A Faith in Writing
The June-July issue of Kultura provides a lot of interesting material for fine art amateurs, such as the article on Małgorzata Niedzielko in the visual arts section, advertised already on the magazine's cover featuring children's works from Niedzielko's collection Margarita and the Masters. However, the issue concentrates primarily on literature, represented - among others - by interviews with three writers: Krzysztof Gedroyć, Jerzy Sosnowski and Marta Fox.
The interview with Krzysztof Gedroyc, poet and writer, revolves around artistic approaches to reality and factors which influence them. The author of Listy z dolnego miasta believes that one of such key factors is the place where one spends childhood and early youth: the article is entitiled At My Place, Downtown. Gedroyc talks also of people shaping our decisions and choices. In the interview with Jerzy Sosnowski, Katarzyna Andrejuk concentrates on the tasks and responsibilities of literature. Sosnowski discloses his aversion towards treating literature as an aesthetic game and admits to be rather old-fashioned in his views. According to the writer, the existential experience plays a crucial part in a literary work, though - obviously - works whose primary aim is to entertain play an important part in cultural life. Sosnowski talks about the influence of philological studies on the pleasure of reading and about the role the Internet plays in popularising literature.
Unlike the interview with Sosnowski, which - while concentrating on interesting and up-to-date phenomena - is rather short, the interview with Marta Fox (again by Katarzyna Zdanowicz) is the longest piece in the magazine. This one begins with a conversation about the writer's difficult beginnings, first encounters with literature and literary awards. Fox talks about the stereotyping of writers, a common practice to which the writer feels subjected. This phenomenon of ascribing the writers' work into a ready formula cannot, in her opinion, be prevented, but should perhaps be viewed as a side effect of creativity. Fox declares also her devotion to poetry and encourages everyone to look at the world from the point of view of a poet. Each of us should search for a private poem written and meant specifically for our attention, she says.
Thus Kultura presents three writers, three ways of writing, three individual perceptions of reality. There is, though, one common element - a general faith in writing.
The interviews are supplemented by a text entitled You too will become a Nabokov, a survey of Polish and foreign books containing advice for literary practitioners. Andrejuk contrasts literary techniques of authors like Andrzej Stasiuk (How I Became a Writer) or Henry Miller (The Books in My Life) with those of Stephen King (On Writing). Noted are similar works by Izabela Filipiak (Creative Writing for Young Ladies) and Jerzy Pilch (School of Writing). Such a varied set of readins might puzzle a beginner, but it is always a good idea to be informed. Nowadays publishing guides for writers is such a popular practice that one starts to wonder how people did without such aids. They managed somehow, evidently. Henry Miller, for example, has studied the works of his masters so diligently that he finally became one of them. Andrzej Stasiuk seems to have become a writer by accident; the artist claims he has always wanted to resemble rather Iggy Pop than Ignacy Kraszewski.
The number of examples brought forward by Andrejuk indicates that well-known authors like to enlighten younger practitioners. I wish the article, full as it is of ideas, ended with some kind of a general conclusion. But perhaps the lack of it is a good thing - otherwise a beginner might really instantly become a Nabokov! While there are so many contradictory ideas and sources of inspiration available, we may hope there's enough space for a Proust to develop too.
Grzegorz Mucha
Translated by Marta Malina Moraczewska
Discussed journals: Kultura