Eustachy Rylski

After Breakfast

"After Breakfast" is a collection of articles about literature, to put it as guardedly as possible. In the seven essays that make up this book, Rylski presents his literary favourites, profiles his ideal choice of writers and literary figures, conjectures on the art of writing, and above all talks about himself as a reader and sings the praises of reading. In a way, these meditations on literary matters are an excuse for Rylski to talk about the world of his youth, with which he has irrevocably lost touch. It was then, in the mid-1960s, that he read the books that largely determined his fate, shaped his character and captured his imagination for ever. And so a leading role in "After Breakfast" is played by nostalgia. Rylski re-visits his reading experiences of the past, and at the same time his former self. This is an interesting turn in the work of an author who has previously avoided writing anything that could be deemed autobiographical. Here for the first time he talks openly about himself, and about the places and people he was connected with in the distant past. Although this book is quite modest in size, it is very thought-provoking. Perhaps the most interesting theme in "After Breakfast" involves reflections on the perfect reader. Rylski sketches a utopian image of the old-style reader who no longer exists today. Who was he? Someone who read heaps of books voraciously. If this ideal reader regarded any writer as his own – the way Rylski felt about Hemingway in the early 1960s – he not only read absolutely everything signed with his favourite author’s name, but knew his work almost by heart. Whether it was the characters or the plot, he treated it all as if it were written specially for us (this is the status he gives to a supporting character from one of Turgenev’s stories). The heroes of novels (e.g. the main character in Camus’ "The Plague") took on the role of moral authorities, and the writers themselves – Rylski writes of Malraux in this way – became teachers of life, idols whom one wanted to imitate. Once, Rylski recalls, literature was serious and important, and coming into contact with it was just as much an encounter with someone else’s imagination as “reading” or “experiencing” your own self. Unfortunately there is nothing to imply that those attitudes and practices have returned.

Dariusz Nowacki

Eustachy Rylski (born 1944) writes fiction, drama, screenplays and – thanks to this collection – essays. His first publication was "Stankiewicz and The Return" (1984), featuring two novellas. In recent years he has published the novels "The Man in the Shadow" (2004) and "The Condition" (2005), and a short story collection, "The Island" (2007).