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VISIONS OF THE FUTURE IN THE WRITINGS OF STANISŁAW LEM - Volume 1: Visions of the future
Abstract
The main argument of this book is that Lem is a political writer. A related argument is that Lem is known in his parts rather than for the breadth of his writing. Lem is firstly a writer of political utopias such as Astronauci and metaphorical political books such as Cyberiada where he frequently utilises humour in order to disguise the political contents, as well as an author of theoretical scientific works such as Dialogi, which contain very important analyses of politics and political science plus strictly political essays, such as published in Parisian Kultura or Tygodnik Powszechny. Until the late 1980s the majority of Polish critics largely denied that Lem was a political writer. For example Andrzej Stoff strongly rejected even a possibility of reading Lem‟s Eden as a political novel. Antoni Smuszkiewicz in his recent publications repeats his earlier opinion that nothing allows us to read Eden as a political novel. Smuszkiewicz and Stoff strongly argue that Lem is not a political writer, and even those who find important political elements in Lem‟s output (such as Jarzębski) treat them as rather marginal. I go somewhat further: I argue that politics is not a secondary trait of Lem‟s writings, but a major feature, a kind of well-hidden skeleton. Virtually all of Lem‟s important works can be read as political, even such „metaphysical‟ novels as Solaris, or stories from Bajki robotów, which are frequently, and quite incorrectly, classified as „children‟s literature‟. Furthermore, as Lem spent the great majority of his life in Poland, his evolution as a writer can be closely correlated to the political history of this country.
W. Kajtoch: „Introduction to „Solaris”. Translated from Polish by Lech Keller”, „Acta Lemiana Monashiensis. Special Lem Edition of Acta Polonica Monashiensis”, vol. 2, numb. 2, Leros Press, Monach University [Australia] 2003, s. 207, tu s: 38-52
Stanislaw Lem is unquestionably one of the greatest authors of SF in the global history of this genre. Thus inclusion of his works to the reading list1 is certainly a gesture, which acknowledges the reality. One could also regard this inclusion as an ennoblement of a genre,
so far virtually ignored by the school administration because of its "lowly" origin (i.e. Verne's fantastic novels, targeted mostly for young people, and American "pulp" SF magazines of the 1930s). There are also different claims, namely that "Solaris" (and this novel is virtually
unanimously regarded as the best work of Lem, the work, which introduced his works to the list of "must-read" books), is not really SF. The main reason is that "Solaris" can be read and interpreted as a psychological novel, thus in this context Lem is a "real", i.e. "mainstream" writer, actually not much interested in science and technology. In short: Lem is strictly
speaking a "high brow" writer, rather than a "lowly" SF writer. It should be also noted the lack of regard to the cultural background (or its arbitrary selection), which was frequent in the interpretation of the post-Second World War literature, and common in the Polish secondary schools habit of reading every literary text as a direct reflection and appraisal of the real world. This way we have compiled a catalogue of the dangers threatening analysis of "Solaris", as it is done at the classes of Polish literature. Thus this essay will not give a comprehensive analysis of "Solaris". I shall only take more attention to the genesis of the novel, and to those elements in "Solaris", which have the closest links to the SF genre, its history and to the development of Lem as a writer.
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