Po bruku, po kamieniach… O „świecie wydeptanym” w Zawsze jest dzisiaj Michała Cichego
Over the Cobblestone, over the Rocks… On “a Rambling World” in Today is Every Day by Michał Cichy

Author(s): Grażyna Maroszczuk
Subject(s): Polish Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: city; cobblestone; walking; identity;experience;
Summary/Abstract: The author attempts to analyze “a novel of walking” by Michał Cichy; entitled Today is Every Day. The slow-paced narrative presents the reader with the portrait of Ochota (a borough in Warsaw) and the numerous dangers brought about by the contemporary world; with its chaos and overabundance of uninhabitable space. The novel also touches upon the experiences of the protagonist; who lives in the world of multiple practices and models of communication. The protagonist of the novel of walking witnesses the city; absorbing the polyphony of a multicultural metropolis: the garbage dump of lights; the roar of arteries; the beat of the railway tracks; the noise of construction equipment. Warsaw’s heteroglossia manifests itself also in overheard conversation and the mix of sociolects. The polysensory experience of Ochota is at the same time loud and quiet; colorful and monochromatic; crowded and desolate; Polish and multicultural; in “abject poverty” and “in the care of money.” The narrative of Today is Every Day scrupulously constructs a portrait of Warsaw from fragments of images; voices; scents; while the varied images of the city interact with each other.Cichy’s novel leads the reader down the cobblestone; down the pavement; the trodden paths of the city; close to the concrete and the real.

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