Fantastyczne światy Radka Knappa
Radek Knapp’s Fantastic Worlds

Author(s): Elżbieta Hurnikowa
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to a debut collection of short stories by Radek Knapp,a Polish writer residing in Vienna and writing in German. The collection, entitledFranio (1994), includes five stories and has been translated into Polish in 1995. Thetome is prefaced by a recommendation from Stanisław Lem, who tips the literatureaficionados off to a surprise in stock for them upon reading the book. Yet, contraryto potential expectations, to which an opinion voiced by an eminent science fictionwriter might give rise, Franio is not a collection of science fiction stories: rather, itrepresents a separate form of literature. The stories take place in Anin, a small town,where time seems to have stopped (only a few scattered hints allow one to determinethe time of action as around 1970s and later). The protagonists of these stories – thelocals of Anin – are characters who follow rules that are difficult to understand froma rational point of view: they are capable of experiencing extraordinary states and ofevoking them in others. What makes these stories unique is a combination of humor(sometimes dark humor), wit and irony, with the all-pervading sense of absurdity.Radek Knapp has developed his own, original, methods of presenting people, events,and realities: while reading his texts, one can hardly be rid of the impression that“nothing is the way it seems to be.

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