Medieval Drama -- Polish studies

Andrzej Dabrówka's articles and books on medieval drama and theatre

Untersuchungen über die mittelniederländischen Abele Spelen (Herkunft - Stil - Motive), Warszawa, 1990; 460 pp. (My Ph.D. thesis of 1987) It was a general study on the origin, the language and text structure, as well as the motifs in those 10 secular plays of the later 14th century.

. -. Distributionsanalyse und Parameterstatistik als Instrumente der Philologie.
[statistical methods for analysing and interpretation of text homogenity in medieval verse drama]
In: LEUVENSE BIJDRAGEN 1988.3:285-299

-. Die Textüberlieferung der Abele Spelen und der Sotternien.
[bibliography of prints, translations and productions, also modern]
In: NEERLANDICA WRATISLAVIENSIA 1989.IV:7-46

-. Epoche, Gattung, individueller Wert. Zur empirischen Stilgeschichte des mittelniederländischen Dramas.
[text models for medieval verse drama]
In: ZAGADNIENIA RODZAJÓW LITERACKICH 1990.XXXIII:27-53.

-. Die Eigennamen in den Abele Spelen und den Sotternien.
[proper names, with an index a la Thompson, Motif Index of Folk Literature]
In: NEERLANDICA WRATISLAVIENSIA 1991.V:19-46

-. Frühestes weltliches Theaterrepertoire in den Niederlanden.
[witnesses of production of secular dramas 1373-1500]
In: ACTA PHILOLOGICA XX:1991:65-98

-. Abele spelen.
[encyclopedic lemma on the abele spelen as a special genre]
In: ZAGADNIENIA RODZAJÓW LITERACKICH 1992.XXXV:147-153 [in Polish]

-. Quando sagittari sagittaverunt papegay. Der Medienstreit im mittelniederländischen Theaterbetrieb.
[discussion of 15th-c. terminology concerning the plays, players and theatre productions]
In: NEERLANDICA WRATISLAVIENSIA 1994.VII:77-96

-. Symbool en teken in de middeleeuwse media (vroomheidsvormen en de culturele betekenis van de broederschappen)
[social circumstances of the theatrical activity]
In: De Nieuwe Taalgids 1995 LXXXVIII.4:289-306

-. Ontologisch interpretatiekader voor het middeleeuwse drama.
[philosophical and theological impacts on the dramatic genres]
Ref. 7. Internasionale Kongres vir Neerlandistiek, Durban 4.-7. Aug. 1993.
In: Tydskrif vir Nederlands en Afrikaans, 1995.2:7-18

-. De Neidhartspiele en het abel spel Van de Winter ende van de Somer op een solre te Arnhem rond 1400 opgevoerd?
[about a possible date of production of the Neidhartspiele in a house attic, not on the market]
In: J. Wiktorowicz (ed.), Studien zur deutschen und niederländischen Sprache und Kultur. Festschrift für Jan Czochralski; Warszawa 1996.

-. The trial scenes in medieval drama – paper delivered on 3.07.1998 (University of Camerino, Italy); [in:] S. Higgins (ed. 1998) European Medieval Drama. Dramma medioevale Europeo 1998. Papers from the Third International Conference on ‘Aspects of European Medieval Drama’ Camerino, 3-5 July 1998, Camerino: Universita’ degli Studi (1999), p.77-98.

-. "Dialogus de Passione albo Żałosna tragedyja o Męce Jezusa" (Teatr Narodowy, Warszawa, 1998/99)
short review in the census-division of: „RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES IN RENAISSANCE DRAMA” (USA), 2000
„http://www.ups.edu/faculty/greenfield/rord.html”

-. The Polish saint plays of the 16th and 17th centuries: Are they medieval?
paper delivered at the 24th. Theater Convegno "Martiri e Santi in scena dal medioevo al barocco" 7-10.09.2000, Centro Studi sul Teatro Medievale e Rinascimentale – in Anagni, Italy; [in:] M. Chiabo, F. Doglio (ed.), XXIV Convegno Inernazionale. Martiri e Santi in Scena, Roma, Edizioni Torre D'Orfeo 2001, pp. 297-321.

-. Polish Saint Plays of the 16th and 17th Centuries
article in „Early Drama, Art and Music Review” Fall 2000 23.1, pp. 18-49.

