Who was StanisÂlaw Lem? The PolÂish sciÂence ficÂtion writer, novÂelÂist, essayÂist, and polyÂmath may best be known for his 1961 novÂel Solaris (adaptÂed for the screen by Andrei Tarkosvky in 1972 and again by Steven SoderÂbergh in 2014). Lem’s sciÂence ficÂtion appealed broadÂly outÂside of SF fanÂdom, attractÂing the likes of John Updike, who called his stoÂries “marÂvelous” and Lem a poet of “sciÂenÂtifÂic terÂmiÂnolÂoÂgy” for readÂers “whose hearts beat faster when the SciÂenÂtifÂic AmerÂiÂcan arrives each month.”
Updike’s charÂacÂterÂiÂzaÂtion is but one verÂsion of Lem. There are sevÂerÂal more, writes Jonathan Lethem in an essay for the LonÂdon Review of Books, penned for Lem’s 100th anniverÂsary – at least five difÂferÂent Lems with five difÂferÂent litÂerÂary perÂsonÂalÂiÂties. Only the first is a “hard sciÂence ficÂtion writer,” the genre origÂiÂnatÂing not with Mary Shelley’s FrankenÂstein, but “in H.G. Wells’ techÂnoÂlogÂiÂcal progÂnosÂtiÂcaÂtions.”
RepÂreÂsentÂed best in the pages of AstoundÂing StoÂries and othÂer sci-fi pulps, hard sci-fi “adverÂtisÂes conÂsumer goods like perÂsonÂal robots and flyÂing cars. It valÂorizes space travÂel that culÂmiÂnates in sucÂcessÂful, if difÂfiÂcult, conÂtact with the alien life assumed to be strewn throughÂout the galaxÂies.” The genre also became tied to “AmerÂiÂcan excepÂtionÂalÂist ideÂolÂoÂgy, techÂnoÂcratÂic triÂumphalÂism, manÂiÂfest desÂtiny” and “libÂerÂtarÂiÂan surÂvivalÂist bullÂshit,” says Lethem.
Lem had no use for these attiÂtudes. In his guise as a critÂic and reviewÂer he wrote, “the sciÂenÂtifÂic ignoÂrance of most AmerÂiÂcan sciÂence-ficÂtion writÂers was as inexÂplicÂaÂble as the abomÂinable litÂerÂary qualÂiÂty of their outÂput.” He admired the EngÂlish H.G. Wells, comÂparÂing him to the invenÂtor of chess, and AmerÂiÂcan Philip K. Dick, whom he called a “visionÂary among charÂlaÂtans.” But Lem hatÂed most hard sci-fi, though he himÂself, says Lethem, was a hard sci-fi writer “with visionÂary gifts and inexÂhaustible diliÂgence when it came to the task of extrapÂoÂlaÂtion.”
Much of Lem’s work was of anothÂer kind, as Lethem explains in the short film above, a conÂdensed verÂsion of his essay. The secÂond Lem “wrote fairy tales and folk tales of the future.” The third, “wrote just two novÂels, yet he could easÂiÂly be, on the right day, one’s favorite.” Lem numÂber four “is the pure post-modÂernist, who uniÂfied his essayÂisÂtic and ficÂtionÂal selves with a BorÂgeÂsian or NaboÂkovÂian gesÂture.” This Lem, for examÂple, wrote the very BorÂgeÂsian A PerÂfect VacÂuÂum: PerÂfect Reviews of NonexÂisÂtent Books.
Lem numÂber five, says Lethem, is “anothÂer major figÂure,” this one a proÂlifÂic litÂerÂary essayÂist, critÂic, reviewÂer, and non-ficÂtion writer whose breadth is stagÂgerÂing. Rather than conÂfinÂing him with the label “futurÂist,” Lethem calls him an “anyÂthingist,” a point Lem proved with his 1964 SumÂma TechÂnoloÂgiae, a “masÂterÂwork of non-ficÂtion,” Simon Ings writes at New SciÂenÂtist, with the ambiÂtion and scope of the 13th-cenÂtuÂry Aquinas work for which it’s named.
This fifth and final Lem “will be a fabÂuÂlous shock to those who know only his sciÂence ficÂtion,” writes Ings. Only transÂlatÂed into EngÂlish in 2014, his SumÂma presages search engines, virÂtuÂal realÂiÂty, and techÂnoÂlogÂiÂcal sinÂguÂlarÂiÂty. It attempts an “all encomÂpassÂing… disÂcourse on evoÂluÂtion,” comÂmentÂed bioÂphysiÂcist Peter Butko, “not only… of sciÂence and techÂnolÂoÂgy… but also evoÂluÂtion of life, humanÂiÂty, conÂsciousÂness, culÂture, and civÂiÂlizaÂtion.”
The last Lem makes for heady readÂing, but he imbues this work with the same wit and wickedÂly satirÂiÂcal voice we find in the first four. He operÂatÂed, after all, as Lethem writes in his essay celÂeÂbratÂing the PolÂish author at 100, “in the spirÂit of othÂer Iron CurÂtain figÂures who slipped below the cenÂsor’s radar by using forms regardÂed as unseÂriÂous.” Yet few have takÂen the form of sciÂence ficÂtion more seriÂousÂly.
via Aeon
RelatÂed ConÂtent:
Josh Jones is a writer and musiÂcian based in Durham, NC. FolÂlow him at @jdmagness
WonÂderÂful review!