Pansion

by Piotr Paziński, Dalibor Blažina (Translator)

U središtu naracije romana neobičan je pansion nedaleko Varšave u kojemu borave Židovi koji su preživjeli Holokaust. U njega u jednodnevni posjet dolazi mladić koji je kao dječak ondje s bakom često provodio praznike i susreće nekoliko ostarjelih gostiju koji ga se sjećaju iz tog vremena. Od tog trenutka glavni junak otpočinje potragu za izgubljenim vremenom, re-kreaciju vlastitog djetinjstva, koja je ujedno pokušajem rekonstrukcije pamćenja zajednice kojoj s punom sviješću pripada: zajednici poljskih Židova kojih više, praktički, nema.

Zahvaljujući autorovoj magijskoj gesti oživljavanja interijera pansiona, čujemo "glasove u tami" onih koji su "urasli" u njegov prostor. U njima još uvijek razaznajemo krhotine jidiša, pa i hebrejskog jezika, svjedočeći beskrajnim sporovima čiji su akteri ostarjeli svjedoci povijesti i objekti prolaznosti. Jer spor je u tom svijetu način bivanja, osnovna figura društvenosti. Tu su gospođa Tecia i gospođa Mala, sitne, čangrizave starice, gospodin Leon i gospodin Abram koji – poput Nafte i Settembrinija u "Čarobnoj gori" Thomasa Manna – stalno obnavljaju prastari židovski spor o Bogu, doktor Kahn koji vedro i s blagom ironijom podučava dijete židovstvu, ali i ljubavi prema drugom, te pomalo groteskni, neurotični upravitelj, koji ih poput Mojsija vodi "kroz teška vremena, hrani, daje piti".

Uz pomoć pak starih pisama, požutjelih razglednica, izbljedjelih fotografija, davno pročitanih novina mladić pokušava ispuniti prazna mjesta povijesti, pronaći i protumačiti njezine reflekse u biografijama stanovnika pansiona, ispitati spor između cionista, koji su zagovarali odlazak u Izrael, i bundovaca, koji su zahtijevali opstanak u okvirima kulturne autonomije unutar poljske države. Iz tih predmeta s naporom iščitava i sudbine onih koji su nakon rata preživjeli, i koji su ili prihvatili komunizam i ostali, ili su se odlučili na izlazak – za emigraciju na Zapad odnosno migraciju u Izrael – u Obećanu zemlju, u Domovinu.

"Pansion" je, dakle, kronotop židovstva, vremeno-mjesto u kojemu se prelamaju život, povijest i mit. Ali u matici vremena, to je opustjeli dom, čija je obnova moguća samo posredstvom nepouzdana pamćenja.

Genres: Fiction, Poland, Jewish

160 pages, Hardcover

First published July 13, 2009

About the author

Piotr Paziński, born in 1973, is the author of three books: a monograph on James Joyce’s Ulysses, a subjective guide tracing the footsteps of Joyce's Dublin, and the novel Pensjonat, published in 2009 by the small Nisza Publishing House. For this novel, he received the Paszport Polityki, the cultural award of the Polish publication Polityka. Paziński lives in Warsaw, where he works as the chief editor of the Jewish magazine Midrash, and is working on a book of short stories.

Reviews

[Sarah Cavar · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems others didn’t like this book, so I have to voice my dissent: this was an absolutely arresting meditation on grief, memory, and faith, and an intimate look into the (re) creation of relationships and realities across space and time. Here, the physical constraints of the boarding house serve as guardrails for the painful, omission-filled conversations between characters that rarely speak directly of, but are haunted by, the Holocaust and other pogroms. Meanwhile, characters voice shifts in family and faith amidst millennia of oppression, collapsing the distance between self and other, and history and future.

Ironically, though a train journey (haunted, again, by the memory of cattle cars) functions as the frame for this novella, some might be frustrated that the story itself doesn’t “go anywhere.” It is recursive, it doubles back on itself, it expands like a puddle rather than a river. In my view, this is one of its strengths: it gets at the nature of a collective trauma so great that it can only be spoken about with/by omission.

Following this, characters’ reckonings with the divine become reckonings with the limits of knowledge itself: if gd is both inevitably unknowable and the manifestation “pure thought,” then it follows that a story about Jewish trauma and Jewish philosophy would not come to a singular conclusion, but leave space open for further inquiry and reinterpretation. Paziński does a superb job of balancing necessary context and backstory with an overwhelming sense of existential smallness, creating a philosophical space that I anticipate returning to again in the future.

[Anna Wilczyńska · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5
Sama nostalgiczna, melancholijna atmosfera mi się podobała. Finał niezły, ale nie zaskakuje. Całość momentami przegadana, choć to bardzo krótka książka. Nie mam pewności, czy ta książka dalej ma takie oddziaływanie jak w 2009.

[Nadia Karlikova · Rating 1 out of 5]

Не се чете! Мъчих се, мъчих се, но така и не намерих нещо, за което да се хвана, за да продължа да я чета.

