Literature is the art of story-telling, claims Krakow-based author Łukasz Dębski, and proves the truth of this thesis in this tale, written in several different voices, about the Café Szafé, which is the focal point for the events he describes. Over a cup of coffee and a shot of alcohol the various eccentric customers who visit this establishment tell tales from somewhere on the borders of reality and fantasy. They represent themselves as better than they really are, and often quite simply invent things. Dębski’s book has obvious parallels with the genre of bar-room chat so typical of Czech fiction, which achieved its peak in Jaroslav Hašek’s The Good Soldier Švejk or Bohumil Hrabal’s Automat Svět [“Automat World”]. Café Szafé is a brief novel containing a large number of short pieces, scenes and dialogues brought together by the narrator, who is the café’s joint owner. The habitués of the café confide in him as if in a confessor, and seek his understanding for their conduct. Together they create the magic of the place, because it is they who determine what it is, while the jazz, coffee and other comestibles are just props – important, but not the most important things there. Dębski’s heroes are lonely people. The Café Szafé is their home – this is where they meet people and form friendships, and this is where they discuss the world’s most vital issues and the most mundane trivialities with equal gusto. And the fact that Sławomir Mrożek also appears in the book is no accident – all Dębski’s characters, including The Astronomer, The Local Constable, Mr Karol, The Senior Registrar and Łucjusz, are true scions of Mrożek. Krzysztof Masłoń Łukasz Dębski (born 1975) writes fiction, screenplays and children’s books. His first book was The Squirrel’s Tale and Other Fables in Verse (2001). He lives and works in Krakow.
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