Antropologiczne strategie w późnej twórczości Ryszarda Kapuścińskiego

Abstract

The article is devoted to the methods of description of man and world in R. Kapuścińskie last books (Imperium, The Shadow of the Sun, Travels with Herodotus, and Lapidaria IV-VII). The author tries to show that Kapuścińskie attitude as a reporter evolved gradually, through adopting the historical perspective (as in The Emperor and Shah of Shahs) towards the techniques of modem anthropology. This evolution gradually involved Kapuściński in the circle of basic methodological dilemmas, discussed chiefly by anthropologists more or less close to the post-modem worldview. One of these issues, the most discussed one, is the proportion of the fictitious element in an anthropological text. Another problem is the “multi vocal ity” of an anthropological narrative and - naturally - intertextuality. The same questions analogically appear in the modem media studies, especially in the theory of reportage, the genre which seems to disappear in its classical form. In Kapuścińskie works, the themes that constantly emerge are the ones of meta-language of historical discourse, anthropological discourse and literary reportage-story. Co- occurrence of these themes with a clearly autobiographical element confirms the originality and unparalleled position of the author of Shah of Shahs in the Polish and world’s literature.