[Czytam Sercem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nostalgia i tęsknota za utraconym światem przodków, jeden z pierwszych głosów trzeciego pokolenia

[Jacqueline Wagenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

За „Пансионът“ нашумелият полски автор Пьотр Пажински беше удостоен с Европейска награда за литература през 2012-а година. Мъдър и упоителен разказ, изтъкан от фрагменти: снимки с избледняващи надписи, разпадащи се изрезки от вестници, случайно изплували фрази, имена и събития, идеологически спорове. Един влак спира на малка гара и отвежда героя към еврейския почивен дом от детството му. Пансионът, в който някога е кипял живот, сега е приютил възрастни хора, оцелели от Холокоста. Напоено с тъга, ирония и надежда, повествованието приканва читателя да сподели ритуалa на паметта, в който отеква гласът на третото следвоенно поколение. То няма вина, но носи белезите от травмите, настоява за опрощение и търси отговорите, заключени от историята.

Преводът е дело на Васил Велчев.

Роден през 1973 г., Пьотр Пажински е сред най-обещаващите имена в съвременната полска литература. Известен е още като талантлив журналист, литературен критик и преводач, автор е на две монографии за „Одисей” на Джеймс Джойс и на романите „Пансионът” и „Птичи улици”. За романа „Пансионът” получава наградата на списание „Политика” и Европейската награда за литература (2012).

Премиерата на книгата в присъствие на автора е на 27 април в литературен клуб „Перото”.

[Aleksandra Karasinska · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young man takes a train to a small town outside of Warsaw to visit a boarding house populated by the last generation of Polish Holocaust survivors. When his grandmother was alive, he had spent a great deal of time at this boarding house, and now he returns, as if to get one last glimpse of the past--to look at old faces and think old thoughts. We have portraits of different representatives f jewish community before the war. Socialist, religious, wealthy and poor. Pázinski's narrative is at once dreamlike and hard-nosed, and it is structured with the haunting simplicity of a fairy tale. The author captured their language, idiosyncrasies, but also what they have in common.
The Boarding House by Piotr Paziński is a story about a disappearing world that refuses to vanish entirely. The author is Winner of the European Union Prize for Literature.

[Magdalena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nieruchomy pensjonat, a w nim płyną, pulsują, podskakują historie. Historie dostojne, dramatyczne, dziecięce. Historie, które nie układają się chronologicznie, ale nagle pojawiają się w świadomości narratora, wywołane do tablicy pamięci nagłym spotkaniem czy doznaniem.

To książka intymna. (Wchodzimy przecież komuś do głowy!) Melancholijna, jesienna, pełna staroświeckich słów, słodkich jak konfitury wiśniowe, które kiedyś kapnęły na szydełkowy obrus u babci na podwieczorku. Pozornie niewiele się tu dzieje: przyjazd, parę godzin, wyjazd. A jednak każda minuta pobytu w pensjonacie wypełniona akcją po brzegi!

To dobra książka na początek roku, kiedy pełni nadziei stwarzamy świat ze wspomnień przyszłych pokoleń.

[Lotte Van Der Paelt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ik kwam dit boek toevallig tegen in de bibliotheek en het leek iets waar ik wel van zou kunnen genieten, ik had mij zelfs voorbereid op een paar tranen. Jammer genoeg had ik er blijkbaar iets te veel van verwacht. Ik ben niet iemand die dit vaak zegt, maar ik vond het eerlijk gezegd een beetje saai. Meestal hou ik van dit type boeken, maar Het Pension zei mij jammer genoeg niet veel. Ik geef de auteur nog niet op, maar hopelijk komt hij met iets beter.

[lärm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about loss. Loss of those who died in the war, but also of those who survived it. It's beautifully written, incoherent at times but nevertheless it's an absolute gem. There's not much of a storyline but here it's all about atmosphere. I felt sad for days. Mission accomplished.

Life's a bitch when you're a Jew.

[Nicko D · Rating 1 out of 5]

Еврейското лоби е силно. Романът не е това, което очаквах.

[Amellie · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Археология на паметта, потънала в мрак" или "философски разказ" за пътешествието през живота и спирките в него, "Пансионът" е твърде етнически и религиозно насочена творба за моя вкус.

[Czarnuch · Rating 1 out of 5]

ksiazka bez fabuły

po czasie zmieniam na 1 xd

[Slavi Stoyanova · Rating 2 out of 5]

Много тъжна книга. Може и да е мъничка, но не можах да я дочета, а и четенето й вървеше доооста трудно.

[Maria (a)]

DNF @ 18%.

[Rachel Simone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This follows a brief time of a boarding house with residents who survived the Holocaust from the POV of a young man who lived there as a child and comes back to visit. It is kind of rambling and goes back and forth in time, so that was hard to track. I think some references went over my head. There were some beautiful meditations on mortality and duty.

[Ronan Doyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found reading this a bit like swimming through treacle, for better and worse: it's clear Paziński's goal here is a dreamlike suspended status—and it's an appropriate one, given the subject at hand—but I did struggle to synch with the sombre rhythm of his prose. There is, nonetheless, a great sense of community at work here; drawing on reality, Paziński has done a commendable job of preserving a people before they pass away.

[Temz]

Kратко, но опасно вървене по въжето на спомените.