Polishrights.Com | Czarne | Fall / Winter 2013 Andrzej Stasiuk Polishrights.Com | Fall / Winter 2013

Polishrights.com Polishrights.com Polishrights.com | Czarne | Fall / Winter 2013 Andrzej Stasiuk Polishrights.com | Fall / Winter 2013

Andrzej Stasiuk is to Eastern European literature what Borges or Marquez is to the literature of southern American latitudes – a voice of unique, transcendent quality and supra-regional pertinence.

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Aleksandra Smoleń Rights Assistant [email protected] Andrzej Stasiuk

Andrzej Stasiuk is one of the most successful and internationally acclaimed contemporary Polish writers. Born in 1960 in Warsaw, he is a writer, poet, essayist and literary critic. Winner of many prizes (including the 1994 Foundation of Culture Prize and the 1995 Ko- scielski Foundation Prize); also nominated several times for the Nike Literary Prize. In youth, practiced many professions, was en- gaged in pacifist movement, deserted the army, and spent a year and a half in prison. After this, he wrote for underground newspapers. In late 1980s, moved from Warsaw to a little village in the mountains, where he presently lives. Publishes books at Czarne Publishers, a publishing house he has run together with his wife Monika Sznajderman since 1996. Andrzej Stasiuk wrote over 10 works of fiction, several theatre plays, as well as collections of essays. He is the winner of numerous literary prizes in Poland and abroad, including such awards as the Nike Literary Prize. His works have been translated into more than 20 languages.

Selected prizes:

·· Foundation of Culture Prize – 1994 ·· The Kościelski Foundation Prize – 1995 ·· Biblioteka Raczyńskich Prize – 1998 ·· Beata Pawlak Prize – 2004 ·· Nike Literary Prize shortlist in 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2011 ·· Samuel Bogumił Linde Literary Prize – 2002 ·· Adalbert-Stifter-Prize – 2005 ·· Nike Literary Prize – 2005 ·· Vilenica Prize – 2008 ·· Gdynia Literary Prize – 2010

Page 5 | Polishrights.com | Czarne | Fall / Winter 2013 | [email protected] Works of Andrzej Stasiuk Andrzej Stasiuk, You Can't Get Espresso on Country Roads

Novels & short stories: ...one stops now and then to take a rest, look around and count the Book details time gone and left. This is what this book is like: I am probing where Nie ma ekspresów przy żółtych ·· Mury Hebronu (The Walls of Hebron; 1992, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001) I have been, where I am and where I am heading. drogach, essay ·· Biały kruk (White Raven; 1995, 1996, 2000, 2002) And, needless to say, there is a wide choice of poignant observa- Czarne 2013, 176 pages ·· Opowieści galicyjskie (Tales of Galicia; 1995, 2001, 2007) tions, profound thoughts and vivid descriptions. isbn 978-83-7536-628-0 ·· Przez rzekę (Across the River; 1996) ·· Dukla (The World Behind Dukla; 1997, 1999, 2005) Yours sincerely: Author Rights available ·· Tekturowy samolot (Cardboard Airplane; 2000, 2001) World ·· Dziewięć (Nine; 1999, 2003, 2004, 2009) ·· Jak zostałem pisarzem (How I Became a Writer; 1998) ·· Zima (Winter; 2001) ·· Jadąc do Babadag (On the Road to Babadag; 2004) ·· Fado (Fado; 2006) ·· Dojczland (Dojczland; 2007) ·· Taksim (Taksim; 2009) ·· Dziennik pisany później (Diary Kept Afterwards; 2010) ·· Grochów (Grochów, 2012) ·· Nie ma ekspresów przy żółtych drogach (There Are No Express Trains by Yellow Roads, 2013)

Poetry:

·· Wiersze miłosne i nie (Verses Amorous and Otherwise; 1994)

Plays:

·· Dwie sztuki (telewizyjne) o śmierci (Two (TV) Plays About Death; 1998) ·· Noc czyli słowiańsko-germańska tragifarsa medyczna (Night or Slavic-Germanic Medical Tragicomedy; 2005) ·· Ciemny las (Dark Woods; 2007) ·· Czekając na Turka (Waiting for the Turk; 2009)

Essays:

·· Moja Europa. Dwa eseje o Europie zwanej Środkową (My Europe: Two Essays on So-called Central Europe; together with Yuri An- drukhovych; 2000, 2001)

