Polish school of artistic reportage: history and development process

The article deals with the history of the Polish School of Artistic Reportage, which is developing separately from the American “new journalism”. The author researches major social-political motives for appearance of reportage: strict state censorship, unwillingness of reporters to use the images of the world and people, shown by the authorities, the desire to describe modern life truly and factually. A special attention has been paid to the uniqueness of the Polish Literature of fact, which means writing reportages about epic, unique and documentary characters, who show some profound phenomenon, a tendency or a unique story. The key figures of the reporters have been mentioned: Henryk Sienkiewicz, WładysławReymont, Arkady Fiedler, Melchior Wańkowicz, Ksawery Pruszyński, Marian Brandys, Krzysztof Kąkolewski, Ryszard Kapuściński, Małgorzacie Szejnert, Hannie Krall and others.

The major works, that are supposed to be the best examples of the Polish reportage, have been mentioned. Besides, the major centers for the development of the genre (“The school of new realism”), the key publishing houses, where reportage schools were the strongest and the most brilliant, were named. For instance, «Wiadomości Literackie», «Polityka», «Literatura», «Świat», «Gazeta Wyborcza». This article also outlines the reasons for the popularity of the genre among Polish readers: a large loan of trust to journalists as to the “leaders of thoughts”, the authoritative publications and eminence of reporters themselves (the journalists very often become experts in the topic, they write about), the historical continuity of the school of reportage, the role of this genre as “the mirror” in the social-political life of the country. The author studies the current state of the reportage in media space in details and names the unique qualities of reporters, who work in this genre.

Keywords: Polish school of artistic reportage; artistic reportage; non-stop; literary journalism; literature of fact.

doi: 10.32403/0554-4866-2019-1-77-93-100