The method of
presentation of the particular works has been determined by two factors:
the integrality of the literary work, and the capabilities and
limitations of the Internet as a medium and HTML as a communication
tool; the literary work, however, has always been treated as a priority.
The particular works are accompanied by illustrations (in most
cases these are portraits of the author or reproductions of the first
edition), a biographical entry prepared especially for the Virtual
Library of Polish Literature, and a detailed bibliography.
The works have been presented in such a way that they can be read
by users with average computer equipment. Netscape 2.0 and MS IE 3.0
guarantee the appropriate quality of the text shown on the computer
screen, encoded in Central European standard ISO-8859-2, provided Polish
fonts or their substitutes have been installed in the system.
The principles behind
the organisation of the texts and the conception of the general outline
were simplicity and the intuitiveness of accessing the library sources;
the contents of the Virtual Library of Polish Literature should be easy
to explore for anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of the Internet.
Whenever it is
possible, the particular literary texts have been presented in their
full form; poetry selections represent the entire poetic output of the
given writer.
We hope that, to some
extent, we have managed to present Polish literature in its richness and
originality and to show the various connections linking it to world
literature; for us, modern technology is only a tool which enables us to
popularise the spiritual heritage.
