The traveler’s horizon of understanding

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DOROTA KOZICKA T H E T R A V E L E R ' S H O R I Z O N O F U N D E R S T A N D I N G 75

Dorota Kozicka

The Traveler's Horizon of Understanding

1 .

Traveling m ay be analyzed on m any different levels: from the existen tial experience o f m oving in space, through sym bolic crossing o f borders, going back in tim e or looking ahead to the future, to philosophical journey inside oneself.

The m o tif o f a journey, as an elem en t o f a reflection over the condition o f hum an life and an analogy to being in the w orld, has been kn ow n since the origins o f hum an thought. In num erous philosophers' w ritings, traveling is frequently used to build a m etaphor o f searching k n o w l

edge and one's sense o f life, w andering and roam ing the paths o f cognition as w ell as critical thinking w h ich su r

p asses variou s boundaries. A travel m etaphor as a sp e cific p h ilo so p h ical to p o s w a s d escrib ed e.g. b y A n n a W ieczorkiewicz1 w ho noticed that its enorm ous sem antic capacity allow s it to be u sed by even m ost radically d is

tin ct philosophical schools. In this context, she referred to re fle ctio n s o f V an D en A b b e e le 's w h o, in h is b ook Travel as Metaphor, p resen ts sim ilar asso cia tio n s related w ith traveling as the ones found in w orks o f the 16 th- 17 th cen tu ry F ren ch p h ilo so p h e rs: M o n taig n e , D escartes,

1 Cf. A . W ieczork iew icz, Podróż do kresu m etafory, ”R es Publica N o w a ” 19 9 5 , no 7-8.

Dorota Kozicka - a ss is ta n t p rofessor in th e D ep artm en t o f Literary Criticism o f th e Jagiellonian University, interested in 20 th and 2 1st c en tu ry literature.

Au thor o f Krytyczne (nie)porządki. Studia o współczesnej krytyce literackiej w Polsce (2012), a m o n g o th er books and articles.

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7 6 n o n f i c t i o n, r e p o r t a g e a n d t e s t i m o n y

M on tesquieu , and R ousseau . T reating a travel m etaph or as a critical track V an D en A bbeele convincingly show s that, although each o f the m entioned thinkers exercised a separate type o f philosophical reflection, all o f them still apply a com parable m etaphoric system , through w hich practising philosophy or “critical thin kin g” appears sim ilar to an u n ceasing effort o f traveling.2

Rum bling com plicated routes o f hum an thought, signs o f culture and real

ity is a m etaphor often utilised b y contem porary philosophers. In Nietzsche's w ork s, travel is p resen ted as an adventure o f th ought liberated after God's death, exp lo ratio n o f u n k n o w n areas, d etach m en t from th e steady, solid ground.3 A ccord ing to Paul Ricoeur, u n derstanding o n e se lf is only possible if one takes a “roundabout route am ong the signs o f hum ankind preserved in cultural w orks.”4

In H eid egger, Ja sp e rs, B loch an d S a rtre 's th e o rie s (w here travelin g d oesn't directly appear as a m o tif but - as ascertain ed b y Pino M enzio, the author o f II Viaggio dei Filosofi - is h id den deeper and requires b ein g elicited w ith the help o f h e rm en eu tics5), travelin g is asso ciated w ith the fo rw ard m ovem ent, te n sio n to w ard s the future, tran sg ressio n , g oin g b eyon d one's ow n h u m an con d ition - all o f th em linked w ith the categories o f a project (i.e. pro-iect, from Latin pro iacere: "throw ahead”), throw ing, liberation, void.

A jou rn ey un derstood this w ay d escribes an existential, th eoretical and a r

tistic experience o f a person w ho, in his/her life “journey” has been deprived o f trad itional guidance o f a “p o le -sta r” and got lost in the cen tre-less w orld o f m ultiplicity and diversity. A n artist com pared to a traveler is som eone who starts a jou rn ey in order to id en tify and in terpret the w orld b u t n o t the one that is given, know n, defined and as such can be presented, im itated, but the u n know n w orld w hich is still to be identified or even “discovered. He/she is a sym bol o f som eone leaning ahead in constant striving to cognition and in terpretation o f the reality, searching n ew points o f orientation, outlining new m aps o f hum an experience.

2 In th e In tro d u ction to his bo ok , Van Den A b b e e le w rite s : „F a k ty c zn ie, to q u e s tio n th e e x istin g o rd e r (eith er c o g n itiv e , a e s t h e t ic or p olitical) by m e a n s o f situ a tin g o n e s e lf « o u ts id e » th is or

der, by m e a n s o f «critical d ista n c e » to w a rd s it, is to invoke a m e ta p h o r o f th in king a s tra v e lin g ” (Travel as M etaph or from M ontaigne to R ousseau, U n ive rsity o f M in n eso ta P re ss, M in n eap olis 19 9 2 , XIII).

3 Cf. e .g . Tako rzecze Zaratustra and W iedza radosna, a p h o rism s: 279, 289, 38.

4 Ricoeur, H erm eneu tyczna funkcja dystansu, [in:] W sp ó łcz e sn a teo ria b ad ań literack ich za g ra n ic ą . A n to lo g ia , vo l. IV, p a rt 1: B adania stru ktu ra ln o -sem io ty czn e (uzupełnienie). Problem y re c e p c ji i interpretacji, e d . H. M arkiew icz, W y d aw n ic tw o L iterackie, C ra co w 19 9 6 , 16 6.

5 M enzio, Il V iaggio d e i Filosofi. La m etafora d el viaggio nella lettera tu ra filosofica m oderna, D im ensioni del V ia g gio . IV, 19 9 4.

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DOROTA KOZICKA T H E T R A V E L E R ' S H O R I Z O N O f U N D E R S T A N D I N G 77

In the above m eanings, a travel m etaphor w ould be close to m etaphysics w hich “rem oves” the steady ground, the stable foundation of hum an existence.

A sim ilar reading o f a travel m etaphor can also be found in w orks b y Paul V irilio w ho delineates contem porary “traveling for the sake o f traveling” char

acterised b y a crazy pace, purposeless and for fear o f life itself. Follow ing his concept, travelin g subordinated to in creasin g sp eed b eco m es a film , w hile a traveler turns into a film goer because he/she absorbs rapidly blinking im ages and com pletes th em w ith his im agination in a sim ilar w a y (i.e. from behind the glass). Both in the film and in the journey, the b oundary betw een the real and the un real gets blurred, both w orld s are m ediated and fu nction on the sam e level o f the recipient's consciousness. V irilio's th eory seem s interesting due to his continuous em phasis on the significance o f speed in contem porary life, but above all, due to the underlined paradox: the faster w e move, the faster w e “fad e” ; the m ore im ages, inform ation, fragm ents o f reality appear in our life, the m ore - parad oxically - disappear from it6.

