Solaris author Stanislaw Lem dies at 84
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Solaris author Stanislaw Lem dies at 84
KRAKOW, Poland (Reuters) - Polish author Stanislaw Lem, one of the world's leading science-fiction writers, died on Monday in his home city of Krakow at the age of 84 after a battle with heart disease.
Lem, whose books have sold more than 27 million copies and have been translated into more than 40 languages, won widespread acclaim for The Cyberiad, stories from a mechanical world ruled by robots, first published in English in 1974.
Solaris, published in 1961 and set on an isolated space stations, was made into a film epic 10 years later by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky and into a 2002 Hollywood remake shot by Steven Sodebergh and starring George Clooney.
"Shortly after 3 p.m. (1300 GMT) Stanislaw Lem died in the heart clinic, where he had been treated over the past few weeks for circulatory problems," Andrzej Kulig, director of the Jagiellonian University hospital told Reuters.
Lem, born on September 12, 1921 in what is now the Ukrainian city of Lviv, studied medicine before World War Two. After the war, communist censorship blocked the publication of his earliest writing.
After the fall of communism in 1989 Lem ceased writing science-fiction, instead devoting himself to reports on near-future predictions for governments and organizations.
He wrote essays on computer crime, as well as technological and ethical problems posed by the expansion of the Internet.
Lem, whose books have sold more than 27 million copies and have been translated into more than 40 languages, won widespread acclaim for The Cyberiad, stories from a mechanical world ruled by robots, first published in English in 1974.
Solaris, published in 1961 and set on an isolated space stations, was made into a film epic 10 years later by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky and into a 2002 Hollywood remake shot by Steven Sodebergh and starring George Clooney.
"Shortly after 3 p.m. (1300 GMT) Stanislaw Lem died in the heart clinic, where he had been treated over the past few weeks for circulatory problems," Andrzej Kulig, director of the Jagiellonian University hospital told Reuters.
Lem, born on September 12, 1921 in what is now the Ukrainian city of Lviv, studied medicine before World War Two. After the war, communist censorship blocked the publication of his earliest writing.
After the fall of communism in 1989 Lem ceased writing science-fiction, instead devoting himself to reports on near-future predictions for governments and organizations.
He wrote essays on computer crime, as well as technological and ethical problems posed by the expansion of the Internet.
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I started SOLARIS but I haven't finished it. I think I'll finish it in honor of him.
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When I downsized my library about 15 years ago, discarding about 90% of the books, I kept The Futurological Congress. Great book.
I still laugh at scenes from The Cyberiad, although I haven't read it for twenty years. Denunciation taxes. Bioengineered orgasmic organs that have nothing to do with reproduction. Having to reconstruct Earth's history from the dinosaurs to the present because of a system crash on a time machine.
The Chains of Chance is a great deconstructionist murder mystery.
He gave me a lot of joy. RIP.
I still laugh at scenes from The Cyberiad, although I haven't read it for twenty years. Denunciation taxes. Bioengineered orgasmic organs that have nothing to do with reproduction. Having to reconstruct Earth's history from the dinosaurs to the present because of a system crash on a time machine.
The Chains of Chance is a great deconstructionist murder mystery.
He gave me a lot of joy. RIP.
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What was true then is apropos today regarding what passes as science fiction.
“Pseudo-scientific fairy tales supply the public with what is wants: truisms, clichés, stereotypes, all sufficiently costumed and made “wonderful” so that the reader my sink into a safe state of surprise and at the same not be jostled out of his philosophy of life.”
Stanislaw Lem, His Master’s Voice 1968.
“Pseudo-scientific fairy tales supply the public with what is wants: truisms, clichés, stereotypes, all sufficiently costumed and made “wonderful” so that the reader my sink into a safe state of surprise and at the same not be jostled out of his philosophy of life.”
Stanislaw Lem, His Master’s Voice 1968.