Listen to the tinkle of bells on a sheep’s neck instead of TV and radio, and don’’t think the future of the universe depends on whether a chap with a moustache or one without a moustache wins the Polish presidential election, writer Andrzej Stasiuk tells Piotr Najsztub in Przekrój 211/2010 in an interview conducted in Warsaw on 19 May 2010. When did you last get really mad? It’’s very rare these days, I’’m getting more and more reconciled with reality. I used to fight much more often but now I just say OK, fine by me.   And what about […]

1 There is a scene somewhere in Ebony in which Kapuściński and his travelling companion discover a huge poisonous snake in the shed where they have to spend the night. I don’’t have my copy handy, perhaps it was cobra or maybe another kind of snake. For some reason, they have to put the serpent to death. They use a petrol can as their weapon. They press it down on the snake trying to crush it. They both lie down on the jerry can in an attempt to mash the beast to a pulp. The snake will not give in […]

To je už dvadsať rokov? Ale to ubehlo! Nevedno kedy. Všetko som si presťahoval do dediny v Karpatoch, neďaleko slovenskej hranice. Všetky zmeny, celú tú revolúciu som vnímal zďaleka. Trochu ako keby sa to dialo v cudzej krajine. Z perspektívy dvadsiatich rokov vidím, že som sa celým tým dianím zaoberal naozaj málo. Nepodieľal som sa na ňom. Ťažko sa mi hľadá nejaký prelomový moment, či cézura – prerývka. Možno to začalo tým, že do našej chaty prestali chodiť pohraničiari legitimovať hostí. Voľakedy to bola celkom bežná, rutinná záležitosť, ktorú muži, prichádzajúci na motocykloch a v zime na snežných skútroch, vykonávali so zhovievavou ľahostajnosťou. Zásobovali ma […]