The Non-Disposable Book [re: M. Wicha: Rzeczy, których nie wyrzuciłem]

Abstract

In his book Rzeczy, których nie wyrzuciłem [Things I Didn’t Throw Out] Marcin Wicha, in a gesture of filial mourning, tries to reconstruct the portrait of his
deceased mother by writing about the objects she has left. Starting from the material, he recreates the behaviours, views, and family memories of his mother, and saves from the oblivion the scenes that most fully reflect her complexity. Wicha’s book is also an expression of rebellion against the ready word formulas used in the face of death as it attempts to create a story that matches only one deceased person. Rzeczy, których nie wyrzuciłem corresponds with other “mourning texts” (works by Różewicz, Iwasiów, Barthes and Zagajewski) but thanks to the author’s skillful oscillation between individual life and general truths, pathos and irony, understatements and exposures, the personal and the literary – the book turns out to be an original example of writing about loss as it avoids banality and sentimentality.