Polish speculative fiction
Science fiction and fantasy in Poland dates to the late 18th century. However, science fiction as a genre in Polish literature truly began to emerge at the end of the 19th century under the influence of Jules Verne's work. During the latter years of the People's Republic of Poland, a very popular genre of science fiction was social science fiction. Later many other genres gained prominence.
Poland has many science-fiction writers. Internationally, the best known Polish science-fiction writer is Stanisław Lem. In fact, the term science fiction was first used in a review of one of Lem's books, and he is widely regarded as the most prominent representative of Polish science fiction literature. As elsewhere, Polish science fiction is closely related to the genres of fantasy, horror and others.
In the 1970s, the first fandom organizations appeared in Poland, along with the publication of the earliest zines. While many English-language writers have been translated into Polish, relatively little Polish-language science fiction or fantasy has been translated into English.
History
Until 1918
Polish science fiction grew out of utopian literature, and it started in the late 18th century during the Polish Enlightenment, when Michał Dymitr Krajewski wrote a novel about the adventures of a Pole on the Moon. His work, , was the first Polish literary work to describe a journey to the Moon, using a balloon as the means of travel to lend credibility to the narrative. Descriptions of flying machines, rapid-fire weapons, and future medicine can be found in Podróż do Kalopei, do kraju najszczęśliwszego na świecie by from 1817. In Polish Enlightenment literature, fantastical elements were typically debunked by the end of the work, as seen in The Manuscript Found in Saragossa by Jan Potocki, where the appearance of ghosts serves as a satire of superstitions by the rational author.In the mid-19th century, during the age of romanticism in Poland, Adam Mickiewicz, regarded by many as Poland's greatest poet, also worked on a Verne-like science fiction novel A History of the Future, but never published it. Fantastical elements can also be found in works inspired by folk literature, such as Adam Mickiewicz's Ballads and Romances or Juliusz Słowacki's Balladyna, as well as in Gothic novels. Mickiewicz was interested in the "future" and planned to write a utopia where technology would play an important role. In the 1840s, the literary group drew on fantastical motifs from folk literature and German Romanticism, particularly the works of Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann. One of the works from this period that is close to the conventions of science fiction is the historical novel Sędziwoj by from 1845. In 1858, Podróż po Księżycu odbyta przez Serafina Bolińskiego by anticipated positivist novels about inventions. Science fiction of the positivist era included popular science lectures with educational purposes and works about "wondrous inventions", e.g., Niewidzialny by or the Parisian episode in The Doll by Bolesław Prus, perhaps the most famous Polish writer of the time. Similar themes are seen in the works of Prus' colleague, Stefan Żeromski, with his 'houses of glass' in Przedwiośnie, and his death rays in Róża. Both trends stemmed from the positivists' program, which included promoting natural sciences.
In the early 20th century, Jerzy Żuławski was probably the most popular Polish science fiction author, with his Lunar Trilogy, a masterpiece for its time and place of composition. According to Antoni Smuszkiewicz:
For many years, Polish science fiction developed somewhat in the shadow of Jerzy Żuławski, but no work until Stanisław Lem's era matched the trilogy either in the weight of the issues discussed or in literary quality.Science fiction of the Young Poland period was associated with the era's interests in paranormal phenomena and the causes of personality disorders. For example, Antoni Lange rationalized spiritualistic phenomena in his works and showed an interest in contemporary science. Władysław Umiński’s work was more subdued and in the older positivist style.
