Czas snu i rzeczywistość duchowa. Aborygeńska koncepcja wszechświata i naukowość w „Trylogii Solarnej” Jana Maszczyszyna
Dreamtime and Spiritual Reality: the Aboriginal Concept of the Universe and Science in Jan Maszczyszyn’s „Trylogia Solarna”

Summary/Abstract: Jan Maszczyszyn’s Trylogia Solarna [Solar Trilogy] is a steampunk saga that combines retrospective imagery of the nineteenth century with futurological visions of the cosmos. In his article, Konrad Zielonka presents one of the ways in which the Polish-Australian author creates his universe, where the world of nineteenth-century scientism and futurological considerations combine with metaphysics and cultural-religious motifs. Comparing it with Kamil Flammarion’s Urania, Zielonka points out aspects characteristic of Kardec’s romantic and spiritualist tradition, as well as direct references to Aboriginal conceptions of the world (the Age of Dreams, or Dreamtime), whose common features include the dream state, dreamlike cosmic wandering, and unity with the universe. Zielonka presents Maszczyszyn’s way of linking Aboriginal mythology directly to the scientific world. By evoking nineteenth century ideas of progress and the role of civilization as well as the opposition between “savagery” and “civilization,” Zielonka emphasises the steampunk game Maszczyszyn plays with Victorian, colonial ideals.

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