View source for CyberJoly Drim

{{Short description|1999 short story by Antonina Liedtke}}
{{Infobox short story
| name              = CyberJoly Drim
| pub_date          = 1998
| author            = {{ill|Antonina Liedtke|pl}}
}}

"'''CyberJoly Drim'''" is a cyberpunk short story by Polish author {{ill|Antonina Liedtke|pl}}. In the story, the heroine abandons her body in favour of a digital existence. The story was first published on Liedtke's personal website in 1998 before being reprinted by ''Fenix'' magazine in 1999. 

The story won the most prestigious Polish award for science fiction and fantasy stories (the Janusz A. Zajdel Award), as well as two others, but was negatively reviewed by several writers connected with the leading Polish science fiction and fantasy magazine, ''Nowa Fantastyka'', which had rejected the story before it was submitted to ''Fenix''. Several critics argued that it had no literary merit and criticized those who nominated it for awards or voted for it in them. Other critics praised its depiction of [[Social:Internet culture|Internet culture]], situating its criticism as a reaction to Internet culture by those unfamiliar with it, as well as arguing that some negative reviews were influenced by the reviewers dislike for the story's author, who was an outsider to the closed, male world of Polish SF literary fandom.

== Plot ==
Jola (CyberJoly) is a computer graphic designer working on the Internet who is not enjoying her life; her husband bores her and her physical needs are unimportant. She finds fulfilment in [[Cyberspace|cyberspace]], where she becomes fascinated by a person with the nickname Carramba. Longing for him, she sends a humorous letter-song to a romantic website, which unexpectedly becomes a hit on the charts. Then she creates an animation that becomes even more popular. She finally meets Carramba and they get married, but her life quickly becomes mundane again. Disappointed with her life, with the help of friends she had made online, Jola decides to completely cut off herself from the physical world, donating elements of her body to the bank, keeping only her mind, which is connected to the Internet.

== Background and release ==
[[File:Antonina_Liedtke.jpg|thumb|upright|Antonina Liedtke in 2018]]
Antonina Liedtke is a graduate of librarianship and information science from the [[Organization:University of Warsaw|University of Warsaw]] and worked in the library and publishing house of Warsaw University of Technology, and then in the Publishing School of Economics.<ref>{{cite web |title=Company information |url=http://www.runa.pl/strony/7-O-firmie.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130416091329/http://www.runa.pl/strony/7-O-firmie.html |archive-date=16 April 2013 |accessdate=19 June 2010 |work=Runa |language=Polish}}</ref> She published ''CyberJoly Drim'' on her own website in 1998 and sent it to ''Nowa Fantastyka'', the leading Polish science fiction and fantasy magazine, where it was rejected by its editor-in-chief Maciej Parowski.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal|access-date=16 July 2024 |author=Jacek Dukaj |date=2001 |journal=Nowa Fantastyka |number=1 |page=72 |title=Sny następnego pokolenia |url=http://www.dukaj.pl/czytelnia/publicystyka/SnyNastepnegoPokolenia|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100317152002/http://www.dukaj.pl/czytelnia/publicystyka/SnyNastepnegoPokolenia |archive-date=17 March 2010 }}<!-- auto-translated from Polish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> It was then sent to ''Fenix'', who published it in 1999.<ref name=":6" />

== Reception ==

=== Awards and controversy ===
It won the Janusz A. Zajdel Award for best short story in 2000.<ref name=":6">{{cite web |title=Laureaci Nagrody Zajdla |url=http://zajdel.art.pl/laureaci.html |access-date=25 April 2016 |website=zajdel.art.pl|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20060715184338/http://zajdel.art.pl/laureaci.html |archive-date=15 July 2006 }}<!-- auto-translated from Polish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> It also won the {{Ill|Srebrny Glob|pl}} ("Silver Globe") award<ref>{{cite web |title=Srebrny Glob |url=http://galaxy.uci.agh.edu.pl/~joanna/fandom/nagrody/glob.htm |access-date=25 April 2016}}<!-- auto-translated from Polish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> and the On-line Award by ''Fahrenheit'' magazine.<ref>{{cite web |date=1999 |title=Nagroda On-Line |url=https://www.fahrenheit.net.pl/archiwum/f14/nagroda.html |access-date=17 August 2020 |website=Fahrenheit}}<!-- auto-translated from Polish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> (The Zajdel award is the most prestigious Polish award for science fiction and fantasy; the two other awards were more short lived). After the story won prominent literary awards, ''Nowa Fantastyka'' published a section, "Critics about CyberJoly Drim", in the January 2001 issue. Three reviews appeared there – by Jacek Dukaj, Marek Oramus and Parowski.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal|access-date=19 July 2024 |author=Maria Głowacka |date=2013 |issn=1897-1962 |journal=Wielogłos |language=pl |number=18 |pages=122–125 |title=Wstęp do teorii trzech kręg&#243;w kobiecej prozy science fiction w Polsce. Na przykładzie tw&#243;rczości Antoniny Liedtke i Anny Kańtoch |volume=4 |url=https://ejournals.eu/pliki_artykulu_czasopisma/pelny_tekst/3d32c44d-af77-4c7d-9404-a10a190a3a2c/pobierz|doi=10.4467/2084395XWI.13.029.1632}}<!-- auto-translated from Polish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>

