Our Mythical Childhood...

Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, University of Warsaw

e-mail: a.mik@student.uw.edu.pl

Anna Mik is an assistant and a PhD student in the “Our Mythical Childhood” project at the Faculty of “Artes Liberales”. She has started her carrier with children’s literature at the Faculty of Polish Studies. In 2013, she attended a facultative class on fairy tales (conducted by Dr Weronika Kostecka). Since then on, she never turned back. She became a member (and later the president, 2014–2015) of the Student Fairy Tale Society with which she co-organised two conferences: on animals in children’s literature (2015) and on Neil Gaiman (2016). After both events, Mik co-edited two multi-authored monographs: Czytanie menażerii [Reading the Menagerie] (2016) and Łapacz snów [The Dream Catcher] (2018). She is still a member of the Research Laboratory of Children’s and Young Adult Literature lead by Dr Weronika Kostecka. In 2017, she co-organised the conference on objects in children’s literature, which resulted in another multi-authored publication: O czym mówią rzeczy? [The Wind in the Things?] (2019). 

After graduating with a master thesis on Silesian folk tales (supervised by Prof. Grzegorz Leszczyński), Mik followed her children’s literature path and started her PhD programme at the Faculty of Polish Studies. Her aspiration was to study Disney’s influence on Polish children’s literature. However, mythical gods and goddesses had a different plan. 

She started her work with Prof. Katarzyna Marciniak in the “Our Mythical Childhood” project in February 2017. Since then, Anna Mik researched different topics connected to the world of childhood and Classical Antiquity. Initially, she was interested in animal studies. However, her research evolved in the direction of monster studies, with the particular take on mythical beings. Loving Disney animation and the Harry Potter universe, she wanted to include these works in her thesis. In such a way, Anna Mik has written a PhD dissertation: Signs of Exclusion. Monsters Inspired by Greek and Roman Mythology as Symbols of Rejected Minorities in Literature, Film, and TV-Series for Children and Young Adults: From Mid-20^th Until Early 21^st Century, supervised by Prof. Grzegorz Leszczyński and Prof. Katarzyna Marciniak. Mik has presented parts of her research at various conferences and workshops, among other things: Child and the Book Conference in Wrocław (2016); Child and Youth on the Move Conference in London (2018); International Research Society for Children’s Literature Conference in Stockholm (2019). Besides publishing the articles listed below, Mik has also written posts for the “Out Mythical Childhood” blog; “Antipodean Odyssey” blog, and critical reviews for “Kultura Liberalna”. 

Selected Publications:

• Potworne, zwierzęce, kobiece - syreny. Kobieco-rybie hybrydy w kulturze dla najmłodszych na wybranych przykładach [Monstrous, Animalistic, Female - Sirens. Women-fish Hybrids in Culture for the Youngsters on Selected Examples], [in:] Gdy kobiece w końcu wybrało się na wiece. Obecność kobiet w historii, literaturze i kulturze, ed. by Rafał Sowiński, Siemianowice Śląskie: Fundacja „dzień dobry! kolektyw kultury”, 2019, pp. 483-504. 
• Disability, Race, and the Black Satyr of the United State of America: The Case of Grover Underwood from Rick Riordan’s “The Lightning Thief” and Its Film Adaptation by Chris Columbus, “Dzieciństwo. Literatura i Kultura” [Childhood: Literature and Culture] 1, 2019, pp. 130–146.
• Disnejowski sen Alicji i rzeczy, które możemy w nim odnaleźć [Alice’s Disney Dream and Things That We Can Find There], [in:] O czym mówią rzeczy? Świat przedmiotów w literaturze dziecięcej i młodzieżowej [The Wind in the Things? The World of Objects in Children's and Young Adult Literature], ed. by Anna Mik, Marta Niewieczerzał, Ewelina Rąbkowska, and Grzegorz Leszczyński, Warszawa: SBP, 2019, pp. 251–267.
• Od herosa do "superbohatera", od "potwora" do celebryty. Disnejowski Herkules w drodze na popkulturowy Olimp [From Hero to "Superhero", from "Monster" to Celebrity. Disney's Hercules on his Way to the Pop Culture Olympus], "Kultura Popularna" 3 (49), 2016, pp. 14–23 ; DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0009.8041.
• „Śmierć będzie ostatnim wrogiem, który zostanie zniszczony”. Dziecko – horkruks w cyklu o Harrym Potterze J. K. Rowling [“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” The Child-Horcrux in Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling], [in:] Śmierć w literaturze dziecięcej i młodzieżowej [Death in Literature for Children and Young Adults], ed. by Katarzyna Slany, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo SBP, 2018, pp. 215–228. 
• Magizoology: The Magical Creatures Studies J.K. Rowling's Postulates on Animals in ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ on Examples from Graeco-Roman Mythology, “Maska” 33, 2017, pp. 21–34.