O poznawaniu rzeki w ruchu na przykładzie Dunaju Claudia Magrisa i Dunaju. Opowieści o ludziach znad wielkiej rzeki Nicka Thorpe’a

Abstract

Movement is intrinsic to the very nature of rivers, and it should likewise characterize the work of those who seek to understand themtheir waters, their diversity, and the life that unfolds in and around them along the river’s course. Traveling along the banks or drifting with the current is demanding, yet such journeys enable the observation and analysis of natural and cultural landscapes, histories, and communities. The Danube, Europe’s second-longest river, inspired Claudio Magris and Nick Thorpe to undertake expeditions that produced narratives encompassing culture, history, geography, biology, and ecology. These accounts frame the Danube as both a connector-facilitating movement, trade, and cultural exchange between East and West-and, in antiquity, as a boundary separating Ro-man civilization from the world of the so-called barbarians. The authors traveled in opposite directions-Magris downstream, Thorpe upstream-shaping their respective perceptions of space. Danube and The Danube: A Journey Upriver from the Black Sea to the Black Forest serve as points of departure for reflecting on the movement of nature, writers, literary characters, and the inhabitants of lands along the middle section of the river, from the Croatian-Hungarian-Serbian border to its delta.