A provocative journal of a happy love, full of sensuous relations of a journey and a record of an unexpected pregnancy. The most intimate of this writer's books.
Polka is an excellent read. It's written in a brisk and witty style, and its lyrical descriptions of a Swedish haven (the parents of the yet unborn Polka live outside Stockholm) are intertwined with notes on books the narrator has read and her general reflections. The dominant spirit looming over the whole book is her belly, and the uncompromising sincerity with which Gretkowska observes and describes her own body is fascinating and reads well-nigh like a manual. (Justyna Jaworska)
I still claim I was not wrong - Gretkowska is a very talented, very interesting writer. (Czeslaw Milosz)
Manuela Gretkowska (b. 1964), novelist, screenwriter, and columnist. Her prose has been described as Postmodernist, esoteric, scandalising, feminist, and metaphysical.
- Manuela Gretkowska
Polka
Wydawnictwo W.A.B, Warszawa 2001
translation rights: W.A.B., rights available
130 x 201, 348 pages, hardcover
ISBN 83-88221-56-6