Although the work of Ryszard Kapuściński has been the subject of a number of academic papers, the six volumes of Lapidarium remain relatively little-known. Researchers investigating the oeuvre of the Polish reporter and writer often pointed out the “diaristic nature of the cycle” (Horodecka, 2010, p. 312), placed it “somewhere between a journal of the books he read, an essay, a collection of aphorisms, and an intimate diary” (Grochowski, 2000, p. 122), or called it a “rough silva rerum” (Nowacka & Ziątek, 2008, p. 276). Always situated somewhere in-between, Lapidarium is a hybrid of literary genres. Nonetheless, so far no analysis has tackled the work in a manner thorough enough to distinguish theoretical bases of the genre's characteristics.

In my article, I try to distinguish the features of Lapidarium which constitute the work's diary-like character; I also trace out the process of the subject revealing himself in the six volumes of writings. Special attention is given to the textual dimension of the work, that is, what topics are mentioned by the subject when speaking in the first person, and what when using the plural or addressing himself indirectly. Moreover, I examine the following issues: does Ryszard Kapuściński-a character emerging from Lapidarium know how to cope with his own self, his ‘I’, with the Ryszard Kapuściński existing in real life, beyond art and literature?