Parowski wrote that "[the text] was captivating in its linguistic and situational consistency in presenting the world of [[Social:Internet culture|Internet culture]]". However, he criticized its excessive length, "its mental monomania and action-oriented triviality". He considered the awarding of the Zajdel Prize to the story as the result of "promotion by a certain group" (internet users and young authors), saying that the text met the "mythological and sociological needs of a very large group of internet users".<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite journal|author=Maciej Parowski |date=2001 |journal=Nowa Fantastyka |number=1 |page=73 |title=Gusta i marketing}}<!-- auto-translated from Polish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref name="malpy">{{cite book|date=2011 |first=Maciej |isbn=978-83-61587-72-9 |last=Parowski |page=485-486 |publisher=Narodowe Centrum Kultury |title=Małpy Pana Boga. Słowa}}<!-- auto-translated from Polish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>

Dukaj, who himself voted for the story to receive the Silver Globe award, considers it a "good, the best of those printed in 1999, [...] and important" text, if not outstanding. According to the writer, the author successfully combined the thread of a "banal love story" with "internet-related details," creating a realistic story in the cyberpunk genre, which he sees as "a pioneering work in Polish SF." He criticized Parowski for neither understanding nor appreciating the culture of the Internet, and for "failing to see the values in the text that most readers and writers have seen, despite being pointed out to him."<ref name=":0" />

Oramus's response was considered the most critical.<ref name=":1" /> Oramus admitted that neither he nor Parowski "feel connected to the Internet subculture from which the story originates". He described the story as banal and devoid of literary value ("Lietke's sentences hit the reader on the head like flails, like mauls, it is difficult to finish them in their tedious manner, because boredom is everywhere..."); he also assessed the story as insufficiently fantastic and criticized members of the Polish fandom who voted for the story to receive awards as not having good enough taste.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Marek Oramus |date=2001 |journal=Nowa Fantastyka |number=1 |page=72-73 |title=Teoremat Lema}}<!-- auto-translated from Polish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>

The reviews in ''Nowa Fantastyka'' were controversial with fans. Oramus's review was criticized in depth in the fanzine ''{{ill|Esensja|pl|Esensja}}'' by Konrad Wagrowski, who found it poorly argued and offensive, especially to younger science fiction fans. Wagrowski although argued, like Dukaj, that the story had been misunderstood by critics who were not interested in and familiar with the Internet culture.<ref name=":4">{{cite web |author=Konrad Wągrowski |date=15 February 2001 |title=Esensja: 'Fantastyczne podróże: Problemy panów O.' |url=https://esensja.pl/ksiazka/publicystyka/tekst.html?id=7957 |access-date=19 July 2024 |website=Esensja.pl |language=pl}}<!-- auto-translated from Polish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> The April issue of ''Nowa Fantastyka'' printed six letters to the editor about "Critics about CyberJoly Drim", four of which defended the story and one of which criticized it.<ref>Górska Danka: ''Nowa Fantastyka 2001 nr 4 s. 2'' (list do red....); Jezierski Łukasz: ''Nowa Fantastyka 2001 nr 4 s. 2'' (list do red....); Tojza Radosław J.M.: ''Nowa Fantastyka 2001 nr 4 s. 2'' (list do red....); Krawczyk Krzysztof P.: ''Nowa Fantastyka 2001 nr 4 s. 2'' (list do red....); Mariusz Przybysz ''Nowa Fantastyka 2001 nr 4 s. 2'' (list do red....); ; Olszański Tadeusz A.: ''Nowa Fantastyka 2001 nr 4 s. 2'' (list do red....)</ref>

=== Later reviews ===
The story has received several reviews in the later years. Two of them were critical, with Andrzej Zimniak in ''Nowa Fantastyka'' in 2008 finding it to be "literarily mediocre" and undeserving of its awards;<ref name=":5">{{cite journal |author=Andrzej Zimniak |date=2008 |title=Nagrody i plebiscyty |journal=Nowa Fantastyka |page=75 |number=2}}<!-- auto-translated from Polish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> while Krzysztof Głuch in ''{{ill|Czas Kultury|pl}}'' in 2011 focused on its prior publication on the Internet and its use of Internet slang which he saw as already dated and gimmicky.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Krzysztof Głuch |date=2011 |title=Recenzje [Dajcie spokój z tym realizmem] |url=https://czaskultury.pl/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/KGluch_DajcieSpokojZTymRealizmem_CzasKultury_3_2011.pdf |journal=Czas Kultury |language=pl |volume=XXVII |pages=144–170 |issn=0867-2148 |access-date=19 July 2024 |number=3}}<!-- auto-translated from Polish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> Liedtke was widely seen as an outsider to the SF scene, described as such in Zimniak's review.<ref name=":5" /> 

