Jacek Dukaj

Career

Novels

• Xavras Wyżryn
• *"Zanim noc" - during World War II, a Polish collaborator is changed by a haunted house, becoming an entity that can move through the fourth dimension.
• Aguerre w świcie
• Czarne oceany - in the mid-21st century, an event resembling technological singularity suddenly takes place, with Earth being transformed into a bizarre world.
• Córka łupieżcy . Daughter of an archeologist is forced to hide in The City - an uninhabited, multidimentional alien city, that seems to be the 'essence of all cities'.
• Extensa - in a post-technological singularity world, some people have chosen to remain unchanged and 'just human'. This is a story of one of them.
• Inne pieśni - in this alternate Earth, people can change the reality with their thoughts. The Earth is divided into several empires, each controlled by a kratistos - a former human with demigod abilities, who has proven to have the most powerful mind and is able to warp reality within his domain. When the Earth is attacked by aliens, a former nobody, merchant, starts on a path to become somebody much more.
• Perfekcyjna niedoskonałość - a 21st-century astronaut is revived several centuries later, in a post-technological singularity world. First in the planned trilogy, this book chronicles how he is caught in the web of a transgalactic intrigue. In a world where dedicated universes are evolved just to create a more potent weapon, can a normal human become anything more than a toy of a vastly more intelligent beings?
• Ice - alternate history. There was no World War I, in 1924 Poland is still under Russian rule. Benedykt Gierosławski, talented mathematician, but also compulsive gambler has been sent to Siberia to bring his father back to the country. It is said that he is somehow connected with lute - Angels of Frost.
• Wroniec - illustrated fairy tale about the Martial Law in Poland, told from the perspective of little boy, kind of darker version of "Alice in Wonderland" set in Polish history, with wild wordplays, rhymes, songs etc.
• Science Fiction - the story has three levels: level A is about Edward Caldwell, a hard science fiction writer from very near future, living in London, co-funder of a software company which produces 'ethics apps', whose girlfriend is working in Brasil for Gates Foundation on 'universal social converter'; meanwhile Caldwell writes a science fiction novel and the chapters from his novel are level B: the story of the Martians returning to Earth centuries after the destruction of whole human civilization on Earth by Mathematics: self-propelling progress bypassing Technological Singularity; the Martians are absolute individualists, each one being an independent state with its own laws and politics, and to interact with each other they need Judges, one of these being the main hero here, sent to discover what had triggered the Mathematics in the 21st century; and the story the Judge uncovers is level C: history of 21st century exploration of distant space by means of internal computer simulation and evolution based on changing external data; one of the scientists there plays with the parameters of his inside-world which leads directly back to level A, thus creating a structural loop. However some hints hidden in the text allow for more complicated interpretation: a structure of Mobius strip or an infinite spiral. Main themes of "Science Fiction" are: self-reference, symbolism of T. S. Eliot's poems, absolute loneliness as a consequence of absolute freedom. As a scientific foundation Dukaj uses here proofs from Physical limits of inference by David H. Wolpert and the theory of Umwelt by Jakob Johann von Uexküll. Level A is written in style resembling J. M. Coetzee, level B – in style of baroque worldbuilding SF, level C – in dry style of hard SF by Egan or Chiang.
• Starość aksolotla - neutron-like radiation from cosmos hits the Earth, killing instantly all living organisms on one hemisphere; people on the other hemisphere have max 12 hours left, and some of them manage to use gaming gadgets to neuroscan themselves into the imperfect digital copies. After the Extermination the only way for the transformed to feel again like humans is to use various mechs and robots as their "steel bodies". This way starts the new humanity and a 300-year long nostalgic odyssey of Bart, the last hardware specialist in a world where "only hardware remains".
• Imperium chmur - a novel / novella, 200-pages long. Its style and structure are based on principles of Japanese poetry, especially "kireji" of classic haiku. The action of Empire of Clouds takes place in Japan of Meiji period, emperor Meiji being one of the characters. But the main protagonist is a young girl Kiyoko from Hokkaido island, an orphan taught Western languages and trained in special logographic shorthand technique. The novel deals primary with "objective semiotics": how different relationships of signs to reality warp and enrich our perception of reality, and the possibility that the writing system itself could generate some surplus knowledge. The course of history in Empire of Clouds is changed on meta-literary level, by "merging" it with the world of famous 19th-century Polish novel Lalka by Boleslaw Prus. Dukaj also draws here repeatedly from the philosophy of mushin, to the extent of completely removing the protagonist's "self".

