Hanna Krall

Pink ostrich feathers

Excerpt

At first glance, it could be said that Hanna Krall’s new book was written by others. By her relatives and acquaintances, who wrote her letters, postcards, and the notes you left on people’s doors when they weren't at home over a period of fifty years. She has also added written reports by her guardian angels, i.e. excerpts from the secret service archives, as well as correspondence with publishers explaining that they cannot publish her books.
A second glance, however, reveals a difference between the material that was sent and that which was heard and noted down by the author herself. Even if the publisher hasn’t used italics to differentiate the two kinds of narration, the sound of a story reconstructed from memory can’t be confused with any other. This is the sound of a tale told in Krall’s characteristic style.
The writer has never mentioned the fact that at public readings, she asks her audience to tell stories themselves. She has doubtlessly made use of strangers’ tales on more than one occasion, but this is the first book in which she reveals them in their ‘raw’ version. These are not finished but rather kernels of stories; potential topics for development. In presenting their outlines, Krall provokes readers to ask themselves numerous questions. Why didn’t the writer take up these ideas? Could they be expanded and taken further? And, finally: shouldn’t some of these stories just be left in peace?
We find a partial answer to these questions in the book. It is difficult to do anything much with postcards from one’s small daughter or notes from one’s husband. On the other hand, placed in chronological order, they suddenly form a full-blooded story. Family history set against a historical background. Ordering the notes according by date sketches in the scenery. This clarifies the idea behind the composition, but there is still a sense of something missing. Do a few notes (for some years just one) really reflect the zeitgeist of the time? Or was that all the author remembered, or did she decide that was all that was worthy of citation from a given period?
If viewed in this way, Pink Ostrich Feathers turns out to be a book full of riddles. All of which could be said to lead to one question: where does literature start?

Marta Mizuro

Hanna Krall (born 1937) is one of Poland’s most outstanding journalists. Her books regularly appear on bestseller lists in Poland and abroad. She has been translated into more than ten languages.