On the other hand, in 2004, Wojciech Orliński wrote positively about the story in ''Gazeta Wyborcza'', writing that the story "brilliantly reflects" the problem of how for some people the "virtual" world is more interesting than the "real" one.<ref name=":3">{{cite web |author=Wojciech Orliński |date=12 April 2004 |title=Nomadzi cyberprzestrzeni, Sinha, Indra |url=https://wyborcza.pl/7,75517,2018735.html |access-date=19 July 2024 |website=wyborcza.pl}}<!-- auto-translated from Polish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> Maria Głowacka, writing in 2013 for ''{{ill|Wielogłos|pl|Wielogłos}}'', concluded that the controversy and criticism were related to the fact that the author was a woman from the Internet community, while the negative opinions about the text in industry magazines were made "exclusively by male writers-critics", which, according to her, indicates the "closet nature of the Polish science fiction industry".<ref name=":1" /> Regarding the charge that the story was insufficiently SF, {{ill|Michał Cetnarowski|pl}} in 2020 wrote for the [[Culture.pl|culture.pl]] portal that thanks to elements such as "implants, cyberspaces and virtual realities" the story "passes the "full-fledged cyberpunk" test without any problems".<ref>{{cite web|author=Michał Cetnarowski |date=30 January 2020 |title=Unitry, golemy i karbonada, czyli cyberpunk znad Wisły |url=https://culture.pl/pl/artykul/unitry-golemy-i-karbonada-czyli-cyberpunk-znad-wisly |website=culture.pl}}<!-- auto-translated from Polish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> In 2022, Stanisław Krawczyk located the rejection of the story by Parowski and Oramus in a dispute that was going on at the time between them (primarily Parowski) and a group of fans and critics from the Polish science fiction and fantasy fandom, whom Parowski labelled "fans of entertainment fantasy".<ref>{{cite book |author=Stanisław Krawczyk |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rXmUEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22CyberJoly+Drim%22&pg=PA150 |title=Gust i prestiż. O przemianach polskiego świata fantastyki |date=11 October 2022 |publisher=Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar |isbn=978-83-66849-57-0 |page=149-150 |language=pl |access-date=19 July 2024}}<!-- auto-translated from Polish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> At around the same time, Parowski himself, in his autobiographical book on the history of that community, mentioned Liedtke's story in the context of his "unwise war on fandom" and admitted that he "missed the real change in audience tastes".<ref>{{cite book |author=Maciej Parowski |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-eRBEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22CyberJoly+Drim%22&pg=PT268 |title=Wasz cyrk, moje małpy. Chronologiczny alfabet moich autorów. Tom 2 |date=24 August 2021 |publisher=Wydawnictwo SQN |isbn=978-83-8129-632-8 |page=268 |language=pl |access-date=19 July 2024}}<!-- auto-translated from Polish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>

In addition to literary criticism, the story has been subject to scholarly analysis, focusing not on its literary values, but on its themes. {{ill|Grażyna Gajewska|pl}} analyzed the story from the perspective of feminist literary criticism and the relationship between humans and technology. She focused on the heroine's marginalization of her corporeality and the simultaneous presentation of cyberspace as a space friendly to women.<ref>{{cite book |author=Grażyna Gajewska |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/702678826 |title=Arcy-nie-ludzkie: przez science fiction do antropologii cyborgów |date=2010 |publisher=Wydawn. Nauk. UAM |isbn=978-83-232-2141-8 |series=Seria Filologia Polska |location=Poznań |oclc=702678826 |access-date=19 July 2024}}<!-- auto-translated from Polish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref name=":1" /> Similarly, in 2021, Przemysław Czapliński stated that the heroine's abandonment of her body in favor of an online existence "constituted a form of rebellion against the patriarchal appropriation of the body that dominates in real life".<ref name=":2">{{cite journal |author=Przemysław Czapliński |date=2021 |title=Zaplątani w bunt |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1080486 |journal=Teksty Drugie |language=pl |page=7–15 |issn=0867-0633 |access-date=19 July 2024 |number=6}}<!-- auto-translated from Polish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://hell.pl/nina/carramba.htm The story on the author's page] {{In lang|pl}}

[[Category:Cyberspace]]

{{Sourceattribution|CyberJoly Drim}}