Stanislaw Lem RIP

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Never read Solaris, though the Tarkovsky film is ace. I did quite enjoy the logical games and gentle humanist wit of Cyberiad though.

― o. nate (onate), Monday, 27 March 2006 15:44 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, here's the link:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060327/ap_en_ot/obit_lem

― o. nate (onate), Monday, 27 March 2006 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

i thought he was dead already!

the other day i was just reading about his dispute with tzvetan todorov over genre.

― Josh (Josh), Monday, 27 March 2006 18:10 (nineteen years ago)

what josh said. well, the first bit.

― tom west (thomp), Monday, 27 March 2006 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

Sorry to hear this. I've not read much of his work, but he had a wonderful mind, and I'm thankful for him sharing so much of it with us. Shame I'll probably never read any of his work in the original language.

― Øystein (Øystein), Monday, 27 March 2006 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

it's an unfortunate reason, but maybe this will finally spur a new english translation of solaris. the polish to french to english version that's available is obviously not optimal. (i've always had a soft spot for memoirs found in a bathtub myself.

― dja, Monday, 27 March 2006 21:58 (nineteen years ago)

p.s. love that the very first sentence of the obit link goes: 'a science fiction writer whose novel "Solaris" was made into a movie starring George Clooney...'

― dja, Monday, 27 March 2006 22:02 (nineteen years ago)

i almost started a thread about the cyberiad the other week, too.

so, uh, tarkovsky or soderbergh?

― tom west (thomp), Monday, 27 March 2006 22:26 (nineteen years ago)

four weeks pass...

Should I read Solaris for a book club? Or is it boring?

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 24 April 2006 15:51 (nineteen years ago)

Sure - it's good - not boring at all. Perhaps you're thinking of the Tarkovsky movie? Which isn't boring either, but I could see how somebody might think that it is...

― Jeff LeVine (Jeff LeVine), Monday, 24 April 2006 16:02 (nineteen years ago)

Thanks. I saw the movie while drifting in and out of sleep in a crappy hotel room. It did seem good, if not entirely not-boring, but I could easily see the book version being a slog.

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 24 April 2006 16:37 (nineteen years ago)

dave fischer to thread.

― the unbearable lightness of peeing (orion), Monday, 24 April 2006 16:42 (nineteen years ago)

solaris is maybe not his most interesting book

that said when i read it i had already fallen asleep in front of both versions of the movie. i think i also managed to fall asleep whilst reading the book, my edition of which had george clooney on the cover, by the way. i think the book was in my friend m.'s room when he set his house on fire. huh.

i have recently read memoirs found in a bathtub. it had some notable features.

― tom west (thomp), Monday, 24 April 2006 19:41 (nineteen years ago)

Huh.

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 24 April 2006 19:47 (nineteen years ago)

huh.

― tom west (thomp), Monday, 24 April 2006 20:06 (nineteen years ago)

fifteen years pass...

The bio piece on him in the New Yorker is good. Checked the library and they have a weird smattering of his books (in electronic form, anyway), no Solaris or His Master's Voice. Anyone read The Cyberiad, Peace on Earth, the Star Diaries, More Tales of Pirx the Pilot, or A Perfect Vacuum (fake book reviews)?

― change display name (Jordan), Monday, 17 January 2022 15:50 (three years ago)

Yeah, I would recommend The Cyberiad and the Star Diaries as good entry points from that list. Both are essentially short story collections with vaguely overarching plots and the Star Diaries, in particular, has a couple of stories that I think about all the time.

― Judi Dench's Human Hand (methanietanner), Monday, 17 January 2022 16:00 (three years ago)

I've read the Cyberiad, a decent collection of sarcastic, cynical, and silly fables concerning two inventors and their inventions, nothing like Solaris or His Master's Voice.

― two sleeps till brooklyn (ledge), Monday, 17 January 2022 16:08 (three years ago)

Never heard of that guy who wrote the NYer thing before, but probably would read something else by him.

― Presenting the Fabulous Redettes Featuring James (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 17 January 2022 16:19 (three years ago)

A Perfect Vacuum is the best thing of his I've read outside of Solaris and His Master's Voice, especially the 'review' of Gruppenführer Louis XVI about ex-Nazis cosplaying the 18th century French aristocracy in a South American jungle.

― the great replacement bus service (Matt #2), Monday, 17 January 2022 16:36 (three years ago)

The Cyberiad is a fun read - "a decent collection of sarcastic, cynical, and silly fables concerning two inventors and their inventions" is a good summary from ledge.

― emil.y, Monday, 17 January 2022 18:35 (three years ago)

three months pass...

Reposting this from the Jonathan Lethem thread (via the pinefox):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bx7umZ8aRI

― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, 4 May 2022 19:02 (three years ago)

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