"Monument of Flame" — review of Shah of Shahs

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Author: Zbigniew Bauer
Source: Nowe Książki no. 3, 1982

When writing once about Kapuściński’s The Emperor, I drew out a motif that was almost marginal in that book, appearing almost unnoticed in the story of the nature of empire: Ishmael from Melville’s Moby Dick sails on after the star of his destiny, seeking in the oceans of the Earth the legendary monster that appears in the dreams of whalers. However vast the earthly ocean — Ishmael will traverse it. However cruel the truth about human illusions — Ishmael will sail towards it. The Emperor announced in Kapuściński’s writing what today proves most important in it: the experience of the world, ever broader, ever more dramatic, becoming slowly the experience of oneself in the sea surrounding the Earth — of people, of human mouths, eyes, hands reaching out for alms or for power, human legs shackled by fear or trampling human bodies and human monuments.

Zbigniew-Bauer on kapuscinski.info

"Monument of Flame" — review of Shah of Shahs