Irrespective o f individual exam ples, it is essential to notice the m ain te n dency in the contem porary thought em phasising the nom adic (or even “neo- nom adic”) traits in the hum an nature7. On the one hand, a travel m etaphor still rem ains a crucial m ethod o f approaching the hum an condition and people's attempts to comprehend the world, on the other hand, sociologists and anthro

pologists see travel practices as a captivating and telling reflection o f transfor

m ation w ithin civilisation and outlook on life. Such interpretation o f a journey m akes it an excellent field for draw ing com parisons betw een the traditional m odel o f life and perception o f the w orld and the m odern (postm odern) one8.

One o f the exam ples o f such reflection is a debate on peregrin ation and traditional com paring life to a pilgrim age, the conclusions o f w hich show that today, it is im possible to think in theological categories characteristic to the

6 Cf. Virilio, Fahren, fahren, fahren, Berlin 19 7 8 . T h e to p ic o f sim ila rity b e tw e e n to u rism and film w a s a lso ta k e n up by E dgar M orin w h o in d icated th a t a w in d o w -p a n e (in a bu s or on th e TV scre e n ) c o m m o n to bo th e x p e rie n c e s s e p a r a te s p eo p le fo rm th e w orld (cf. D uch czasu ,tran sl.

A. F ry b e s o w a , B iblioteka „W ięzi,” W arsaw 19 65).

7 Cf. e .g . H. M am zer. P eregryna cje - m ie jsce i p a m ię ć a tożsam ość, [in:] e a d . Tożsam ość w podróży.

W ielokulturow ość a kszta łtow a nie to żsa m o ści jednostki, W y d aw n ic tw o N a u k o w e UAM , Poznań 2002.

8 From th e b ro ad ly u n d e rsto o d so c io lo g ica l p e rs p e c tiv e , th e m o st im p o rta n t th e o re tica l re a d in g s o f travel are c o m p re h e n s iv e ly d e sc rib e d by K rz y s z to f P od e m sk i (Socjologia podróży, W y d a w n ic tw o N a u k o w e UAM , Poznań 2004). From th e a n th ro p o lo g ica l p oin t o f v ie w - cf. e.g.

W. B u rsz ta, Kilka tez z za kresu iterologii, „ B o ru s sia ” 20 01 no 2 4 -25. The m e a n in g fu l fa c t is t h a t in b o th a p p ro a c h e s, th e a re a s o f in te re st re la te d w ith th e s u b je c t o f a jo u rn e y clea rly (although, o f c o u rse , n ot en tirely) o v erla p - bo th a b o v e m e n tio n e d re se a rc h e rs re fe r to th e s a m e a u th o rs and th eo rie s.

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78 n o n f i c t i o n, r e p o r t a g e a n d t e s t i m o n y

above v ie w because people lack a stable and clearly defined goal th ey could pursue; stability and attachm ent to an idea are considered as unreasonable and im practical; the binding values are accidentality, present day and tem po

rality.9 It is also spectacularly exem plified by Zygm unt Baum an's m etaphors defining postm odern personal m odels. A s w id ely know n, B aum an em ployed the “travel” categories o f “stroller,” “vagabon d” and “tou rist” (and specifically understood “player”) and pronounced the (based on the freedom o f choice) o p p osition b etw e e n “to u rist” and “vag ab o n d ” to b e “the d eep est and m o st m om entous division in the m odern society.”10 These m etaphors, servin g as to o ls to illustrate characteristic m od els o f con tem p orary life, are b ased on sociological and anthropological ob servation and, in spite o f b ein g broadly (precisely: m etaphorically) formulated, they show in detail specificity o f given behaviour (in this case, travelers' behaviour). The m ost recognizable features o f the tw o m ain m odels referred to b y B aum an as “to u rist” and “vagab on d ” are: “accid en tal” life, lack o f “firm ” identity, lack o f affiliation to an y place, no burden (including luggage), m ovability, superficial and cursory contacts w ith people and unwillingness to take on any com m itm ents. W hat is com m on to both attitudes is perception of the external w orld and specific contacts with this w orld. R egardless o f em otions it brings - experiencing its attractiveness (in the case o f “tourist”) or inhospitableness (in the case o f “vagabond”) - the form ula o f traveling, constant m ovem ent, kaleidoscopic changes of surround

in gs and su p e rficiality o f con tacts and im p re ssio n s rem ain s sim ilar. W hat is rad ically differen t is th eir attitu des to w ard s the w orld and aw aren ess o f one's position in it: the feeling o f having freedom o f choice and controlling the situ ation ” typical o f “tou rist” is equivalent to the pressure o f w andering w hich torm ents “vagabon d”.

9 Y et, it is w o rth re m e m b e rin g a b o u t th e o re tica l in te rp re ta tio n s, a c co rd in g to w h ic h a pil

grim a p p e a rs a s a p ro to ty p e o f a to u rist. Cf. e .g . D. M acC a n n ell, Turysta. Nowa teoria klasy próżniaczej, tran sl. E. K lekot, A. W ieczork iew icz, M uza, W a rsaw 20 02. In th is bo ok fro m 1976, th e a u th o r fo r th e first t im e u se s a fig u re o f a to u ris t a s a m e ta p h o r o f a c o n te m p o ra ry m an.

10 Z. B au m an , O turystach i w łóczęgach, czyli o boh a tera ch i ofiarach ponow oczesności, [in:]

id. P onow oczesność ja ko źró d ło cierpień , Sic!, W arszaw a 20 00; 15 1. Cf. A lso id. Dwa szkice o m o ra ln o ścip o n o w o cze sn ej, In sty tu t Kultury, W arszaw a 19 9 4 . A p h e n o m e n o n o f m a s s tou r

ism and a fig u re o f a to u ris t h a s a key p o sitio n in th e c o n te m p o ra ry so c io lo g ica l and a n th ro p ological re flec tio n . S o m e sc h o la rs (D. M ac C a n n el, E. C oh en) s e e it a s c o n tin u a tio n o f fo rm er p ilgrim ag e, o th e rs (L. Turner and J. A sh) - co lo n ialism , s o m e o th e rs (Urry) - a n e w t y p e o f visual c o n su m p tio n (cf. K. P o d e m sk i, S ocjologia podróży).

11 B au m an c o m p a re s it to h andling a TV re m o te contro l - sim ilarly to a TV v ie w e r, a to u ris t m ak es a c h o ic e and w a t c h e s a s long a s it s u its him /her. Cf. Z. B au m a n , P o n o w o c z e s n o ś ć ..., 14 4 -14 6 ; K ow alski, O dyseje nasze byle jakie. Droga, przestrzeń i podróżow anie w kulturze w spółczesnej, Atla 2, W ro cła w 2002.

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DOROTA KOZICKA T H E T R A V E L E R ' S H O R I Z O N O f U N D E R S T A N D I N G 79

In the (m uch narrow er) research perspective adopted in th is text, these discrepancies seem to be crucial as they significantly affect one's perception and interaction w ith the world. And, even if w e repeat after Baum an that both behaviour m odels are characterised by “being closed” to the surrounding reality, there is a difference betw een a seem ingly open, free and unaware o f artificiality o f the w orld “tourist” w ho doesn't realize his/her ow n “closure” and “vagabond”

identified w ith the feeling o f rejection, the need to escape inside oneself from the hostile world and the internal obligation to be on the road. Both the starting point (free w ill in the first case and pressure in the second one) and the m ental m aps o f the tw o m odel figures are, it seem s, com pletely unlike.12

2

.

