Stanisław Lem

From Free net encyclopedia

Stanisław Lem (September 12 1921 – March 27 2006) was a Polish science fiction, philosophical, and satirical writer. His books have been translated into 41 languages and sold over 27 million copies. At one point he was the most widely read non-English language science fiction author in the world<ref name="Strugatsky">{{cite news |url=http://www.russiansifiction.com/translated/strugazckie/picnic/index.php |publisher=MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc, New York |title=Roadside Picnic" (Introduction) |author=Arkady and Boris Strugatsky |date=1972 }}</ref>. His works often veer into philosophical speculation on technology, nature of intelligence, (im)possibility of mutual communication and understanding, and mankind's place in the universe, disguised as fiction to avoid both trappings of academic life and limitations of readership and scientific style. Lem articulates this recursively through the mouth of one of his characters (scientist Alfred Testa speaking about Aristid Acheropoulos' "The New Cosmogony" in Lem's Perfect Vacuum). Lem's works can be described as "deeply philosophical", and are sometimes used as textbooks for philosophy students. Lem's use of language reveals flawless logic and great knowledge of the underlying mind, and his novels are very entertaining to a public that shares such interest in speculation. Naturally, translations of his works require an individual of similar skills; Michael Kandel's translations into English have been generally praised as capturing the spirit of the original.

Lem belongs to a tradition of great late 20th century authors (others include e.g. Konrad Lorenz, Steven Hawking and Noam Chomsky) who respond by public textual formulations to the path of self-destruction to which humanity has (according to them) apparently set out. This struggle became the main motivator behind Lem's works. Despite of the fair amount of attention he garnered, his main message has gone largely unnoticed.

1 Biography
2 Themes
3 Influence
4 SFWA controversy
5 Philosophical Works
6 Fiction
7 Nonfiction
8 Film and TV adaptations
9 References
10 External links

[edit]

Biography

Lem was born in 1921 in Lwów, Poland (now Ukraine), the son of Sabina Woller and Samuel Lem, a physician in the Austro-Hungarian army. Lem grew up in wealthy surroundings; he was of Jewish ethnicity,[1] but was raised a Catholic and later viewed himself as an atheist "for moral reasons" [2]. He studied medicine at Lwów University (1939-1941). During the World War II and Nazi occupation Lem was able to survive with false papers working as a car mechanic and welder, and was a member of the resistance fighting against the Germans. In 1946 Lem "repatriated" from the territory annexed by the Soviet Union to Kraków and started medical studies at the Jagiellonian University. After finishing his studies, Lem opted not to take final exams to avoid a career as a military doctor, and received only a certificate of completion of studies. He worked as a research assistant in a scientific institution and started to write stories in his spare time.

He made his literary debut in 1946 as a poet, and at that time he also published several dime novels. In 1951 he published his first science fiction novel, Astronauci. In 1957 he published his first non-fiction philosophical book, Dialogi. Over the next decades he published many books, both science-fiction and philosophical/futurological.

In 1981 he received an honorary degree from the Wrocław Polytechnic, later from Opole University, University of Lwów, and finally from the Jagiellonian University. In 1977 he was recognized as an honorary citizen of Kraków.

He gained international fame for The Cyberiad, a series of short stories from a mechanical world ruled by robots, first published in English in 1974. Perhaps his most famous novel is Solaris, published in 1961 and set on an isolated space station. This book was made into a film in 1972 by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky and into a 2002 Hollywood remake shot by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney.

Lem died in Kraków on March 27, 2006 at the age of 84 after a battle with heart disease.

[edit]

Themes

One of Lem's primary themes was the impossibility of communication between humans and profoundly alien civilizations. His alien societies are often incomprehensible to the human mind including swarms of mechanical flies (in The Invincible) and a large Plasma Ocean (in Solaris). Many of his books like Fiasko or Eden describe the failure of the first contact. Lem's book Return From The Stars follows an astronaut's adjustment to a radically changed human society after spending 100 years in space. In his book His Master's Voice Lem is critical of humanity's intelligence and intentions in deciphering and truly comprehending an apparent message from space.