Teatr i sacrum w średniowieczu: Religia, cywilizacja, estetyka (FUNNA: Wrocław 2001); 672 pp. [THEATRE AND THE SACRED IN THE MIDDLE AGES: RELIGION, CIVILIZATION, AESTHETICS; English Summary]

-. Zbiór polskich dramatyzacji liturgicznych
review of the collection of liturgical dramas from Polish sources: Liturgiczne łacińskie dramatyzacje Wielkiego Tygodnia XI-XVI w., Julian Lewański (ed.), Lublin 1999; [in:] "Ruch Literacki" 42, 2001.3, pp. 369-378.

-. Trwanie "onego" czasu. Anamneza w średniowiecznych przedstawieniach dramatycznych [Anamnesis in medieval dramatic representations]
Paper delivered to the conference "Mediewistyka literacka w Polsce", IBL PAN, Warszawa 22-23 X 2001

-. Medieval theatre of schools. Educational beginnings of early drama
(Paper at the conference „School and theatre”, Miskolc, Hungary, 5-7 IX 2002)

-. Deklamacja w średniowiecznej teorii retorycznej i praktyce szkolnej [Declamation in medieval rhetorical theory and school practice].
(Paper read at the conference "Problematyka tekstu głosowo interpretowanego", Toruń, 16-18 X 2002)

-. Anything But a Game: Corpus Christi in Poland, „Quaestiones Medii Aevi Novae” 7, 2002 p. 245-270. Paper read at the 35th Medieval Congress (Western Michigan Univ., Kalamazoo; session sponsored by the Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society.)

-. Dawne procesy zwierząt jako dramaty rytualne [Ancient animal trials as ritual dramas], „Teksty Drugie” 5/2002, p. 23-35.
Habilitation lecture presented to the Council of the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IBL PAN), 30 Oct. 2001

-. Nowe badania literackie w mediewistyce anglistycznej i germanistycznej
[in:] Mediewistyka literacka w Polsce, T.Michałowska (red.) Warszawa 2003: 63-75.

-. Trwanie “onego” czasu. Anamneza w średniowiecznych przedstawieniach dramatycznych
[in:] Mediewistyka literacka w Polsce, T.Michałowska (red.) Warszawa 2003: 159-180.

-. Polish Saint Plays of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
[in:] The Dramatic Tradition of the Middle Ages, C. Davidson (ed.), (New York: AMS Press), 2004, pp.216-44.

About the author
Andrzej Dabrowka;Andrzej Dabrówka; Andrzej Dąbrówka

Co-worker of the Medieval Section of the Institute of Literary Research at the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw. Member of the Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society (USA), and of The Medieval Academy of America.
I obtained my Ph.D. in 1987 on a thesis concerning the Middle Netherlandic abele spelen: "Untersuchungen über die mittelniederländischen Abele Spelen (Herkunft - Stil - Motive)". It was a general study on the origin, the language and text structure, as well as the motifs in those 10 secular plays of the later 14th century. Until 2000 I was teaching Dutch literature at the German Institute of the University of Warsaw (which I graduated in 1976). Before 1996 I was also literary translator (10 books of poetry, prose and modern drama of Dutch, Flemish and one South African author - I have a passive command of Afrikaans). My Słownik pisarzy niderlandzkiego obszaru kulturowego ("Companion to Literature of the Netherlandic Area" (1345 items; Holland, Flanders, Friesland, Surinam and the Afrikaans writers of South Africa) has been published in July 1999. Co-author of two dictionaries of Polish: Słownik synonimów (1993) and Słownik antonimów (1995).

My studies on medieval drama in its social and intellectual (esp. religious) context have appeared in journals and books in Holland, Belgium, South Africa, Italy, the USA and Poland (in German, Dutch, English and Polish). My main interest is less historical, more comparative and theoretical. This is apparent in my book (in Polish) "Theatre and the Sacred in the Middle Ages" (2001), containing a theory of the relations between the forms of devotion and the drama genres. Parts of it have been presented in 1998-99 at the Medieval Congress (Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo), at the 9th Biennial Interdisciplinary Conference on Netherlandic Studies (University of Wisconsin, Madison), and at the 3rd Conference on Medieval Drama (University of Camerino, Italy). The book has been awarded the Polish state prize for outstanding scholarly achievement of the year 2001.

At present I am preparing a monograph on the Old Polish miracle plays in their European context, and a study of the role of cathedral schools in the transmission of knowledge and skills substantial for the theatre.

Together with Professor Teresa Michałowska, head of the Medieval Section of our Institute, we organize "Medieval Meetings" - a series of one day workshop conferences on medieval literary studies in Poland, SPOTKANIA MEDIEWISTYCZNE. Every 3 or 4 months four younger and older scholars from the whole country come to deliver papers on their research topics.