"Swimming Pool," written by Piotr Florczyk, is the latest novel in a series titled "Object Lessons," which is a series that explores ordinary objects, such as swimming pools, and their influence in sports, history and/or culture. This particular piece further explores how pools have become a place where people seek to attain the union between their minds and bodies.
Piotr Florczyk graduated from the University of California with a Ph.D. and is now an assistant professor of Global Literary Studies at the University of Washington. He recently wrote a book of poems called "Invisible," which was named Autumn 2021 Translation Choice by Poetry Book Society in the United Kingdom. His U.S. citizenship began with a swimming fellowship, as he's a former world-ranked swimmer, hence his interest in writing this new novel.
"Swimming Pool" is a blend of personal narrative and critical inquiry, and further explores artists, architects, writers and others who have helped solidify a pool's prominent and iconic role in our culture in society worldwide.
"Having spent most of my life around a pool, no one would fault me taking it for granted," says Rada Owen, U.S. Olympic Swim Team, 2000, in a statement to Bloomsbury. "But "Swimming Pool" tells a unique and compelling story of the swimming pool, allowing me to appreciate that it's more than just a place to cool off or go back and forth along a black line. Florczyk has done a remarkable job bringing to the surface the potentially unanticipated way that pools have affected us, for the good and the bad."
Whether a pool is shaped like a kidney bean and back lit, or is of Olympic dimensions with perfect gutters and an ever-present black line, or is a sign of suburban wealth, or is drained and abandoned, the ultimate message this novel is portraying is that swimming pools are emblems of everything — from sanctuary, to privilege, to athleticism, to leisure — when it comes to a person's everyday life.
This novel was published in February 2024 by Bloomsbury Academic. It is available for purchase at a price of $14.95, ISBN: 9781501394874, and is 120 pages. Chapters include: 1) Where Do You Swim?, 2) What Is Your Pool?, 3) Why Do You Swim? and 4) Who Gets to Swim?
