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A Perfect Vacuum
In A Perfect Vacuum, Stanislaw Lem presents a collection of book reviews of nonexistent works of literature--works that, in many cases, could not possibly be written. Embracing postmodernism's "games for games' sake" ethos, Lem joins the contest with hilarious and grotesque results, lampooning the movement's self-indulgence and exploiting its mannerisms.
Beginning with a review of his own book, Lem moves on to tackles (or create pastiches of) the French new novel, James Joyce, pornography, authorless writing, and Dostoevsky, while at the same time ranging across scientific topics, from cosmology to the pervasiveness of computers. The result is a metafictional tour de force by one of the world's most popular writers.
Beginning with a review of his own book, Lem moves on to tackles (or create pastiches of) the French new novel, James Joyce, pornography, authorless writing, and Dostoevsky, while at the same time ranging across scientific topics, from cosmology to the pervasiveness of computers. The result is a metafictional tour de force by one of the world's most popular writers.
229 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
188 people are currently reading
3740 people want to read
About the author
Stanisław Lem
504 books4,503 followersStanisław Lem (staˈɲiswaf lɛm) was a Polish science fiction, philosophical and satirical writer of Jewish descent. His books have been translated into 41 languages and have sold over 27 million copies. He is perhaps best known as the author of Solaris, which has twice been made into a feature film. In 1976, Theodore Sturgeon claimed that Lem was the most widely read science-fiction writer in the world.
His works explore philosophical themes; speculation on technology, the nature of intelligence, the impossibility of mutual communication and understanding, despair about human limitations and humankind's place in the universe. They are sometimes presented as fiction, but others are in the form of essays or philosophical books. Translations of his works are difficult and multiple translated versions of his works exist.
Lem became truly productive after 1956, when the de-Stalinization period led to the "Polish October", when Poland experienced an increase in freedom of speech. Between 1956 and 1968, Lem authored 17 books. His works were widely translated abroad (although mostly in the Eastern Bloc countries). In 1957 he published his first non-fiction, philosophical book, Dialogi (Dialogues), one of his two most famous philosophical texts along with Summa Technologiae (1964). The Summa is notable for being a unique analysis of prospective social, cybernetic, and biological advances. In this work, Lem discusses philosophical implications of technologies that were completely in the realm of science fiction then, but are gaining importance today—like, for instance, virtual reality and nanotechnology. Over the next few decades, he published many books, both science fiction and philosophical/futurological, although from the 1980s onwards he tended to concentrate on philosophical texts and essays.
He gained international fame for The Cyberiad, a series of humorous short stories from a mechanical universe ruled by robots, first published in English in 1974. His best-known novels include Solaris (1961), His Master's Voice (Głos pana, 1968), and the late Fiasco (Fiasko, 1987), expressing most strongly his major theme of the futility of mankind's attempts to comprehend the truly alien. Solaris was made into a film in 1972 by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky and won a Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1972; in 2002, Steven Soderbergh directed a Hollywood remake starring George Clooney.
He was the cousin of poet Marian Hemar.
His works explore philosophical themes; speculation on technology, the nature of intelligence, the impossibility of mutual communication and understanding, despair about human limitations and humankind's place in the universe. They are sometimes presented as fiction, but others are in the form of essays or philosophical books. Translations of his works are difficult and multiple translated versions of his works exist.
Lem became truly productive after 1956, when the de-Stalinization period led to the "Polish October", when Poland experienced an increase in freedom of speech. Between 1956 and 1968, Lem authored 17 books. His works were widely translated abroad (although mostly in the Eastern Bloc countries). In 1957 he published his first non-fiction, philosophical book, Dialogi (Dialogues), one of his two most famous philosophical texts along with Summa Technologiae (1964). The Summa is notable for being a unique analysis of prospective social, cybernetic, and biological advances. In this work, Lem discusses philosophical implications of technologies that were completely in the realm of science fiction then, but are gaining importance today—like, for instance, virtual reality and nanotechnology. Over the next few decades, he published many books, both science fiction and philosophical/futurological, although from the 1980s onwards he tended to concentrate on philosophical texts and essays.
He gained international fame for The Cyberiad, a series of humorous short stories from a mechanical universe ruled by robots, first published in English in 1974. His best-known novels include Solaris (1961), His Master's Voice (Głos pana, 1968), and the late Fiasco (Fiasko, 1987), expressing most strongly his major theme of the futility of mankind's attempts to comprehend the truly alien. Solaris was made into a film in 1972 by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky and won a Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1972; in 2002, Steven Soderbergh directed a Hollywood remake starring George Clooney.
He was the cousin of poet Marian Hemar.
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July 8, 2021
Vacío perfecto es un conjunto de reseñas de libros que no han sido nunca escritos, lo que es una verdadera pena pues son libros repletos de ideas estimulantes e inquietantes presentadas por Lem con una gran originalidad.
Como original es empezar con la reseña de su propio libro en la que critica hasta su forma de criticar, por lo que nunca sabremos si estamos ante un libro de parodias, de tratados filosófico-festivos o de “simples” bromas intelectuales. Seguramente encontrarán un poco de todo ello en estos libros de distopías aterradoras e hilarantes, de críticas a la cultura de masas, al vanguardismo sin fundamento, al mercantilismo, al progreso tecnológico sin cortapisa y a poner cortapisas al progreso tecnológico… Hay hasta capítulos incomprensibles.