In th is text, I w ill be in terested n o t so m uch in a m etap h or its e lf as in an experience o f a jou rn ey as leading to understanding, achieving deeper s e lf

consciousness. O f course, every journey interpreted as an experience of m ove

m ent n space, a change and an encounter w ith w id ely understood otherness should be som ehow linked w ith cognition and attem pts to com prehend the w orld and o n eself accom panied b y the n ecessity to redefine one's ow n id en tity, however, not all journeys lead to such understanding. It should be added here th at m y an alysis w ill n o t on ly con cern the travel experien ce per se but also an authentic account - a story about the journey. In com pliance w ith the applied historical-literary perspective, I w ill also concentrate on “intellectual journeys’^3. This approach stem s from the conviction that firstly, sim ilar cat

egories (e.g. o f a narrative structure) could be deployed for interpretation of travel as experience and reading o f text, and secondly, the “account from the jo u rn ey” com poses o f the text w h ich un dergoes in terpretation and a re g is

tered experience o f interpreting the w orld as text.™

12 A fu n d a m e n ta l d iffe re n c e b e tw e e n th e tw o b eh avioral m o d e ls (to urist and v a g a b o n d ) is e x p o se d by P od e m sk i, w h e n he w rit e s a b o u t leavin g h o m e a s o n e o f n e c e s s a r y e le m e n ts o f a jo u rn e y . In th is p e rs p e c tiv e , v a g a b o n d (w ho d o e s n o t h ave a h om e) d o e s n ot fit in th e d e fin i

tion o f a jo u rn e y a t all, w h ile tou rism is tre a te d a s a fo rm o f tra ve lin g (S ocjologiapodróży, 8-10).

13 D etailed e x p la n a tio n on th e s u b je c t o f "in tellectu al jo u rn e y s ” I in clud ed in m y bo ok W ędrow cy św iatów praw dziw ych. D w udziestow ieczne relacje z podróży, U n ive rsita s, C ra co w 2003.

14 Due to th e le n gth o f th is t e x t, I p u t a sid e th e e x te n s iv e area o f p ro b le m s re la te d w ith lin guistic a s p e c t o f th e e x p e rie n c e and its im p o rta n t c o n s e q u e n c e s . On th e s u b je c t o f sign alled issu e s cf. A . W ieczork iew icz, Pod róż d o kresu ..., fo o tn o te 82; Van Den A b b e e le , Travel... From a n o th e r p oin t o f v ie w , sim ila ritie s b e tw e e n read in g and w a n d e rin g m a y be u n d e rsto o d a s p ursuin g th e m arked o u t trail (for e x a m p le s u b s e q u e n t c h a p te r s o f th e bo ok or th e p ath fo rm e d by th e lie o f th e land), d e v ia tin g fro m th e tra ck , g o in g o n e 's o w n w ay , e t c . Cf. e .g . N. H ow e, M iejsca o d c z y ta n e , "R es Publica N o w a ” 19 9 5 no 7-8 . A m ea n in g fu l lite ra ry e x a m p le o f th e co n n e c tio n

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8 o n o n f i c t i o n, r e p o r t a g e a n d t e s t i m o n y

I also b e lie v e th a t, re g a rd le ss o f th e co m m o n n e ss o f m a ss to u rism , in sp ite o f v irtu a l an d h y p e rre a l tra v e ls an d o rg a n ise d or h o lid a y t o u r ism b u t also despite th e ru sh an d th e d esire o f co llectin g attractio n s - all o f th e m d e fin in g th e c h aracte r o f ou r co n te m p o ra ry life , th e re are still travelers w ho start th eir in dividu al, real jo u rn e y w h ich aim s at e x p e rie n c

in g so m eth in g new , a n o v e lty15. The frequ en t effects o f th o se w a n d e rs are trav e l acco u n ts th a t m ig h t b e read as attem p ts to m ake th e u n k n o w n or p artly k n ow n m ore com prehen sible; attem pts to convey one's ow n e x p e ri

ence - the re g iste re d d irect en cou n ter w ith so m e th in g new , in te re stin g , in sp irin g , w o rth learn in g.

The im p o rtan ce o f such texts d oes n o t lie in th e ir in fo rm a tio n a l value (for variou s m edia, in clu ding travel guides, provide u s w ith com prehensive an d c a p tivatin g in fo rm a tio n ab ou t sp e cific p lace s, m o n u m en ts, events) but in a clear “in d ivid u al gesture,” in person al, origin al in terp retatio n and em otion s lin ked w ith the travel exp erien ce, in record in g one's encounter w ith e.g. a w ork o f art, w ith “the oth er” and eventu ally - w ith oneself. Such registration seem s to b e b ase d on a con viction that it is w orth and feasible to g e t to k n o w the w o rld an d w h a t is m ore, d e scrib in g th is e x p erien ce is p ossib le and cru cial.16

In this sense, “intellectual journeys” becom e herm eneutics o f reality - im plem ented, o f course, in m any different w ays and depending on intellectual p re d isp o sitio n s o f the travelin g sub ject w ho records h is/her experiences.

H ence, th o se jo u rn eys m igh t be con sid ered an attem p t or even a form o f understanding.

The above thesis shouldn't evoke m any controversies, if w e take into ac

count those travel accounts that deliberately refer to the traditional m odel of a traveler-w anderer. In this context, an excellent exam ple m ight be “in tellec

tual journeys” o f Z bign iew H erbert or - radically distinct, it seem s - Ryszard K apuscinski's descriptions.

b e tw e e n th e lite ra ry and p hysical a s p e c t o f a jo u rn e y is R yszard K ap u śc iń sk is bo ok Travels with H erodotus, w h ic h I shall e la b o ra te on later.

15 Cf. L. K ołako w sk i, M ini w ykłady o m axi spraw ach, cz. 1, Zn ak, K rakó w 19 9 7. In th e jo u rn e y , w h a t a lso s e e m s im p o rta n t is - u nderlin ed by K ołako w sk i - a s p e c t o f "d isco ve rin g ” s o m e th in g , but su c h d isc o v e rin g in w h ic h th e e s s e n c e if n o t n e c e s sa rily th e k n o w le d g e n o b o d y h as acqu ired y e t, bu t, fo r e x a m p le , th e e x p e rie n c e o f s o m e th in g new .

16 This a s p e c t o f tra v e lin g is p oin ted to e .g . by L e sz e k K ołako w sk i w h o s t a t e s th a t th e in stin ct o f c u rio sity and fa sc in a tio n w ith th e u n kn o w n , w h ic h is a re a so n fo r tra ve lin g , is a reflectio n / e x p re ssio n o f a p h ilo so ph ical co n victio n th a t th e w orld o f ou r e x p e rie n c e s is w o rth s o m e th in g (ibid.).

