Wiktor Żwikiewicz (born 19 March 1950) is a Polish writer of

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

Biography

in the 1970s and 1980s he published a number of short stories, collected in four anthologies, as well as for novels. He also authored two theatre plays. His works have been translated to Bulgarian, Czech, German, Russian, Slovakian and Hungarian languages. At a later point in his life, he became a

homeless Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

person. By 2011 he was living in a

social housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...

. He suffered a stroke in 2016.

Works

He has been called a "legend" of Polish science fiction. In addition to being a writer, he is also an artist. He usually illustrated the covers of his books himself, and provided cover art for books of several other author. His style of writing is rather unique and may be viewed as a bit cryptic. He often explores technical fantasmagory and poetical descriptions of his very own. He can be considered a visionary of the Internet in the communistic

Polish People's Republic The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

hidden behind the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

; see "Delirium in Tharsys" below. His stories resolve around the contact with other civilizations, human self-evolution, and the biocenosis on the cosmic scale. One of his novels, "Delirium in Tharsys" (1987), describes the Earth at the decline of the human civilization. The mother Earth seems to take the vengeance on humanity and make room for newly evolved species, although nobody knows what is really going on. Around one can only see a genetic warfare at full throtle. The special operation forces of a posthuman specie residing on the Moon (Lovers of Luna) are sent to help their human creators in the final days. The only survived trooper from Moon becomes a spectator of total retreat of last humans pushed at the verge of madness. The question arises if posthuman entities are not more empathic towards humanity than humanity itself. Readers may find the spirit of doom and the vision of evolution of humanity slightly similar to that in

Blindsight Blindsight is the ability of people who are cortically blind to respond to visual stimuli that they do not consciously see due to lesions in the primary visual cortex, also known as the striate cortex or Brodmann Area 17. The term was coined ...

and

Echopraxia Echopraxia (also known as echokinesis) is the involuntary repetition or imitation of another person's actions. Similar to echolalia, the involuntary repetition of sounds and language, it is one of the echophenomena ("automatic imitative actions ...

by Peter Watts.

Novels

* ''Second autumn'' ( 1982) * ''Imago'' (1985) * ''A ballad about the curse'' ( 1986) * ''Delirium in Tharsys'' ( 1987)

References

External links

Wiktor, który dojrzał za późno
– wywiad z Żwikiewiczem (in Polish); ''Wiktor who has grown too late'', an interview with Żwikiewicz (last access: 12.06.2019)
Wiktor Żwikiewicz story
– archived article in Polish (last access: 12.06.2019) {{DEFAULTSORT:Żwikiewicz, Wiktor 1950 births 20th-century Polish male writers Polish science fiction writers Living people

Biography

Works

Novels

References

Further reading

External links