He wrote about human technological progress and the problem of human existence in a world where technology development makes biological human impulses obsolete or dangerous. He became increasingly critical of modern technology in his later life, criticizing inventions such as the Internet.

In many novels, humans become an irrational and emotional liability to their machine partners, who are not perfect either. Issues of technological utopias appeared in Peace on Earth, in Observation on the Spot, and, to a lesser extent, in The Cyberiad.

He also sometimes deploys a wicked sense of humor in his descriptions of even the darkest human situations--most famously in The Futurological Congress and Memoirs Found in a Bathtub. In this regard, he has sometimes been compared to Kurt Vonnegut. Many of his lighter tales are about Ijon Tichy, a naive cosmic traveller in his one-man spaceship, whose adventures mock generally accepted ideas and substitute for them bizarre inventions.

[edit]

Influence

With translation into 36 languages and circulation of over 20 million copies, Lem is the most successful Polish author. Nonetheless his commercial success is limited, as bulk of his publications was made during the communist era in Poland in the COMECON countries (especially People's Republic of Poland, Soviet Union and East Germany). Only in West Germany Lem was both a critical and commercial success, and in the recent years the interest in his books has waned. Nonetheless he is the only European science fiction writer whose majority of works have been translated into English language, and at one point he was the most widely read non-English language science fiction author in the world. Much of the success in the English world can be credited to excellent translations by Michael Kandel.[3]

Stanisław Lem, whose works were influenced by such masters of Polish literature as Cyprian Norwid and Stanislaw Witkiewicz, chose the language of science fiction as in the communist People's Republic of Poland it was easier - and safer - to express many ideas veiled in the world of fantasy and fiction than in the world of reality. Despite this - or perhaps because of this - he became one of the most highly acclaimed science-fiction writers, viewed by critics as equal to the likes of H. G. Wells or Olaf Stapledon [4]. He is one of the few non-English science fiction writers who have been extensively translated into the English language.

Lem's works influenced not only the realm of literature, but that of science as well. In 1981 the philosophers Douglas R. Hofstadter and Daniel C. Dennett included three extracts from Lem’s fiction in their important annotated anthology The Mind's I. Hofstadter commented that Lem’s "literary and intuitive approach... does a better job of convincing readers of his views than any hard-nosed scientific article... might do".[5]

Texts by Lem were set to music by Esa-Pekka Salonen in his 1982 piece, Floof.

[edit]

SFWA controversy

Lem was erroneously awarded an honorary membership in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) in 1973 (he was not eligible for an honorary membership under their bylaws, which could only be given to authors who had not been published in the US. The fact that he had had US publication at that point was overlooked.). Lem, however, never had a high opinion of American science-fiction describing it as kitsch, ill thought-out, poorly written, and interested more in making money than ideas or new literary forms; despite that fact, it is now known that Lem read little of American science fiction that was not in poor translations or written after the 1950s. Lem's honorary membership was rescinded in 1976, when, after some of his comments strongly criticizing SFWA were published, the mistake came to light. He was invited to stay on with the organization with a regular membership. (Lem singled out only one American SF writer for praise, Philip K. Dick - see the 1986 English-language anthology of his critical essays, Microworlds.) After many members (including Ursula K. Le Guin) protested, a SFWA member offered to pay his dues. Lem never responded to the offer. He had also been critical of science fiction in general, and had recently distanced himself from the genre, saying that his early works may have been SF, but his later ones were more mainstream.

Lem was also well-known for criticizing the films based on his work, including the famous interpretation of Solaris by Andrei Tarkovsky (1972), which he claimed to be "Crime and Punishment in space."