Se las verán con un Robinson que, enfrentado a la soledad, crea un mundo imaginario, cada vez más extravagante que le haga soportable la vida en soledad (nunca olvidarán la imagen de la mujer trípeda que da a luz a dos taburetes). El resultado no es el esperado, obviamente.
Como original es empezar con la reseña de su propio libro en la que critica hasta su forma de criticar, por lo que nunca sabremos si estamos ante un libro de parodias, de tratados filosófico-festivos o de “simples” bromas intelectuales. Seguramente encontrarán un poco de todo ello en estos libros de distopías aterradoras e hilarantes, de críticas a la cultura de masas, al vanguardismo sin fundamento, al mercantilismo, al progreso tecnológico sin cortapisa y a poner cortapisas al progreso tecnológico… Hay hasta capítulos incomprensibles.
Se las verán con un Robinson que, enfrentado a la soledad, crea un mundo imaginario, cada vez más extravagante que le haga soportable la vida en soledad (nunca olvidarán la imagen de la mujer trípeda que da a luz a dos taburetes). El resultado no es el esperado, obviamente.
“Su Robinson había creado en sueños a una muchacha y no quiso, hasta el fin, entregarla al estado de consciencia, porque ella era él mismo, porque de la vigilia que nunca nos abandona no hay otro despertar que la muerte”.Se parodian los libros-universo tomando como punto de partida el caso de una novela de 395 páginas que viene precedida por una introducción de 847 que el mismo autor estima de imprescindible lectura; se hace mofa de aquellos que se devanan los sesos para descubrir en los relatos “alusiones, asociaciones y signaciones míticas, todas las relaciones paradigmáticas y arquetipismos”. Uno de los comentarios es sobre un texto que aborda las consecuencias que tendría el que el ser humano dejara de sentir las sensaciones que acompañan al acto sexual, lo que le sirve al crítico para parodiar los libros de catástrofes. Un miniestado fundado en Argentina por un exnazi huido de la Alemania vencida es la historia elegida para comentar el género de la distopía. También se ataca con una hilarante mordacidad el mundo del arte moderno y de los vanguardismos al servicio únicamente de la novedad y de la ruptura per se.
“La única forma verdaderamente consecuente de la rebelión del escritor contra el servilismo propio de la literatura, es el silencio. Todas las otras no son más que una mueca simiesca”.Se lamenta el fracaso de la gran literatura en favor de lo ligth; se deplora la posibilidad de la existencia de genios que murieran incomprendidos, caminos que la humanidad eligió no transitar. Especialmente interesante es la problemática que se crea en torno a la posibilidad del ser humano de llegar a crear en un ordenador criaturas (personoides) dotadas de pensamientos, deseos, sentimientos, inteligencia y conciencia, seres que en algún momento de su historia se preguntan acerca de su origen, de su finalidad, de Dios. El relato termina con una declaración turbadora:
“Los recibos por la energía eléctrica gastada se pagan cada trimestre. Vendrá el momento en que mis superiores de la universidad exigirán que cierre el experimento y desconecte la máquina para no volver a conectarla nunca más. Haré lo que pueda para aplazar ese momento. Es la única cosa que entra en mis posibilidades y no la considero digna de alabanzas.”
June 4, 2009
A delightful idea, that surely ought to appeal to habitués of this site - a collection of reviews for books that don't exist! My favorite was the one about the guy who thinks that there are three kinds of genius. Third-class geniuses do what everyone else does, but just get there quicker. They are very popular. Second class geniuses do stuff other people don't do yet - they are ignored for a while, but when the world catches up they also get their share of glory. But what about the first class geniuses, who are so brilliant that the world never catches up with them? The hero of the (fictitious) book sets out to find evidence of first-class geniuses. It's such a pity that no one has yet managed to write this novel; Lem gives a precis of the plot, which has a wonderfully satisfying ending.
Some of the other books would be distinctly harder to write. There's the one constructed with computer assistance, which takes buried allusions to their logical extreme, so that, for example, the commas used in Chapter 4 form a floor plan of Notre Dame cathedral. Another one I liked was the novel in which everything is negated. It starts, innocently enough, by saying that she was not on the train, and then gradually proceeds to reveal that the train didn't exist, and neither did she. In fact, nothing happens at all, and we only learn what didn't happen. Lem's reviewer comments that people often describe the book as pornographic, but that this is unfair. It would be impossible for a book to contain less sex; it's just unusually explicit about specifying which acts did not occur.
Some of the ideas don't work quite as well, but each chapter is self-contained, so it's easy to skip the few duds. This is a fun read!
Some of the other books would be distinctly harder to write. There's the one constructed with computer assistance, which takes buried allusions to their logical extreme, so that, for example, the commas used in Chapter 4 form a floor plan of Notre Dame cathedral. Another one I liked was the novel in which everything is negated. It starts, innocently enough, by saying that she was not on the train, and then gradually proceeds to reveal that the train didn't exist, and neither did she. In fact, nothing happens at all, and we only learn what didn't happen. Lem's reviewer comments that people often describe the book as pornographic, but that this is unfair. It would be impossible for a book to contain less sex; it's just unusually explicit about specifying which acts did not occur.
