Between literature and journalism: Jacek Podsiadło’s columns

Jacek Podsiadło, an acclaimed poet and essayist, is the author of a series of weekly columns published in Tygodnik Powszechny between 2000 and 2007, and later reprinted in two books, A mój syn [And My Son] and Pippi, dziwne dziecko [Pippi, A Strange Child] (both published in 2006). This article attempts to define the genre of these texts, which, in Polish, are classified as feuilletons, i.e. short essays in which a topical event is used as trigger to present the author's personal reflections, usually written in a light, ironic tone. As it hovers between journalism and art, or fact and literary fiction, the feuilleton is notoriously difficult to define. So are Podsiadło's feuilletons, which are distinguished by their poetic quality an original style and their themes, especially when they are presented from the point of view of 'a strange child'. That child, a quixotic character in its own rights, becomes the true focus of attention in the second series of his feuilletons.