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Stanisław Lem

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Stanisław Lem in 1966

Stanisław Lem (born September 12, 1921, Lviv) is a Polish satirical, philosophical, and science fiction writer. His books have been translated into 40 languages and sold over 27 million copies. At one point he was the most widely read science fiction author in the world. Lem's writing is full of intelligent humor, puns, and neologisms, and Michael Kandel's translations into English have been praised by many for capturing Lem's style.

Biography

Stanisław Lem was born in Lwów, Poland in 1921 (now Lviv, Ukraine), the son of a physician. Lem has some Jewish ancestry, although he was raised a Catholic and later became an atheist "for moral reasons" [1]. He studied medicine at Lwów University, but World War II interrupted his studies. During the war and Nazi occupation Lem worked 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 Stanisław 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. In 1981 he received an honorary degree from the Wrocław Polytechnic, later from Opole University, University of Lwów, and finally from the Jagiellonian University. See also [2].

Themes

One of Lem's primary themes was the impossibility of communication between humans and profoundly alien civilizations. He also wrote about human technological progress and the problem of human existence in a world where technology development makes biological human impulses obsolete or dangerous. In many novels, humans become an irrational and emotional liability to their machine partners, who are not perfect either. 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). Issues of technological utopias appeared in Peace on Earth, in Observation on the Spot, and, to a lesser extent, in The Cyberiad.

Controversy

Lem was awarded an honorary membership in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) in 1973. Lem, however, has never had a high opinion of most American science-fiction describing it as kitsch, ill thought-out, poorly written, and interested more in making money than ideas or new literary forms. By 1974 Philip K. Dick was writing to the FBI that Lem was the mouthpiece of communist Poland (it should be noted that Dick was probably suffering from schizophrenic delusions), and Lem's membership was rescinded in 1976. After many members (including Ursula K. LeGuin) protested the SFWA then offered him a regular membership, which he refused. He has also been critical of sci-fi in general, and recently he distances himself from sci-fi, saying that his young works may be sci-fi, but his latter ones are more mainstream. He has not written any kind of novel or short story in many years, and his newer works are simply collection of essays, critical of technological progress and pessimistic about the world's future.

Lem is 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." He's none too pleased about the Steven Soderbergh (2002) version either, though he hasn't seen the movie (and has no desire to).

Other Information

In 1977 he was recognized as an honorary citizen of Kraków.

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

Bibliography

  • Człowiek z Marsa (1946)
  • Szpital przemienienia (1948) / Hospital of the Transfiguration (New York, 1988)
  • Astronauci (1951)
  • Obłok Magellana (The Cloud of Magellan) (1955)
  • Sezam (1955)
  • Czas nieutracony (1955)
  • Dialogi (1957)
  • Inwazja z Aldebarana (1959)
  • Śledztwo (1959) / The Investigation (New York, 1974)
  • Eden (1959, transl. San Diego, 1989)
  • Powrót z gwiazd (1961) / Return from the Stars (London, 1980)
  • Solaris (1961, transl. London, 1970)
  • Pamiętnik znaleziony w wannie (1961) / Memoirs Found in a Bathtub (New York, 1973)
  • Summa Technologiae (1964)
  • Niezwyciężony (1964) / The Invincible (London, 1973)
  • Cyberiada (1967) / The Cyberiad (New York, 1974)
  • Głos pana (1968) / His Master's Voice (London, 1983)
  • Fantastyka i futurologia (1970) / Fantasy and Futurology I and II
  • Dzienniki gwiazdowe (1971) / The Star Diaries (New York, 1976), Memoirs of a Space Traveller (London, 1982)
  • Ze wspomnień Ijona Tichego; Kongres futurologiczny (1971) / The Futurological Congress (Avon Books, 1976)
  • Ze wspomnień Ijona Tichego; Professor A. Dońda (1971)
  • Opowieści o pilocie Pirxie (1973) / Tales of Pirx the Pilot (New York, 1979), More Tales of Pirx the Pilot (New York, 1982)
  • Wielkość urojona (1973) / Imaginary Magnitude (New York, 1984)
  • Rozprawy i szkice (1974)
  • Wysoki zamek (1975) / Highcastle: A Remembrance (New York, 1995)
  • Katar (1975) / The Chain of Chance (London, 1978)
  • Mortal Engines (New York, 1977)
  • Wizja Lokalna / Observation on the Spot (1982)
  • Doskonała Próżnia (1983) / A Perfect Vacuum (London, 1979)
  • Fiasko (1986) / Fiasco (New York, 1987)
  • Pokoj na Ziemi (1987) / Peace on Earth (New York, 1992)
  • Okamgnienie (2000)

Complete collected works as published in 1998-2005 in Poland

  • Katar / The Chain of Chance
  • Wizja Lokalna / Observation on the Spot
  • Powrót z gwiazd / Return from the Stars
  • Pokój na Ziemi / Peace on Earth
  • Golem XIV
  • Eden
  • Dzienniki Gwiazdowe / The Star Diaries
  • Fiasko / Fiasco
  • Wysoki zamek / Highcastle: A Remembrance
  • Dialogi / [Dialogs]
  • Przekładaniec / [Roly-poly]
  • Opowieści o pilocie Pirxie / Tales of Pirx the Pilot
  • Śledztwo / The Investigation
  • Szpital Przemienienia / Hospital of the Transfiguration
  • Summa Technologiae
  • Człowiek z Marsa / [Man From Mars]
  • Solaris
  • Filozofia Przypadku / [Philosophy of Coincidence]
  • Niezwyciężony / The Invincible
  • Kongres futurologiczny / The Futurological Congress
  • Krótkie zwarcia / [Short Circuits]
  • Cyberiada / The Cyberiad
  • Moloch
  • Biblioteka XXI wieku / [Library of 21st Century] includes Perfect Vacuum, Imaginary Magnitude and others
  • Głos Pana / His Master's Voice
  • Zagadka / [Riddle]
  • Rozprawy i szkice
  • Pamiętnik znaleziony w wannie / Memoir Found in a Bathtub
  • Sex wars
  • Fantastyka i futurologia / Fantasy and Futurology
  • Lata czterdzieste / [early works]
  • Astronauci / [Astronauts]
  • Mój pogląd na literaturę / [My Opinion On Literature]

Film and TV adaptations

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stanisław Lem.

Stanisław Lem

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