Some of the ideas don't work quite as well, but each chapter is self-contained, so it's easy to skip the few duds. This is a fun read!
October 13, 2018
The distillation of the short story driven to sarcastic perfection
Please note that I put the original German text at the end of this review. Just if you might be interested.
The predicate unique fits for this collection. Not taking himself seriously, blasting the conventions of the short story, Lem introduces a subtle cultural criticism in the form of satirical gems. Alternatively, it can also be interpreted as a look into the soul world and the worldview of the author. But that would leave less room for interpretations that can be seen as a comprehensive reckoning with the upscale literature establishment.
It is necessary to differentiate whether the works to which the allusions are aimed deserve such harsh treatment. The subjective taste of every single reader also plays a part in this.
The most significant wound, which Lem continues to tear open with relish, are the so elevated works that alienate themselves. Those are so subtle, profound and full of conclusions that one can not understand them anymore. Because they want to escape the demands and dogmas of usual novels and want to be more. Unique, in a not always positive way. In a sense, a parallel to modern art can be drawn, which can also be interpreted differently by everyone. But not in unison as a masterpiece or, in literature, as a timeless classic.
This arbitrary creative process, which does not bow to any rules, contributes much to the lousy nimbus of reading. Unfortunately, especially in schools, the profound, concerning narratology inadequate works of dusty masters are preferred. At universities the incomprehensible works of new luminaries raised. The damage in form of lifelong aversions against reading is primarily caused by such machinations. If, on the other hand, works that are fun and meshed with media such as film and computer games were read in schools, there would be more readers.
Lem indirectly campaigns against the vain, self-conspicuous and self-styled elite of the literary scene. He satirizes the alleged subtlety and wisdom, revealing them in the light of cold cynicism. And that is due for works that are suited for wanne be intellectuals and literary critics, but not for readers.
Because crossing the line between subtle and incomprehensible should not be a guarantee for higher literary consecrations. But a fundamental, serious mistake in the methodical working of the writer, which deserves no praise. Bizarrely, the proponents of such controversial works regard the accessible works of trivial literature as unworthy.
But on the contrary, the creation of a universe, accessible to millions, deserves more respect than the incomprehensible juxtaposition of allusions and artificial subtlety. As well as the cultural film, the upscale literature suffers from state stunts and megalomania.
Moreover, a conventional, so called trivial, writer needs lifelong reading, learning, perhaps a master's degree and perfection of skills. A high literate, on the other hand, just needs unraveled, profound thoughts, which he pervades in eternal monologues, dialogues, and descriptions. Imagine music or paintings made with that mentality. Ruthless to the reader and the reading pleasure, he is focused on the glorification of his own intellect. Being an egoist or an empath, what is harder? To delight and inspire millions or just a few of questionable, egocentric minds.
Optimistically, the short stories can be seen as condensed directorial statements, which easily have the potential for whole novels. Lem also shows the reduction of a book to its essential essence, a compelling case of reverse engineering. A finger exercise for him, out of which other authors would roll to a whole novel. He, on the other hand, uses it modestly for a short collection, in which his complex, multi-layered wit bubbles from all sides. Like the author's visionary genius, which manifests itself in the ability to dissect himself, his work and his medium with humorous detachment.
Die Destillation der Kurzgeschichte zur sarkastischen Perfektion getrieben
Das Prädikat einzigartig passt für diese Sammlung. Sich selbst nicht ernst nehmend, die Konventionen der Kurzgeschichte sprengend, legt Lem eine subtile Kulturkritik in Form von satiritischen Kleinoden vor. Alternativ kann man es auch als Blick in die Seelenwelt und auf die Weltsicht des Autors interpretieren. Aber das würde weniger Spielraum für
Interpretationen lassen, als es als umfassende Abrechnung mit dem gehobenen Literaturbetrieb zu sehen.
Wobei zu differenzieren ist, ob die Werke, auf die die Anspielungen abzielen, eine so harte Behandlung verdient haben. Da spielt auch der subjektive Geschmack eines jeden einzelnen Lesers mit hinein.
Die größte Wunde, die Lem genüsslich weiter aufreißt, sind die so gehobenen Werke, die sich ihrer selbst entfremden. Die so subtil, tiefsinnig und voller Anspielungen sind, dass man sie nicht mehr verstehen kann. Weil sie sich den Vorgaben und Dogmen normaler Romane entziehen und mehr sein wollen. Einzigartig, auf eine nicht immer positive Weise. In gewissem Sinne kann eine Parallele zu moderner Kunst gezogen werden, die auch von jedem anders interpretiert werden kann. Aber eben nicht unisono als Meisterwerk oder, in der Literatur, als zeitloser Klassiker.
Dieser willkürliche, sich keinen Regeln beugende Schaffensprozess, trägt viel zum schlechten Nimbus des Lesens bei. Gerade in Schulen werden leider die tiefsinnigen, narratologisch ungenügenden Werke verstaubter Meister bevorzugt. An Universitäten die unverständlichen Werke neuer Koryphäen erhoben. Der Schaden, lebenslange Aversionen gegen das Lesen zu schüren, wird zu guten Teilen von derartigen Machwerken verursacht. Würden hingegen Werke, die Spaß machen und mit Medien wie Film und Computerspielen verzahnt sind, an den Schulen gelesen werden, gäbe es mehr Leser.
