Lost Cosmonauts: On Ryszard Kapuscinski’s "Imperium" and Its Critics – Once More Cover Image

Zagubieni kosmonauci. Raz jeszcze o "Imperium" Ryszarda Kapuścińskiego i jego krytykach
Lost Cosmonauts: On Ryszard Kapuscinski’s "Imperium" and Its Critics – Once More

Author(s): Paweł Zajas
Subject(s): Literary Texts
Published by: Instytut Badań Literackich Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: Ryszard Kapuściński; Reception analysis; "Imperium"; Polish non-fiction 20 c.

Summary/Abstract: This paper deals with investigations into Ryszard Kapuscinski’s writings offered by Polish researchers in literature. Actually, the existing research too frequently concerns the writer himself rather than his texts, while any reservations about the text are in turn criticised as fault-finding or as methodological incompetence. In this article Imperium is once again put under scrutiny and re-read, and so is the secondary literature. What is particularly worth noticing is the way in which Kapuscinski had constructed his “ethnographic authority”, which he later exploited rather freely and playfully. Moreover, the paper discusses the infrequent Polish responses to the postcolonial criticism of Imperium presented by the Russian researcher Maxim K. Waldstein.

  • Issue Year: 2010
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 218-231
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Polish