Agnieszka Chrobak
Konteksty Kultury, Vol. 9 , 2012, pp. 171-188
The sketch makes an attempt to determine the poetics of a reportage on an example of two works: by Wojciech Tochman and Jacek Hugo-Bader. The books, published in a short time interval, differ both with regard to the discussed subject and to the manner of realization of structural features of a reportage. The author has chosen Tochman’s work as the main subject of her discussion, since it combines a historical and social subject matter with a deepened psychological analysis of characters and subjective self-commentary, thus expanding the convention of the genre towards a documentary novel. As opposed to Bader, Tochman puts a greater emphasis on the composition of the text, as well as the stylistic layer of the utterance, to finally become in line with the trend of New Journalism. Bader realizes a travel reportage with social subject matter, therefore he relies mainly on recalled interviews and source materials. Confronting the works on a basis of a simultaneous comparison, the author shows an exceptional image of Tochman’s prose, treating Bader’s collection as an antithesis, as a different manner of realization of specific structural features.