Stanislaw Lem

Stanisław Herman Lem (Polish pronunciation:[staх]iswaf шl crowdm]( listen)(12 September 1921-27 March 2006) was a Polish writer whose work has been characterized by his satirical and philosophical tone. His books, among which are Ciberíada and Solaris, translated into 40 languages and sold 27 million copies. He is considered one of the greatest exponents of the genre of science fiction and one of the few writers who, being non-English speaking, has achieved world fame in the genre.

His books explore philosophical themes that involve speculations about new technologies, the nature of intelligence, the possibilities of communication and understanding between rational beings; he likewise proposes some elements of the limitations of human knowledge and of humanity's place in the universe. His pigeonhole as a science fiction writer is due to the fact that occasionally, throughout his writing career, he preferred to present his works as works of fiction or fantasy, to avoid the trappings of rigor in academic writing style and the limitations of number. total number of readers that his books would reach if they were "scientific" texts; however, some of his works are in the form of scientific essays or philosophical books, such as Summa Technologiae and Microworlds (the latter without a Spanish translation), in which that rigorously expresses its scientific positions.

Biography

Stanisław Lem was born in Lviv, which until 1939 was part of Poland (and now part of Ukraine). The son of Sabina Woller and Samuel Lem, an ENT who had been a doctor in the Austro-Hungarian army, Stanisław would also end up taking an interest in medicine, and would begin his studies at the University of Lviv, but the Second World War would force him to interrupt them.

House of Leopolis where Stanisław Lem lived.

During the war he was a member of the resistance. His family, Catholic but of Jewish descent, was spared the Holocaust partly by luck; This was not the case for most of his relatives, who died in the Lviv pogroms or were executed in Belzec; only his cousin Marian Hemar survived. With the start of the war, he began working as a welder and mechanic, a position from which he carried out some actions. of sabotage. On this, he himself ironically argued that his qualification as a welder was rather terrible, for which reason he did not suppose sabotage any effort. In addition, he collaborated in the trafficking of arms and ammunition for the Polish resistance. During 1942 his family was saved from the Belzec gas chambers, thanks to false documentation and for fleeing the city ghetto just in time. Two years later, the USSR army took the city and Stanisław was "repatriated" in 1946 to Krakow, where he resumed his medical studies specializing in psychology. That same year he published his first work, The Man from Mars, in a youth magazine.

In 1948, he abandoned his medical career due to his ideological discrepancies, thus avoiding the forced incorporation into the ranks as a military doctor. Despite being a socialist, he disagreed with Trofim Lysenko's ideas, favored by official dogma, about the heritability of acquired traits. He only received a certificate of completion of studies.

He would later receive honorary degrees from the Breslau Polytechnic and the universities of Opole, Lwów and Jagiellonian University. He worked as a research assistant at a scientific institution and started writing short stories in his spare time.

In 1948, he finished his first novel, The Transfiguration Hospital, which he did not publish until 1955 due to problems with communist censorship. His first published work is Los astronautas (1951), in a utopian style. Topics and influences such as cybernetics, which Lem defends, are prohibited as they are considered a negative influence originating from capitalism. Two years later he marries Barbara, a medical student.

Lem wrote mainly about contact between humans and extraterrestrial civilizations (Star Diaries, His Master's Voice, Fiasco), between humans and extraterrestrial environments, whether partly the work of cultures (Eden, Star Diaries), or strange ecosystems (The Invincible or < i>Solaris, his best-known novel), and about the technological future (Robot Fables, Cyberiad, Peace on Earth).

Lem was an honorary member of the SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association of America) in 1973, but was expelled in 1976 after declaring that American science fiction was of low literary quality and was more interested in the commercial aspect than in developing new ideas or literary forms. In 1977, he was recognized as an honorary citizen of Krakow.

