A master of literary reportage and the most outstanding writer among reporters – people said about Ryszard Kapuściński during his lifetime. The traveler, reporter and writer brought his profession to a unique level that is still difficult for subsequent generations of young journalists to achieve. Nevertheless, he is still their role model, even after so many years. Although he raised reportage to the rank of a literary genre, he used to say that writing was “terrible, physical work.”
Ryszard Kapuściński was born in 1932 in Pińsk in Polesie, in what is now Belarus. He was the son of Józef, who took part in the September Campaign at the very beginning of World War II. When the Soviet Union attacked Poland from the east on September 17, he was taken prisoner. He quickly freed himself from it, and then, together with his family, he wandered to the area of today’s Otwock near Warsaw.
Party nominee. However, he did not accept compromises
Perhaps it was this trip that left its mark on young Ryszard, who went to study history at the University of Warsaw in 1950 (he had previously studied for a while at the Faculty of Polish Studies). Importantly, however, he made his literary debut before graduating from high school. In the following years, he was made easier to publish thanks to the membership of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR), of which he was a member until 1981, when the popularity of “Solidarity” increased.
November 2000. Ryszard Kapuściński and Francis Fukuyama during a meeting at the University of Warsaw Library Photo Jerzy Gumowski / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
In Kapuściński’s case, however, this is no disgrace, because if it were not for the party’s intercession, he would not have been able to complete such great works that we read about to this day. Traveling in the times of the Polish People’s Republic until the Gierek “thaw” was very difficult for people outside the government. His fame began to shine when he became a messenger in the national youth daily “Sztandar Młodych”. Already in 1956, he received the Gold Cross of Merit for his reportage from the year before “This is also the truth about Nowa Huta”, although he almost lost his job for writing the truth about the conditions in the foundry near Krakow. Oh, a paradox. As a reward, he went on his first foreign trip, straight to India.
Here he had an epiphany. It all started in India
While traveling through this country, he faced cultural shock, additionally intensified by his poor knowledge of English. It was accompanied by a purchased English dictionary and “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Ernest Hemingway in that language. Years later, he mentioned this expedition in “Travels with Herodotus”. Then, in 1957, he went to Japan and China, and a year later, as an emissary of the Polish Press Agency, he received a full-time job at the then extremely prestigious “Polityka”. The result of his four-year work for the weekly was “Busz po Polsku”, already produced in our country.
A witness to the fall of colonialism. He almost said goodbye to life
His fascination with the decolonization process in Africa pushed him to the Dark Continent at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s. There, from Ghana, Dahomey (today’s Benin) and Niger, he observed the formation of a new African order. He also decided to visit Congo, which was close to being his last stop. If it weren’t for the intervention of UN soldiers, he would have been executed there along with two Czech journalists. He described his memories from that time several years later in “Football War”. Despite numerous perturbations in Africa, he spent 5 years on behalf of PAP, which resulted in “Black Stars” from 1963 and “If All Africa” published 6 years later.
Goodbye Africa. Welcome to Latin America
Then it was time to discover the Caucasian and Asian Soviet republics, and the notes from these expeditions were included in “Kirgiz Dismounts” (1968). However, a year earlier he had already visited another continent, because for the next 5 years he was PAP’s correspondent for Latin America. While staying in Chile, Mexico, Bolivia and Brazil, he was not idle, and his works resulted in “Why Karl von Spreti died” from 1970 and “Christ with a Rifle on His Shoulder” (1975).
Ryszard Kapuściński Photo Maciej Zienkiewicz / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
Although after his return he resigned from working for the Polish Press Agency, as a reporter for “Kultura” he continued to interact with civilizations that were distant to the average citizen of the People’s Republic of Poland. It was his travels to Ethiopia and Iran at that time that gained him international fame: “The Emperor” from 1978, about the life of the court of Haile Selassie I, and “Shakhinshah” (1982), devoted to the political situation around Iran in less than several dozen years. At the same time, he was a lecturer at the University of Warsaw.
A short break from reporting. He didn’t last very long
The 1980s were marked by Kapuściński’s weariness with traveling and creating reportages, which resulted in, among others, the collection of poems “Notes” from 1986 and the series of short reflections “Lapidarium”, published four years later. However, the break with the world did not last long. The collapse of the USSR fascinated him too much to pass up the opportunity for another journey, which he immortalized in the form of Empire (1993). A few years later, he visits Africa again, which he devotes attention to in “Ebony” from 1998. The last works in the life of the great reporter were “Travels with Herodotus” from 2004, and the book of poetry “Prawa Natury”, published two years later.
In countries where freedom of speech prevails, a journalist’s freedom is limited by the interests of the newspaper for which he works. In many cases, a journalist, especially a young one, has to make far-reaching compromises and resort to a sophisticated strategy to avoid direct confrontation (…) In general, it is a profession that requires constant struggle and vigilance
– Kapuściński admitted years later, and his words are still relevant after over 20 years.
Ryszard Kapuściński perceived his work as a translation not from language to language, but from culture to culture. And after many years, it must be admitted that his attempt to describe distant customs still holds up. The reporter died in Warsaw on January 23, 2007 at the age of 74.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
