Graded readers are designed for students whose level of language proficiency is not sufficient to enable them to read authentic texts. Such materials are either written especially for glottodidactic purposes or they are created by simplifying works of literature. Such simplifying can take three different forms. The first one is called adaptation, the second can be described as simplification, that is made within the text, the last one combines adaptation and simplification. The aim of the article is to present the rules of preparing graded reader materials and to discuss the three types of simplification. It explains also the advantages for readers that result from reading texts which actually meet the level of their language proficiency.

The article discusses problems for native speakers and foreigners when reading literary texts during Polish language classes. Two important books are presented here (K. Koziołek, 2006; A. Janus­-Sitarz, 2009). It also refers to publications about the importance of literature in teaching and the role of the teacher (J. Kowalikowa 2004, B. Chrząstowska 1979, 2009). The author of the article also compares the theory of A. Janus­Sitarz (designed for teaching Polish as a mother tongue) with J. Spiro’s concept of 6 reading types (concerning the function of literary texts in teaching Polish as a foreign language). The author concentrates on the problem of responsible reading (as described by M.P. Markowski, 2000) and on teaching being understood as an invitation to a dialogue with text. K. Koziołek, A. Janus­-Sitarz and C. Kramsch in glottodidactics recommend this kind of dialogic approach.

The article discusses the self­stereotypes of Poles as presented in manuals for teaching Polish as a foreign language. The manuals which are designed for different levels of language proficiency are discussed here: Cześć, jak się masz? by W. Miodunka, Hurra!!! Po polsku 2 by A. Burkat, A. Jasińska, Hurra!!! Po polsku 3 by A. Burkat, A. Jasińska, M. Małolepsza, A. Szymkiewicz and Człowiek i jego świat w słowach i tekstach by A. Skudrzykowa and M. Kita. Elements of the stereotype of a Pole discussed in the article lead to an attempt at answering such questions as: how do Poles want to be seen? Is the stereotype of a Pole presented in manuals exaggerated or does it reflect the real image of Poles?

This article presents an analysis of Maria Baszkircew’s dandyish project on the basis of her Diary (1858–1884). Diagnoses were made mainly in the context of Parnassianism as referred to in Wilde’s idea of life imitating art. The methodological­interpretative substructure is Goffman’s concept of self­presentation and Lacanian psychoanalysis. The purpose of these considerations was to present the essence of Baszkircew’s dandyism, and to prove that her aesthetic life project was closely connected with conditioning, which was dictated by her culture and customs. It concludes that her dandyism was a form of fighting for her own identity, liberty and self­determination.

The topic of this article is a description of the experience of spacial Nothingness that occurred during Andrzej Stasiuk’s trip to Mongolia in summer 2010. He presented this experience to his readers in two reports published in „Tygodnik Powszechny” in February and March 2011. The author of this article distinguishes between Stasiuk’s different interpretations of Nothingness. He examines Stasiuk’s reports on his Asian trip against the criteria of so­called ‘modern travelling’ (MacCannel, Wieczorkiewicz). The author of the article concludes that the types of Nothingness described by Stasiuk lead to a mystic experience of the kind that was described by Jacek Bolewski as an apophatic one („Nic jak Bóg”).

Anna, Another and the Excluded are the main characters in Zbigniew Kruszyński’s stories: Schwedenkrauter, Na lądach i morzach and Powrót Aleksandra. Anna reveals the true colors of reality – where men nostalgically long for an archetypical image of love; Another becomes a substitute for the lost woman and then starts transforming into No­one; the Excluded represent a cursed piece of reality. Their peculiar features, habits and activities create a controversial and unconventional picture. The writer’s style complicates the reader’s view even more: voyeurism determines perception here. These characters are not only subjects of artistic depiction, but also lenses through which readers are watching or (together with the narrator) taking a peek at the world.

The author of the article suggests reading Dorota Masłowska’s debut novel Wojna polsko­ruska pod flagą biało­czerwoną from the perspective of the feminist literary critics. She uses Nancy K. Miller’s concept of arachnology. The author concentrates on parts of the novel that have been overlooked so far in reviews and interpretations. She examines a character in the book, a young girl, who is the author’s alter ego. The auctorial subject is revealed on different levels in the text: as a character in the novel, the author of the text that is being read and in a monologue of the narrator, Silny, whose narration is influenced by elements beyond his own consciousness and language. The experience of growing mature and writing is developed in the plot, through the consciousness of the main character and only revealed gradually. It is at the end of the novel that the author finally gives up the mask of the character and speaks for herself.

