| Abstrakt: | The doctoral dissertation shows the works of one of the most easily recognized
reporters, Małgorzata Szejnert, on the basis of her selected publications, such as: Czarny
Ogród (2007), Wyspa Klucz (2009), Dom Żółwia. Zanzibar (2011), Usypać Góry.
Historie z Polesia (2015), Wyspa Węży (2018).
The dissertation consists of eight parts. The first one presents the figure and work
of Małgorzata Szejnert whereas the second one covers the issues of non-fiction, especially
reportage. This part describes with the greatest precision the features, issues and historical
approach to reportage. What is more, it presents the reporter as a contemporary historian.
The next five parts of the dissertation present the interpretation of individual
volumes of Szejnert's reportage. Despite the fact that each of the publications I have
selected presents a different side of the world and is not only multicultural, but also multifaceted,
all of them form a coherent, universal story about the surrounding reality and the
condition of the 20th and 21st century individual.
The first of them, Czarny Ogród, objectively presents the image of the hundredyear-
old Giszowiec and Nikiszowiec, but also of Germany, Silesia and Poland. The author
presents the history of the Silesian region through the prism of individual biographies of
its inhabitants. Wyspa Klucz, on the other hand, takes the reader to New York, or, more
precisely: to one of the islands called Ellis Island, which was supposed to be the „gateway
to America” because from the late nineteenth century to the 1950s immigrants headed for
the United States from there. However, in Dom Żółwia. Zanzibar, Szejnert takes the
reader on a journey to Zanzibar. Moreover, the publication presents not only modern times
but also the past, describing Zanzibar over the course of one hundred and seventy years,
„because this is the age of a giant, ancient tortoise”. The fourth report is Usypać Góry.
Historie z Polesia presenting an image of Polesie, which – contrary to the two abovementioned
reports (Wyspa Klucz and Dom Żółwia. Zanzibar) – is located close to Polish
borders and presents little known areas. Apart from Poleshuks, the author presents
Lithuanians, Poles, Belarusians and Jews. The last interpretative chapter deals with the
reporter's publication entitled Wyspa Węży, in which the author follows the trail of her deceased uncle's war struggles until she reaches the British island of Bute, where officers
who oppose the current government are imprisoned.
The dissertation focuses primarily on the individual fortunes of the mentioned
characters and the uniqueness of Małgorzata Szejnert's texts. Hence, among the raised
problems there are: silence, oblivion, trauma, (e)migration, multiculturalism,
multinationality, identity, strangeness, fear, suffering or homelessness, but also pleasure
and happiness. In all of Szejnert's reports, the individual plays the main role, and thus –
the place from which they come, emphasizing the universality of the presented stories at
the same time. |