POLSKI BEDUIN I POLAK-INDIANIN-KONSTRUKCJE I DEKONSTRUKCJE KAZIMIERZA NOWAKA I DARIUSZA ROSIAKA
A BEDOUIN-LIKE POLE AND A “ NATIVE AMERICAN” IN POLAND. CONSTRUCTIONS AND DECONSTRUCTIONS IN KAZIMIERZ NOWAK’S AND DARIUSZ ROSIAK’S REPORTAGES

Author(s): Margreta Grigorowa
Subject(s): Studies of Literature, Polish Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: Kazimierz Nowak; Dariusz Rosiak; Sat-Okh; identity; deconstruction; biographical legend; Africa; native American culture
Summary/Abstract: The article provides a comparative reading of two strategies of identity construction that can be observed as reportage techniques. The first one; which I define as a means of constructive self-location; is represented by Kazimierz Nowak’s African reports collected under the title Rowerem i pieszo przez Czarny Ląd. Listy z podróży afrykańskiej z lat 1931–1936 [Across the Dark Continent. Bicycle Diaries from Africa 1931–1936] and published in 1930s. Nowak’s epistolary writing helps to reveal his “Bedouin” identity adopted during his African journey; when he was eagerly striving for African “authenticity” in his attempt to uncover the problems of European civilisation. On the contrary; the second strategy is deconstructive and was implemented in contemporary journalist Dariusz Rosiak’s book Biało-czerwony. Tajemnica Sat-Okha [White and Red. The Mystery of Sat-Okh]. The narrative takes shape as a meticulous documentary reconstruction of Sat-Okh’s biography and represents a final pronouncement on the long-lasting debates about his actual personality. Rosiak deconstructs the biographical legend of the Polish “Native American” and grounds his own major observations in factual accounts and innovative ideas.

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