"Ishmael Sails On", Review of the Book "The Emperor"

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

Author: Zbigniew Bauer. Source: Życie literackie no. 7/1979, p. 6. Date of publication: 1979-01-01

The writing of Ryszard Kapuściński is a phenomenon. That sounds high-flown, but the reviewer has no other way of putting it. The “phenomenality” of Kapuściński’s reportages is not only a question of their subject matter, style, language — in a word, of all that is a characteristic of a literary work. It also relates to the social reception of the books of the author of “Christ with a Rifle on His Shoulder”. It is extraordinarily rare for non-fiction literature to be able to cause such resonance, such controversy, and to enjoy such enormous popularity. Though admittedly — and here one must agree with opponents — this is also sometimes caused by fashion, fame, perhaps gossip, those quiet regulators of readers’ reactions.

Zycie-Literackie on kapuscinski.info

"Ishmael Sails On", Review of the Book "The Emperor"