The Art and Science of Stanislaw Lem

by Peter Swirski

Overview

The Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem, whose works include Return from the Stars, The Cyberiad, A Perfect Vacuum, and Solaris, has been hailed as a "literary Einstein" and a science-fiction Bach. American and European scholars who have defined Lem scholarship offer an inter-disciplinary analysis of his influence on Western culture and the creative partnering of art and science in his fiction and futorology. Rather than analyzing Lem solely as a science fiction writer, the contributors examine the larger themes in his work, such as social engineering and human violence, agency and consciousness, Freudianism and the creative process, evolution and the philosophy of the future, virtual reality and epistemological illusion, and science fiction and socio-cultural policy. This unique collection also includes "Smart Robots," a previously unpublished essay by Lem.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780773575073
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	07/27/2006
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Peter Swirski is associate professor, American literature, and director, American studies, Hong Kong University. He is the author of A Stanislaw Lem Reader and From Lowbrow to Nobrow.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Man behind the Giant   Peter Swirski     3
Smart Robots   Stanislaw Lem     13
(Un)masking the Agent: Stanislaw Lem's "The Mask"   N. Katherine Hayles     22
Betrization Is the Worst Solution ... with the Exception of All Others   Peter Swirski     47
A Freudian Peek at Lem's Fiasco   Michael Kandel     72
Summa technologiae - Looking Back and Ahead   Peter Butko     81
Models of Evolution in the Writings of Stanislaw Lem   Jerzy Jarzebski     104
Skepticism, Realism, Fallibilism: On Lem's Epistemological Themes   Paisley Livingston     117
Lem, Central Europe, and the Genre of Technological Empire   Istvan Csicsery-Ronay     130
Lem on Film   Krzysztof Loska     153
Solaris! Solaris. Solaris?   Peter Swirski     172
Stanislaw Lem: A Brief Chronological Biography     181
Bibliography     183
About the Authors     195