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DOROTA KOZICKA T H E T R A V E L E R ' S H O R I Z O N O F U N D E R S T A N D I N G 8 1

Z bign iew H erbert, the author o f Barbarian in the Garden, Still Life with Bridle and Labyrinth on the Sea-Shore

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com prehends his role in the traditionally h e r

m eneutical m ann er: as a “m ed iatory” or m essenger w ho learns, tries to u n derstand, explains “texts o f culture” to h im se lf and others, unveils the hidden and does it b ein g d eeply con vinced th at there e xist u n iversal values w hich are a m easu re o f the h um an life. O ut o f the con viction th at texts o f culture enable a dialogue b etw e e n gen eratio n s and epochs, w h ile h um an kin d can be identified as entity and unity,™ a euphoric com m ent o f the essayist after leaving L ascau x C aves is articulated: “I have never been m ore com fortingly certain: I am a citizen o f the Earth, heir o f not only G reeks and R om ans but nearly the eternity” (BO, 21).

Herbert, the traveler, is also fully aware o f the fact that he travels the w orld o f Culture and w h at he learns h as already traces o f m any looks, readings, in terpretations. He does not succum b to an illusion (and he does not m islead the read er) th at he discovers “n e w la n d s” b u t carries on an open dialogue both w ith an artw ork itse lf and w ith diverse opinions about it; w ith scientific elaborations, colloquial expectations, tourist guides. Being a true herm eneu- tist, he stands before texts o f culture, and is cautious about every detail, but he also invokes broad historical contexts, he has to touch, go around and “im m erse into defined space,” set an artw ork he com es for in a real land scape, sm ell, colour: “...m ove his face close to the stones, exam in e th eir sm ell, feel the colum n's grooves w ith his hand” (BO, 26). He often w rites about the need o f being an eyew itness: in Barbarian in the Garden, he m anifests his enthusiasm caused by the opportunity to see w ith his own eyes and touch w hat he has only kn ow n from reproductions.

On the one hand, a journey is to him an experience indispensable for a n a lysing h isto ry and art; on the other hand, it is a con sciou sly ch osen literary tradition.

Texts registerin g one's contacts w ith artw orks resem ble a process: a poet describes their fragm ents one b y one and records the action o f learning (en

countering an artw ork), gradually adding details associated w ith the artwork itself and the circum stances in w hich he, Z bigniew Herbert, is in contact w ith it. Com paratively, w e should evoke here Gadam er w ho w rote about individual tim e o f each w ork o f art im posing itse lf on the recipient, having in m ind not only transitory works such as m usic, dance or speech but also painting and ar

chitecture he spoke o f as “passages of tim e”. This G erm an philosopher claim ed

17 Z. H erb ert, B arbarzyńca w ogrodzie, M Ł and AB, W arsaw 19 9 0 , q u o te s are m arked w ith the ab b revia tio n BO; M artw a natura z w ędzidłem , W y d aw n ic tw o D o ln ośląsk ie, W ro cła w 19 9 3 , La

b iryn t nad m o rz em , Fu n dacja „ Z e s z y tó w L iterackich ,” W arsaw a 2000.

18 Cf. M. Janio n, H erm eneutyka, [in:] e a d . H um anistyka: p o zna nie i terapia, PIW, W arsaw 19 8 2.

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that reception o f paintings lies in their active reading, w hereas “w e learn about architecture by w alking and w andering around” and added:

One of the great falsifications w hich emerged due to excellent quality of facsim iles w e have worked out till is that, w hen w e look at great m onu

m ents o f hum an culture live, w e often feel slightly disappointed. They are not as picturesque as w e used to think relying on photographic re

productions w e have known. This disappointm ent in fact m eans that we haven't gone beyond the picteresque quality o f a given edifice and w e haven't reached it as a piece of architecture, of art. One should come clos

er and enter it. One should come out of it and w alk around it, gradually

“leave” it and this w ay achieve what this creation of architecture promises to our own experience of life and its intensification.19

A m odel exam ple o f such an encounter w ith a w ork o f art is H erbert's a c count from his journey to Paestum ,20 w here his in itial disappointm ent w ith the size o f D oric colum ns (the poet has to set h im se lf free from the encyclo

paedic know ledge and im ages absorbed under the influence o f illustrations) abates during thorough sightseeing. The description o f the current ap p ear

ance o f G reek edifices m ade (also in the fo rm o f text) in the course o f the sightseeing has been assigned a dynam ic perspective, in an appropriate order - from the general setting to a m ore detailed im ages: first, the outline o f the tem ples on the plain appear from the distance; then, the b asilica am ong other edifices; further - its m assive colum ns, three steps “one has to clim b”; and the interior described in the context o f historical, architectural, anecdotal details and poetic sen sual experiences.

The reconstruction - i.e. the attem pt to understand a w ork o f art - is p a r

allel to its direct discovering, w ith p h ysical and in tellectual effort to b len d in its literal and sym bolic space. Such journey turns into an experience en a b lin g com prehen sion , w h ile the travel account w ill be re g istratio n o f this experience.

S o u rc e s an d m o tiv a tio n s u n d e rly in g tra v e l a cco u n ts o f R yszard K ap u scin ski - a jo u rn alist, author o f n u m erous travel rep ortages - are o f a separate kind. It seem s that the evolution o f his w ritin gs, from early works, through The Emperor, to Imperium and The Shadow o f the Sun reflects n o t only the w riter's m atu rin g artistry b u t also the change in h is u n d erstan d in g o f

19 H.G. G ad a m e r, A ktu alność piękna. Sztuka ja ko gra, sym b o l i święto, tra n sl. K. K rze m ien io w a , Ofi

cyna N au k ow a, W arsaw 19 9 3.

20 C h a p ter: U Dorów, [in:] B a rba rzyńca w ogrodzie.

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a journey.21 H is reporter's attitude: the conviction that thanks to eyew itness- ing and directness o f the report it is possible to describe the reality and show the objective tru th - typ ica l o f first accounts, is g rad u ally rep laced b y the experience o f com plexity and m u lti-d im en sion ality o f the w orld, the search o f deeper senses and the certainty that un derstanding is achievable through the process o f posin g the m ost elem entary questions.

In h is Travels with Herodotus, pub lish ed in 2004, the author u n veils s ig  n ificant aspects o f this tran sform ation: num erous journeys - from the first un expected travel to India, through the visit in China, to the roam ing across A frica - are presented as subsequent, in tertw in ed w ith his parallel readings, stratifying experiences ow ing to w h ich K apuscinski evolves from a journalist to a reporter and traveler. His initial, youthful urge to “cross the borders” o f his country and m ove w herever slow ly fluctuates into the need o f learn in g and describing the other w orld as a reporter, and further - the desire to u n d e r

stand w h at is distinct and w hat hides under the surface o f events:

I wondered how one experiences crossing the border. W hat does one feel and think? It m ust be a very emotional, m oving and tense m om ent. How is it to be on the other side? Surely different. But w hat does it mean: dif

ferent? [...] But, in fact, m y biggest dream which didn't let me sleep, lured and torm ented me, w as quite m odest because I only w anted this very moment, the very act, the sim plest action of crossing the border. (PH, 13, author's emphasis)

[Herodotus] is a genuine reporter: he wanders, watches, talks and listens to note down later on w hat he learnt or to sim ply rem em ber it (PH,ioi)

W hat is expressed b y those scenes of m assacre full o f cries and blood?

