On May 22th, 2024, Oral History and the Classics project team was honoured to pay a visit to Doctor Barbara Brzuska, who kindly agreed to be interviewed in her apartment in Warsaw. Dr Brzuska is another Polish scholar who gave her consent to answer our questions. She is a specialist in Latin, Latin literature, and – most importantly for AΦR – has published numerous works on the history of reception of antiquity in modern times and on the history of teaching classical topics in the 19th and 20th centuries, researching a variety of phaenomena of classical receptions among writers, poets, and philosophers. Let us add that we have previously managed to interview two Polish specialists in ancient philosophy, namely prof. Bogdan Dembiński in February 2024 in Katowice and prof. Andrzej Wesoły in December 2023 in Poznań. These two meetings have already been announced here and here. All these Polish interviews, plus Czech and Italian ones, furnished with English subtitles, will be included in the Oral History and the Classics collection on the website of the University of Hradec Králové.

Dr B. Brzuska is now a retired lecturer of classical culture and instructor of Latin language. Her entire academic career was related to the University of Warsaw. One of her most important works was a study of the history of classical languages and culture in the Main School of Warsaw, a university that was working for a very limited time of a few years in Warsaw under Russian rule. This study, apart from a comprehensive investigation of its topic, offers much more to the readers, for it includes the background of the school and its later influences.

During the interview Dr Brzuska emphasised the role of popular works for wider audiences in instilling the interest in classics. It was also her case, for those were the books by Jan Parandowski (1895-1978) that attracted her to the classical world and subsequently inspired to learn classical languages. She recalled her memories of her university years and outstanding professors, with Kazimierz Kumaniecki (1905-1977) in the first place. Dr Brzuska, as a teacher of Latin with decades long experience, shared her views on the evolution of teaching methods and on the contemporary digital aids for learning, which can be of great help and a trap at the same time.

The interview was carried out by T. Mróz, while Jan Kadeřábek, a cinematographer and a cameraman, took care of all the technicalities. Both were very thankful for the casual and friendly atmosphere which was created by their kind and warm host and interviewee.

On the photo:
Dr B. Brzuska, T. Mróz and J. Kadeřábek