Andrzej Stasiuk’s latest publication consists of four sketches in In his latest novel Andrzej Stasiuk tells a tale of a very last chase Book details Book details prose – works that are neither short stories nor pictures. Not par- Grochów, short stories of capitalism. His two main heroes – Władek, a marketeer who Taksim, novel ticularly extensive, lacking in any clear plot, revolving around peo- Czarne 2012, 96 pages circulates among the bazaars of European provinces, and Paweł, Czarne 2009, 323 pages ple that are not particularly sympathetic. In sum: there’s not a lot isbn 978-83-7536-288-6 his driver – suffer a symbolic and actual defeat in their encounter isbn 978-83-7536-116-2 happening here. with the new force. Up till this moment they’d always managed The protagonists of these pieces are taken from real life, and not to come out on top. Władek in particular is like a knight errant of Rights sold Rights sold embellished for literature’s sake: a gal, a dog, a writer, and one of the first phase of capitalism in these parts. France (Actes Sud) Bulgaria (Paradox) Stasiuk’s childhood friends. What they have in common is that Germany (Suhrkamp) Now, yesterday’s culture of short-lived products is becoming Croatia (Fraktura) they have died. In sum: again, not a lot. Hungary (Magveto) a disposable culture of one-time use. Asia invades Europe, not France (Actes Sud) At the same time, this not a lot – this loose, digressive narra- Spain (Acantilado) with an army, but with trade. It floods the continent with knock- Germany (Suhrkamp) tive style, in which non-obligating description suddenly becomes Sweden (Ersatz) offs, in other words merchandise the Chinese copied from Central Hungary (Magveto) modest event – creates a dazzling and profound, if very free, philo- European products that were themselves copies of Western items. Italy (RCS Libri) sophical tale, in which a sustained reflection on absence becomes If someone has the impression that Stasiuk has created a con- Norway (Aschehoug) Prizes Slovakia (Slovart) a kind of portrait of life itself. We alternate between questions re- Shortlisted for the Angelus temporary version of the story of how “the yellow race overcomes Slovenia (Studentska Zalozba) lating to death and passages saturated with the senses. This inter- Central European Literature the white race”, they will only partly be right. Stasiuk is less inter- Spain (Acantilado) weaving of nothingness, on the one hand, with appearances, colors, Award 2012 ested in portraying the victors in this capitalist duel of deceptions, Sweden (Ersatz) and scents, on the other, is so intense that Grochów might also be more in showing us the losers – that is to say, the pariahs of Europe, called a melancholy essay on sight, touch, and smell. Longlisted for the Gdynia Lit- inhabitants of its poorest regions, people condemned to a worse For Stasiuk, life is an ephemeral substance that strives to persist. erary Prize 2013 life because they live in a worse place. These people acquire the Prizes Gdynia Literary Prize 2010 This striving is in vain, because nothing always shines through life. cheapest goods, but they themselves, especially the women, are At times that nothing takes the form of spirits that, in appearing, also turned into merchandise. The only thing Western Europe ex- tear through the tightly woven fabric of our existence. At other ports to Central Europe is its trash, its used objects, the detritus of times, nothing reveals itself in the eyes of a dog. At other times, its development, while from there it imports male bodies for its the narrator is witness to nothing while the bodies of those close harsher jobs and female bodies for its entertainment. In this way to him, tormented by illnesses and old age, are transformed into the strength of money and the weakness of the provinces cause objects – foreign to those that inhabit them and foreign to those the ideal of Europe to enter liquidation. And since history driven that observe them. But at times nothing appears with no warning. by money has no brakes, it is a liquidation that cannot be reversed. And when nothing betrays no sign of itself, life loses meaning. (Przemysław Czapliński) This is why Stasiuk doesn’t look for meaning, and doesn’t ask questions about an overriding order. He knows that the overriding order of life is dying. He knows that life double-crosses always and everyone. That the narrative that all of us attempt to impose upon our existence will sooner or later will come undone. There is no point, then, in designing overly cohesive stories. The answer to the fundamental inexpressibility of life is an inexpressibility of the story – a digressive course, an incessant changing of topics, a kind of shunting of narration. (Przemysław Czapliński, courte- sy of the Book Institute)

An account of Stasiuk’s journeys to Albania, Serbia, Montenegro Wedged between anecdotal recollections and colourful descrip- Book details Book details and Bosnia. But Diary Kept Afterwards is not one more piece of Dziennik pisany później, essay tions of the present, fragments of highly complex philosophical Biały kruk, novel “travel writing”, not just another story about journeys in the Bal- Czarne 2010, 168 pages problems such as Time, Identity, and Memory, flash past, wrapped Czarne 2002, 324 pages kans. Stasiuk’s expeditions south, his excursions to places you isbn 978-83-7536-231-2 up in simple events or reflection. This skilful ability to present isbn 83-87391-58-1 won’t find in travel guides, are intended to gain some perspective intricate matters in everyday imagery and words is exactly what on his own country and on Polishness. makes this book extraordinarily fascinating. Stasiuk is, moreover, Rights sold Rights sold an exuberantly lyrical author. This is demonstrated especially in Germany (Suhrkamp) Bulgaria (Paradox) “We went into a bar to get some coffee and raki to help us decide his fantastically detailed descriptions of nature. The now, the light, Czech Republic (Paseka) what to do. The inside looked like a robbers’ cave, but no one and the loneliness, the trees and the mountains, are rendered time Finland (Taifuuni) paid particular attention to us. The faces at the neighboring ta- Prizes and again in strange, gripping imagery that strikes one as so very France (Noir sur Blanc) bles had seen it all. The raki tasted like gasoline. Rigels got into Shortlisted for the Nike Liter- true to life that one finds himself shivering with cold and deso- Germany (Rowohlt) conversation with a man. They walked out in front of the bar to- ary Prize 2011 lation. (“Trouw”) Hungary (Europa) gether. A moment later he came back. “It was a misunderstanding. Italy (Bompiani) Netherlands (De Geus) He thought I didn’t have a passport and he was offering to smug- Worse than death is waiting for it to come. Like all last words, this Russia (Azbooka) gle me across”. (excerpt) one is also to be outdone. In a book written in wonderfully intoxi- Serbia (Clio) cating language, Andrzej Stasiuk has his characters empty the cup UK (Serpent’s Tail) of doubt until the Polish variant of this truth appears at its bottom: Dariusz Pawelec (b. 1960) is a TV director and operator working on Worse than death is uncertainty as to whether life will begin at all. programmes and documentaries devoted to culture. (Thomas Wirtz, “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”) Prizes Foundation