Lem zieht indirekt gegen die abgehobene, sich selbst beweihräuchernde und selbst ernannte Elite des Literaturbetriebs ins Feld. Er persifliert die vermeintliche Subtilität und Weisheit, indem er sie im Licht des kalten Zynismus offenbart. Und das gebührt den, von Intellektuellen und Literaturkritikern, aber nicht von Lesern, geschätzten Werken.
Denn die Grenze zwischen subtil und unverständlich zu überschreiten, sollte eigentlich kein Garant für höhere literarische Weihen sein. Sondern ein gründsätzlicher, schwerer Fehler in der methodischen Arbeitsweise des Schriftstellers, der keine Lobpreisungen verdient. Bizarrerweise werden von den Befürwortern so strittiger Werke die zugänglichen Werke der Trivialliteratur als unwürdig erachtet. Dabei ist es im Gegenteil so, dass die Erschaffung eines für Millionen zugänglichen Universums mehr Achtung verdient als die unverständliche Aneinanderreihung von Anspielungen und künstlicher Subtilität. Wie auch der Kulturfilm krankt die gehobene Literatur an Standesdünkeln und Größenwahn, die Lem ihr mit spitzer Feder auf den Kopf fallen lässt.
Noch dazu braucht ein konventioneller Schriftsteller lebenslanges Lesen, Lernen, gern auch ein Masterstudium und eine Perfektion der Technik. Ein Hochliterat hingegen braucht nur nicht entwirrte, tiefsinnige Gedanken, die er in ewigen Monologen, Dialogen und Beschreibungen, durchzieht. Man stelle sich Malerei oder Musik vor, die nach diesem Konzept erschaffen wird. Dem Leser und dem Lesespaß gegenüber rücksichtslos auf die Verherrlichung seines eigenen Intellektes fokussiert. Ein Egoist oder ein Empath zu sein, was ist wohl schwerer? Millionen zu begeistern und zu inspirieren oder einige wenige von fragwürdiger Gesinnung.
Optimistischer gesehen kann man die Kurzgeschichten als komprimierte Regieanweisungen sehen, die leicht das Potential für ganze Romane haben. Lem zeigt damit auch die Reduzierung eines Romans auf seine wesentliche Essenz, ein interessanter Fall von Reverse Engineering. Eine Fingerübung für ihn, die andere Autoren zu einem ganzen Roman auswälzen würden. Er hingegen nutzt sie bescheiden für einen kurzen Erzählband, in dem sein komplexer, vielschichtiger Witz aus allen Seiten sprudelt. Wie auch die visionäre Genialität des Autors, die sich in der Fähigkeit, sich selbst, sein Schaffen und sein Medium mit humorvoller Distanziertheit sezieren zu können, manifestiert.
Please note that I put the original German text at the end of this review. Just if you might be interested.
The predicate unique fits for this collection. Not taking himself seriously, blasting the conventions of the short story, Lem introduces a subtle cultural criticism in the form of satirical gems. Alternatively, it can also be interpreted as a look into the soul world and the worldview of the author. But that would leave less room for interpretations that can be seen as a comprehensive reckoning with the upscale literature establishment.
It is necessary to differentiate whether the works to which the allusions are aimed deserve such harsh treatment. The subjective taste of every single reader also plays a part in this.
The most significant wound, which Lem continues to tear open with relish, are the so elevated works that alienate themselves. Those are so subtle, profound and full of conclusions that one can not understand them anymore. Because they want to escape the demands and dogmas of usual novels and want to be more. Unique, in a not always positive way. In a sense, a parallel to modern art can be drawn, which can also be interpreted differently by everyone. But not in unison as a masterpiece or, in literature, as a timeless classic.
This arbitrary creative process, which does not bow to any rules, contributes much to the lousy nimbus of reading. Unfortunately, especially in schools, the profound, concerning narratology inadequate works of dusty masters are preferred. At universities the incomprehensible works of new luminaries raised. The damage in form of lifelong aversions against reading is primarily caused by such machinations. If, on the other hand, works that are fun and meshed with media such as film and computer games were read in schools, there would be more readers.
Lem indirectly campaigns against the vain, self-conspicuous and self-styled elite of the literary scene. He satirizes the alleged subtlety and wisdom, revealing them in the light of cold cynicism. And that is due for works that are suited for wanne be intellectuals and literary critics, but not for readers.
Because crossing the line between subtle and incomprehensible should not be a guarantee for higher literary consecrations. But a fundamental, serious mistake in the methodical working of the writer, which deserves no praise. Bizarrely, the proponents of such controversial works regard the accessible works of trivial literature as unworthy.
But on the contrary, the creation of a universe, accessible to millions, deserves more respect than the incomprehensible juxtaposition of allusions and artificial subtlety. As well as the cultural film, the upscale literature suffers from state stunts and megalomania.
Moreover, a conventional, so called trivial, writer needs lifelong reading, learning, perhaps a master's degree and perfection of skills. A high literate, on the other hand, just needs unraveled, profound thoughts, which he pervades in eternal monologues, dialogues, and descriptions. Imagine music or paintings made with that mentality. Ruthless to the reader and the reading pleasure, he is focused on the glorification of his own intellect. Being an egoist or an empath, what is harder? To delight and inspire millions or just a few of questionable, egocentric minds.
