
Stanisław Lem - axiomdata316
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_Lem
======
Blackthorn
The thing that really struck me about sci-fi from the other side of the iron
curtain was the fundamentally different look it took at communication with
extraterrestrial intelligences. Lem, and the Strugatsky brothers (probably the
best known off of the top of people's heads from that side of the world,
thanks to Tarkovsky) both wrote extremely well-received books about how it's
likely that this sort of communication would be impossible.

~~~
mpiedrav
Impossibility of communication (because the very physical means necessary are
way beyond our capacity as a species) is also a far more plausible idea than
anthropomorphic beings (speaking some language that can be deciphered and
uttered by humans).

An ocean-shaped or a polymer-based "lifeform", while formidably uncanny, are
still somewhat fathomable.

What about a radio-waves-based "lifeform"? Or a star whose plasma interactions
are so complex that some form of artificial "life" emerges within it?

Lem's narrative is indeed intellectually teasing. And, yet, critical of our
approaches and behaviors as a species.

~~~
justin66
> Impossibility of communication (because the very physical means necessary
> are way beyond our capacity as a species) is also a far more plausible idea
> than anthropomorphic beings (speaking some language that can be deciphered
> and uttered by humans).

Lem's work (at least Solaris) explored the _intellectual_ inability of our
species to communicate with a vastly superior intelligence. Solaris did not
have any problem seeing what people were doing, thinking, signalling to it,
and so on. It's just that what possible difference could it make?

~~~
krige
The catch is, we simply don't know. We do not know if Solaris is a "superior"
intelligence. We may _guess_ it is an intelligence of sorts. There is also
very little to suggest that it understands us in turn. My interpretation is
that the phantoms were its effort to understand humans, and probably not a
very successful one either.

Another fantastic book on the subject His Master's Voice, where a whole
massive team of scientists tries to decode an interstellar signal. In the end,
they didn't even prove it _was_ a signal, and not a natural phenomenon.

Also - The Invincible. Probably the most western sci-fi styled book among his
works, dealing with an interesting concept of mechanical evolution.

~~~
justin66
I have some opinions on that, but for the purposes of the story, I agree that
the level of superiority of Solaris's intelligence is pretty much beside the
point (or rather, the futility of attempting to parameterize Solaris's
intelligence _is_ the point). Maybe it's not even self aware. Maybe it's
hyperintelligent but reaches conclusions in geologic time, or something. Maybe
it's amused by us and would find the notion of communicating with us in a
meaningful way silly.

On the topic of self awareness vis-à-vis aliens, Peter Watts' _Blindsight_ is
a recent classic.

[https://rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm](https://rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm)

------
symplee
>> "Translating his works is difficult due to passages with elaborate word
formation, idiomatic wordplay, alien or robotic poetry, and puns."

>> But he is the only writer of European [science fiction, most of whose]
books have been translated into English, and [...] kept in print in the USA.
Lem's critical success in English is due mostly to the excellent translations
of Michael Kandel.

Anyone know if there's an effort being put into newer translations? A quick
check of when Kandel made these translations:

    
    
        Memoirs Found in a Bathtub (with Christine Rose, 1973), 
        The Cyberiad (1974), 
        The Futurological Congress (1974), 
        The Star Diaries (1976), 
        Mortal Engines (1977), 
        A Perfect Vacuum (1978), 
        His Master's Voice (1983), 
        Fiasco (1987), 
        Peace on Earth (with Elinor Ford, 1994), 
        Highcastle: A Remembrance (1995), 
    

With notable books missing, it would be great to see the rest, and the above
potentially (slightly) modernized.

 _Side note_ \- are there any open source translation initiatives? Where a
book in its native tongue is collaboratively translated and seen as a living
document to continually be updated with the times. (With the ability for a
user to roll back and see the language of 10 years ago, etc. or by preference
for specific translators.)

~~~
mcv
I'm particularly impressed by the translation of The Cyberiad. There are some
amazingly clever poems in there that must have been impossible to translate.
I'd love to see an analysis of how much of those poems was translated, and how
much was just rewritten from scratch because some things are just impossible
to translate while sticking to such a tight form.

~~~
oldgradstudent
> "Have it compose a poem—a poem about a haircut! But lofty, noble, tragic,
> timeless, full of love, treachery, retribution, quiet heroism in the face of
> certain doom! Six lines, cleverly rhymed, and every word beginning with the
> letter s!!"

