Bitner is regarded as part of the Twórczość group – writers favouring avant-garde works "in language", and constantly experimenting to broaden their horizons through variable narrative forms, neologisms, etc. Bitner is an unquestioned stylist who works from a rich palette of linguistic means to convey an artistic world in which elements of objective reality and his own internal, subjective experiences flow together. He is bold in his use of colloquial language and in penetrating spheres connected with human eroticism and physiology and is thus sometimes regarded as being iconoclastic or provocative. Yet he seems to have faith in the authenticity of the wide range of experiences connected with corporeality. The body does not lie; in comparison with the external, interpersonal world, it is deserving of trust. For Bitner, physiology and instinct seem to intersect precisely in the act of writing, viewed as a fundamental form of human activity.
In 1999 he was honoured with the Award for Artistic Merit given by the city of Szczecin – a place he is deeply connected with and that serves as an inspiration for his texts. Henryk Bereza wrote in the epilogue to his collection of essays Jesień w Szczecinie (Autumn in Szczecin, 2011):
In Jesień w Szczecinie – which is a remarkable piece of art – older texts are used but not mechanically reprinted but composed into an artistic collection of essays that speak about philosophy, science and art and bear an imprint of individual subjectivity or even confession (Słowożerstwo, in: Jesień w Szczecinie).
Five years later, Bitner published another collection of essays and other literary forms, Wciąż Jesień czyli Inne Majaki Cynamonowe (Autumn Still, or Other Autumn Dreams – trans. by A.P.). Once again, the writer-outsider, with his characteristic sensitive perspective, looks at the literary profession, literature, life and its decline. As Arthur Daniel Liskowacki wrote:
These are not the complaints of a writer who has gone out of fashion [...], it is a very individual, egocentric voice, even a voice filled with empathy towards, so to speak, every creature condemned to failure, illness and death, to illusions, to hope and to the loss of love.
The end of the cycle is Ostatnia Jesień przed Zimą czyli Koniec Trylogii Cynamonowej (The Last Autumn Before Winter or The End of the Cinnamon Trilogy – trans. by A.P.), published in 2018. A characteristic feature of the collection is the eclecticism of literary genres interspersed like multicoloured leaves falling from a tree in autumn. However, it is precisely the narrative composed of seemingly unrelated short forms that is the essence of the cycle, which is a kind of diary written by an erudite observer in the autumn of his life.
After 11 years of work, in 2018 Bitner published his novel Fikcja (Fiction – trans. by A.P.), which was nominated for the Gdynia Literary Award 2019. Under the cover of a criminal novel influenced by Decameron, readers receive a perfectly written satire on the vices of Polish society in its entire cross-section.
Source: www.polska2000.pl; copyright: Stowarzyszenie Willa Decjusza, update: AP, November 2019.
Selected Bibliography:
Novels and short stories:
- Proza (Prose). Szczecin, 1979.
- Ptak (The Bird). Kraków: WL, 1981.
- Cyt (Chirp). Kraków: WL, 1982.
- Owszem (Of Course). Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1984.
- Kfazimodo. Kraków: WL, 1989.
- Ciąg dalszy (Sequel) , Szczecin: Glob, 1989.
- Trzy razy (Three Times). Warsaw: PIW, 1995.
- Chcę, żądam, rozkazuję (I want, demand, command). Szczecin: Basil, 1995.
- Bulgulula. Szczecin: Basil, 1996.
- Pst (Hush). Szczecin: Basil, 1997.
- Rak (The Cancer). Szczecin: Basil, 1998.
- Hm... Chcę, żądam, rozkazuję II (Well, I want, demand, command II), Szczecin: Basil, 1999.
- Na strychu (In the attic), Szczecin: Basil, 1999.
- Mna: Chcę, żądam, rozkazuję III (I want, demand, command III), Szczecin: Basil, 2000.
- Psie dni (Dog's days), Szczecin: Basil, 2001.
- Piszę (I write), Warszawa, Fundacja im. K. Lewakowskiego, 2003.
- Mała pornografia (Small pornography), Szczecin: Basil, 2003.
- Książka (Book), Szczecin: Wydawnictwo Forma, 2006.
- Jesień w Szczecinie (Autumn in Szczecin), Szczecin: db, 2011.
- Wciąż Jesień czyli Inne Majaki Cynamonowe (Autumn Still, or Other Autumn Dreams), Szczecin: Print Group, 2016.
- Ostatnia Jesień przed Zimą czyli Koniec Trylogii Cynamonowej (The Last Autumn Before Winter or The End of the Cinnamon Trilogy), Szczecin: Książnica Pomorska im. Stanisława Staszica, 2018.
- Fikcja (Fiction), Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 2018.
Children's books:
- Bajka (Fairy Tale). Warsaw: KAW, 1979.
- Opowieści Chrystoma (Chrystom's Tales). Warsaw, 1992.