Zygmunt Szweykowski

Zygmunt Szweykowski (1894-1978) was a foremost historian of Polish literature. He held a professorship at the Free Polish University (Wolna Wszechnica Polska) in Warsaw and Łodź in 1932-1939.

During the World War II Nazi occupation of Poland, he participated, at the risk of his life, in underground university teaching in Warsaw.

From 1946 he held a chair at Poznań University. In 1950 he was inducted as a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Szweykowski studied the 19th-century Polish novel. His books in this field included Powieści historyczne Henryka Rzewuskiego (The Historical Novels of Henryk Rzewuski, 1922) and Trylogia Sienkiewicza (Sienkiewicz's Trilogy, 1961).

His specialty, however, was the writings of Bolesław Prus. His books on Prus include Tworczość Bolesława Prusa (The Art of Bolesław Prus, 1947; 2nd ed., 1973) and Nie tylko o Prusie: szkice (Not Only about Prus: Sketches, 1967). Beginning in 1948, Szweykowski produced monumental editions of Prus' collected Pisma (Writings).