The authors of this article analyse female characters in the prose of Ingeborg Bachmann. Her series of novels Todesarten – which includes Malina (1971) and Der Fall Franza (1979) – and a series of short stories Simultan (1972) are the subjects of the analysis. The authors prove that in the prose of the Austrian writer there appear
women who are tyrannised by men and accept the role of a victim. Such an attitude leads Bachmann’s protagonists to both the loss of identity and self-destruction.

The author analyses the motif of a beautiful Polish woman in two poems by Arthur Silbergleit. The analysis shows that the structuring of female personas goes beyond the stereotypical frames of perceiving Polish women in national categories, since they have been portrayed as beings settled between the reality and the dream, which makes it impossible to use them for the current political needs during the First World War.

Götz Aly’s highly controversial book Why the Germans? Why the Jews? discerns envy as the root cause of anti-Semitism in Germany before and after World War I: according to Aly, gentile Germans loathed their Jewish neighbours for being better educated, more industrious and, therefore, better-off. This essay presents a critical
assessment of both the book and its predominantly negative reviews in the light of the work of the US economist Thomas Sowell and the Austrian sociologist Helmut Schoeck.

Numerous modernist authors pondered on questions concerning the essence of art, the duty of the artist and the principles of the creative process. A German-language poet born in Prague, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) spent his lifetime trying to cope with these questions. By means of an analysis of his poetry, prose, and essays, but also diaries and correspondence, the author of this article endeavours to answer the question whether and how the image of the artist and art has been evolving in Rilke’s work. His volume from 1907, entitled New Poems, ought to be considered the groundbreaking one, as from this volume on Rilke begins to create the so-called poetry of things (Dingdichtung). The artist ceases to be a prophet, or a creator almost equal to God. His duty now is serving art, even at the price of suffering and loneliness, illness and insanity. The work created by such an artist is fully independent and unassisted; it makes it possible to get closer to the essence of things. In turn, in the structure of a novel entitled The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, one can trace an analogy to the creative process. Finally, a question is posed to what extent Rilke, and his understanding of art and the duty of the artist contribute to the process of mythologising the artist, whose high point is identified at the turn of the 19th and the 20th centuries.

The article points to the German source of Józef Wereszczyński’s Gościniec pewny (1585) unknown to the Polish researchers. The Polish author paraphrased in prose a versed text, preserved in one copy, entitled Von einer erschrecklichen Geschicht, welche sich zugetragen hat den 9. Februarij am tage Esto mihi dieses 1578 Jahr zu Ravenspurg, von 8 Bürgern und Bürger-Söhnen, wie sie sich mit einander verbunden Faßnacht
zu halten, und also des Morgens früe erstlich zum gebrandten Wein gegangen seind, und haben darüber unbilliger Weise die Predigt versaumt. Endtlich von dem Sathan auch ihren Lohn schrecklicher weise nommen und umb ihr Leben kommen seint, etc. Allen frommen Christen zu Warnung gestellet. Durch M. Andream N(?)elsium. We ought to assume that the proper form of the author’s name, unknown to the German researchers – Andreas Melsius – has survived in the Polish version.

The article outlines the history of the literary topos “Gespräch über Bäume” (“a conversation about trees”) in German-language literature. The author analyses Bertolt Brecht’s poem, An die Nachgeborenen (To Those Who Follow in Our Wake), which is the source of the phrase “Gespräch über Bäume,” and presents the functioning of this topos on the chosen examples in various historical and literary contexts after 1945. The author also points to the fact that misinterpretations of the poem contributed to the popularity of this topos.

The author of this article aims at discussing the notion of linguistic democracy and presenting several significant manifestations of linguistic politeness in contemporary Swedish. The phenomenon of linguistic democracy has been illustrated using the examples of greeting and parting formulas, and addressative forms in Swedish. The term of linguistic politeness has been analysed on the examples of the usage of forms of the imperative and its equivalents, and thanking forms. 

The linguistic phenomena presented in this article are unambiguously indicative of the thesis concerning the existence of linguistic democracy in Swedish, and simultaneously they are unambiguously interpreted as courteous and polite. Both phenomena ought to be incorporated by the foreigners in both private and professional contacts. Their usage indicates a good knowledge of the language, culture, customs, and traditions of the particular society, which results in acceptance, appreciation, and proper, positive treatment from the native speakers.

Tłumaczenie utworu Eine schreckliche Geschichte (M. Andream Nelsium).

Tłumaczenie wiersza Jürgena Egyptiena (ur. 1955), literaturoznawcy, krytyka literackiego, poety, laureata Nagrody im. Eriki Burkart (1991). Wiersz został opublikowany w zbiorze In der Sprache Zwie
w 2005 roku. Na życzenie autora została poprawiona pisownia nazwy Oświęcim.

Lubuskie in allen Facetten. Rezension zu: Marta Jadwiga Bąkiewicz (Hg.): An der mittleren Oder. Eine Kulturlandschaft im Deutsch-Polnischen Grenzraum. Paderborn: Ferdinand-Schöning-Verlag, 2016: 304 S.

Elżbieta Dziurewicz : Korpusbasierte Analyse der Phraseologismen im Deutschen am Beispiel des phraseologischen Optimums für DaF. Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovač, 2015 (=Schriftenreihe Philologia, Sprachwissenschaftliche Forschungsergebnisse 206): 260 S. - recenzja publikacji

Norbert Morciniec: Historia języka niemieckiego. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Wyższej Szkoły Filologicznej we Wrocławiu, 2015: 265 s. - recenzja publikacji

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Baśń. Das Märchen. Wydanie polskie i niemieckie. Przekł. Krystyna Krzemień-Ojak, wstęp Wojciech Kunicki, pod red. Jarosława Ławskiego. Białystok: Wydawnictwo Alter Studio, 2015: 154 s. - recenzja publikacji

Magdalena Abraham-Diefenbach: Pałace i koszary. Kino w podzielonych miastach nad Odrą i Nysą Łużycką. Wrocław: Atut, 2016: 432 s. - recenzja publikacji