W hat in n er and in visib le but p o w e rfu l and u n stop p ab le fo rces led to them ? [...] Who w ill follow them ? N ot us - correspondents and re porters. No sooner w ill they bear the victim s, clear the w recks of burned cars and clean broken glass from the streets than w e pack our bags and move ahead [...]. Is it not possible to break through this stereotype, go beyond this sequence o f im ages, try to reach w hat's inside? [...] I b e gan looking for the background and m ain sprin gs of the attack, trying to establish w hat stands behind it and w hat it m eans, so I observed and

21 Cf. id., e.g.: Kirgiz sch o d zi z konia 19 6 8 ; Gdyby ca ła Afryka 19 6 9 ; Cesarz, C zyteln ik , W arszaw a 1978; Im periu m Czytelnik, W arszawa 1993; H eban Czytelnik, W arszawa 1998; Podróże z Hero- dotem , Zn ak, K rakó w 20 04. Q u o te s fro m Podróże z H erodotem are m arked w ith th e a b b re v ia tion PH.

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talked w ith p eople there, but also read, nam ely, I tried to understand.

(PH, 2 14 -2 15 )

On the one hand, Kapuscinski's w andering fulfils the desire to “be there” - learn and experience the world, try to understand it through the direct experi

ence, hardship o f traveling and contacts w ith other people. On the other hand, h is reading o f H erodotus is a thorough h erm eneutics o f the text, a lesson of absorbing knowledge and understanding how one can and should get to know the w orld in order it to m ake som ething out o f it. K apuściński, thus, w rites about H erdodotus that he “is the first to discover the m ulti-cultural nature o f the world. The first to convince that every culture requires being accepted and comprehended. And to understand it, one should first get to know it” (PH, 81).22

Owing to the parallel of traveling around the w orld and traveling as reading o f a text w hich describes the w orld, the present tim e crucial to experiencing a journey becom es perfectly com bined w ith the past typ ical o f experiencing a book. K apuściński is aw are o f this double dim ension: reading teaches him to w ander and look at the world, w hereas know ledge and experience com ing from h is w an ders allo w h im to be a better reader. The com bin ation o f both

“jo u rn eys” m eans a com bination (and crossing!) o f m an y spaces, tim es and cultures proving to the author that it's n ece ssary to go beyond one's tim e in order to com prehend that “the past and the present create the uninterrupted stream o f history' (PH, 256) and beyond one's space - to see that “there are m any w orlds. I that each o f them is different” (PH, 250). A lso, that one should use others as a m irror in order to better understand oneself and that a journey is an enorm ous, w onderful effort “to learn everything - life, the world, oneself”

(PH, 253). Thus, once he arrives w here H erodotus w as b orn and, in the local m useum , he stands in front o f objects retrieved from the sea bottom to look at

“the w orld H erodotus knew,” he w ill sum m arise it poetically, “We are standing in darkness, surrounded by the light” (PH, 259).

Then, he w ill start another journey.

3.

However, if w e take into account contem porary m ethods o f traveling and ex periencing the w orld together w ith recordings o f journeys inscribed in those exp erien ces, in evitable q uestion s em erge: to w h a t exten t th ese accounts

22 K ap u ściń sk i fre q u e n tly re fe rs to H e ro d o tu s a s th e first re p o rte r and a m a s te r fro m w h o m one learn s h o w to g e t to k n ow and d e s c rib e th e w o rld , and a n a ly s e s his re la tio n s w ith p eo p le , his m e th o d s o f g a th e rin g and reco rd in g m a te ria ls, th e a u th o r's c o m m e n ts in th e t e x t a s w ell as th e v e ry fig u re o f H e ro d o tu s " e m e rg in g ” fro m o u tsid e o f his w o rk . Cf. e .g . 16 9 -17 4 , 20 3, 2 4 3-245.

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DOROTA KOZICKA T H E T R A V E L E R ' S H O R I Z O N O f U N D E R S T A N D I N G 8 5

oscillate b etw e e n a trad itio n al “jo u rn e y ” an d p o stm o d e rn “to u rism ” and w h ether such p o stm o d ern m an n er o f travelin g (and record in g the travel) could be treated as a form or a m ethod o f un derstanding the world.23

The an sw e r to the above q u estion s se em s n eith er ob vious nor sim ple to m e, therefore I w ill only try to outline the possible horizon o f answ ers.

Let us b egin w ith a fact that standard tourist behaviour lead to the loss of the b asic sense o f a journey w hich is the feeling o f authenticity. The physical presence o f tourists in Nature or Culture does not m ean they are truly present - th ey rather collect im pressions, not experiences and they are in no way, e i

ther creatively or re-creatively, connected w ith the space they consum e. They arrive already “closed” in the w orld o f their ow n im agination, they see “vie w s”

(“p o st-card ” view s th ey had been earlier “prepared for”) in stead o f concrete landscapes, th ey m ediate their experiences w ith the help o f tourist guides or cam eras; th ey initiate only m om entary and superficial contacts.

The p ro b lem is n o t th at a to u rist k n o w s w h a t he/she w ill see, w h ile a traveler goes into the u n know n - this is not true because a traveler is also

“burdened” (or “incited” - as in the case of Colum bus w ho began a journey in spired by The Travels o f Marco Polo) w ith earlier kn ow n im ages. The point is that for a genuine traveler, it is fundam ental not only to w atch but to experience the world, m ake effort to u n derstand it, acquire knowledge. He/she does not take the w orld for granted, treating it as a “given ” but rather as a “hom ew ork”.

A traveler o f such kind not only has the knowledge (pre-judgem ents) but also the aw areness of his/her ow n knowledge on a given subject. He also shows the need for an “encounter” - confrontation o f this know ledge w ith the very site, space, object; he/she know s that only in this encounter, in a direct experience linking “kn ow n” w ith “seen,” one can com prehend the w orld. This is often fo l

low ed b y an optim istic b elie f that “encountering,” “learning,” “understanding”

is possible, or that the key value lies in the very (even doom ed to failure from the b eginning) attem pt to initiate such activity.