With the collapse of communism in 1989, he somewhat abandoned science fiction and devoted himself to writing analysis reports for some governments and organizations about the near future. With the development of the Internet in the 1990s, he will also raise certain ethical and technological problems caused by this new industrial revolution in his work.

In his later years, he was a founding member of the Polish Astronautical Society, working in areas such as mathematics, cybernetics and philosophy. From 1973 until his later years, he taught Polish literature at the University of Krakow. He passed away on March 27, 2006 in Krakow at the age of 84, after a long coronary disease.

Work

Stanislaw Lem in Krakow on 30 October 2005.

Lem's main themes revolve around cybernetics (of which he was passionate) and communication, both between humans and with other life forms. Although many of his works have an undeniable humorous tone, most of them contain a deep pessimism regarding the human condition.

In his early works he followed the pattern of other socialist authors with utopias: Los astronautas (1951) and The Magellan Nebula (1955). However, increasingly disenchanted with socialism, his popularity would protect him against censorship, which he increasingly challenges (albeit in a veiled way). With Diaries of the stars (1957) he began his vein as a satirical writer, although he always kept a deep philosophical sense in his works. In addition, it introduces the character of Ijon Tichy, that astronaut embarking on wonderful (and absurd) adventures throughout space and time, and who would repeat the role in other later works.

After Eden (1959), will come his masterpiece Solaris (1961), a novel that will raise him to fame thanks to the award received in 1972 at the Cannes festival for the film adaptation by Andrei Tarkovsky. Another notable novel is The Invincible (1964), which also deals with communication (and understanding) problems with other forms of life (or simply existence).

With Return of the Stars (1961) he entered another subgenre: the psychological. This novel deals with the implications of isolation, and the need for an astronaut who returns to Earth after traveling at the speed of light to adapt to a totally different society. Other stories such as those collected in Tales of the Pirx pilot and More stories of the Pirx pilot also delve into the psychology of their characters in various situations that are each more frustrating.

He returns to the most grotesque satire with Robot Fables (1964) and its sequel, Ciberíada (1965), which are like a kind of tales or fables in which that the protagonists are robots, and that Lem uses to criticize (veiled) our current society. Two other grotesque characters from his humorous work will also appear in it: the builders Trurl and Clapaucio, who in turn are robots.

Her Master's Voice (1968) talks about the arrival of an extraterrestrial message that tries to be deciphered by a group of scientists. From there the author builds a bizarre plot that serves as an acid critic of the current scientific world.

Within his satirical-reflexive style, Lem has written some works, such as Vacío perfecto (1971) and An imaginary value (1973), consisting of criticisms or prologues of imaginary books. Apart from considering themselves almost "experimental", they have the interest of discovering a Lem not only as a great connoisseur of science, but also with a solid culture and philosophical training.

In Congress on Futurology (1971) he returns to Tichy to situate him in a congress of futurologists. In Memories found in a bathtub (1971) he continues with his humorous style, especially in the introduction, while in The Investigation (1959) and in Hay Fever (1976) takes elements from the mystery novel. Finally, Fiasco (1986) is considered his most thoughtful and mature novel. ^{[citation needed ]}

Titles and translations

Editorial trajectory in Spanish

The availability of Lem's work in Spanish is irregular. Practically the bulk of his work was published during the late 70s and the first half of the 80s by Carlo Frabetti in the now-defunct Editorial Bruguera, adding a few more titles Ediciones Minotauro. On the other hand, Alianza Editorial published a handful of them (some reissues or new editions of works already published by Bruguera). Translations of his general book works (scientific essays and philosophical texts), written between the 1980s and 1990s, are scarce in our language, which is why he is better known by Spanish-speakers as a fiction writer.

Today Lem is being recovered. Minotauro republished classic works, such as Solaris, Alianza started a Lem Library and unpublished texts are being translated into Spanish; in 2005, Editorial Funambulista published Provocation , a metafictional essay, and in 2006 his intellectual autobiography El castillo alto , which deals with his early childhood.