> Seduced, shaggy Samson snored.

> She scissored short. Sorely shorn,

> Soon shackled slave, Samson sighed,

> Silently scheming,

> Sightlessly seeking

> Some savage, spectacular suicide.

I've found an article that compares the translation the original Polish. The
translator had to change the premise of the poem and write a completely new
poem:

[https://medium.com/@mwichary/seduced-shaggy-samson-
snored-72...](https://medium.com/@mwichary/seduced-shaggy-samson-
snored-725b5a8086d9)

~~~
mcv
As I expected: it's a total rewrite, just with similarly restrictive
requirements. But the theme changed from cybererotica (though there wasn't
much cyber about the original) to biblical tragedy.

------
axiomdata316
I'm reading 'The Invincible' right now by Stanislaw Lem. Not only is it good
science fiction but it's good fiction period. Really can paint a scene and
make you feel like you're right there in it.

~~~
gambiting
The Invincible is my favourite book, period. I just love the theme of humanity
bringing its most powerful, most advanced weaponry against an "enemy", and
discovering not that it can't defeat it, but that doing so is
simply....pointless.

I've just finished reading Lem's Hospital of the Transfiguration - I love that
this theme of pointlessness is expressed even in his non sci-fi books, it's
just absolutely stellar reading.

------
msadowski
Lem made quite a good prediction about ebook readers:

"The books were crystals with recorded contents. They can be read the aid of
an opton, which was similar to a book but had only one page between the
covers. At a touch, successive pages of the text appeared on it."

In old Polish sci-fi I really appreciated the sociological aspect of some of
the books, especially these written by Janusz Zajdel
([https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janusz_Zajdel](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janusz_Zajdel)).
Unfortunately it seems none of his work was translated to English.

In Zajdel's Limes Inferior we have a society divided into classes. The
monetary system was divided into points (green, red and yellow) and being in
the lowest class you would only earn green points that should cover
necessities. For premium items you would need red or yellow points. There is
of course a black market exchanges etc. Another interesting concept from this
book were 'keys' \- every one had their own andb they were used as an id and a
wallet for the points (I think they would perform similar functions to mobile
phones of today).

------
js2
Funny coincidence, I just watched both the original Solaris and the remake
this weekend. They've been on my list to watch for years. I enjoyed both. The
original requires a lot of patience, and it's somewhat less accessible I think
to non-Russian speakers who have to read subtitles.

Ebert's reviews are pretty spot on.

[https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-
solaris-1972](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-solaris-1972)

[https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/solaris-2002](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/solaris-2002)

If you like anything by PKD, or you enjoy 2001, you'll probably like Solaris.

~~~
taejo
> If you like anything by PKD, or you enjoy 2001, you'll probably like
> Solaris.

PKD on the other hand (as mentioned in the OP) did _not_ like Lem.

[https://culture.pl/en/article/philip-k-dick-stanislaw-lem-
is...](https://culture.pl/en/article/philip-k-dick-stanislaw-lem-is-a-
communist-committee)

"In September 1974, the FBI received a letter [from Philip K. Dick]. The
accusations in the letter were shocking – it told of a communist conspiracy
aimed at the hearts and minds of America through propaganda in the subtle
guise of science fiction. Major science-fiction publishers and organisations
had been infiltrated, and their agents, notable figures in the genre, were
abroad in the West. The orchestrator of it all was a communist committee,
acting under the name... Stanisław Lem."

~~~
SamHasler
Which is ironic, because Lem liked PKD's work:

[https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/5/lem5art.htm](https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/5/lem5art.htm)

------
andreskytt
Humorist, too. The Star Diaries introduced me to recursion back in the day

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nathias
Tarkovsky butchered Solaris.

~~~
ajuc
He used is as material to make another point. That's what great artists do. I
like both the movie and the book, just for different reasons.

~~~
nathias
I like Tarkovsky's fluid scenes but there was no reason to make the story
worse. Lem was trying to make sci-fi into high art and despised the plot-twist
endings common in American sci-fi, which is what Tarkovsky does to the story.

------
aszantu
I once read something about spies by lem, was really amusing

~~~
raphlinus
Memoirs found in a Bathtub, perhaps? One of my favorites.

