OT: RIP, Stanislaw Lem

[bmattock]

Science Fiction writer Stanislaw Lem has died, a great loss for the genre.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7002958184

Science-Fiction Writer Stanislaw Lem Dies

March 28, 2006 4:26 p.m. EST


Joanna Wypior - All Headline News Staff Reporter

Krakow, Poland (AHN) – Polish writer and Solaris author Stanislaw Lem has died at age 84, in a hospital in Krakow, Poland, after having suffered from a heart disease.

The popular science-fiction writer, who preferred to have his work called ‘reality-based’, sold more than 27 million copies of his works that were translated into a number of languages and adapted to film.

His 1961 novel Solaris was made into a movie by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky in 1971 and again by American Steven Soderbergh in 2002, which starred actor George Clooney.

Much admired with a heavy following in the United States, Lem was far more celebrated in Eastern Europe, where he was allowed a remarkable freedom of movement and expression in an otherwise repressive society during communist years.

After the fall of communism in 1989, Lem ceased writing science fiction, instead devoting himself to nonfiction essays on future trends, including computer crime and the ethical problems of the internet.

Lem is survived by his wife and a son. Funeral arrangements have not been disclosed.

Lem was a noted curmudgeon, perhaps one of the reasons I liked him so much...

http://www.lem.pl/cyberiadinfo/english/osobie/biogrys.htm

Norbert Wiener begins his autobiography with the words "I was a child prodigy." What I would have to say is "I was a monster." Possibly that's a slight exaggeration, but as a young boy I certainly terrorized those around me. I would agree only if my father stood on the table and opened and closed an umbrella, or I might allow myself to be fed only under the table. I don't actually remember these things; they are beginnings that lie beyond the boundary of memory. If I was a child prodigy, it could only have been in the eyes of doting aunts. (...) In my fourth year I learned to write, but had nothing of great importance to communicate by that means. The first letter I wrote to my father, from Skole, having gone there with my mother, was a terse account of how all by myself I defecated in a country outhouse that had a board with a hole. What I left out of my report was that in addition I threw into that hole all the keys of our host, who also was a physician...

-Stanislaw Lem, on his own childhood

So RIP, Stanislaw Lem.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[dreilly]

By chance I was just reading Lem's Solaris last night after some time outside with the telescope. I was struck by how gripping (and terrifying it is)--something that just doesn't make it into either film I think.

clear skies, Stanislaw

d

 

[wrenhunter]

Wow, one of my favorites. RIP.

 

[yossarian]

Bill, you constantly amaze me with the items you find to share with us. Nothing
escapes your notice. Many thanks.

Fred

 

[bmattock]

Fred, you're welcome. I'm a pack-rat, I notice things and tuck them away. I also noticed that Buck Owens passed away yesterday, but didn't mention it - figured that not that many here are big Hee Haw fans (I was).

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[akptc]

I grew up reading Lem (in Polish). Can't believe he's gone / how fast time flies.

 

[Duncan Ross]

I loved the star diaries so much, especially the planet that was so small that if everyone left their house at the same time they would all need to stand on one leg.