The Spanish label Editorial Impedimenta has faced the publication of the rest of his unpublished work. In 2008, his first novel came to light, The Transfiguration Hospital, set in occupied Poland during World War II, which was followed by reissues of Vacío perfecto (2008) and Imaginary Magnitude (2010), which had previously been published as An Imaginary Value. In 2011, she published The Investigation, followed by the first direct translation from Polish of Solaris (2011), as well as Golem XIV (2012).. Later he edited Máscara (2013), Astronauts (2016), The voice of his master (2017), Hay fever (2018), Provocation (2020) (with the latter completing the tetralogy of works that make up the so-called Library of the XXI Century: Vacío perfecto, Imaginary Magnitude, Golem XIV and Provocation), The Invincible (2021), Professor A. Dońda (2021) and Robot Fables (2022).

List of works

Jadwiga Maurizio, Matilde Horne, Pilar Giralt Gorina and Joanna Orzechowska stand out as translators of Lem's work into Spanish.

• The man of Mars (1946). Człowiek z Marsa
• The hospital of the transfiguration (1948). Szpital przemienienia. Impedimenta, 2008. ISBN 978-84-935927-6-9
• The astronauts (1951). Astronauci. Impedimenta, 2016. ISBN 978-84-16542-35-2
• The Magellan nebula (1955). Obłok Magellana
• Sesame (1955). Sezam
• Not waste time or exploited (1955). Czas nieutracony
• Dialogues (1957). Dialogi
• The invasion of Aldebaran (1959). Inwazja z Aldebarana
• The investigation (1959). Śledztwo. Bruguera, 1979; Impedimenta, 2011. ISBN 978-84-15130-10-9
• Eden (1959). Eden. Alliance, 1991. ISBN 84-206-0516-6; Alliance, 2005. ISBN 84-206-5964-9
• Return of the stars (1961). Powrót z gwiazd. Barcelona, Bruguera, 1983; Alliance, 1993. ISBN 84-206-0647-2
• Memories found in a bathtub (1961). Pamiętnik znaleziony w wannie. Barcelona, Bruguera, 1983; Interzona Editora, 2018. ISBN 978-987-3874-09-3
• Solaris (1961). Solaris. Barcelona, Minotauro, 1977. ISBN 978-84-450-7682-8; Printed, 2011. Direct version of the Polish. ISBN 978-84-15130-09-3
• Robot fables (1964). Bajki robotów. Bruguera, 1981; Impedimenta, 2022. Direct version of the Polish. ISBN 978-84-18668-68-5
• Summa Technologiae (1964). Godot Editions, 2017. ISBN 9789874086297
• The Invincible (1964). Niezwyciężony. Buenos Aires, Minotauro, 1978. ISBN 978-84-450-7382-7; Printed, 2021. Direct version of the Polish. ISBN 978-84-17553-93-7
• The tall castle (1966). Wysoki zamek. English Trad, Funambulist, 2006. ISBN 978-84-96601-18-5
• Ciberíada (1967). Cyberiada. Barcelona, Bruguera, 1980; Alliance, 1988. ISBN 84-206-0333-3
• Pirx pilot reports (1968). Opowiesci o pilocie Pirxie, 1. Madrid, Alianza, 1991. ISBN 84-206-0521-2
• More stories of the pilot Pirx (1968). Opowiesci o pilocie Pirxie, 2. Madrid, Alianza, 1991. ISBN 84-206-0527-1
• Stellar adventures of the pilot Pirx (anthology of the two original volumes). Madrid, Alianza, 2005
• The voice of his master (1968). Głos Pana. Impedimenta, 2017. ISBN 978-84-16542-78-9
• Daily stars. Travel (1971). Dzienniki gwiazdowe. Barcelona, Bruguera, 1979; Madrid, Alianza, ISBN 9788420659749; Barcelona, Edhasa, 2012. ISBN 9788435021265
• Daily stars. Travel and memories (1971). Dzienniki gwiazdowe. Barcelona, Bruguera, 1979
• Perfect vacuum (1971). Doskonała Próżnia. Barcelona, Editions B, 1988; Impedimenta, 2008. ISBN 978-84-936550-4
• Future Congress (1971). Ze wspomnień Ijona Tichego; Kongres futurologiczny. Barcelona, Bruguera, 1981; Interzona Editora, 2015. ISBN 978-987-1920-77-8
• An imaginary value (1973). Wielkość urojona. Barcelona, Bruguera, 1983; also as Imaginary magnitude. Impedimenta, 2010. ISBN 978-84-937601-2-0
• Professor A. Dońda. From the memories of Ijon Tichy (1973). Professor A. Dońda. Ze wspomnień Ijona Tichego. Impedimenta, 2021. ISBN 978-84-18668-19-7
• Rozprawy i szkice (1974)
• Philip K. Dick. A visionary between charlatans (1975). Published in Science Fiction Studies Spanish edition magazine Gigamesh n.o 7, 1985; also El Péndulo 15, third Época, 1985.
• Fever of the hay (1976). Katar. Bruguera, 1979; Editions B, 2000; Reading point, 2002. ISBN 84-663-0619-6; Printed, 2018. ISBN 978-84-17115-49-4
• Golem XIV (1981). Golem XIV. Impedimenta, 2012. ISBN 978-84-15130-40-6
• Back to Entia (1982). Wizja Lokalna. Barcelona, Edhasa, 1990
• Provocation (1984). Prowokacja. Funambulist, 2005. ISBN 84-934079-6-8; as well as Provocation. Impedimenta, 2020. ISBN 978-84-17553-56-2
• Fiasco (1986). Fiasko. Alliance, 1991. ISBN 84-206-5414-0; Alliance, 2005
• Peace on earth (1987). Pokój na Ziemi. Editions Chair, 2012. ISBN 978-84-376-3062-5
• Mask (2003). Maska. Impedimenta, 2013. ISBN 978-84-15979-00-5

