Nobody Leaves: Impressions of Poland on kapuscinski.info

Nobody Leaves: Impressions of Poland – Summary and Analysis (debut, themes, quotes)

Thu, 04 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

“Nobody Leaves: Impressions of Poland” (Busz po polsku, 1962) is Ryszard Kapuściński’s debut collection of reportage — combining images of the Polish provinces with accounts of his first expeditions to Africa. Below you will find a summary, the key issues, themes, and quotes and theses.

Summary in a nutshell

“Nobody Leaves: Impressions of Poland” is Kapuściński’s book debut — a collection of short reportages divided into two thematic circles: the Polish one (images of the provinces, ordinary people, their fates) and the African one (a record of the young reporter’s first foreign expeditions). There is no single plot here — it is a mosaic of human stories in which the author’s characteristic lyrical and reflective style is born.

The Realistic Theatre of Skierniewice with the project "Busz po polsku"

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

From 5 to 7 May, the stage of the Theatre of the Eighth Day will host the Poznań-based Palmer Eldritch Theatre with the premiere of “Alien”, the Gdańsk company Zielony Wiatrak with “Kręgle” (“Bowls”), and the Realistic Theatre of Skierniewice with the project “Busz po polsku”.

“Alien” was created in collaboration with the New York playwright Howard Pflanzer, who, fascinated by the production “Jarzenie”, proposed a joint theatrical venture to the company. The meeting of these artists produced a work that is moving and at the same time ironic, full of an original sense of humour and boldly exploring the mythologies of popular culture.

A raftsman in the twenty-first century — an interview with a figure from "Nobody Leaves: Impressions of Poland"

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Author: Paweł Stanny source: Duży Format date: 2010-01-29

The man had no idea who he was talking to

Ryszard Kapuściński came to the Brodnica Lake District as a reporter for “Polityka” before his second expedition to Africa. It was probably in the first half of 1960. Fifty years later, Roman Filipski, the head of the village of Koziary, cannot get over it: “They wrote about him in a book?”

He drives us in his Mercedes (it would be hard to get there in any other machine). After a kilometre along a winding, muddy, rutted road we pull into a small farmyard, right up to the door of a cottage roofed with corrugated cement sheet. Dogs bark. Somebody is watching us from behind a window.

A reporter's debut — a review of "Nobody Leaves: Impressions of Poland"

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

A review of “Busz po polsku”

author: Włodzimierz Maciąg title: Debiut reportażysty source: Życie Literackie no. 36/1962 date: 1962-01-02

In reportage, the idea for a subject is half the success. A reporter informs us about the world, and the one who informs us more effectively and more interestingly is the one who knows more about that world than we do — and, more importantly, knows what we would never have found out or guessed.

Balloon trips. Kapuściński — a review of "Nobody Leaves: Impressions of Poland"

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Author: Stanisław Zieliński source: “Nowe Książki” no. 15 date: 1962-08-15

Review

author: Stanisław Zieliński title: Wycieczki balonem. Kapuściński source: “Nowe Książki” no. 15, 15 August 1962

Three reasons decided my choice of reading for a frosty July evening. I like authors who betray an interest in the world outside the café; I remember Kapuściński’s reportage published in “Polityka”; and the author does not wear a beard. From my point of view an essential and important detail, because some beards, seen close up, present a very squalid appearance.

Nobody Leaves: Impressions of Poland — list of editions

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

First edition Year: 1962 Print run: 7,000 copies

Second edition Year: 1975 Print run: 20,000 copies Series: Biblioteka Literatury Faktu XXX-lecia

Third edition Year: 1979/80 Print run: 40,000 copies Note: dated 1979 — printing completed in 1980

Fourth edition Year: 1988 Print run: 30,000 copies Series: vol. 4 “Wrzenie świata”

Fifth edition Year: 1990 Print run: 50,000 copies Series: vol. 4 “Wrzenie świata”

Contents:

The march-out of the fifth column.
Far away.
Saved on a raft.
Friday at Grunwald.
A toothpaste advertisement.
The dune.
Ground floors.
No address.
The great throw.
The lumber room.
The calm head of the fare-dodger.
Danka.
Nobody will leave.
The stiff.
Trees against us.
The Polish bush.

The collected edition “Wrzenie świata” opens with an additional Kapuściński text, “Ćwiczenia pamięci” (“Exercises in memory”).

Nobody Leaves: Impressions of Poland — press reviews checklist

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

A bibliographic checklist. Review titles and periodical names are given in the original Polish.

1962 Prasa Polska no. 10 p. 32, “Busz po polsku”. Review by Teresa Świeżewska.
1962 Nowe Książki no. 15 pp. 916–19, “Kapuściński”. Review by Stanisław Zieliński.
1962 Życie Literackie nos. 36, 37, “Debiut reportażysty”. Review by Włodzimierz Maciąg.
1962 Tygodnik Kulturalny no. 36 p. 6, “Busz po polsku”. Review by Włodzimierz Maciąg and Barbara Olszewska.
1962 Nowa Kultura no. 49 p. 11, “Miejsce reportażu”. Review by Stanisław Dan.
1975 Nowy Medyk no. 19 p. 11. Review by Wojciech Chybiński.
1975 Sztandar Młodych no. 248 p. 3. Review by Janusz Atlas.
1975 Gazeta Robotnicza no. 239 p. 5. Review by Andrzej Bułat.
1976 Literatura no. 3 p. 10, “»Busz« po 15 latach”. Review by Małgorzata Szejnert.
1976 Kontrasty no. 4 pp. 40–41, “Busz jest wszędzie”. Review by Andrzej Mencwel.
1976 Merkuriusz no. 5 p. 16. Review by Marek Rymuszko.