Bajtowe wersety

In Marcin Szczygielski’s novel, illustrated by Jacek Ambrożewski, we meet a young byte named Tol, who lives in sector BS112 on a disk created – according to what the byte community believes – by an enigmatic figure called Buk Marzenka IVC, enabling exiles from RAM to await eternal life in the cloud. One day, however, when the trumpets sound four times, announcing the apocalyptic Installation, Tolo sets off with his fellow bite, Partition, on a journey along the data river, and this expedition completely changes his way of seeing the world. In paraphrasing the Bible, experimenting with computer vocabulary, juxtaposing tradition and modernity, and painting a grotesque image of a virtual theocracy, Szczygielski seems to encourage young people to think independently and seek the truth. The narrative is beautifully complemented by Ambrożewski’s contribution: the colourful cover and black-and-white, unconventional illustrations (certainly not computer-generated!) convey both the splendour and the horror of a digital reality in which, as it turns out, the eternal questions about who we are and where we are going tend to resurface.