Mark S Rudnicki

Mark Rudnicki teaches courses in advanced composition, research methods, philosophy & literature, and the immigrant experience through literature.  Previously, he taught at University of Warsaw, Jagiellonian University, and George Washington University. He is the recipient of two Kosciuszko Foundation Research Fellowships and has spoken at various conferences primarily on the intersection of philosophy and literature in the works of the interwar Polish writer Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz, better known as Witkacy.  

Mark is also the advisor for Mason’s Music Productions Club which hosts open mics weekly and the all-day Plazapalooza music festival in the spring. 

Current Research

Currently, Mark is working on a research project called Witkacy: Archaeology of Influence - an effort to catalog and assess Witkacy’s library and influences.

Selected Publications

     Mark Rudnicki and Izabella Curyllo-Klag: Translations of Witkiewicz letters to Ingarden in the Roman Ingarden Digital Archives (2018): http://ingarden.archive.uj.edu.pl/en/archiwum/?keyword=witkiewicz

     Mark Rudnicki and Kevin Anthony Hayes Eds.  Witkacy in English: 21st Century Perspectives. Krakow: Jagiellonian University Press, 2013.

     “On the Sacred and the Profane in Witkiewicz’s Insatiability.” Witkacy in English: 21st Century Perspectives. Ed. Mark Rudnicki and Kevin Anthony Hayes. Krakow: Jagiellonian University Press, 2014.

     ”Witkiewicz (Witkacy), Stanislaw Ignacy”.  Encyclopedia of 20th Century Photography. Ed. by Lynne Warren.  New York, Routledge, 2005.

     “Witkacy: The Theater of Life”, The Polish Academic Information Web Site of the State University of New York at Buffalo, 2/2002. http://wings.buffalo.edu/info-poland/classroom/witkacy/index.html

Courses Taught

ENGH 101: Composition

ENGH 302: Advanced Composition (B, H, S, M)

PHIL 253: Philosophy and Literature

HNRS 130: The Immigrant Experience Through Literature: Identity and Difference

Education

Mark earned a B.A. in Philosophy and English from St. Bonaventure University, an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Memphis, and a Ph.D. in comparative literature from the State University of New York at Buffalo

Recent Presentations

    “Witkacy, Cixous, and ecriture feminine”. Witkacy 2019: Sept 17-20, 2019, Witkacy bez granic 100 lat Czystej Formy Muzeum Pomorza Srodkowego w Slupsku, Slupsk, Poland.

     “Witkacy and the Aesthetic Phenomenon.”  Witkacy Commemoration Colloquium: Witkacy Soul and Form (12/2/15). University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. 

     “Witkacy, Nietzsche and Schopenhauer”. Witkacy 2014: Sept 17-20, 2014, Co Jeszcze jest do Odkrycia Muzeum Pomorza Srodkowego w Slupsku, Slupsk, Poland.  

     “Bruno Schulz in the Context of World Literature.”  The Legend of Bruno Schulz Discussions at the Kosciuszko Foundation. Sept. 20, 2012

     “Witkacy and his Demons.”  Ambassador Theater’s Literary Café. November 8, 2011.

     “The Profane and the Sacred in Witkiewicz’s Insatiability.”  Wirkacy 2010 Conference.  April 29-May 1, Kosciuszko Foundation, Washington DC.

     “On History and Suffering in Witkacy’s Madman and the Nun.”  Witkacy 2009 Conference. September 18-19, University of Westminster, London England.

     “Schulz and Levinas: the Face of the Other.” Annual Meeting of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences, June 2006, NY, NY.

     “Witkacy and Nietzsche: Tragedy, Woman, and Death.”  American Association of the Advancement of Slavic Studies.  October 2006, Washington DC.

     “Until Death Do Us Part? Witkacy’s World of Death and Resurrection.” Annual Meeting of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences, June 2004, Boston, MA.