About Władysław Panas – A Posthumous Tribute

Abstract

The article is a personal recollection of Władysław Panas (delivered during the funeral ceremony), in which the author presents the figure of his pupil, co-worker, and finally his successor at the Theory of Literature Department of the Catholic University of Lublin. Stefan Sawicki presents the attitude of independence as Panas’s main personality trait. It was manifested both in his personal life (the consistent attitude of opposition to the Communist authorities) and in his academic choices (e.g. turning his attention to the issues of the Orthodox Church, which were not popular in those times, or to the Jewish sacred). Sawicki also stresses the strong need of affirmation and of being true to the basic values that were typical of Panas, and that made him always proclaim himself on the side of the truth.