Abstract

The article discusses the way of functioning of an atomic bomb in Jacek Dukaj’s works. A lot of attention is particularly paid to the analysis of the functions the A-bomb fulfils in this writer’s contemporary novel – Xavras Wyżryn. It is indicated that Dukaj used mainly symbolic power of atomic weapons in this work. The system of negative associations and emotions relating to these weapons clashed with the Polish messianic tradition of struggle for independence, which served as a basis for reflection on the issue of terrorism. In Dukaj’s novel, an atomic bomb is not the part of a coherent futurological vision or the basis for a deeper reflection concerning the civilization threats. In the writer’s later works, in which the reflection is clearly present, nuclear weapons no longer play a significant role. The threats presented are of different nature: they are connected with genetic, memetic or ecological experiments. The example of Dukaj’s works – the way in which the atomic weapons are present and absent in it – is a starting point for a hypothesis on the reduced attractiveness of nuclear weapons as a motif of the fantasy literature. Although they still carry a huge emotional load, at present the civilization concerns, which expressed themselves as the fear of nuclear weapons – e.g. the fear of excessive power of the mankind, the fear of selfdestruction or the changes taking place in the human species, to a great extent have shifted elsewhere.