Talk:Stanislaw Lem
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He is probably the best single science fiction author of the late 20th century not to write in English.
...apart from Yevgeny Zamyatin, author of the distopian We... sjc
Zamyatin is early 20th century. Burschik
Could someone speaking the langauge replace the original titles? --Yooden
look here (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/slem.htm). hm...
If we're heading into opinionated territory then I'd have to say that IMO he's probably the single best science fiction author full stop. I've never read anything in SF to match the cyberiad for imagination and literary inventiveness. -MockAE
...except Solaris, Futurological Congress, the Pirx stories, Fiasco, and greatest of all, the Perfect Vacuum (which is, admittedly, no SF)
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Sentence removed
- Many people consider his treatment of the ideal society issue the most thorough and insightful of all similar attempts in science fiction.
I am removing this sentence because of its imprecision and lack of citations. Can we cite literary critics who have written this about Lem? My rewrite is basically for removing unidiomatic English and other oddities of the text. --Fred 20:51, 18 Apr 2004 (UTC)
- I've removed a swipe at Douglas Adams, which seemed inappropriate and unnecessary. Perhaps the person who feels that the Hitchhiker's Guide series is unintelligent humor simply missed some of the subtler jokes? -- metamatic 20040802T054800Z
Weeeell - I could argue with you here a lot, but since I tend to get too sarcastic or rude, just let me paste a sentence from http://world.std.com/~mmcirvin/cyberiad.html#adams :
The difference is one of degree in tone and intent. Lem often (not always) has a serious point to make which determines the direction of the story. With Adams, at least in the early, funny books in the Hitch-hiker's Guide series, the fabulistic content (and it is there, in such passages as the famous one about the Ultimate Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything) is strictly secondary to getting the joke told. I don't think that either approach is inherently superior to the other, but when I write humor, my method is closer to Adams'; it's very hard to make humor serious without killing it. Somehow, Lem pulls it off. 160.83.64.93
- Please sign your edits in future. (Use ~~~~.) I've done the above for you. grendel|khan 14:30, 2005 Mar 29 (UTC)
Lem and American pulp fiction
I removed the clumsy phrase on this issue. From personal experience I must say that Soviet and Socialist censorship was two-pronged. From one hand, only "politically correct" books were translated. From the other hand the enormous flood of Americal pulp was filtered out as well. My personal respect to Clifford Simak was significantly shattered when I finally had a chance to read everything he wrote. So I believe if Lem had chance to see the whole US sci-fi, then he wouldn't accept the American association membership in the first place altogether. Mikkalai
Victim of the Brain
Under "Film and TV adaptations" the article mentions "Victim of the Brain" by Piet Hoenderdos. (Well actually it spelled 'Hoenderos' but I've corrected that.) I'm not a Lem-expert, but I doubt "Victim of the Brain" is a adaptation of a book by Lem. In fact it is a semi-documentary about Douglas Hofstadter. Muijz 16:33, 20 Jan 2005 (UTC)
POV Question
- Isn't saying that his work has been "translated brilliantly into English" PoV? Shouldn't the views of critics who consider the translations brilliant be cited? I know at least some readers have not approved them, although most do, I think. DES 05:36, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Well, would it be humble enough if I say this ;-) : personaly I find English as not very rich and rather dull language. Reading the original Polish version and English translation it really makes me think, the translator must be a "Wizard of words".
Category
Is the category "science fiction writer" really redundant with "polish science fiction writer"? If the more inclusive category is removed, won't someone goign to that category fail to see Lem in the lists provided? DES 15:22, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- I think I will restore the more general category if no one posts an objection shortly. DES 15:32, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)