 | Korporacja ha!art
Cracow 2005
110 x 182
192 pages
paperback
ISBN 83-89911-10-8
Translation rights: korporacja ha!art
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Marta DzidoThe Clam
The Clam is Marta Dzido’s first full-length book. She has done a perfect job of fitting the trends currently prevailing in young people’s fiction. However, the main value of The Clam does not lie in the plotline that focuses on the rebellion of Magda (the heroine and narrator) against the omnipresent hypocrisy and media-imposed models of consumer behaviour. What I find more meaningful is the drama taking place in the background, as if “behind the scenes” of the main story, concerning the gradual collapse of interpersonal relationships. Marta Dzido demonstrates that more and more often the defensive reaction to the problems of our times is a complete dismantling of all social ties and emotional dependencies.
The Clam consists of ten short chapters and resembles the diary of a rebellious girl of secondary school age. The Polish title, Małż, is a pun, as the word not only means “clam” but is also short for “małżonek”, meaning “husband”; according to all the indications, Magda’s fiancé Mateusz is going to be the typical modern husband. The perfect model of a modern couple usually looks like this: he is young and good looking (“a silky smooth face and lovely clean fingernails”), very well educated, employed at an advertising agency, has a bright career path ahead of him, and works eighteen hours a day; she is young and beautiful, has graduated from a prestigious faculty, knows six languages and loves her job.
However, in this novel this attractive cliché is blown apart. First of all, because of staff cuts the heroine loses her job and has the frustrating experience of being unemployed. Secondly, and much more importantly, she has a character trait that makes it very hard to function in the capitalist jungle: she often speaks the truth. The problem is that she basically doesn’t fit into the world around her; she is the piece in the social jigsaw for whom it’s hardest to find the right place within the system.
When Mateusz comes home late from the advertising agency yet again, Magda lets fly with a definitive, not altogether consoling announcement: “…it’s over, no more nice little girl, sweet and smiling, always on time with neat hair and clean clothes”. It’s true that something is over in her life, but there’s nothing new aching to get started. The only thing that does begin is the systematic demolition of her relationships with other people. First her fiancé leaves, then comes a serious crisis in her relationship with her parents, and soon after even Paweł – her old boyfriend from student days – is no longer needed as a non-committal antidote to loneliness, but as someone she can borrow money from. At several points Magda feels the pain of isolation, and with a heavy heart realises that she’s missing her fiancé. However, just like a clam, she hides in the shell of her own world and shies away from any kind of relationship.
Artur Madaliński
Tygodnik Powszechny
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There are more than 28,000 publishers registered in Poland. However, the market is highly concentrated. The 200 largest publishing firms still hold almost 98 per cent of it. More »
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