The plot takes place in Poland in May and June 1990. The main character, Stach (Stan), struggles like his countrymen with the reality of systemic and economic transformations associated with the collapse of communism. The degree obtained three years earlier is of little use and Stan grabs odd jobs. An accidental acquaintance on the train on the way from a contraband trip to Hungary directs his steps to Kraków. Ever since he visited this city years ago during a school trip, it remained in his memory as a unique place, full of history, legends and mysteries.
Events lead, like falling domino blocks, to new developments and acquaintances and these to the initiation into matters on the borderline between science, philosophy and fantasy. A public popular-science lecture turns out to be the beginning of the hero's introduction into the dilemmas of big science. It is happens to be the opportunity to renew his relationship with Liza, whom he had once met while hiking in the Tatra Mountains. The girl becomes an anchor that stops him in Kraków.
Fascination with Liza, devoid of superficial attributes of female grace, Stan explains by a special kind of charm created by the combination of her filigree physique, intelligence and erudition. Her person associates in his mind with fairy-tale characters of the Arcadian nymph and Little Prince. In addition to the deeper similarities that draw them together, acquaintance with a native Cracovian is an attractive variation and ennoblement for the hero coming from Poland’s eastern provinces.
Liza is a student of Polish philology, and as a hobby she is interested in science, especially biology. She also studies history as a pastime, in pursuit of which she does not mind reaching for legends. Her interests are shared by Hieronim, Stan's housemate at his rented temporary abode. Hieronim is fascinated by all manifestations of occultism and paranormality. From these he creates his incoherent, eclectic world, to Stan’s alternating amusement and irritation. While Stan would not mind comparing Liza to a wingless elf, Heronim’s personality prompts the comparison to an overgrown goblin.
A catalyst for Liza's scientific interests is her friend Edward, an adept of theoretical physics, who underwent a transformation akin to the biblical metamorphosis at Damascus. She met him when, as part of his renewal, he studied Polish philology at her faculty. A few months later, however, he abandoned this path and left for the Bieszczady Mountains, where he struggles with his demons as a forestry worker. Concerned about his fate, Liza wants to visit him, in which friendship with Stan proves helpful. Although Edward will not appear in the novel personally, he will play an important role in it, and the reader will not make a mistake finding in him references to the departed poet Edward Stachura.
Stan’s Lublin friend Gienek – or Eugeniusz as Liza prefers to call him – finds Stan in Kraków and draws him into his problems related to car smuggling. His current job involves a car stolen in Germany, with Russia or Ukraine being the final destination. Stan and his grandfather Henryk – an eccentric even among frontier oddballs, according to his grandson – suspect that it is not so much the car as hidden cargo that criminals and the Police are after. They guess that political tensions associated with transformations in Europe and the Soviet Union may have something to do with it. Before the riddle is solved, the smuggled Mercedes will put the heroes through a lot of excitement and adventures.
Stan's other interesting acquaintance during his stay in Kraków is a mysterious old man, Jan Marycz, who at first glance resembles a street tramp. However, he turns out to be a mathematician whose previous sympathy with the communist authorities recently condemned him to abandon his professional career. He is a frequent visitor to Kraków's Market Square, where, dressed in a long raincoat, with dishevelled long, grey hair, he feeds pigeons. The story of Marycz, and in particular of his family heritage, will become the source of one of Stan’s biggest shocks during the two months.
The novel’s last chapter shows a certain Rudolf Linde who, nineteen years after the events described in the novel, travels by plane to his native country. The reader will find Rudolf's words and thoughts connected to the events described in the novel. They will also help explaining the paranormal events taking place in Stan’s Awakening. Thanks to this final chapter, the reader may also find comfort after shocking revelations about the current state of big science and consolation in suspicions about the nature of reality.
One of the motifs passing through the novel is the suggestion that magic and unfathomable secrets may not be necessary too far to look for. As Stan believes, every man deep down wants them to be real and suspects their existence on the bottom of everyday life. Attesting this is the unwavering attachment to traditional religions, interest in occultism and various forms of escape into fantasy. Attempts to solve the metaphysical riddles could be found in honest attempts to answer the basic questions of philosophy: “Where did the world come from and what is the place of people in its design?”
Far from making such attempts, big science reminds Stan and Liza of a derailed train, which, by the momentum of its esoteric abstractions, runs through a ploughed field, in the middle of which it will eventually have to stop. Well-articulated evidence from authoritative sources about the dilemmas of contemporary physics, mathematics and biology may incline the reader to agree with such an assessment. The emphasis on transparent explanation of these matters will prompt the correct conclusion that the hope for a metaphorical awakening of the thinking man was a main inspiration in creating Stan’s Awakening.
A significant source of inspiration was also the desire to create a credible image of Poland in one of its more important breakthrough moments. Another important motif guiding the author's mind was reminding about Kraków, important both in Polish and broader cultural contexts. The reader sensitive to signs of creative inspirations will detect echoes of other literary works, from which the author drew more or less consciously. One of the more obvious inspirations is Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain. An example of a less apparent one is Jostein Gaarder's Sophie’s World.
Although the work cannot be described as easily digestible prose, it was created in the traditional novel format. The work is addressed mainly to the more demanding reader, although it contains elements that should satisfy the consumer of popular literature. The novel has about 104,000 words and is made up of twenty chapters. The novel was recently published by PWN-Rozpisani.
The author, Robert Panasiewicz, was born in Poland in 1963 and migrated to Australia in 1991. A geologist by original trade, with a degree from the University of Mining and Metallurgy in Kraków, he is currently professionally involved in matters related to finance and government policy as an employee of the Government of Western Australia. He lives with his wife and daughter in Perth, Western Australia. He has been interested in literature since childhood, and made his first attempts at writing during his studies in Kraków. His debut novel Saul was published in 2004 by the Polish Australian Cultural Association.
More information can be found on Fb and on the Rozpisani web page dedicated to the author and his writings.
© Robert Panasiewicz
The cover shows George Grie's The Stormbringer or Existential Awakening image (© 2017 GEORGE GRIE neosurrelismart.com).
