Stanislaw Lem

Stanisław Lem (born September 12, 1921) is a Polish satirical and philosophical science fiction writer. Stanislaw Lem's books have been translated into 37 languages and sold over 27 million copies.

Stanisław Lem was born in Lwów, Poland in 1921 (now Lviv, Ukraine) as the son of a physician. He studied medicine at Lwów University and at Jagiellonian University in Cracow, but his studies were interrupted by World War II. During the war and nazi occupation Lem worked as a car mechanic and welder, and was a member of the resistance fighting against the Germans. Toward the end of the war Poland was occupied by the Red Army and the country was closely controlled by the Soviet Union for the next 50 years. In 1946 Lem moved to Cracow. After finishing his studies Stanislaw Lem received his MD. He worked a research assistant in a scientific institution and started to write stories on his spare time.

Lem has been awarded the honorary membership of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) in 1973, which was then removed in 1976 after his comments about recent science fiction literature. He descibed it as ill thought out, poorly written, and interested more in adventure than ideas or new literary forms. The SWFA then offered him a regular membership, which he refused.

Bibliography

• Czlowiek z Marsa (1946)
• Szpital przemienienia (1948) / Hospital of the Transfiguration - NY 1988
• Astronauci (1951)
• Oblok Magellana (1955)
• Sezam (1955)
• Czas nieutracony (1955)
• Dialogi (1957)
• Inwazja z Aldebarana (1959)
• Sledztwo (1959) / The Investigation - NY 1974
• Eden (1959) - San Diego 1989
• Powrot s gwiazd (1961) / Return from the Stars - London 1980
• Solaris (1961) - London 1970
• Summa Technologiae (1964)
• Niezwyciezony (1964) / The Invincible - London 1973
• Cyberiada (1967) / The Cyberiad - NY 1974
• Glos pana (1968) / His Master's Voice - London 1983
• Pamietnik znaleziony w wannie (1971) / Memoir Found in a Bathtub - NY 1973
• Dzienniki gwiazdowe (1971) / The Star Diaries - NY 1976, The Memories of a Space Traveller - London 1982
• Ze wspomnien Ijona Tichego; Kongres futurologiczny (1971) / The Futurological Congress - Avon Books 1976
• Opowiesci o pilocie Pirxie (1973) / Tales of Pirx the Pilot - NY 1979, More Tales of Pirx the Pilot - NY 1982
• Wielkosc urojona (1973) / Imaginary Magnitude - NY 1984
• Rozprawy i szkice (1974)
• Wysoki zamek (1975) / Highcastle: A Remembrance - NY 1995
• Katar (1975) / The Chain of Chance - London 1978
• Mortal Engines - NY 1977
• Wisja Lokalna (1982)
• Doskonala Próznia (1983) / A Perfect Vacuum - London 1979
• Fiasko (1986) / Fiasco - NY 1987
• Pokoj na Ziemi (1987) / Peace on Earth - NY 1992

Film and TV adaptations

• Der Schweigende Stern / First Spaceship on Venus (East Germany and Poland, 1959)
• Przekladaniec / Layer Cake / Roly Poly by Andrzej Wajda (1968)
• IKARIA-XB1 / White Planet (Czech Republic, 1968-70)
• Un si joli village by Étienne Périer[?] (France, 1973)
• The Investigation by Marek Piestrak[?] (1973)
• Solaris by Andrei Tarkovsky (Soviet Union and Japan, 1971)
• Szpital przemienienia / Hospital of the Transfiguration by Edward Zebrowski[?] (Poland, 1979)
• Test pilota Pirxa / Test Pilot Pirx by Marek Piestrak (Poland and Soviet Union, 1979)
• Victim of the Brain by Piet Hoenderos[?] (Netherlands, 1988)
• Marianengraben directed by Achim Bornhak[?], written by Lem and Mathias Dinter[?] (Germany, 1994)
• Solaris by Steven Soderbergh, (USA, 2002)

External Links

• Official Lem site http://www.lem.pl/
• Wired magazine on Lem and Solaris http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.12/solaris
• Lem at "The Modern Word" http://www.themodernword.com/scriptorium/lem