Work on the publication of Adam Mickiewicz’s "Writings" edited by Zofia Stefanowska – a school of modern scholarly editing

Abstract

The article is a reminder of the work carried out by a team led by Zofia Stefanowska (1926–2007) from the Instytut Badań Literackich Polskiej Akademii Nauk (Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences) on the scholarly edition of Mickiewicz’s writings. Work on the critical, fully scholarly edition of Mickiewicz’s works lasted several years, starting in 1991, and was never completed. The author’s aim is to preserve this little-known but important editorial and textual project, in which the most prominent experts and editors of the poet’s work at the time took part, sharing their knowledge with younger academics. This documentation may inspire future publishers of the works of the author of Dziady (Forefathers’ Eve). In this context, it is also important to reflect on the situation regarding the publication of the poet’s works, which has been characterised by the lack of a scholarly edition of Mickiewicz’s entire oeuvre. It should be added that the work of the Editorial Committee of Pisma (Writings) in the early 1990s is the only known attempt to tackle this challenge – an attempt undertaken after the unfinished edition prepared by Konrad Górski.