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The Case for Stanislaw Lem

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Re: The Case for Stanislaw Lem

#31

Post by scandox »

virtualritz wrote: post #9

I grew up with Lem's works as a kid, teenager and young adult in West Germany in the 80's. Lem spoke German so he was involved with the translations and there wasn't anything he wrote that didn't get translated to German. Not least because East Germany, together with Poland, was part of the Soviet block. I read 'Eden' when I was in 3rd grade -- my dad left it laying on the table in our living room. It had the world '…

Also The Futurological Congress as a film: how to take one of the funniest books I've ever read and turn it into one of the least funny movies. I think his sense of pessimism and the absurd is antithetical to modern filmmaking in some way.

I loved Fiasco. Brilliant book that I never hear mentioned.

Re: The Case for Stanislaw Lem

#32

Post by chewz »

virtualritz wrote: post #9

I grew up with Lem's works as a kid, teenager and young adult in West Germany in the 80's. Lem spoke German so he was involved with the translations and there wasn't anything he wrote that didn't get translated to German. Not least because East Germany, together with Poland, was part of the Soviet block. I read 'Eden' when I was in 3rd grade -- my dad left it laying on the table in our living room. It had the world '…

It was 'Invincible' for me.

And Pilot Pirx stories - the atmosphere that flying spaceships is just dirty, demanding, lonely job like driving a lorry. 1978 Polish-Soviet film based on 'Pilot Pirx Test' was very good ...

https://youtu.be/JSft0QLoVpQ

And Futurological Congress.

EDIT: Also Perfect Void (Doskonała Próżnia) and Imaginary Value (Wielkość Urojona) - introductions to non-existing books and Inquiry (Śledztwo) - one of two Lem's quirky crime novels about mysterily disapearing corpses from mortuaries...

https://pl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lista_pierwszych_wyda%C5%84_...

Re: The Case for Stanislaw Lem

#34

Post by minxomat »

chewz wrote: post #32
virtualritz wrote: post #9

I grew up with Lem's works as a kid, teenager and young adult in West Germany in the 80's. Lem spoke German so he was involved with the translations and there wasn't anything he wrote that didn't get translated to German. Not least because East Germany, together with Poland, was part of the Soviet block. I read 'Eden' when I was in 3rd grade -- my dad left it laying on the table in our living room. It had the world '…

It was 'Invincible' for me. And Pilot Pirx stories - the atmosphere that flying spaceships is just dirty, demanding, lonely job like driving a lorry. 1978 Polish-Soviet film based on 'Pilot Pirx Test' was very good ... https://youtu.be/JSft0QLoVpQ And Futurological Congress. EDIT: Also Perfect Void (Doskonała Próżnia) and Imaginary Value (Wielkość Urojona) - introductions to non-existing books and Inquiry (Śledztwo)…

There was a German TV show adapted from that: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0978537/ (Ijon Tichy, Space Pilot)

It's pretty quirky. A mix of Lem and maybe old school Doctor Who. It operated on zero budget and thus had a few charming props.

If you understand German I highly recommend it. Sadly it's almost impossible to translate to other languages because of the made up dialect used in it, which is the basis for much of its comedy. But looking at clips on YouTube should give you some idea.

Re: The Case for Stanislaw Lem

#36

Post by _0w8t »

Among film adaptations of Lem’s works I like “Inquest of Pilot Pirx” from 1979 the best. It is rather off from the story, but at least it portrayed Pirx close to how I imagined him.

Re: The Case for Stanislaw Lem

#37

Post by _0w8t »

HONEST_ANNIE wrote: post #21

Good selection. 'Return from the Stars' is more relevant today than it was when it was written. Its a story about sociocultural evolution and Lem clearly has a deep insight. (the book has tablet computers and e-paper too).

Return from the stars is my favorite. In a some sense it is still about how to deal aliens that we cannot understand, it is just the aliens is future society.

Re: The Case for Stanislaw Lem

#38

Post by Sharlin »

adrianN wrote: post #14
reedwolf wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lem hated it. He said Tarkovski turned his book into a Dostoyevsky novel. The problem is that it focused almost exclusively on the relationship drama and jettisoned the science fiction.

I found the movie to be incredibly boring, so I read the book to find out if it was just a bad adaption. In my opinion the book was even more boring.

Well, you can’t watch a Tarkovski movie and expect gripping or drama. The same goes for Lem’s books. They just require a different mindset.

Re: The Case for Stanislaw Lem

#39

Post by uryga »

abetusk wrote: post #6

Stanislaw Lem is one of my favorite authors. "His Masters Voice" is one of my favorite books. "Cyberiad" and "Mortal Engines" are also great books but much more playful and probably geared towards a younger audience, even if some of the subject matter is philosophically deep. I think Stanislaw Lem kind of suffered from the same fate as Gibson's work in that there have been a few attempts at making them into movies bu…

> "Cyberiad" and "Mortal Engines" are also great books but much more playful and probably geared towards a younger audience

yeah, i'm from poland and "Fables for Robots" (= most of the stories found in "Mortal Engines") was given as optional reading in elementary school

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