Kataryniarz... (Część II)

POKAŻ/UKRYJ SPIS TREŚCI | POKAŻ/UKRYJ TREŚĆ NOTKI

SPIS TREŚCI
Cykl: Studia: Rok IV

1. Rejestracja...
2. Suplement...
3. Harmonogram... (I)
4. Harmonogram... (II)
5. Łoziński... (I)
6. Łoziński... (II)
7. Łoziński... (III)
8. Łoziński... (IV)
9. Cyberpunk...
10. Gotyk... (I)
11. Gotyk... (II)
12. Gotyk... (III)
13. Gotyk... (IV)
14. Gotyk... (V)
15. Stigmata... (I)
16. Stigmata... (II)
17. Stigmata... (III)
18. Stigmata... (IV)
19. Kataryniarz... (I)
20. Kataryniarz... (II)
21. Kataryniarz... (III)
22. Kataryniarz... (IV)
23. Kataryniarz... (V)
24. Kataryniarz... (VI)
25. Podsumowanie...

Polish Neo–partitional Politpunk ― a Case Study of The fucked–up fate of an Organ–grinder (pl. Pieprzony los Kataryniarza) by Rafał A. Ziemkiewicz as an Exemplar of Domestic Cyberpunk

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II. THE STATE OF SCHOLARSHIP

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When attempting to approach Polish cyberpunk from an academic perspective, one finds the field of modern science fiction curiously devoid of previous literary criticism. This is not to say that Polish cyberpunk lacks qualities which would make it worthwhile to be considered from an academic perspective, but rather, the scarce literary criticism on the subject can be traced back to a general reluctance of the Polish academia to embrace popular literature. Until the '80s, the attitude of the Polish academia towards domestic science fiction has been to consider it a variation of Soviet science fiction en masse. In Z. Lekiewicz's academic Philosophy of science fiction (1985), Polish science fiction has been presented on the grounds of showing/lacking sensitivity towards Marxist social discourse (3). The enchanted game (1982), an academic monograph on Polish science fiction authored by A. Smuszkiewicz, focused on domestic social and political SF and attempted to trace science fiction back to its presumed roots in utopias and myths. (4). Another monograph on Polish science fiction in the years 1990–2004 was published in 2007 by A. Mazurkiewicz (5). His monograph is the first to contain a survey chapter on Polish cyberpunk (Polish–ed cyberspace), which attempts to construe a typology of domestic cyberpunk narratives on the basis of how saturated with cyberpunk poetics particular narratives are. Of note is his cyberpunk re–reading of S. Lem's 1981 novel/philosophical treatise GOLEM XIV (6). That said, Mazurkiewicz's chapter remains a preliminary overview of Polish cyberpunk and does not, by any means, do full justice to the subject matter.

For more extensive overviews of Polish cyberpunk, one is forced to search outside the academia, within the realm of semi–academic or popular criticism of the fandom itself. The most fortunate SF writer with a cyberpunk novel and several cyberpunk short stories to his name is J. Dukaj, on whom two non–academic survey papers were written (7). R. Ziemkiewicz, the author of The fucked–up fate of an Organ–grinder, was featured in just one survey paper (8). In view of the scarce scholarship on Polish cyberpunk, and in view of the fact that the several Polish renditions of cyberpunk hardly constitute a regular sub–genre with its own typology, uniqueness and trends, a case study of a particular domestic cyberpunk novel seems appropriate and will nonetheless shed new light on the Polish sub–genre.

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(3) See: Lekiewicz Z., Filozofia Science Fiction, Warszawa 1985.
(4) Mazurkiewicz... p. 129.
See: Smuszkiewicz A., Zaczarowana gra, Poznań 1982; Parowski M./Smuszkiewicz A., "Cały czas w Zaczarowanej grze", Czas Fantastyki nr 1 (2) 2005, p. 3–6.
(5) Mazurkiewicz A., O polskiej literaturze fantastycznonaukowej lat 1990–2004, Łódź 2007.
(6) Mazurkiewicz... p. 220–222.
(7) See: Klementowski R., "Niewolnik wyobraźni", Czas Fantastyki nr 2 (3) 2005, p. 10–15; Rogaczewski G., Odczytywanie światów Jacka Dukaja, 2004.
(8) See: Klementowski R., "Rzucając perły...", Czas Fantastyki nr 4 (9) 2006.

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