Szelma i inne opowieści przyziemne

In these empathetic prose miniatures, Elżbieta Isakiewicz has created tales and images with the precision of a journalist-reporter. The short form, which the media, owing to its note-like way of communicating, has made familiar to today’s readers, is, however, merely outer apparel. The confusions and tangled threads of interpersonal communication are couched in philosophical reflection. Here, poetry has been turned into micro-fiction. The snapshots of Polish anxiety that we see encapsulated in Szelma reveal the universal and current problems of our contemporary world: poverty, childhood, memory, urges, history, pandemics, illness, diversity, power, faith, loneliness, nostalgia… These are just a few of the many threads that, at a given moment, stop us in our tracks and force us to reflect on our journey through this lyrical prose.