Znak publishers - rights departament

Paweł Huelle
Castorp

nakład wyczerpany

Huelle’s Castorp can be read as a variation on the Magic Mountain theme, a sort of phantasy based on the Gdańsk motifs in Thomas Mann’s novel, particularly cherished by the Gdańsk-based writer. The life of Hans Castorp, a student at the Imperial Technical Academy, is monotonous and predictable, until the unexpected outbreak of a feeling for a beautiful, unattainable Polish woman. The ensuing psychic crisis leaves him pondering existential questions and discovering the darker side of life. With the Gdańsk old town, its fin-de-siècle quarter Wrzeszcz and the popular seaside resort Sopot for action settings, the novel is blessed with a distinct, unforgettable atmosphere.

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Andrzej Szczeklik
Catharsis

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This book aims to draw attention to issues relating to illness and pain, which almost inevitably most of us will be obliged to face at some time in our lives. It discusses the art of medicine and goes back to the Platonic notion of anamnesis; it describes how “constellations” of symptoms, reflecting the position of the patient, come to form the diagnosis. It also talks about the gift of prognosis, which invariably evokes admiration among laymen. The author tells us how helpless a doctor can be and how he sometimes has to grope in the dark for an answer. Time and again he refers us to

music and poetry, which he justifies by stating that medicine and art spring from the same source, i.e. magic.

The book does not attempt to boast about progress in medical science, although it does mention some of the most outstanding achievements in this field. The author describes discoveries in which he participated or which he witnessed, touches upon the decline in medical ethics and tries to visualise the future of medicine following the “decoding” of the human genome sequence.

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Andrzej Wajda
Cinema and the Rest of the World

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The book is a reflection upon his life as well as an attempt at understanding its connections with the artist’s work. Written just before he received the Academy Award, it chronicles the making of his most recent films as well as his views on the developments in world cinema. What is more, Wajda discloses some hereto unknown details of his life and talks about his lifelong fascination with Japanese film and culture.
I am often asked why it was Japan that attracted my special interest. Why was it, when I had so many different options available, that my attention turned towards that distant land?
The answer’s simple, I think. In Japan I met people my heart goes out to. I don’t speak their language, and I’ve got a very rough idea about their customs, but I think I know them well. They have all those qualities which all my life I wanted to develop and nurture in myself: gravity, a sense of responsibility and honour, and a need for tradition.
Thanks to my encounter with Japan I know that these beautiful attributes don’t just exist in my imagination. I know that they really exist.

From an interview, Warsaw, 20th July 1997

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Paweł Huelle
Cold Sea Tales

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In these eleven stories Pawel Huelle shows his master craftsmanship as a teller of beautiful, evocative stories. Though each tale is independent, they all share a setting on the Baltic coast, whether of Poland or of Sweden, and they all feature a large, significant book, whether it is the Bible or a homeware catalogue.
The stories are also united by themes that echo strongly through the whole collection, such as love, displacement and nostalgia for the past. They are equally linked by the powerful imagery and lyrical style that are the hallmarks of Huelle's prose.

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Tomasz Różycki
Colonies

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Colonies, Różycki’s first poetic book after the highly acclaimed Twelve Stations, is by no means a slighter accomplishment. Composed of 77 poems strongly interlinked by the themes of travel, writing, love and strangeness, the volume is a tribute to sheer poetic imagination. Exotic titles as if straight from a goods inventory of some fabulously wealthy colony lend the poems extra meanings, as well as a tinge of something enticingly, achingly out of reach.

“As Różycki sits up late at night in the kitchen or “is doing it” at his computer, his phantom goes travelling in distant lands, scouting into the past and making no provisions for the future. Sensitive to all things small: dust, soot, particulars of human lives, ash; a connoisseur of dregs. Just as likely to point to a sea monster on dry land, as to rock away on a rusty seesaw. A coloniser, yes – but also a wide-eyed explorer filled with a sense of wonder and fun.”

Jacek Podsiadło

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