Archival Criminal Reportages. Retro-Criminal Para-Literature

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to discuss features of the so-called retro crime novel. The conventions of this genre relate, among others, to the classic interwar murder mystery or the so-called militia novel from the era of the Polish People’s Republic. The author shows that these novels exploit the nostalgic and melancholy needs of the reader perceiving popular fiction as a form of escapism. An unexpected rival to these novels has recently arisen in the shape of journalist reportages describing spectacular investigations and criminal court cases from 20th-century Poland. As a model for the new species was considered Barbara Seidler’s reportages – the criminal reportages perform similar nostalgic functions (albeit supplied with sound archival work), namely seeking solutions to cases from previous years. Such reportages can be seen as reliable portraits of the 20th-century society as reflected in the history of felony and scandal, their public perception and urban mythology. The author shows modern authors of this kind of reportage (Cezary Łazarewicz, Łukasz Orbitowski, Przemysław Semczuk, Magda Omilanowicz), who experiment interestingly with narrative form – either coming closer to conventions of a novel, complying with the strict rules of the criminal chronicle or escaping into attempts of quasi-psychological rendering the reportage  introspective.