Optimistically, the short stories can be seen as condensed directorial statements, which easily have the potential for whole novels. Lem also shows the reduction of a book to its essential essence, a compelling case of reverse engineering. A finger exercise for him, out of which other authors would roll to a whole novel. He, on the other hand, uses it modestly for a short collection, in which his complex, multi-layered wit bubbles from all sides. Like the author's visionary genius, which manifests itself in the ability to dissect himself, his work and his medium with humorous detachment.
Die Destillation der Kurzgeschichte zur sarkastischen Perfektion getrieben
Das Prädikat einzigartig passt für diese Sammlung. Sich selbst nicht ernst nehmend, die Konventionen der Kurzgeschichte sprengend, legt Lem eine subtile Kulturkritik in Form von satiritischen Kleinoden vor. Alternativ kann man es auch als Blick in die Seelenwelt und auf die Weltsicht des Autors interpretieren. Aber das würde weniger Spielraum für
Interpretationen lassen, als es als umfassende Abrechnung mit dem gehobenen Literaturbetrieb zu sehen.
Wobei zu differenzieren ist, ob die Werke, auf die die Anspielungen abzielen, eine so harte Behandlung verdient haben. Da spielt auch der subjektive Geschmack eines jeden einzelnen Lesers mit hinein.
Die größte Wunde, die Lem genüsslich weiter aufreißt, sind die so gehobenen Werke, die sich ihrer selbst entfremden. Die so subtil, tiefsinnig und voller Anspielungen sind, dass man sie nicht mehr verstehen kann. Weil sie sich den Vorgaben und Dogmen normaler Romane entziehen und mehr sein wollen. Einzigartig, auf eine nicht immer positive Weise. In gewissem Sinne kann eine Parallele zu moderner Kunst gezogen werden, die auch von jedem anders interpretiert werden kann. Aber eben nicht unisono als Meisterwerk oder, in der Literatur, als zeitloser Klassiker.
Dieser willkürliche, sich keinen Regeln beugende Schaffensprozess, trägt viel zum schlechten Nimbus des Lesens bei. Gerade in Schulen werden leider die tiefsinnigen, narratologisch ungenügenden Werke verstaubter Meister bevorzugt. An Universitäten die unverständlichen Werke neuer Koryphäen erhoben. Der Schaden, lebenslange Aversionen gegen das Lesen zu schüren, wird zu guten Teilen von derartigen Machwerken verursacht. Würden hingegen Werke, die Spaß machen und mit Medien wie Film und Computerspielen verzahnt sind, an den Schulen gelesen werden, gäbe es mehr Leser.
Lem zieht indirekt gegen die abgehobene, sich selbst beweihräuchernde und selbst ernannte Elite des Literaturbetriebs ins Feld. Er persifliert die vermeintliche Subtilität und Weisheit, indem er sie im Licht des kalten Zynismus offenbart. Und das gebührt den, von Intellektuellen und Literaturkritikern, aber nicht von Lesern, geschätzten Werken.
Denn die Grenze zwischen subtil und unverständlich zu überschreiten, sollte eigentlich kein Garant für höhere literarische Weihen sein. Sondern ein gründsätzlicher, schwerer Fehler in der methodischen Arbeitsweise des Schriftstellers, der keine Lobpreisungen verdient. Bizarrerweise werden von den Befürwortern so strittiger Werke die zugänglichen Werke der Trivialliteratur als unwürdig erachtet. Dabei ist es im Gegenteil so, dass die Erschaffung eines für Millionen zugänglichen Universums mehr Achtung verdient als die unverständliche Aneinanderreihung von Anspielungen und künstlicher Subtilität. Wie auch der Kulturfilm krankt die gehobene Literatur an Standesdünkeln und Größenwahn, die Lem ihr mit spitzer Feder auf den Kopf fallen lässt.
Noch dazu braucht ein konventioneller Schriftsteller lebenslanges Lesen, Lernen, gern auch ein Masterstudium und eine Perfektion der Technik. Ein Hochliterat hingegen braucht nur nicht entwirrte, tiefsinnige Gedanken, die er in ewigen Monologen, Dialogen und Beschreibungen, durchzieht. Man stelle sich Malerei oder Musik vor, die nach diesem Konzept erschaffen wird. Dem Leser und dem Lesespaß gegenüber rücksichtslos auf die Verherrlichung seines eigenen Intellektes fokussiert. Ein Egoist oder ein Empath zu sein, was ist wohl schwerer? Millionen zu begeistern und zu inspirieren oder einige wenige von fragwürdiger Gesinnung.
Optimistischer gesehen kann man die Kurzgeschichten als komprimierte Regieanweisungen sehen, die leicht das Potential für ganze Romane haben. Lem zeigt damit auch die Reduzierung eines Romans auf seine wesentliche Essenz, ein interessanter Fall von Reverse Engineering. Eine Fingerübung für ihn, die andere Autoren zu einem ganzen Roman auswälzen würden. Er hingegen nutzt sie bescheiden für einen kurzen Erzählband, in dem sein komplexer, vielschichtiger Witz aus allen Seiten sprudelt. Wie auch die visionäre Genialität des Autors, die sich in der Fähigkeit, sich selbst, sein Schaffen und sein Medium mit humorvoller Distanziertheit sezieren zu können, manifestiert.
