In her first book after the Nobel, constituting an elaboration on the term ‘tender narrator’ coined by the author herself, Tokarczuk emphasises that she considers ‘tenderness’ as an epistemic category rather than an emotional one. In this spirit, Mira Marcinów wrote Bezmatek (Motherless), a farewell to a mother full of sensitivity (not to be confused with vulnerability), controlled distance and humour. Justyna Wicenty attempted to cope with emotions caused by the loss of a child by writing a grief journal, titled Kołysanka z Huraganem (A Lullaby with a Hurricane). The two varying perspectives become close to each other in an attempt to rein in memories and in a search for form and language.
Marcinów’s daughterhood resorts to irony, using humour to relieve the tension. Wicenty’s motherhood constitutes a daily fight, a struggle through obligations towards her other child and husband, and – most of all – herself. The narration of Lullaby resembles a report put together with flashes of memories, while the author of Motherless juggles the present and past tenses freely, and the whole resembles a set of facts skilfully wrapped in fiction. Marcinów’s more literary bent sentences, which could be written down as aphorisms, make the novel an easier read; meanwhile, Wincenty is more direct – the reader never knows when a breakdown will come. Both authors managed to avoid evoking pity, aiming at empathy instead. Facilitating a close relationship with the reader, they allowed them (and themselves) to domesticate the ‘lack of’.
The worldly reader
2020 belonged to strong, brave and insightful women, represented not only by authors, but the heroines in books as well. We finally witnessed the long-awaited release of the elaborate biography of Zuzanna Ginczanka, written by Izolda Kiec; Małgorzata Czyńska, who has been closely following the lives of artists for years, revealed Tamara Łempicka’s subversive side; the female pioneers of Polish IT came out of the shadow thanks to Karolina Wasielewska’s Cyfrodziewczyny (Cybergirls); and Katarzyna Kobylarczyk reminded us about the women of Nowa Huta in Kobiety Nowej Huty.
Moreover, the most important Polish literary awards have gone to women. Many newcomers among them, such as Barbara Sadurska, who received the Gombrowicz Prize for Map and Dorota Kotas, the recipient of the Conrad Prize for Pustostany (Empty Spaces) – for the first time in the history of both competitions, all nominees were female. While Agnieszka Dauksza won two prizes for her book Jaremianka. Admittedly, the most important Polish literary prize – the Nike award – was awarded to Radek Rak but the readers’ choice award went to Joanna Gierak-Onoszko for her poignant reportage The 27 Deaths of Toby Obed (27 Śmierci Toby’ego Obeda).