A Stanislaw Lem Reader (Rethinking Theory) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810114941 ISBN 13: 9780810114944

Publisher: Northwestern University Press, 1997

Synopsis

Polish-born Lem is one of the best-selling unknown writers of science fiction in the US. This collection assembles in-depth and insightful writings by and about, as well as interviews with, Lem. Two interviews are separated by Lem's own 1991 essay in which he surveys in detail 30 years of his earlier work, much of which has never been translated into English. Readers interested in Lem's provocative and uncompromising view of literature's role in the contemporary cultural environment, and in Lem's opinions about his own fiction, about the relation of literature to science and technology, and the dead ends of contemporary culture, will be fascinated by this eclectic collection.
 

About this title

About the Author

PETER SWIRSKI is a Canadian scholar and literary critic. He is the author of fifteen books, including the prize-winning Ars Americana, Ars Politica and From Lowbrow to Nobrow. His other well-known studies include the digital-futurological bestseller From Literature to Biterature. He is recognized as the foremost scholar on the late writer and philosopher Stanisław Lem. 

Reviews

Contrary to what the title suggests, this is not so much a sampler of Lem's writings as an introduction to and overview of the Polish writer's work. Swirski, a lecturer at McGill University (Canada), opens with an essay summarizing Lem's career and the major themes of his writings. Then comes a long 1992 interview with Lem, ``Reflections on Literature, Philosophy and Science.'' Lem contributes a retrospective essay primarily devoted to examining the accuracy of his 1964 book, Summa Technologiae, an essay in futurology in which he forecast (among other things) computer virtual reality. Another interview from 1994 consists of Lem's written responses to various broad questions on his thought and writings. The overall effect is to give an excellent, if very condensed, view of Lem's special concerns, particularly on the relationships between fiction and the real world. He comments in detail, for instance, on several writers who have attempted to portray Poland during the Nazi occupation, finding most to have missed the mark (Jerzy Kosinski in The Painted Bird overplays the peasants' sexual promiscuity, for instance). His observations on the ephemeral nature of much political satire (from Huxley's Brave New World to the Strugatsky brothers' attacks on Stalinism) draw attention to the rarely examined question of the place of the predictive element in fiction. While he has kept at arm's length from popular science fiction, Lem remains one of the few writers of fiction who is deeply conversant with scientific thought and who makes a point of getting his science right. His interest in philosophy is also genuine and wide-reaching, as numerous comments indicate. Densely written, with something to think about in almost every paragraph, this is probably the best quick introduction to the main currents of the large body of work Lem has produced over the last half-century. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Northwestern University Press
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0810114941
• ISBN 13: 9780810114944
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 129
• Editor: Swirski Peter