March 15, 2021
Me pareció un libro interesante, con algunos pasajes muy buenos, aunque no fueron muchas las reseñas que me llamaron realmente la atención.
Vacío perfecto es un compendio de reseñas sobre quince libros completamente ficticios; lo que me pareció una idea muy interesante de explotar porque no importa que la ejecución sea imposible o absurda de llevar a cabo en la practica, lo principal es el argumento; y no puedo evitar pensar en Pierre Menard, autor del Quijote de Borges, que trata sobre uno de los mejores libros ficticios de la literatura, acerca un escritor que toma el desafío de escribir El Quijote de manera integra, palabra por palabra, pero sin copiar el original, sino pensándolo tal como lo hiciera Cervantes en su momento. Pero en Vacío perfecto fue justamente el argumento de los libros reseñados lo que en general no me terminó de convencer, a excepción de unos pocos. Aún así, creo que bien valió la lectura.
Acá, algunos de los “libros reseñados” que me parecieron mas interesantes:
Gigamesh: Un irónico texto (casi una parodia?) sobre un autor que busca llevar al extremo (y superar) lo hecho por Joyce en el Ulises creando un libro cuya introducción para poder interpretarlo es dos veces mayor que la novela en sí.
En Being Inc una empresa planifica la vida de sus clientes para facilitarles cada momento de sus vidas. Y aunque no sea una vida auténtica y los clientes lo sepan, lo importante es que no se note y lo vivan como real.
En De Impossibilitate Vitae Lem juega con la teoría de las probabilidades llevandola hasta su máxima exageración.
Non Serviam es sobre la creación a través de una computadora de personoides con la capacidad de razonar
En La Nueva Cosmogonía se nos quiere persuadir que las leyes de la física que rigen el universo están apenas trazadas por un juego cósmico entre distintas civilizaciones sin ningún rigor matemático.
Vacío perfecto es un compendio de reseñas sobre quince libros completamente ficticios; lo que me pareció una idea muy interesante de explotar porque no importa que la ejecución sea imposible o absurda de llevar a cabo en la practica, lo principal es el argumento; y no puedo evitar pensar en Pierre Menard, autor del Quijote de Borges, que trata sobre uno de los mejores libros ficticios de la literatura, acerca un escritor que toma el desafío de escribir El Quijote de manera integra, palabra por palabra, pero sin copiar el original, sino pensándolo tal como lo hiciera Cervantes en su momento. Pero en Vacío perfecto fue justamente el argumento de los libros reseñados lo que en general no me terminó de convencer, a excepción de unos pocos. Aún así, creo que bien valió la lectura.
Acá, algunos de los “libros reseñados” que me parecieron mas interesantes:
Gigamesh: Un irónico texto (casi una parodia?) sobre un autor que busca llevar al extremo (y superar) lo hecho por Joyce en el Ulises creando un libro cuya introducción para poder interpretarlo es dos veces mayor que la novela en sí.
En Being Inc una empresa planifica la vida de sus clientes para facilitarles cada momento de sus vidas. Y aunque no sea una vida auténtica y los clientes lo sepan, lo importante es que no se note y lo vivan como real.
En De Impossibilitate Vitae Lem juega con la teoría de las probabilidades llevandola hasta su máxima exageración.
Non Serviam es sobre la creación a través de una computadora de personoides con la capacidad de razonar
En La Nueva Cosmogonía se nos quiere persuadir que las leyes de la física que rigen el universo están apenas trazadas por un juego cósmico entre distintas civilizaciones sin ningún rigor matemático.
July 28, 2024
This is, admittedly, the first time I have read a work by Stanislaw Lem. I'll be reading more, after this. Much more, in all likelihood. Of course, Lem has been lauded for decades by critics and colleagues alike, so he was always on my list of authors I ought to read. But, stubbornness being what it is, it wasn't until I listened to an episode featuring Lem's work on Weird Studies a couple years ago that I felt I needed to read his work. As usual, Weird Studies pushed me again into uncharted territories. More on that later.
I've been a fan of Science Fiction for many decades now, a habit I picked up from my father, who also read a lot of Science Fiction (I have to note that one of my proudest moments as a son was when I was able to call Dad up and let him know I had been published in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine). I don't recall seeing a Lem book on his shelf or his bedside stand, but then again he worked for the US military, so I'm not sure how it would look for him to read Lem's work, given the Cold War and all that rot. All that aside, I have to credit Lem with causing me to question, yet again, the definition of Science Fiction. These are not works of spaceships and laser-blasters. It's not even about aliens, per se, though there are times where the humans in these pages act or at least think in truly alien ways. These stories are, first off, not stories: They are imaginary reviews of imaginary pieces of literature. Fictional reviews of fictional books. The "science" comes in through the imaginary books themselves, in large part, and one might even say that the science involved is actually the philosophy of science and the philosophical implications of science itself.
We start, though, with a purely literary focus. Well, not purely literary, I suppose, if you view comedy as "unliterary". If you're seeking a laugh-out-loud (at times) story rife with self-deprecation and a surprising depth of philosophical thinking, you want to read "Les Robinsonades". It is absolutely brilliant. Right from the get-go of this collection, I could why so many people love (and hate) Lem. He has a cutting wit, which he combines with a sometimes laser-focused logic to create a sardonic, but philosophically-sound critique of a variety of "sciences" that may or may not live up to their "scientific" claims.