A nother issue. Security, com fort, “standardisation o f services” as the b a sic rule o f tourism24 as w ell as fast and sim ple traveling lighten or elim inate the hardship and problem s related w ith m oving around but also deeply alter the character o f a traveler's experiences: neither tim e and space, nor p h ysi

cal exhaustion is a p roblem anym ore; the w orld “is not resistan t,” neither it dem ands from a tourist activeness, involvem ent in the contact w ith another space. M an y contem porary “in tellectual jou rn eys” contain fear o f such easy

23 If w e ta k e into c o n sid e ra tio n a n th ro p o lo g ica l or so c io lo g ica l a n a ly s e s o f p o stm o d e rn jo u rn e y s, w e ca n d ra w an o b vio u s c o n clu sio n th a t d u e to th eir u n derlyin g fa lsific a tio n s and m e d iatio n s, th e y a re n ot th e p ath to e ith e r learn in g or u n d e rsta n d in g . Cf. K ow alski, O dyseje nasze...

24 Cf. K. P o d e m sk i, S ocjologia podróży.

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86

n o n f i c t i o n, r e p o r t a g e a n d t e s t i m o n y

travelin g w h ich elim in ates the feelin g o f stran gen ess, the trouble o f e x p e rien cin g and learn in g.25 Sp eed and bustle acco m p an yin g to u rist tours the traveler ju xtap o se s to the slo w pace o f (m ost often) h ikin g26 w h ich b rings a specific experience o f b ein g “in b etw e e n ” : b etw een the fam iliar b u t m ore and m ore distant hom e space and the strange but approaching w orld/place one is h ead in g tow ards. The traveler finds h im /h e rse lf on the in tersection o f tw o w orld s: the n e w w orld one arrives to and the w orld one com es from.

Such location resem bles Gadam er's privileged place “b etw een” otherness and fam iliarity, freedom and constraint.27

In today's individual “journeys” one could come across num erous attempts to find or regain the “betw een” dimension. One o f them is “tem porary roaming,”

“being on a trip” periodically, in the “separated” time and space, the combination - returning to Bauman's postm odern m odel - o f the physically overwhelm ing experience o f being a vagabond w ith the “tourist” feeling o f freedom . Such ex periences could be found, am ong others, in Andrzej Stasiuk's travel accounts.

The w riter describes his experiences related w ith hitch-hiking across Poland:

The sky, trees, houses, ground - all this could be located som ewhere else.

I w as m oving in space w hich didn't have any past, history, achievements worth m entioning [ . ] this sequence o f im ages w as not a country, it was a pretext. M ost probably, a person feels his/her own existence only when feeling on his/her skin a touch of nameless space which unites us with the oldest of tim es [ . ] w hen the m ind w as only beginning to separate itself from the world and didn't yet realize its orphanage. (JB ,ii)

The problem is w hether b eing in the space “b etw een ” becom es a kind o f a l

ien ation or an im pulse to learn, com pare and m ake effort to understand.

25 For e x am p le : Je rz y S te m p o w s k i, u sin g m e a n s o f tra n sp o r t on ly to m o ve to a p la c e w h e re he b e g in s his th o ro u g h jo u rn e y on fo o t, c o m p a re s g rou p b u s trip s to "Jo n a sz w h o tra ve le d far in th e w h a le 's s to m a c h b u t he didn 't s e e a lo t”(J. S te m p o w s k i, N ow y d zien n ik p o d ró ży do N ie  m iec, [in:] id. Od Berdyczow a do Lafitów, sel., e d . and in tro d u ctio n by A .S . K o w alczyk, C zarne, W o ło w iec 2 0 0 1, 19 7). Z b ig n ie w H erb ert, c o m m e n tin g on Voyage en Italie by M o n ta ig n e, is je a l

o u s o f his long, tiring jo u rn e y e n a b lin g him to m e lt into "th e c o n c re te o th e rn e ss o f la n d s c a p e s o f p eo p le and p h e n o m en a he p a s s e s b y ” (Pana M ontaigne'a po d ró ż do Ita lii [in:] id. W ęzeł g o r

dyjski ora z inne p ism a rozproszone 19 4 8 -19 9 8 , B iblioteka "W ięzi,” W arsaw 2 0 0 1, 43).

26 A n o th e r m o d e rn tra v e le rs ' fa v o u rite m e a n s are s lo w train s w h ic h c re a te an o p p o rtu n ity o f c o -p a rtic ip a tin g in th e life o f lo c a ls, in itiatin g c o n t a c ts or a t le a s t m ak in g o b se rv a tio n s. Cf.

J. S te m p o w s k i, N ow y dziennik...; A . S ta siu k , Jadąc do B abadag, C zarn e, W o ło w iec 2 0 0 4 . Q u o tes from S ta siu k 's b o ok are re ferred to w ith an a b b revia tio n JB.

27 Cf. E. K obylińska, H erm eneu tyczne u jęcie ku ltu ry jako kom u n ika cji [in:] O kulturze i je j badaniu.

Studia z filozofii kultury, e d . K. Z a m iara, PWN, W arsaw 19 8 5.

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DOROTA KOZICKA T H E T R A V E L E R ' S H O R I Z O N O F U N D E R S T A N D I N G 87

A n o th er problem stem s from the fact th at crucial elem ents o f the real, tra ditional traveling are attentiveness and reflection. Both serve cognition and allow for noticing various dim ensions and contexts o f reality, for interpreting and understanding. Concrete and tangible features o f the described reality:

ruts on the road, cathedral steps w o rn out b y p ilgrim s, single gestures, d e tails ... th ey all becom e a n e c e ssa ry con dition o f a traveler's cogn ition and understanding. “N ot b eing excessively spiritual, I alw ays looked for m aterial traces in order to enter into an agreem ent and alliance,” H erodotus confesses in Labyrinth on the S e a -S h o re 28. A n d R yszard K ap u ściń ski adm its th at he in duces h is students to note d ow n facts and travel im p re ssio n s on a daily b a sis b ecau se th is h ab it w ill force th em to “concentrate and look actively”

and m ake travelin g not “m ech an ical m ovin g from place to place, checking kilom etres, tow ns, countries” but w ill turn it into a “form o f approaching and understanding the w orld, other people, other cultures.’^9

In tourism , in stead o f attentiveness to the w orld , in stead o f in sigh t and reflection, w e have collections o f the highest possible num ber o f im pressions - a fast slide on the surface. The pace m entioned by V irilio im poses p ercep

tion o f the w orld resem bling a group o f snapshots but also com pels the reality and the w o rld to b e attractive, n oticeable, re ad y to m e e t tou rists' e xp ecta

tions. This activates double falseness: tourists perceive w h at they have been announced and delivered to be seen, w hereas the w orld show s w h at tourists expect. Such travelers w ill never learn anything n e w on th eir w ay, th ey w ill never experience anything else th an w h at th ey have expected beforehand.

However, if self-cogn ition in the encounter w ith the other, n ew w orld is con

sidered as an im portant elem ent o f the travel experience, and if w e claim that, ow ing to his/her journey, a traveler “returns to him /herself” enriched w ith new experiences, w e w ill consider a tourist as representing a com pletely different attitude as he/she m ainly looks for attractions in their excursions, an im age of him /herself w hich w ould differ from the everyday one. In such cases, it's hard to speak about tryin g to un derstand the w orld or oneself.

