Nakręcane światy. Twórczość Paolo Bacigalupiego w kontekście wybranych elementów kapitalistycznego systemu-świata

Abstract

Paolo Bacigalupi is a renowned science-fiction author. His novels and short stories prove that he as a writer shows an exceptional social sensitivity. This article presents a possible interpretation of his works made by inserting them into a context of social sciences. By comparing the elements of presented worlds to modern theories I will try to recognize the explanatory potential of Bacigalupi’s fiction. The article begins with a comparison of The Windup Girl world to the elements of world-system theory by Immanuel Wallerstein. Next, I will move to the topic of technocratic refeudalization and how it is presented in the novel. Here I recall such authors as Walden Bello and Jean Ziegler. The third section deals with the ecological aspect of Bacigalupi’s stories and the way it could be interpreted as a critical point of view in a debate on the anthropocene. The last section of this article deals shortly with some technoscientific controversies concerning the reproduction of knowledge and ethical aspects of genetic engineering, portrayed in The Windup Girl and Pump Number Six story tome. I will argue that Bacigalupi’s works, as science-fiction, surpass their entertaining value delivering a convincing non-academic source of critical thought.