One of the funnier notions of "Les Robinsonades" (or the critique thereof) is that the titular Robinson has dismissed his servant Snibbins, a corollary to "Friday" of Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, only to find his thoughts haunted by the servant and completely unable to escape the need to avoid Snibbins at all costs.
Poor Robinson, who wanted so to avoid shoddiness, who intended to surround himself with chosen ones, has befouled his nest, for he has ensnibbined the entire island.
Later, upon encountering Snibbins again (unavoidable on the island, one supposes):
Why does Snibbins, who previously only spat at the whales, turn out to be their ardent admirer, even to the point of requesting metamorphosis (Robinson says of him, to Wendy May, "He wants whaling")?
"Gigamesh," which Lem opines in the first introductory essay of this book "was to the least of my taste," is a labyrinthine chain of literary analytic drivel so abstruse as to drive even the most seasoned of academics mad. Reading it drove me through a safari of emotion, from respect to fascination to skepticism to anger to fury to hilarity. It felt a lot like being in graduate school again. In the end, it's so intentionally bad as to be comical. "So bad it's good"!
"Sexplosion" is, as the title implies, a view of what society might become if all the stops were pulled on the intersection of capitalism and sex. Want all the sex you can have? Be careful what you wish for. And what happens if a catastrophic event suddenly makes sex not only undesirable, but downright anathema to happy living? Well, let me tell you about the intersection of rampant capital and the vice of food . . .
"Gruppenführer Louis XVI" is every bit as crazy as it sounds: a cadre of SS officers flee to South America after WW II and create a kingdom based on bad third-hand history. Yes, the whole story is a fake review of a book never written, but I would read it, for sure. The premise is a fascinating social train-wreck and I can't peel my eyes away. Calvino and Sarban smashing into each other, face-to-face at 100 MPH!
Lem tries to out-beckett Beckett by taking the central conceit of the Irishman's imploding narrative in his famous trilogy and pushing it (or pulling it like a black hole) even further. "Rein du tout, ou la Conséquence" is a review of a book that not only was not written, but indeed cannot be written: a literary perpetual negation machine in which language itself utterly collapses.
"Pericalypsis" is science-fictional prophecy at its worst. Lem essentially foresees the proliferation of bad information that buries all good, meaningful information by its sheer mass (internet and A.I., I'm looking at you) along with the mountains of trash choking the landscape and seas. The solution presented by the fictional narrator is the worst possible solution. I'd leave it to your imagination. But you can't imagine just how bad it is.
"Idiota" is a side-wise examination of Dostoevsky's similarly-titled work. It is at times a condemnation of the Russian's work, and at times laudatory; Lem, tell me you're trying to critique The Idiot without critiquing The Idiot.
What happens when the "sanctity" of classics is besmirched by a tool that allows the easy disassembly and reassembly of great pieces of literature into penny-dreadful, even pornographic content? Ladies and gentlemen, I present "U-Write-It". Lem lambasts the uneducated and the academic elite all in one fell swoop! My, oh my, would he have hated US politics in the 21st-century.
"Odysseus of Ithaca" follows dungeoneers of the trash stratum (note another Weird Studies reference) in a quest for hidden genius, the type of intellect so profound that it is completely unrecognized by geniuses of the second order. You can probably see where this is going . . . or isn't going. Come read a tale of genius eternally undiscovered.
"Toi" outlines the logical impossibility of writing a book about the reader and an author's (failed) attempt to write the impossible. It is the weakest piece in this collection and yet, compelling.
"Being, Inc." presents the impossibility of each person on Earth selecting their fate, down to the fine details, from a catalog administered by corporations that arrange events such that everyone, eventually, has their desires arranged for and met. Of course, things get complicated when one considers capitalist competition in such an economy. One wonders where Lem, who lived through communism and the Solidarity movement in Poland, might fall in his preferences of economic systems. I suspect it was a bit of a sliding scale for him.
I think, in "Die Kultur als Fehler," the critic convinces himself, over the course of the review, that the author of the book is completely correct, which is the exact opposite of what the reviewer implies at the beginning. We see what seems to start as the opening of a Hegelian dialectic, but straightaway jumps to the opposite conclusion, leaving Hegel (and all supporters of "Civilization") behind. I'm reminded of a skeptic on youtube recently flipping his opinion about whether or not the moon was . . . brace for it . . . an artificially-constructed celestial object.
Right at the crossroads of philosophy and physics, "De Impossibilitate Vitae and De Impossibilitate Prognoscendi" examines the intersection and collision of probability theory and existentialism. What is the likelihood that you, as an individual different from all other individuals, exist at all? It's a rich question and Lem tackles it with a great deal of understated humor. You really are amazing!
. . . and so, but for the diarrhea of the mammoths, Professor Benedykt Kouska also would have not come into the world.
I can't understand why people were giving me weird looks for laughing out loud while I was reading this.
In "Non Serviam" Lem asks "the big questions" about life, morality, faith, existence, and God. He does this by positing what would happen, in terms of philosophical discourse, among virtual beings created by humans wielding computers with sufficient programming ability that the programmers become, effectively, gods. It's a compelling read, to say the least. I strongly suspect that the Brothers Quay were influenced by this story (they began their careers in Lem's native Poland, after all), and one cannot avoid comparing this work with the works of Philip K. Dick.
