Stefania Skwarczyńska

Stefania Skwarczyńska de domo (17 November 1902 in Kamionka Strumiłowa – 28 April 1988 in Łódź) was a Polish theorist and historian of literature, theatrologist, full professor, doctor honoris causa of the University of Łódź, and World War II resistance fighter.

In 1937 she obtained her habilitation at the Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv for her work ‘The Aesthetics of Macaronism’. She was appointed associate professor of literary theory at the Faculty of Humanities of the Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv. In 1939, she became an associate professor at the Łódź branch of the Free Polish University. In the academic year 1938/1939, she was assigned to the Department of History and Theory of Literature, but her work there was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II.

In April 1940, as the wife of a Polish officer imprisoned in Starobelsk officer's camp, she, her children, and her mother-in-law were exiled to Kazakhstan, from where she was released back to Lwów by the efforts of scientists and continued her work at Lwów University. During the German occupation she was employed at the Lviv Institute for Typhus and Virus Research as a manager of the department of "lice feeders" (1941–1944). In 1945 she became a member of the Union of Armed Struggle, known under the noms de guerre: "Maria" and "Jarema" and took part in actions for liberating the Jews.

Articles Skwarczyńska S., 1980, The Undetermined Problem Of Basic Genology, in: Language, Literature & Meaning, Vol. 2, ed. by J. Odmark, The Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing Company, p. 201-232.

Books Ewolucja obrazów u Słowackiego. Lwów 1925 Szkice z zakresu teorii literatury. Lwów 1932 Teoria listu. Lwów 1937 (pierwsze wznowienie: Białystok 2005) Z teorii literatury cztery rozprawy. Łódź 1947 Systematyka głównych kierunków w badaniach literackich. Łódź 1948, vol. I Studia i szkice literackie. Warszawa 1953 Wstęp do nauki o literaturze. Warszawa 1954-1965, vols. I-III Mickiewiczowskie „powinowactwa z wyboru”. Warszawa 1957 Leona Schillera trzy inscenizacje „Nie-Boskiej komedii” Zygmunta Krasińskiego. Warszawa 1959 Teoria badań literackich za granicą. Warszawa 1965, vols. I i II W kręgu wielkich romantyków polskich. Warszawa 1966 Wokół teatru i literatury. Warszawa 1970 Pomiędzy historią a teorią literatury. Warszawa 1975 Kierunki w badaniach literackich. Warszawa 1984 W orbicie literatury – teatru – kultury naukowej. Warszawa 1985

Awards and decorations 1954: Gold Cross of Merit 1954: Medal of the 10th Anniversary of People's Poland 1959: Medal of Peace , World Peace Council 1965: Individual Award of 1st degree from the Ministry of Education of the Polish People's Republic 1966: Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta 1969: 1978: Prize of the Scientific Society of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, "for the lifetime scientific achievements in the spirit of Christian humanism"