KAPUŚCIŃSKI, OR WHY IS IT WORTH TO HAVE AN ISSUE OF TOPOS
Reading a book, I always try to find out what its message is, if there is any, and to what extend the author succeeded in conveying this message. When writing a text at first I sit down to think whether I really should write anything and whether there is any point in doing it at all. Would it be of any use? Would it change anything? Would it really be to the point, well thought through till the very final full stop or rather a question mark? What is more, I behave similarly when approaching a literary magazine (or a magazine of any other kind). I am asking myself whether it stands out from hundreds of literary magazines now on the market, whether there is something original, daring, interesting and wise to read, whether it respects its reader or takes him for an imbecile (i.e. whether it publishes only reprints, whether it is tiring because of a superfluity of orthographic and stylistic errors), whether it is overtly biased or radical in any way and for its bias irritating, annoying, up to the point of being simply boring and stupid.
Pros and cons
For some time now I have been experiencing this mixed feeling when approaching an issue of “Topos”. It is because its conservative layout, seemingly out of place in the 21st c, is accompanied by a quite conservative approach to literature. It is because recently Topos appears to be a Catholic magazine or a magazine with like sympathies rather than a literary one. It is because its column inches are given to its authors and it is difficult to find, for example, an author, whose book was not published as one o the Topos series (i.e. the series added as supplements and advertised in every issue as “Po prostu fantastyczne książki!”/Just great books!). It is because texts on academic level, written by people with PhDs and other scholars, mix here with many other texts, often wilting, useless and worthless. One could multiply such accusations by dozens, but one has to bear in mind at least two important facts. Firstly, most of those accusations are equally applicable to other literary magazines (which is a telling comment on their quality); secondly, “Topos” does have some merits and there is something in it that has been making me buy it for good few years, look through its content, from time to time daring a more careful examination. It is also a magazine that pampers the readers with gifts, which are always nice (for example, the above mentioned booklets of poetry or poetic posters with the portrait of a poet). In “Topos” one will come across a lot of reviews and notes about books, some of them of the latest poetry. I am also very glad that “Topos” persistently promotes the life and artistic achievement of Rainer Maria Rilke. Not infrequently the magazine appears in the form of interesting monographic issues (e.g. devoted to Herbert, Różewicz, Rilke; the latest is devoted to Kapuściński).
Feels like home
At first sight all seems familiar – one can only wonder whether the editors of “Topos” (1-2/2006), having taken to heart the words from the famous Polish movie “Rejs”, decided to present their readers with the songs they already know, and only by the authors they already know, e.g. next to a poem by Krzysztof Karasek, on the next page there is an article about that poem, written by poet’s friend and main editor of the magazine Krzysztof Kuczkowski. In the same issue there appear: poems by a collaborator of the magazine (and a vice-president of Gdynia) Wojciech Fułek; two reviews of the book by Wojciech Kaas, a member of the editorial team; a review of Sochoń’s book of poetry, published by “Topos”, the review being written by Grzegorz Kociuba, whose poetry was published in the previous issue of “Topos”. Such proceedings, contemptible or not, are worth mentioning here, however it has to be stressed that such behaviour is characteristic not only of “Topos”. After all, authors have to publish their works somewhere. Reviews too have to appear somewhere. Just wait till authors themselves start to review their own of poetry, publish it at their own expense, and include it in form of booklets as supplements to literary magazines in which they would be head editors or their closest assistants. Undoubtedly, this would be something interesting and worth reading and, who knows, maybe deserving an entry to the next volume of the History of Polish Literature. On this occasion, I would like to ensure my ownership of this idea. Now let us go back to the most interesting things appearing in the latest issue of “Topos”.
Younger poets, older poets
The most interesting of all is Ryszard Kapuściński, the protagonist of the issue. An interview with the journalist appears next to his photos. According to Kapuściński “One should understand that technical communication does not become a dialogue. It does not become creative. Of course, it may exist, but having no pretension to poetic creativity as creativity is an inherent part of dialogue. [...] Communicating is not enough to constitute a dialogue that lie at the roots of a culture”. He also describes the situation of poets now dead and forgotten (“I could mention even more poets who ended up in the purgatory of memory. It is a flaw of our literary critics and those who write textbooks about the history of literature. In the shadow, marginalised poets of great talent and impressive works remain, to whom modern poetry own its vivacity, often unaware of its roots.”), as well as those living, completely different and creating in a very distant world and reality (“Just open an accidental Warsaw newspaper and the information about cultural and literary events will make you dizzy. But what about other areas, little homelands, Polish cities and towns ? Is it still possible to count how many books, how much poetry appears annually in Poland?[...] When I was young, the zone X was filled by only 10 poets, now they are ten times more numerous. So maybe things became easier, because it is no longer a problem to publish a booklet of poetry. But it is much harder to pierce through.”). Trying to give some piece of advice to young poets, Kapuściński, an older poet, says “I have never heard about a poet who was talented and failed nevertheless. A lot of poetry now written will perish and that is good, because only rarely it deserves to survive. The poetry that is to achieve this must possess high artistic value and convey an important moral and philosophical message. It has always been so, for every generation, in every century and epoch. The duty of a writer or a poet is to work for decades, disregarding the level of popularity he achieves and treating one’s work seriously, as something important, indelible part of one’s existence, its vital part which gives one’s a chance to save an individual voice among many”.
‘Phenomenological’ Kapuściński
Also important is an essay by Paweł Urbaniak entitled “Kapuściński – krytyk późnej nowoczesności” (Kapuściński – a critic of late modernity). It is recommended especially to those not yet acquainted with Kapuściński’s anthropological, sociological and humanistic criticism. It is a concise and, for its selection of quotes from Kapuściński’s work, interesting compendium of his thoughts and remarks about the late modernity, based extensively on the author’s Lapidaria. Paweł Urbaniak’s introduction to Kapuściński's work, in which the marvel of his person and creation is described, is a best starting point for reading the set of articles on Kapuściński. In the ‘phenomenological’ text one should take notice of Wojciech Giełżyński's critical remarks on Kapuściński from 1978 (!). Then comes Kapuściński’s own essay on his adventure with photography makes a great, compelling reading. This essay is followed by Iza Wojciechowska who, quoting books and taking a closer look on the photographs taken by the author of Cesarz (The Emperor), concludes that Kapuściński’s Africa is also her Africa, both theoretically and in practice. Additionally, in Topos one will find well-known, valued and liked men of culture writing about Kapuściński with admiration, amity and often humour (e.g. Szczygieł or Mikołajewski). There is also a piece about a man on the quest for truth, Waldemar Milewicz, who, according to the author of the article, implements Kapuściński’s postulates in his work.
Competing with Kapuściński
Ryszard Kapuściński’s poems (accompanied by their translation into Italian) also appear in Topos, but these are not the poems I would recommend best. They are left in the shade by Maciej Woźniak's poetry appearing dozens pages later in the issue, what does not mean that his name should not appear on the cover as one of the most important authors presented. Woźniak’s poems were erroneously signed as T. Woźniak, mistaking Maciej with a well known singer Tadeusz. Luckily, in his poems one will not find “the purple watch-maker of light” coming to “stir the azure in my head” from the popular song. Instead, there is a great, dexterously composed poetry, which I heartily recommend.
More about Kapuściński and his works at: Ryszard Kapuscinski
Grzegorz Wysocki
Translated by Anna Skrajna