Heterotopia and the Structure of Time in Marcin Szczygielski’s Fantasy Novel Arka czasu, czyli wielka ucieczka Rafała od kiedyś przez wtedy do teraz i wstecz (trans. The Ark of Time, or Rafał’s Great Escape from Once, Through Then, to Now and Back Again) (2013)

Marcin Szczygielski in his novel Arka czasu, czyli wielka ucieczka Rafała od kiedyś przez wtedy do teraz i wstecz (trans. The Ark of Time, or Rafał’s Great Escape from Once, Through Then, to Now and Back Again) (2013) exposes the young reader to the ethical complexity of the world by presenting both positive and negative attitudes of Poles towards Jews. The novel is primarily rooted in the poetics of fantasy, although it is based on facts and recalls the true story of a Jewish boy whose grandfather was a violinist. The story of Rafał’s escape from the Warsaw Ghetto can also be generically traced back to the adventure story and manners-cum-family story and is narrated with humour. The novel is clearly inspired by Janusz Korczak’s Diary (written in the ghetto in 1942, full ed. 1978) and a collection of poems, The Children of the Ghetto (1949), by Stefania Grodzieńska. It exudes authenticity, symbolised by both the topography of the actual ghetto space (heterotopia) and present motif time – travel. The rich, vivid narrative of the book seems to be a story of memories – filtered through successive generations – of events, places, people, values, ideas, images, and symbols. Its special significance in the literature for young readers and in speculative fiction may be explained by the power and function of literary imagination well adapted to the perceptual capabilities of the young reader.