Letter to Władysław Tatarkiewicz written 20.05.1961

Author Roman Ingarden

Category outgoing correspondence, Polish researchers

Archive Archive KUL

Date of creation 20.05.1961

Related places Cracow, Lviv, Warsaw

Reference code in archive Rkp_1529

Resource type letter

Subject matter foreign travel, organizational issues, personal issues, publication issues

Field aesthetics, literary criticism, philosophy

Tags #aesthetic object, #Aesthetic Section of Polish Philosophical Society, #America, #Aristotle, #basics of philosophical literary criticism, #board of Polish Philosophical Society, #Cracow, #Cracow branch of the Polish Philosophical Society, #discussion, #habilitation, #Henryk Markiewicz, #Jagiellonian University, #Jerzy Gałecki, #Journal of Aesthetics, #Katowice, #Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz, #Lviv, #Marek Fritzhand, #Maria Gołaszewska, #Maria Ingarden, #meeting, #Montpelier, #PAN, #Poetics, #Polish Academy of Sciences, #Polish Philosophical Society, #protocols, #Rabka, #review, #Stasin, #subsidies, #UJ, #UJ house, #USA, #value of a work of art, #Warsaw

Rkp 1529
82

Cracow, 20/5/1961

Dear Władysław,

I’m very sorry that things worked out so unfortunately that we didn’t see each other. Just after sending you the letter, I decided to travel to Warsaw for two days, for the meetings of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Board of the Polish Philosophical Society. I was supposed to spend the night, as usual, with my brother-in-law, so I didn’t reserve space in a hotel. Meanwhile, after arriving in Warsaw yesterday morning, I found my brother-in-law as well as[O1] my sister-in-law suffering from a fairly serious case of the flu, which prevented me from staying overnight with them. Efforts to find lodging in a hotel through AN[O2] produced no results, so I decided to return, although I still had some faint hope of finding lodging with Ajdukiewicz. But that hope also failed to materialise (after that of staying with you); accordingly, I handed Ajdukiewicz our various papers from the Cracow Branch to be settled and saddled him with the role of bringing, on my behalf, the demand to the Polish Philosophical Society Board regarding a subsidy to cover the costs of transcribing the discussions recorded on the tape recorder. Finally, I travelled to Cracow by way of Katowice, and, not having slept for two nights (because I didn’t have a sleeping berth today), I’m in quite poor condition.

I showed up at your place exactly at the time when the two of you had gone into the city. But I didn’t want to call immediately after lunch between 2 and 4 pm ‒ that is, during the break between meetings of the Polish Academy of Sciences ‒ because I assumed that you were sleeping then and I didn’t want to wake you, and besides, I was convinced that you probably wouldn’t leave home again. Thus none of it came off.

I don’t know when I’ll be in Warsaw now, so I don’t know when we’ll see each other. During July my wife and I will be in Rabka at Stasin (Jagiellonian University’s house), then probably in Cracow. I had intended to travel to Montpelier in September, but somehow it didn’t work out. Most likely nothing will come of that.

I’m expecting that this afternoon, inter alia, the matter of the Aesthetic Section regulations will be settled, but I think this applies to sections in terms of the Polish Philosophical Society as a whole, whereas the sections of individual branches can proceed independently. We’ve already held two meetings; the next one is supposed to be next week. We’re talking about various matters related to the question of the value of a work of art, i.e. aesthetic object. The whole discussion has been preserved on my tape recorder, and then, before the next meeting, it’ll be transcribed and made available to the members of the Section. I conduct the discussion, introducing each meeting and organising and filling in the results of the previous meeting. Once in Lviv, I conducted such discussions for several years. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a tape recorder then. Now there’s full documentation, which is very beneficial for continued discussion. (x) About 20 people take part on a regular basis. I’m curious as to what we’ll manage to do.

I was glad I found at home[O3] inasmuch as it shows that your leg is already in satisfactory condition.

You told me at one point that you’d send me Markiewicz’s review for a look. I’d be happy to read it before printing, and possibly respond to it. Markiewicz is currently taking part in the Aesthetic Section and his contribution has so far been positive.

In closing, please write a few lines about how it was at today’s meeting of the Polish Philosophical Society. I had wanted, while staying with you, to ask you to support our request for subsidies for the Section’s protocol; unfortunately, nothing came of it.

Cordial greetings

/signature/ Your Roman

Nota bene, the matter of Gałecki’s habilitation is getting complicated. In Wrocław, Fritzhand protested against this habilitation, as well as, inter alia, against your reviewing the paper. They were supposed to send it to the Jagiellonian University, but so far it seems that nothing has happened. Could you undertake a review of Gołaszewska’s habilitation thesis (a comprehensive study on the basics of philosophical literary criticism)?

How are the plans for your trip to America coming along? Nota bene, my article on Aristotle’s Poetics is going to be printed in the Journal of Aesthetics.

[O1]Oryg: szwagra, ja i szwagierkę. Chyba ma być szwagra, jak i szwagierkę
[O2]??? Czym jest AN [?] Agencja Noclegi [?] [Accommodation Agency]
[O3]Oryg: że zastałem w domu. Nie ma sensu; może że nie zastałem Cię w domu [not to have found you at home] [???]