The subject of the article is the portrayal of poverty in the works of Andrzej Stasiuk, a Polish writer who focuses on Central European themes. Stasiuk’s scope of interest includes former Communist countries of Europe, excluding Germany and Russia, especially in the period of system transformation. Stasiuk’s works offer a literary portrayal of poverty in Central Europe which cannot be equalled with a sociological analysis. The main focus of the article is Stasiuk’s best known non-fiction book about Central European matters entitled On the Road to Babadag (2004). The problems in the article addressed can be divided into two groups. The first one is connected to the imagery of poverty. How is poverty portrayed? What objects or settings are described? Is money mentioned? What are the synonyms of poverty? Whom is Stasiuk describing as “figures of the poor?” Does the writer reflect on the fate of the poor? The second cluster of problems is connected to the function and significance of poverty in the discourse. What is the place of poverty in Stasiuk’s writing and worldview? Why is it necessary? What is the writer’s opinion on poverty as a social phenomenon? Another issue addressed in the article is that of “poverty tourism.”
The aim of the article is to analyze the way in which Andrzej Stasiuk portrays the European peripheries in his books. It is also an attempt to answer the question what elements of social reality of Europe (and primarily Central Europe) in the places that Stasiuk visited captured the writer’s imagination and thus significantly contributed to his portrayal of unique characteristics of this part of the world. The article also attempts to answer the question to what extent Stasiuk can be treated as a Central European “local colour” writer, and to what extent he is interested in the peripheral character of these areas and their expulsion from the Western awareness. A key part of the article is an attempt to answer an epistemological question: how can a writer’s observations become useful for social researchers?
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