1918–1939
In Polish science fiction of the interwar period, grotesque elements began to be used, mainly for satirical purposes. New authors and new issues emerged. Among the new themes, the concept of a miraculous invention was particularly explored, a motif that also appeared in crime novels and adventure stories. The catastrophism of the era led to the creation of future-oriented novels from the 1920s onward, in which disaster often played a central role, sometimes on a cosmic scale. In popular literature, this catastrophe was either reversible or one from which representatives of the highest values of a dying civilization were saved, reinforcing beliefs in the possibility of overcoming any failure, often thanks to the actions of characters of Polish descent. In high literature, the theme of catastrophe was presented in the form of grotesque. In the 1930s, the threat of armed conflict led to the decline of popular prose dedicated to cataclysms, and it was replaced by a few artistic works. The conventions of science fiction were also referenced by authors such as Stefan Żeromski.1945–1989
After World War II, in the first decade of the People's Republic of Poland, science fiction was used as a propaganda tool by the communist regime, with its main purpose being to show the "bright future" of communism. Only after Joseph Stalin's death were Polish writers to gain more leeway and start questioning the reality around them, albeit always struggling against censorship. Science fiction literature was treated with caution by the authorities of the Polish People's Republic. Despite this, in 1946, Stanisław Lem's first novel, The Man from Mars, was published in the magazine '. The first post-war science fiction book was ' by from 1947; that same year, Baczność! A.R. 7: Powieść o atomie by was also published. A slight increase in interest in science fiction was sparked by the anthology ' published in 1949 by Julian Tuwim. In 1951, Lem made his book debut with The Astronauts, and in 1955, he published The Magellanic Cloud. At that time, he was an undisputed leader of Polish science fiction, first questioning the regime's actions in his Memoirs Found in a Bathtub. He was followed by Janusz A. Zajdel, Konrad Fiałkowski and Czesław Chruszczewski, and from the mid-70s for a short period by the acclaimed writings of Adam Wiśniewski-Snerg. The principles of socialist realism adopted in 1949 meant that some works were written in a tendentious and sometimes even caricatural manner.The Polish October led to changes in cultural policy, allowing the publication of novels written many years earlier – in 1956, Zaziemskie światy by Władysław Umiński, a veteran of Polish science fiction, and ' by were released. The literature of this period is characterized by an optimistic vision of a future society that, having satisfied its needs on Earth, decides to "reach for the stars". Before 1960, several more novels of varying quality were published, such as ' by, ' by, ' by, ' by Adam Hollanek, and the final part of the Boruń and Trepka trilogy, '. Finally, Poland began to print science fiction works by Western authors.
The 1960s marked the flourishing of Lem's work, during which he published such novels as Eden, Solaris, Return from the Stars, and Memoirs Found in a Bathtub, The Invincible, and His Master's Voice. Simultaneously, Lem's works began to include grotesque elements that referenced the philosophical tales of earlier authors. This period also saw the crystallization of the conventions of Polish science fiction, accomplished by writers such as Lem, Krzysztof Boruń, Konrad Fiałkowski,, and. During this time, several new authors debuted, including Edmund Wnuk-Lipiński and Janusz Zajdel, while Jerzy Broszkiewicz and Alfred Szklarski published fantastic works for young readers.
File:Polish sci fi fantasy books.JPG|thumb|upright|Shelves in a bookstore, containing only new releases of science fiction and fantasy by Polish authors with surnames from P to Z. Despite their popularity in Poland, virtually none of these books have been translated into English.
In the 1970s, writers such as, Wiktor Żwikiewicz, and Adam Wiśniewski-Snerg published their first works, with Wiśniewski-Snerg's debut novel ' causing a significant stir in the literary community. In the late 1970s, the genre social science fiction arose in the People's Republic of Poland. At these times it focused on the development of societies dominated by totalitarian governments. The genre is dominated by Janusz A. Zajdel, Edmund Wnuk-Lipiński, Adam Wiśniewski-Snerg and Marek Oramus. Some works by Stanisław Lem can also be classified within this genre. The fantastical settings of books of this genre were usually only a pretext for analysing the structure of Polish society, and were always full of allusions to reality.
In 1976, the third Eurocon was held in Poznań.
After 1989
The systemic transformation that took place in 1989 also affected the position of fantasy literature in the country. State-owned publishing houses lost their monopolistic positions. Newly established, often short-lived companies sought to make up for many years of backlog by massively publishing Western science fiction literature, which was often of low quality. The genre largely transformed itself into political fiction, represented by writers such as Rafał A. Ziemkiewicz, although an echo is visible in the 1990s dystopia/hard sf duology by Tomasz Kołodziejczak.After 1989, new stars of Polish science fiction emerged, including figures such as Jacek Dukaj, Marek Huberath, Rafał Kosik, Szczepan Twardoch, Wit Szostak, and Łukasz Orbitowski.
Changes also affected the only magazine on the market, Fantastyka. The fall of the state publisher meant that the editorial team took over the magazine, with Lech Jęczmyk becoming the editor-in-chief, followed by Maciej Parowski for a longer period.
In the 1990s, a group of young creators centered around the Trust group began publishing the monthly magazine Fenix. There was also an explosion of translations, primarily from the Western literature. The major Polish publishing house specializing in Polish science fiction and fantasy literature was SuperNOWA. The scene was transformed around and after 2002, with SuperNOWA losing its dominant position, and many new Polish writers, the "2002 generation", appearing.
Currently, much of Polish science fiction and fantasy resembles that familiar to English-language writers. There are many science fiction writers as well as fantasy writers in Poland, and their works vary from alternate histories to hard science fiction. The best internationally known Polish science fiction writer is undoubtedly Stanisław Lem, although many others can be considered world-class.