Biography

Her life has been recorded in a biography developed in 2017 by the Polish journalist Wojciech Orliński and also published in Spanish by Impedimenta, in translation from Polish by Bárbara Gil.

• Lem. A life that is not of this world (2017). Lem. Zycie nie z tej ziemi. Impedimenta, 2021. ISBN 978-84-18668-13-5

Accommodations

Cinema and television

• Der Schweigende Stern / First Trip to Venus (Eastern Germany and Poland, 1959)
• Przekładaniec by Andrzej Wajda (1968)
• IKARIA-XB1 / White planet (Czech Republic, 1968-70)
• A si joli village by Étienne Périer (France, 1973)
• The investigation by Marek Piestrak (1973)
• Solaris by Andrei Tarkovsky (Soviet Union and Japan, 1972)
• Szpital przemienienia by Edward Zebrowski (Poland, 1979)
• Test pilota Pirxa by Marek Piestrak (Poland and Soviet Union, 1979)
• Victim of the Brain by Piet Hoenderos (Netherlands, 1988)
• Marianengraben by Achim Bornhak (Germany, 1994)
• Solaris by Steven Soderbergh (United States, 2002)
• Ijon Tichy: Raumpilot, series that began broadcasting German public television in its second chain (ZDF), specifically in the channel dedicated to performing arts (ZDFtheaterkanal) on 26 March 2007
• The Congress, by Ari Folman (2013) is a free adaptation of the novel Congress of Futurology that, like his celebrated film Vals with Bashir, resorts to a mixture of real action as well as mixed animation techniques.

Comic

• Once in the future by Carlos Giménez, Spain: science fiction album that brings together four comics in black and white, of which two are adaptations of passages Journals of the stars: entitled The missionary and Agonalia. The comics of this album were previously published in 1979 in the Spanish magazine 1984.