  Short story collections

• W kraju niewiernych :
• *"Ruch Generała" - In a world where magic is treated with scientific rigour, and which has achieved a level of development of 21st century Earth, an old, civilized country is facing increasing troubles with a larger, restless and more primitive neighbour. Note that the title in the official translation is "The Iron General," although the Polish title literally translates as the "General's Move."
• *"IACTE" - On a space colony, there is a place where dreams can become a reality, and a revived Native American hunter sets on the trail of a vampire.
• *"Irrehaare" - In a full immersion, virtual reality multiverse, something has gone terribly wrong. For months now, players cannot log out, and are engaged in a war against the Artificial intelligence attempting to take control of this VR universe. When a new, strange player appears, one with powerful abilities but suffering from amnesia, the plot quickly thickens.
• *"Muchobójca" - In space and on space colonies, there are ghosts. And where there are ghosts, there will be exorcists. However, can human-trained exorcist deal with magic that evolved elsewhere?
• *"Ziemia Chrystusa" - After one Earth civilization has discovered how to travel to parallel universes, this technology was captured by another. Now there are several parallel civilisations, existing in uneasy truce, each trying to subjugate more parallel Earths and gain an upper hand in this multi-dimensional cold war. When a new Earth is discovered, an expedition is sent to scout it. And this new Earth seems truly unique: Jesus never died and people do not believe in God - because they know he exists...
• *"Katedra" - A Catholic priest arrives on one of the Jupiter's moons, to investigate an alien artifact that resembles a gigantic Gothic cathedral.
• *"Medjugorje" - Can money buy everything? A certain billionaire thinks so, as he employs teams of mercenaries using advanced technology to attempt to 'steal' a God-sent revelation and transmit this vision to himself... See also Međugorje.
• *"In partibus infidelium" - After humanity makes contact with other space-faring civilizations, Christianity spreads far and wide. Humans become just a minority of believers and an alien is elected a pope... Note that 'in partibus infidelium' translates as 'in the land of the unbelievers' which is the title of the anthology it was published in.
• Xavras Wyżryn i inne fikcje narodowe :
• *"Xavras Wyżryn" - In this alternate history, Soviet Union triumphed in the Polish-Soviet War. In the mid-1990s a US journalist is accompanying Polish partisans as they capture a nuclear warhead and smuggle it towards Moscow...
• *"Sprawa Rudryka Z." . The story is the dialogue of persecutor and the defender in a trial of Rudryk Zlatk, a Macedonian dictator guilty of many crimes against humanity apprehended by the United Nations. There is, however, a slight problem with the accused. He is but one of the twelve clones of Rudryk.
• *"Przyjaciel prawdy" Antisemitism is a difficult subject. This is a story of a person who comes to believe that Jews have superior genetics - and for that suggestion is accused of antisemitism by his friends.
• *"Gotyk". 19th century alternate history, golem as the main hero of the story and science-fiction continuation of Kordian by Juliusz Słowacki.
• Król Bólu :
• *"Linia Oporu" - Singularity will come or will not come, but anyway we all already live in its shadow. In a society of free luxury based on the creative economy the only scarce, priceless commodity is the meaning of life. The main character is a creative "producing" the meanings of life: creating for people their "lines of resistance". What do you live for, when you can have everything at will, including immortality? The novel is written in a unique style of "ADHD narration", reflecting the way we perceive reality in the information-saturated world; only the parts taking place in virtual worlds are written in classic, "epic" style.
• *"Oko Potwora" - A retro-SF: space adventure in the future taken from SF of the 1950s, especially Stanisław Lem's early stories. During a solar storm, the crew of an old freighter encounters strange artificial intelligence born from chaos, kind of archaic Boltzmann's Brain.
• *"Szkoła" - dark, pessimistic, cyberpunk. A child orphan from Latin America is subject to scientific experiments, turning him into part-human, part-alien: a mental bridge, which is the only way to "understand" aliens. This story can be described as Dukaj's mixture of Akira, Blade Runner, Flowers for Algernon and A Clockwork Orange.
• *"Aguerre w świcie". Humans have spread through the stars, thanks to gleiotic's – humans who gained the power to manipulate space-time. When one of them is killed in a mysterious way, the resulting investigation will shake the foundation of human civilization, touching on such issues as first contact and conspiracy theory - of course, in a post-technological singularity setting.
• *"Serce Mroku". This is a retelling of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" set on an alien planet, in an alternate history in which Nazi Germany won World War II. Years later, in a multi-sided Cold War, Nazi Germany, Soviet Union, United States and Japan achieve interstellar flight capability and struggle over the control of a new space colony. A German special forces agent arrives on a planet and is immediately sent with the mission into the wilderness to assassinate a rebellious Untermensch. Author's note: best read with Rammstein music in the background.
• *"Crux" - Futuristic nanotechnology and neo-sarmatian story of Polish inner-city ghetto uprising.
• *"Król Bólu i pasikonik" - World is divided between the zones of various artificial genetics. AG is a weapon, a politics, a passport and a medium of semi-intelligent evolution. King of Pain is born as a "collateral damage" of AG: unique neuroplasticity allows him to manipulate people, but at the same time causes constant pain in contact with people and material objects. But he operates through bodies of others, "lives by proxy" - since it is impossible to travel from one genetics to another, people developed the technology of borrowing and tele-controlling bodies of others.
• *"Piołunnik" - in the time of People's Republic of Poland, an agent for the secret police deals with Chernobyl coverup - and resurrections, as enthropy reverses itself and all history "shrinks" to one point, timeless "Poland eternal".

