Title of the work
Country of the First Edition
Country/countries of popularity
Original Language
First Edition Date
First Edition Details
Mirosław Rutkowski, Mitologia, "Well-Prepared Readers [Lektura dobrze opracowana]". Kraków: Wydawnictwo Skrzat, 2010, 185 pp.
ISBN
Genre
School reader*
Target Audience
Children
Cover
Courtesy of the publisher.
Author of the Entry:
Summary: Anna Górska, University of Warsaw, anna.gorska@gmail.com
Analysis: Marta Pszczolińska, University of Warsaw, m.pszczolinska@al.uw.edu.pl
Peer-reviewer of the Entry:
Katarzyna Marciniak, University of Warsaw, kamar@al.uw.edu.pl
Elżbieta Olechowska, University of Warsaw, elzbieta.olechowska@gmail.com
Courtesy of the Author.
Mirosław Rutkowski
, b. 1963
(Author)
Born in Cracow. English and Latin teacher at the I General Education High School in Stargard Szczeciński (north-western Poland) from 1990 to 2003. Authored two books for children on the topic of Greek mythology published by Wydawnictwo Skrzat in Cracow: Mity greckie dla dzieci. Bogowie [Greek Myths for Children. Gods], 2003, and Mity greckie dla dzieci. Herosi [Greek Myths for Children. Heroes], 2006. In 2012 Friends of Stargard Society published his book entitled Stargard nie tylko dla dzieci [Stargard Not Only for Children] describing the past and the present of the city. He lives now in Piasecznik by Choszczno, where he works on his farm.
Source:
Based on the material kindly provided by the Author.
Bio prepared by Anna Górska, University of Warsaw, anna.gorskaa@gmail.com
The Editors would like to express their thanks to Anna Lewicka, Director of Maria Dąbrowska Municipal Public Library in Choszczno, for the contact with the Author.
Summary
Based on: Katarzyna Marciniak, Elżbieta Olechowska, Joanna Kłos, Michał Kucharski (eds.), Polish Literature for Children & Young Adults Inspired by Classical Antiquity: A Catalogue, Faculty of "Artes Liberales", Warsaw: University of Warsaw, 2013, 444 pp., section by Anna Górska, pp. 326–331.
Intended for middle and high school students learning mythology. First part of the book presents well-known myths, such as the origin of the world, Jason and the Argonauts, or Hercules' Twelve Labours. The language of the first part is simple to ensure that students understand every detail. Myths are not modified, they corresponds to the popular, original classical versions. The second part is designed to provide students with basic information to study myths. The author explains the names of gods and heroes, places and religious festivals. The main purpose is to teach students classical mythology and help them write about it. The book explains many various related terms, helps to learn the basics allowing readers to start their adventure with ancient literature.
Analysis
The series, "Well-Prepared Readers", contains texts of school readers and complementary material facilitating the students' understanding and analysis of the main content and adding some secondary information. Mythology by Rutkowski meets the purpose of the series as it has an informative character. The myths presented by Rutkowski are not the types of stories to be told to explain the world nor to entertain the reader but to learn. The narration is straightforward, divided into short chapters and sub-chapters, each of them focused on an individual myth.
The publisher recycled texts from the two mythologies by Rutkowski: Mity greckie dla dzieci. Bogowie and Mity greckie dla dzieci. Herosi, presented there as books for children. The edition for children used graphic design aimed at a young age group, with colorful and black-and-white illustrations, ancient motifs as borders on the upper margin (meander, palmette, anthemion, wave), full-page maps drawn in colour displaying details mentioned in the book, larger fonts and page formats are used there. In this edition, the text is divided into smaller sections, restructured differently and aimed at older readers, although, in some cases, it appears too basic for high school students.
The educational character of this publication becomes obvious through illustrations: instead of the previous colourful layout, there are drawings of sculptures of specific gods and/or mythical scenes. The selected figures are all very well-known (like for example, the statues of Zeus of Otricoli, Apollo Belvedere, Menelaus bearing the corpse of Patroclus from Loggia dei Lanzi from the Roman times, or the Baroque Italian sculpture, The Rape of Proserpina by Bernini), and are described along with their history and location so that the students receive comprehensive information. The book also uses historical black-and-white photographs of some important Greek sites (Delphi, Sounion, Acropolis of Athens) from the album by Tadeusz Zieliński Grecja. Budownictwo, plastyka, krajobraz [Greece. Architecture, Fine Arts, Landscape] published in 1923. At the end, additional material is provided, including information about Greek religion, myths, Hesiod and Homer, the main gods, Dionysus, heroes and archetypes, topoi, as well as the types and functions of myths. There are no indexes.
Further Reading
Rutkowski, Mirosław, Mity greckie dla dzieci. Bogowie, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Skrzat, 2003.
Rutkowski, Mirosław, Mity greckie dla dzieci. Herosi, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Skrzat, 2006.
Addenda
The Editors of the catalogue would like to express their thanks to Anna Lewicka, Director of Maria Dąbrowska Municipal Public Library in Choszczno, for the contact with the Author.
