Postkolonializm wobec podróży. Niektóre przypadki Andrzeja Stasiuka

The aim of the research conducted within this article is to incorporate the latest interpretation of Polish prose in the current issues related to postcolonial studies and the theory of traveling. As an example of the connection between these two categories, the author has chosen books written by the acclaimed Polish writer Andrzej Stasiuk (born in 1960). Stasiuk is not only one of the most influential novelists of his generation but he also has created a certain style of writing: realistic, straightforward, anti-aesthetic and heavily inspired by the so-called ‘beat generation’ writers, especially by Jack Kerouac’s novels. Stasiuk describes the Eastern regions of Europe (mostly the Balkans) in their historical, political and cultural opposition to the Western world. The Polish writer claims that his constant journeys to Eastern Europe and almost compulsive narrations are the only way to ‘save untouched’ places like Romania, Albania or Serbia from the negative influences of Western pop-culture. But the symptoms are depressing: no one can stop the spread of the ‘MTV-like’ way of life and the Balkans are gradually transforming into something that soon will be unrecognizable from any country in the Occident. There is also a positive aspect of these negative conclusions. For modern-day writers like Stasiuk peregrination is something different than just sightseeing – every journey becomes a ‘sociological’ or ‘anthropological’ opportunity to narrate about the human condition. Traveling dynamically changes the point of view: literature not only describes the transformation of the world but may successfully affect these changes.