A trader of emotions
I must admit that I had no idea who Rafał Cywicki was. Mea maxima culpa ! Recently, such emotions have evoked in me the short story Niedaleko by Jakub Małecki, which was published in Nowa Fantastyka in November 2019. If you are one of the readers who spend hours contemplating what you’ve read, this is a must-read!
Cywicki’s pieces, although short, are very full-bodied and carry a huge emotional charge. The author uses currently very popular topics, and his texts are usually very futuristic. On the other hand, this is a Forrest Gump- like box of chocolates – you never know what you will encounter.
Surgical precision and jewelery weight
I cannot get over the artistry and finesse in the choice of words in relation to the content of Cywicki. Each of the texts published in 20,000 fantasy words is extremely short and contains maximum content (at this point I have an irresistible urge to write the word “maximum” in capital letters!). The author covers such issues as politics, spirituality, politics, modernity and love – at least that’s what you can read in promotional materials. However, I would like to draw your attention to the transhumanist approach to human corporeality, which is opposed to the human psyche. Where do we end and machine begin? What does “I” mean? For every question or thesis posed in Cywicki’s texts, a dozen more pop up in my head, after the thread to the ball. Therefore, with a clear conscience, I can say that reading20,000 words of fantasy is very stimulating, it is conducive to contemplation on all kinds of topics.
What about this contemporary mass audience?
However, there is a concern in me whether the reviewed item is universal enough for anyone to reach for it? Definitely not. However, it is worth finding out for yourself, for example by checking a few entries on the author’s blog – which I heartily encourage you to do.
In the opinion of korposzczura
I would like to be able to read one text a day in order to be able to savor them and contemplate them one by one, to check what thoughts and emotions they will lead me to. Unfortunately, due to work and numerous temptations in the form of other products of culture, I could not afford such a luxury. So I devoured words en masse, sometimes even in a hurry, which then gave me a hiccup, in the positive sense of the word.
Some texts by Rafał Cywicki knocked me on my knees and did not allow me to recover emotionally for several days. However, I strongly believe that each reader may have extremely different thoughts, in the end we analyze everything thanks to our own experiences and cognitive apparatuses. And this is beautiful! These short scenes, stories, a stusłówka are perfect for reflection during meetings of reading clubs or all kinds of literary discussion circles (are there any other such things?). Cywicki definitely pulls the appropriate intellectual and emotional strings.
