now forgotten, Javor sausage. Among the topics covered are also the cruelty of the justice system at the time, presented in an article on execution sites, and an inspiring text on Świdnik’s Maria Kunic, called the Silesian Pallas – an astronomer who made a lasting mark in the history of science.
The cultural heritage of the Świdnica-Jawor Principality is an insightful look at the historical and cultural wealth of the region, going beyond the classic framework of describing history through the prism of great figures and events. The authors have captured the phenomenon of the area encompassing Świdnica, Jawor and the surrounding areas in all its diversity. Describing the traces of the principality’s achievements that have survived to the present day, they make it come alive not only on the pages of the book.
Dziedzictwo kulturowe księstwa świdnicko-jaworskiego | Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego
Łemkowskie rozdroże written by prof. Jarosław Syrnyk
The dispute over who are the Lemkos, inhabitants of settlements located in the Beskid Sądecki and Beskid Niski regions, began in the second half of the nineteenth century and continues to this day. Are they just an ethnic group, or are they a nation – already since the French Revolution, as Frederico Chabod wrote, “the new deity of the modern world”?
And if they are a nation, what rights does this imply for the Lemkos?
Not even the physical annihilation of Lemko Arcadia and the brutal deportations in 1944-1947 to the Soviet Union and the so-called Recovered Territories of post-World War II People’s Republic of Poland interrupted these disputes. A particularly important argument in disputes over the identity and rights of the Lemkos has become their past. Matters hitherto the subject of legends and fairy tales began to be replaced by History, trying to force unanimity about the past. The Lemkos became its victim, and the memory of their history became an element of political games.
Today, depending on who is talking about the Lemkos and for what purpose, some elements of their history are publicised, others are passed over in silence. The book Łemkowskie rozdroże reveals this problem by focusing on the events of 1944-1947 and describing later attempts to mythologise them for the use of specific ideologies.
Łemkowskie rozdroże | Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego
Yorgos Lanthimos. Między zmysłami a językowym zafałszowaniem świata
Yorgos Lanthimos’ films are extraordinary images. The author of the monograph describes six of them: Kinetta (2005), Fang (2009), Alps (2011), Lobster (2015), The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) and The Favourite (2018). The selection is not random, these are works in which the Greek director constantly provokes the audience, teases, confuses the tropes. After the screening, he doesn’t let the viewers forget the visions he included in the films for a long time, and leaves them with a dilemma about how to understand the filmmaker’s intentions.
Iga Pękala interprets the works of Lanthimos using sensory theory of cinema, which turns the traditional reception of films into a psychosomatic experience. It presents a hitherto unconscious relationship between the film, its creator and the viewer, extracted from the role of a mere observer. In particular, he devotes a lot of space to dance, which, like a refrain, returns in subsequent films, allowing us to better understand and experience the emotions of Lanthimos’ characters. In a sense, even become them.
The director’s oeuvre eludes clear classifications, falling between genre and auteur cinema, hermetic and avant-garde, but increasingly shifting towards popular culture. Lanthimos combines aesthetic experimentation with a strong emotional impact. It deceives viewers while shaping and deepening their sensibilities. Iga Pękala uncovers and describes these procedures of the creator, making his message more understandable, although it still does not cease to intrigue.
Coming soon to the online bookstore!