N on etheless, this experience - seen n o t so m uch as h ab itual behaviour o f m a ss and organ ised to u rism but an in d ivid u al experien ce b a se d on the p ostm odern m anner o f traveling, a fast and un engaged w ay o f looking at the w orld - allow s us to discover sign ifican t aspects o f the con tem porary co n scio u sn ess. T h e y can b e in terpreted as p o stm o d ern h erm en eu tics aim ing at clashing d issim ilar sen ses rather th an p robing or explain in g them . C u r

sory, chaotic, superficial perception uprooting things from their natural and

28 Z. H e rb e rt, Labirynt..., 29.

29 R. K ap u ściń sk i, P ochw ała w ędrow ania, „N o w e K siążki” 2 002 no 7/8, 9.

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sym bolic context, rem inds us of the w eak thought, Vattimo's percezione distratta (restless eyes, distracted perception).Jo Its traces can be found in the already quoted Stasiuk's account:

Each place w as good because I could leave it with no regrets. It didn't even have to have a name. Constant cost, continuous loss, prodigality unseen by the world, carnival, wastage, wastefulness and no sign of accumulation.

The Seaside in the m orning, forests by the San river in the evening, guys w ith beer mugs, like ghosts in a country bar, like phantom s freezing at my sight in quarter-gesture. (JB, pp. 11- 12 )

So, w ho is this traveler w ho starts a journey - seem ingly fast, inattentive and chaotic but not deprived o f the need to “stop,” the reflection over the ex perience o f “othern ess” - in the space o f postm odern h abits? Is he/she a new traveler w ho is aw are o f both artificiality o f the to u rist w orld, the lim its o f one's ow n p erception and the in d isp en sab ility (necessity) o f travel exp e ri

ences, liberating a different type of the tim e-and -space, changing the location o f the “I” in the w orld?

Such cases as A ndrzej Stasiuk's travel accounts prove th at the real value lies in the in tellectual condition and se n sitivity o f the subject, not the tim e and m ethod o f travelin g. The author o f On the Road to Babadag in ten tion ally in scrib es h is you th travels' n arratives in the p o stm o d ern rhyth m o f quick changes o f space, affluen ce o f im ag es and elem en ts o f reality, sim u lta n e ously attem pting at self-cogn ition through such “acceleration” w h ich in fact annihilates tim e and space and enables the return to first, elem entary, naive and m ost im portant questions.

H is later journeys are ostentatiou sly planned against the current tourist fash ion s and m eth ods o f travelin g, although n o t rarely does he travel w ith a tourist guide in his hand. Beside reporting the choice o f a route and a m eth od of traveling (roam ing on the East and South o f Europe far from w ell-know n tou rist trails, fo llow ing the trail o f the “ch eapest tobacco products,” driving an old car, hitch-hiking or taking slow trains), the author constantly rem inds the reader that he travels “differently” and “different” things and m atters are o f his interest. C hoosing the vagabond option, Stasiuk devotes his attention to observation o f everyday life, houses, people, landscapes:

30 G. V a ttim o , Le avventure della differenza, Garzanti, M ilano 19 8 0 , 6. T h e a lre ad y q u o ted auth or o f Il Viaggio d ei Filosofi w rite s th a t th e c o n te m p o ra ry to u ris t fa sh io n is a b a n a lise d , "w e a k e r”

v a ria n t o f th e "stro n g " e x p e rie n c e o f tra ve lin g a s an e x p e rie n c e o f a u th e n ticity . (M enzio, Il V iaggio...).

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In Gone he pulled up in front of the Hussite House but we were not interested in museums. We wanted to watch old women sitting in front of the houses on the m ain street. (JB, 69)

I w ent w ith them, but I didn't care at all about the noble building. I w as looking at the young G ypsies. (JB, 95)

I f he som etim es tries to “in scrib e” h im se lf into the con tem porary traveling h abits and “feel like a tourist,” he feels like “a sp y doom ed to su p erficiality”

(JB, 110 )

H ow ever, despite - or m aybe - due to th is osten tatiou s gesture, in his

“jo u rn e y s” Stasiu k does n o t seem to “free h im s e lf” either from the effects o f the p o st-in d u strial re ality or from the p ostm od ern w a y o f perceivin g it.

O n the one hand, he fulfils the carnival schem e o f “reversin g the w o rld ” b y presenting the m odern European reality not through its W estern façade but through its Eastern courtyard and suggesting that it is the façade that em bod

ies the an ti-w o rld . O n the other hand, assu m in g the role o f a revolutionary and vagabond, and d em onstratively cutting o ff from the to u rist pattern, he falls into another - the an ti-tourist one and neither does he try to learn and understand the reality he arrives in. He only chooses places, situations, images and m otives w h ich are rad ically distinct from the first “façade” tourist vision.

Consequently, he declares his “love o f disintegration” and “pitiful p red is

p osition to everything that doesn't look as it should,” therefore he only looks for things he w an ts to see and rejects everything that is put in order, organ

ized, stable and that doesn't m atch his assum ptions about the reality, “I had to ab andon th is v ie w b ecau se it w a s too u n re al” (JB, 10 0 ); “I cou ldn't co n form w ith space w h ich w as so irreversibly form ed” (JB, 10 7). It appears that the w riter does n o t w a n t to be liberated from the “lim itatio n s” o f h is ow n expectations and fan tasies, he does n ot intend to see anything else b esides w hat he looks for; he does not w ant to “un derstand” or learn anything, probe into the life o f lo cal people or in itiate m ore in tim ate con tacts (apart from m om entary m eetings am plifying the im pression o f m ental closeness). He is in search for places w here he feels “as if he never left hom e” b u t he rem ains

“an observer.” He w ish es to see “im ages” w hich seem to h im the “reverse” of the post-ind u strial, organised reality, w hich “m ock at tem pting order and a f

flu en ce” (JB, pp. 2 14 - 2 15 ) . M eticu lous d escrip tion s o f phenom ena, details, bits and single characters p resent in his account are not tools o f un derstan d

in g the depicted w orld but o f docum entin g the traveler's b eliefs,31 w h ereas

31 It is p o v e rty , re je ctio n , d isability, dilap idatio n and p ie c e s o f th e p a s t a re w h a t S ta siu k c o n s id e rs th e o n ly ta n g ib le (and, a s it s e e m s , co n tin u o u sly s trived for) s u b s t a n c e a s o p p o sed

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sub sequ en t e xp erien ces pile up in a n everen d in g k aleid oscop e o f variou s fragm ents, pieces, traces w hich liberate his im agination. It is the im agination together w ith the desire to “be on the m ove” (not the reality: visited places, landscapes, people and events) that guide Stasiuk - the traveler and Stasiuk - the w riter. That is why, in his travels, he turns dow n places and landscapes in w h ich he can 't “find any fractures for the im agin ation to slip in ” (FB, 50) and in h is account, he m ay adm it, “In fact I can 't rem em b er an yth in g from th is journey, so I n eed to m ake everyth in g up a n e w ” (JB, 10 6 ). A n d th is is precisely w h y subsequent travels are solely repetitions o f the im agined ones, w hile the non -obviou sn ess o f visited lands m akes them m ore spacious than geograp h y w ou ld in d icate and lets th em open to h im “the end less space o f presuppositions, the van ishin g horizon o f ideas and the m irage o f sw eet su perstitions the reality could never rise to” (JB, 2 0 19 ). A ccording to this belief, Stasiuk considers traveling as “sim ply a relatively healthy type o f a drug” (JB, 75), desired (tem porary) liberation, return to childhood and a b lissful feeling o f freedom , respite from the reality.^ It is nourishm ent in dispensable for the im agination but also an individual attem pt to save from oblivion things that disappear from the horizon, “to seize present day.” One o f the form s o f saving such m om ents are relics: notes, coins, tickets, bills, and other scraps. Stasiuk w ill m ention them , “I keep all those events in a cartoon shoe box. F rom tim e to tim e, I pull out this or th at” (JB, 236).