  Short stories

• "Złota Galera" - Dukaj's first short story. Hell is a spaceship and it is on collision course with Earth...
• "Smierć matadora" .
• "Opętani"
• "Książę mroku musi umrzeć" - the motif of Heaven fighting Hell is common. But much less so is the vision of the aftermath. The story of the last devil.
• "Korporacja Mesjasz" - When hell and business engage in economic warfare....
• "Panie, pobłogosław morderców"
• "Wszystkie nasze ciemne sprawy"
• "Irrehaare" - [|description available in the "Short story collections" section above]
• "Wielkie podzielenie" - description available in the "Short story collections" section above
• "Szkoła" - description available in the "Short story collections" section above
• "Ziemia Chrystusa" - description available in the "Short story collections" section above
• "IACTE" - description available in the "Short story collections" section above
• "Ponieważ kot"
• "Serce Mroku" - description available in the "Short story collections" section above
• "Ruch Generała" - description available in the "Short story collections" section above
• "Muchobójca" - description available in the "Short story collections" section above
• "Katedra" - description available in the "Short story collections" section above
• "Medjugorje" - description available in the "Short story collections" section above
• "In partibus infidelium" - description available in the "Short story collections" section above
• "Gotyk" - description available in the "Short story collections" section above
• "Sprawa Rudryka Z." - description available in the "Short story collections" section above
• "Przyjaciel prawdy" - description available in the "Short story collections" section above
• "Crux" - description available in the "Short story collections" section above
• "Diabeł w strukturze"
• "Kto napisał Stanisława Lema?" - Review of the fictional 2071 book about post hominem Stanisław Lem's.
• "Linia Oporu" - description available in the "Short story collections" section above
• "Oko Potwora" - description available in the "Short story collections" section above
• "Król Bólu i pasikonik" - description available in the "Short story collections" section above
• "Portret nietoty" - There is a sixth sense, not some supernatural ability, but a common trait of all animals, like smell or touch. Dukaj invented here history of culture, language, medicine, technology and art based on this sense. Laura is a "nonit": born with a flaw making her incapable to use this particular sense. Nevertheless, she became a muse and a lover for an artist creating art based on it. Laura's whole life is an exercise in "blind translation" from one sense to another. The story has some pagan undertones.
• Vtrko - a story of an American Everyman, suddenly summoned to a post-communist Balkan country to take over the inheritance of his real, genetic father: Stalin-like communist dictator, a mass murderer and a rapist, father of dozens of bastards - an ultimate figure "tyrannical father": both in psychological and sociological sense. Language and culture of fictional Trska Republic, used extensively in the story, are Dukaj's original mix of Serbian, Macedonian and Albanian.

  Translations

• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad - as Dukaj states, "not a translation of Conrad's Heart of Darkness, but it's reworking into 21st-century Polish culture and language". Dukaj's declared intention was to go back to the original meanings and lived experiences of Conrad at the time he was writing Heart of Darkness for his contemporary English readers, and to use text only as a mean to an end, not the goal in itself, hence changing the text's structure, style and language according to the readers' background. While preparing this quasi-translation, Dukaj had been simultaneously working on Heart of Darkness Immersive Literary Experience making use of Virtual Reality technology. Note that Dukaj already wrote Heart of Darkness as a SF story in 1998.

  Awards

• Bronze Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland, December 11, 2013
• Janusz A. Zajdel Award
• *2000, The Cathedral. The short animated film based on The Cathedral was nominated in 2002 for the Academy Award for Animated Short Film for the 75th Academy Awards. The film won the title of Best Animated Short at SIGGRAPH 2002 in San Antonio as well as several other awards.
• *2001, Black Oceans
• *2003, Other Songs
• *2004, Perfect Imperfection
• *2007, Ice
• *2010, The King of Pain and the Grasshopper
• *1999 Polish Novel of the Year, The Heart of the Darkness
• * 2001 Book of the Year, In the Land of the Infidels
• *2002 Book of the Year as well as Polish Novel of the Year, Black Oceans
• *2004 Polish Novel of the Year, Other Songs
• *2008 Polish Novel of the Year, Ice
• *2011 Book of the Year: The King of Pain
• Śląkfa, Author of the Year: 2000, 2007, 2009
• *2008, main award for Ice
• *2010, special award for Wroniec
• *2011, golden recognition for Line of Resistance
• *2012, main award for science fiction
• Kościelski Award: 2008, novel Ice
• European Union Prize for Literature: Polish section, 2009, novel Ice