2006-03-27

Stanisław Lem (September 12, 1921 - March 27, 2006)

Stanislaw Lem (Wikipedia).

I can only say that one of the Biggests has departed us. The world will miss him.

When I returned from my ERASMUS year in the UK, I helped to organize the first Science-Fiction congress of my University in Spain, and after much debate, I convinced the others so they were made honoring Stanislaw Lem , and the short-tale award was the 'Stanislaw Lem' Short Tale Award I Edition. The next year we followed suit, and Philip K. Dick, one of his favourite American writers, was the next, and then so on...

I have read his SF books many times over, but one of my favorite ones are Fiasko, and The Invincible. He was such an intelligent writer, thought provocking, filled with fine irony and a savoir-faire, he managed the black and the white of Humanity, and really Knew Better.

salue, magister! desideraueris et reminisceris

2 comments:

xibalba said...

I'm so sorry Lem is dead one of my favorite books is in fact Solaris, which is one of the weirdest reads ever. (Although the airlock passage is interminable and boring), I esspecially loved the fact our hero FAILS to establish real contact with Solaris, which is certainly believable given its extreme alienness.

I did see that early 7o's flick based on the book. Which although its a incredible feast for the eyes, is almost stupyfing in the extreme boredom it induces. It seems to go one for eons and eons.

I'll miss him.

Pierre

P.S. give the George Clooney Solaris a miss.

Excalibor said...

Pierre, indeed! Clooney's Solaris was pretty boring and a deception, but then, it really is a hard novel to make a film.

Nevertheless, the movie created a resurgence of Lem's novels in Spain, and people actually started to read the book! For that, I thank that horrible movie, nod...

As for the failure, Lem's books are basically all about the limits of Humans, and, guess what? One of his last SF books was titled Fiasko, which is Polish for Failure (I think it's a loan word in most languages)... Read it, you'll like it, cool, believable, hard SF and First Contact philosophy all in one. His Master's Voice is also a great one, and also speaks of our limits...

Certainly a humbling experience...

laters! let me know if you read it and if you enjoyed it! I really did!