[edit]

Philosophical Works

Dialogi (1957) - Non-fiction work of philosophy. Translated into English by Frank Prengel as Dialogs.
Wejście na orbitę (1962) - Not translated into English. Title translates as Going into Orbit.
Summa Technologiae (1964) - Philosophical essay. Not translated into English.
Filozofia Przypadku (1968) - Nonfiction. Not translated into English. Title translates to Philosophy of Coincidence or The Philosophy of Chance.
Fantastyka i futurologia (1970) - Critiques on science fiction. Some parts were translated into English in the magazine SF Studies in 1973-1975, selected material was translated in the single volume Microworlds (New York, 1986).
Rozprawy i szkice (1974) - Nonfiction collection of essays on science, science fiction, and literature in general. Not translated into English. Title translates to Essays and drafts.
Lube Czasy (1995) - Not translated into English. Title translates to Pleasant Times.
Dziury w całym (1995) - Not translated into English. Title translates to Looking for Problems.
Tajemnica chińskiego pokoju (1996) - Collection of essays on the impact of technology on everyday life. Not translated into English. Title translates to Mystery of the Chinese Room.
Sex Wars (1996) - Not translated into English.
Bomba megabitowa (1999) - Collection of essays about the potential downside of technology, including terrorism and artificial intelligence. Not translated into English. Title translates to The Megabit Bomb.
Okamgnienie (2000) - Collection of essays on technological progress since the publication of Summa Technologiae. Not translated into English. Title translates to A Blink of an Eye.

[edit]

