Pionowy świat i góry na opak, czyli autobiografia na cztery ręce Olgi i Piotra Morawskich

Abstract

The article presents an interpretation of Od początku do końca (From Beginning to End), a book written by Olga Morawska and Piotr Morawski. The work contains a Himalayan climber’s 2001–2009 diary covering, among others, expeditions to K2, Annapurna and Dhaulagiri, as well as his wife’s memoir written after his death. A combination of two perspectives and two narratives, of the climber and his life companion, makes the book stand out from the genre of Himalayan climbing accounts – for literary reasons and owing to its focus on human relationships (intersubjectivity). Nevertheless, a focus on space, a staple of the genre, is strong in this book as well. Consequently, the analysis of the climber’s notes points to a sensual topography: a record of direct experience of mountains. Morawska’s memoir, in turn, is permeated with spatial metaphors (of life as a journey) and brings grief to the fore