 | Świat Książki
Warsaw 2008
123x195
320 pages
hardcover
ISBN: 978-83-24712-09-0
Translation rights: Świat Książki |
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Manuela GretkowskaThe Citizeness
Excerpt
"The Citizeness" is the third part of Manuela Gretkowska’s running diary, showing the writer in a rather untypical role, as the founder, and then president of the Women’s Party. In describing what goes on behind the scenes of the political scrum, she answers the question of how a writer hit upon this unusual idea, and explains what attracted her to it.
It all began by accident, when a column was withdrawn from a certain newspaper, in which Gretkowska criticised the government of the Kaczyński brothers. She then published an uncompromising statement on the modern situation of “the Polish Mother” in one of the weeklies. It was later reissued in a book called Manifesto, in which Gretkowska challenged women to determine their own rights and create their own party. The initiative did not fail to stir a response, and it was immediately obvious that the charismatic author should head the new political force.
To those who followed the whole affair from the outside, it looked like a combination of cabaret and a theatrical event. Although thousands of women responded enthusiastically to Gretkowska’s initiative, she got no support from any of the formal political forces. Her efforts to be taken seriously were not helped by the fact that in the meantime her new novel was published, which meant that her political venture was seen as nothing but an unusual advertising gimmick.
"The Citizeness" certainly casts light on the whole so-called scandal, and mainly on the writer herself, who really did take on the role of Don Quixote in a skirt, battling not just against external criticism, but also the friction that arose among her colleagues. She gives a frank account of her struggles with the machinations of politics and with human nature, highlights moments of triumph and doubt, and above all describes the everyday work of the party.
It is worth stressing that although these are the confessions of a person with no experience as a community worker or diplomat, it is hard to regard her as naïve. Manuela Gretkowska is aware of the tragi-comic nature of the ups and downs she experienced and treats them with a fairly large dose of irony, though not enough to make the reader doubt her commitment.
Marta Mizuro
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