These travel relics provoke telling n e w stories about m em ory and space, w hich “b egin in any chosen place and never end” (JB, 236). But w hat is m ost in terestin g in the persp ective assu m ed here, is the - typ ica l o f S ta siu k - aw areness o f the significance o f traveling and m oving around in the contem p orary w orld33 and the explicitly exposed conviction that frequent journeys,

“collected” experiences, traces, relics, m em ories do n ot lead to the ground

breaking cognition, build any w holeness or arrange them selves in any higher

to in tan g ib le id e a s o f th e ric h n e ss c h a ra c te ristic to th e p ost-in d u stria l w o rld . Y et, th e w orld d o e s n ot h ave an e x p lic it " fa c e ” o n e could o p p o s e to b e c a u s e - S ta siu k w rite s in th e im agined d ialo g u e w ith Jak u b Szela - e ve n if on e trie s to d o th a t, „th e w orld w ill d isp e rs e like a phan tom and on e will be le ft e m p ty - h a n d e d ” (JB, 56). T h e re fo re , it s e e m s , w a tc h in g , "g a th e rin g ” and c o lle ctin g its e lf is to him th e m o st im p o rta n t re su lt o f th e jo urn ey.

32 Cf. e.g .: „...alre a d y n e a r Z b oró w , o n e s ta r t s to ignore h is/h er id en tity. It d im in ish e s w ith e ve ry k ilo m ete r an d, ju s t like in d ista n t ch ild h oo d , ou r o w n e x iste n c e le a v e s us a s so m e th in g v e ry d iffe re n t from th e re st o f th e w o rld ” (JB, 221).

33 Cf. e.g.: „...I h ave m y b o rd e r to p ra c tic e tra n sg re s sio n and it is fin e and it su its th e tim e s w h en e x iste n c e is id en tified by m o v e m e n t, c h a n g in g p la c e s, k in e tics, th a t s ta rtin g fro m p oin t A w e d o n 't h ave to re a ch p oin t B - n ot only, w e d o n 't h ave to g e t a n y w h e re and it is e n o u g h th at w e m ak e c irc le s ”. D ziennik okrętowy, [in:] J. A n d ru c h o w y c z, A. S ta siu k , M oja Europa. Dwa eseje o E uropie zw a n ej środkow ą, C zarn e, W o ło w iec 20 0 0 , 140.

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DOROTA KOZICKA T H E T R A V E L E R ' S H O R I Z O N O f U N D E R S T A N D I N G

senses or orders. The w riter often u n derlines that “he com es b ack as stupid as he w as w h en le avin g” and th at on his return “n othing has changed,” and finally:

A ll points to the conclusion that nothing rem ains: Ubla, Heviz, Lendava, Babadag, Leskovik and else - they don't leave traces that would be so vivid to believe that quantity w ill eventually turn into quality, one thing w ill couple w ith another and, like a wonderful machine, w ill produce som e

thing close to a sense. (JB, 261)

Andrzej Stasiuk's travel accounts are like his favourite places, “like p erip h eries w ithout the centre, like lim itless suburbs, w ithout the culm inating city,”

happenin g in “the present and con stan tly accom plishing tim e,” “exhausting in the v e ry act o f e xiste n ce ” (JB, 249). A s a result, the w rite r speaks about his ow n stories like about h is ow n journeys: he can't m ake out o f th em any sensible story and com es to a con clusion th at “the w orld is presence, so he doesn't care about the story”34.

This type o f “traveling” serves as a m eans to learn n ot so m uch the reality as the representation o f the reality. N either does it help understand the w orld and its rules, search for fundam ental senses, deeper m echanism s, higher orders, universal and supralocal rooting (like in the case of Herbert or Kapuscinski's ac

counts) but it rather serves collecting im pressions and im ages, m oving around the w orld35 hoping that, in view o f the “failure” o f a story w hich is unable to a s

sign senses to hum an life, geography can help “em brace the w orld” and liberate oneself from reflecting over incidental, tem porary existence.

Translation: Marta Skotnicka

34 Cf. re sp e c tiv e ly JB , 216 , 227. S ta siu k a lso w r it e s a b o u t th e sim ilarity b e tw e e n a jo u rn e y and a s to ry in D ziennik o k rę to w y , fre q u e n tly e m p h a s isin g th a t bo th in a jo u rn e y and a sto ry , he d o e s n ot m o ve linearly bu t he a lw a y s h as to m e a n d e r and blunder. Even tually, he a d m its,

"W riting is listin g n a m e s. A n alogically, a jo u rn e y is p lacin g b e a d s o f g e o g ra p h y on a strin g o f life. N e ith e r read in g nor th e road m ak e us m u ch s m a rte r. B o rd ers like c h a p te r s, c o u n trie s like literary g e n re s , th e e p ic o f tra ils, lyric o f re stin g , b la c k n e s s o f c o n c re te ro ad s a t n ig h t in h e a d ligh ts b rin gs to mind a m o n o to n o u s and h y p n o tic line o f print w h ic h c r o s s e s th e re a lity and le ad s us s tra ig h t to th e fic titio u s goal. T h ere is n oth in g a t th e en d o f th e book, and e v e ry d e c e n t jo u rn e y a lw a y s re se m b le s m o re or le ss ta n g le d n o o se (9 9 -10 0 , a lso s e e 138).

35 In his jo u rn e y s , h o w ev er, S ta siu k is a lw a y s a w a re o f h avin g a h o m e w h e re on e ca n a lw a y s go back , w h ic h sig n ific a n tly a ffe c t s th e c h a ra c te r o f t h o s e tra v e ls and w h ic h can be p erc e ive d as a ty p ica l fe a tu re o f to u ris t travelin g . A n o th e r " to u rist” tra it o f S ta siu k a s a v a g a b o n d w o u ld be th e v e ry a c t o f "g a th erin g im p re ssio n s” and th e fa c t th a t th e w a n d e rin g w rite r n e ve r q u e s tio n s his o w n id entity.