Fiction

Człowiek z Marsa (1946, only in a magazine in sequels) - The Man from Mars. Lem's earliest novel of which he often said that 'it should be forgotten'; however he didn't prevent later republications
Szpital przemienienia (1948) - Novella, published in book form in 1955 as Czas nieutracony: Szpital przemienienia. Non-SF book about a doctor working in a Polish asylum. Translated into English by William Brand as Hospital of the Transfiguration (1988). Released as a film in 1979.
Astronauci (Astronauts, 1951) - juvenile science fiction novel. In early 21st century, it is discovered that Tunguska meteorite was a crash of a reconnaissance ship from Venus, bound to invade the Earth. A spaceship sent to investigate finds that Venusians killed themselves in atomic war first. Released as a film in 1960.
Obłok Magellana (The Magellanic Cloud, 1955, untranslated into English)
Sezam (1955) - Linked collection of short fiction, dealing with time machines used to clean up Earth's history in order to be accepted into intergalactic society. Not translated into English.
Dzienniki gwiazdowe (1957, expanded until 1971) - Collection of short fiction dealing with the voyages of Ijon Tichy. Translated into English and expanded as The Star Diaries (1976, translated by Michael Kandel), later published in 2 volumes as Memoirs of a Space Traveller (1982, second volume translated by Joel Stern).
Inwazja z Aldebarana (1959) - Collection of science fiction stories. Translated into English as The Invasion from Aldebaran.
The Investigation (Śledztwo, 1959; trans. 1974) - philosophical mystery novel. Released as a film in 1979.
Eden (1959) - Science fiction novel; after crashing their spaceship on the planet Eden, the crew discovers it is populated with an unusual society. Translated into English by Marc E. Heine as Eden (1989).
Ksiega robotów (1961) - Released in the US as Mortal Engines (also contains The Hunt from Tales of Pirx the Pilot).
Return from the Stars (Powrót z gwiazd, 1961; trans. 1980) - SF novel. An astronaut returns to Earth after a 127 year mission.
Solaris (1961) - SF novel. The crew of a space station is strangely influenced by the living ocean as they attempt communication with it. Translated into English from the French translation by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox (author) as Solaris (1970). Made into a Russian film in 1972, and as a US film in 2002.
Memoirs Found in a Bathtub (Pamiętnik znaleziony w wannie, 1961; trans. 1973) - Novel set in the distant future about a secret agent, whose mission is so secret that no one can tell him what it is.
The Invincible (Niezwyciężony, 1964; translated by Wendayne Ackerman from the German translation 1973) - SF novel. The crew of a space cruiser searches for a disappered ship on the planet Regis III, discovering swarms of insect-like micromachines.
The Cyberiad (Cyberiada, 1967; transl. by Michael Kandel 1974) - collection of humorous stories about exploits of the Trurl and Klaupaucius, "constructors" of robots.
Głos pana (1968) - SF novel about the effort to translate an extraterrestrial radio transmission. Translated into English by Michael Kandel as His Master's Voice.
Ze wspomnień Ijona Tichego; The Futurological Congress (Kongres futurologiczny, 1971) - An Ijon Tichy short story, published in the collection Bezsenność.
Ze wspomnień Ijona Tichego; Professor A. Dońda (1971)
Doskonała próżnia (1971) - Collection of book reviews of nonexistent books. Translated into English by Michael Kandel as A Perfect Vacuum.
Opowieści o pilocie Pirxie (1973) - Collection of linked short fiction involving the career of Pirx. Translated into English in two volumes (Tales of Pirx the Pilot and More Tales of Pirx the Pilot)
Wielkość urojona (1973) - Collection of introductions to nonexistent books, as written by artificial intelligences. Translated into English as Imaginary Magnitude. Also includes Golem XIV, a lengthy essay on the nature of intelligence deliveredy by eponymous US military computer. In the personality of Golem XIV, Lem with a great amount of humor describes an ideal of his own mind.
Katar (1975) - SF novel. A former US astronaut is sent to Italy to investigate a series of mysterious deaths. Translated into English as The Chain of Chance.
Golem XIV (1981) - Expansion of material found in Wielkość urojona.
Wizja lokalna (1982) - Ijon Tichy novel about the planet Entia. Not translated into English.
Fiasco (Fiasko, 1986, trans. 1987) - SF novel concerning an expedition to communicate with an alien civilization that devolves into a major fiasco.
Biblioteka XXI wieku (1986) - Library of 21st Century includes Perfect Vacuum, Imaginary Magnitude and others
Peace on Earth (Pokój na Ziemi, 1987; transl. 1994) - Ijon Tichy novel. A callotomized Tichy returns to Earth, trying to reconstruct the events of his recent visit to the Moon.
Zagadka (The Riddle, 1996) - Not translated into English.
Świat na krawędzi (2000) - The World at the Edge
Moloch (novel) (2003) - Not translated into English.
Krótkie zwarcia (Short Circuits, 2004) - Not translated into English.

[edit]

Nonfiction

Wysoki zamek (1975) - Autobiography of Lem's childhood before World War II. Translated into English as Highcastle: A Remembrance.
Rozprawy i szkice (1975) - Essays and sketches. Not translated into English.
Mój pogląd na literaturę (My View of Literature, 2003) - Not translated into English.
Lata czterdzieste (Forty Years, 2005) - Not translated into English.

[edit]

Film and TV adaptations

Der Schweigende Stern (First Spaceship on Venus, 1959)
Przekładaniec (Layer Cake/Roly Poly, 1968, by Andrzej Wajda )
Ikarie XB1 (aka White Planet or Voyage to the End of the Universe, Czechoslovakia 1963) [6] - based on Oblok Magellana, uncredited
Solaris (1972, by Andrei Tarkovsky)
Un si joli village (1973, by Étienne Périer)
Test pilota Pirxa or Дознание пилота Пиркса (The Investigation, joint Soviet-Polish production, 1978, directed by Marek Piestrak)
Szpital przemienienia (Hospital of the Transfiguration, 1979, by Edward Zebrowski)
Victim of the Brain (1988, by Piet Hoenderdos)
Marianengraben (1994, directed by Achim Bornhak, written by Lem and Mathias Dinter)
Solaris (2002, by Steven Soderbergh)