Both novels analysed in the article (Władysław Reymont’s Vampire written at the beginning of the 20^th century and contemporary Apokryf Agłai by Jerzy Sosnowski) present the fall of a man seduced by a demonic woman. Daisy (a vampire) and Lilka­Agłaja (a cyborg) are capable, due to their dangerous beauty, of destroying men’s careers, family life, hapiness and sanity. In these texts femininity is traditionally described as something monstrous and dangerous. A psychoanalytical reading (which follows Klein and Freud) leads to a categorization of the sources of such stereotypical images.

The mental states of the characters, as described in both novels, are very similar. The regressive symptoms are highlighted – men’s psyches regress to the paranoid and schizoid state, where primary mechanisms of defence seem to dominate.

The images of the femme fatale are influenced by the projection of a split, negative object. They aim at preventing an object from final destruction. The author of the article creates a hypothesis that patriarchal culture influences the defence strategies used by the heroes of both novels. Pariarchal culture represses men that show weakness and denies them the right to be called men. However, it accepts weaknesses when they are disguised as misogynistic attitudes. If a man cannot accept weakness, as belonging to him, he must make a woman responsible for it (even on the level of subconscious defence strategies).

The author of the article tries to use margin as a category in the history of literature. She concentrates on those writers whose works can be regarded as existing on the margins (Villon, de Sade) or those whose works feature people living „on the margins” of society. Writers often portrayed people who lived on the edge of society (Villon, Hugo, Genet), those who were rejected by society because of their individual features (Simplicyssimus, Guliwer), or those with clear philosophical ideas that were aimed at social norms and tradition (the heroes of de Sade, Rimbaud, Turgieniev). Some of these people decided to leave society to exist on its margins, use alcohol and drugs, feel alienated and unable to find their own place in the world (heroes of de Quincey, Bułhakov, Hesse).

In many children’s statements there are expressions that are uncharacteristic for the age of the speakers. Such expressions often turn out to be inspired by television. The aim of the article is to select such expressions, that have been described here as „TV­inspired phrasems”. They are then analysed using the tools created by Wojciech Chlebda. These analysed expressions have been found in linguistic publications, on TV and radio programs. They are analysed in relation to their sociological context (media socialization, concept of homo videns by Sartori).

In literature, during the Polish Age of Enlightenment, the word Paris was above all a ‘label’, that symbolised an incredible town that provoked representatives of the Polish establishment to behave foolishly. The capital of France was rarely depicted in a realistic manner by visitors from Poland.

Absurd and reprehensible attitudes, inspired by Paris, and described by eighteenth century writers, were numerous. For example, visiting Paris resulted in displays of unusual pride, and those who visited Paris regarded themselves as better and far above those who were not lucky enough to see the capital of France. The Polish elite followed Parisian fashion and adored objects produced there. The capital of France became the most desirable place to visit but Paris was the ruin of many Polish tourists.

In Polish literature, between 1764 and 1795, the word Paris was only replaced once by a realistic image of the capital of France: in Krasicki’s novel Mikołaja Doświadczyńskiego przypadki. (1776).

The author of the article writes about an unconventional reading of a small, amateurish Silesian­Chinese Dictionary by Marek Jachymski. By analysing the vocabulary, structure and the reliability of the translations the author of the article is lead to asking some important questions concerning prioritization and the political aspects of languages, mechanisms of word selection, the image of language, the world expressed by the selection of vocabulary and the specific character of a dictionary as a tool used in the process of translation and intercultural communication. The author pays close attention to the linguistic and cultural adequacy of some chosen word pairs. She highlights the need to consider such matters as schematic thinking about languages, the translating of cultures and the translator’s neutrality. By suggesting some excercises, the author also shows how this dictionary can be used in didactics that aim at developing students’ cultural and linguistic awareness, in terms of language and translation.

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The article presents the most important and the most interesting prose and poetry publications that appeared in 2013. Last year was marked by a dominance of well known authors (such as Justyna Bargielska, Jacek Dehnel, Julia Hartwig, Ignacy Karpowicz, Wiesław Myśliwski, Jerzy Pilch, Eustacy Rylski or Marcin Świetlicki) and proved that books that consider identity problems and facing the demons of the past can gain positive readers’ response.

The article presents the summary of the season 2013/2014 in Polish film­making. All movies described in the article are presented from the perspective of what would be interesting for a foreigner or a person who studies Polish as a foreign language. The following films are decribed here: Być jak Kazimierz Deyna, Chce się żyć, Dziewczyna z szafy, Felix, Net i Nika oraz teoretycznie możliwa katastrofa, Ida, Mój biegun, Układ zamknięty, W imię…, W ukryciu, Wałęsa. Człowiek z nadziei, Żywie Biełaruś.

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