As for the concluding review/story, "The New Cosmogeny," I'll leave you to the Weird Studies examination of the same story. They explore it in much more depth and with more erudite insights than I can provide. Hopefully their analysis will also drive you to read A Perfect Vacuum.
I've been a fan of Science Fiction for many decades now, a habit I picked up from my father, who also read a lot of Science Fiction (I have to note that one of my proudest moments as a son was when I was able to call Dad up and let him know I had been published in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine). I don't recall seeing a Lem book on his shelf or his bedside stand, but then again he worked for the US military, so I'm not sure how it would look for him to read Lem's work, given the Cold War and all that rot. All that aside, I have to credit Lem with causing me to question, yet again, the definition of Science Fiction. These are not works of spaceships and laser-blasters. It's not even about aliens, per se, though there are times where the humans in these pages act or at least think in truly alien ways. These stories are, first off, not stories: They are imaginary reviews of imaginary pieces of literature. Fictional reviews of fictional books. The "science" comes in through the imaginary books themselves, in large part, and one might even say that the science involved is actually the philosophy of science and the philosophical implications of science itself.
We start, though, with a purely literary focus. Well, not purely literary, I suppose, if you view comedy as "unliterary". If you're seeking a laugh-out-loud (at times) story rife with self-deprecation and a surprising depth of philosophical thinking, you want to read "Les Robinsonades". It is absolutely brilliant. Right from the get-go of this collection, I could why so many people love (and hate) Lem. He has a cutting wit, which he combines with a sometimes laser-focused logic to create a sardonic, but philosophically-sound critique of a variety of "sciences" that may or may not live up to their "scientific" claims.
One of the funnier notions of "Les Robinsonades" (or the critique thereof) is that the titular Robinson has dismissed his servant Snibbins, a corollary to "Friday" of Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, only to find his thoughts haunted by the servant and completely unable to escape the need to avoid Snibbins at all costs.
Poor Robinson, who wanted so to avoid shoddiness, who intended to surround himself with chosen ones, has befouled his nest, for he has ensnibbined the entire island.
Later, upon encountering Snibbins again (unavoidable on the island, one supposes):
Why does Snibbins, who previously only spat at the whales, turn out to be their ardent admirer, even to the point of requesting metamorphosis (Robinson says of him, to Wendy May, "He wants whaling")?
"Gigamesh," which Lem opines in the first introductory essay of this book "was to the least of my taste," is a labyrinthine chain of literary analytic drivel so abstruse as to drive even the most seasoned of academics mad. Reading it drove me through a safari of emotion, from respect to fascination to skepticism to anger to fury to hilarity. It felt a lot like being in graduate school again. In the end, it's so intentionally bad as to be comical. "So bad it's good"!
"Sexplosion" is, as the title implies, a view of what society might become if all the stops were pulled on the intersection of capitalism and sex. Want all the sex you can have? Be careful what you wish for. And what happens if a catastrophic event suddenly makes sex not only undesirable, but downright anathema to happy living? Well, let me tell you about the intersection of rampant capital and the vice of food . . .
"Gruppenführer Louis XVI" is every bit as crazy as it sounds: a cadre of SS officers flee to South America after WW II and create a kingdom based on bad third-hand history. Yes, the whole story is a fake review of a book never written, but I would read it, for sure. The premise is a fascinating social train-wreck and I can't peel my eyes away. Calvino and Sarban smashing into each other, face-to-face at 100 MPH!
Lem tries to out-beckett Beckett by taking the central conceit of the Irishman's imploding narrative in his famous trilogy and pushing it (or pulling it like a black hole) even further. "Rein du tout, ou la Conséquence" is a review of a book that not only was not written, but indeed cannot be written: a literary perpetual negation machine in which language itself utterly collapses.
"Pericalypsis" is science-fictional prophecy at its worst. Lem essentially foresees the proliferation of bad information that buries all good, meaningful information by its sheer mass (internet and A.I., I'm looking at you) along with the mountains of trash choking the landscape and seas. The solution presented by the fictional narrator is the worst possible solution. I'd leave it to your imagination. But you can't imagine just how bad it is.
"Idiota" is a side-wise examination of Dostoevsky's similarly-titled work. It is at times a condemnation of the Russian's work, and at times laudatory; Lem, tell me you're trying to critique The Idiot without critiquing The Idiot.
What happens when the "sanctity" of classics is besmirched by a tool that allows the easy disassembly and reassembly of great pieces of literature into penny-dreadful, even pornographic content? Ladies and gentlemen, I present "U-Write-It". Lem lambasts the uneducated and the academic elite all in one fell swoop! My, oh my, would he have hated US politics in the 21st-century.
"Odysseus of Ithaca" follows dungeoneers of the trash stratum (note another Weird Studies reference) in a quest for hidden genius, the type of intellect so profound that it is completely unrecognized by geniuses of the second order. You can probably see where this is going . . . or isn't going. Come read a tale of genius eternally undiscovered.
"Toi" outlines the logical impossibility of writing a book about the reader and an author's (failed) attempt to write the impossible. It is the weakest piece in this collection and yet, compelling.
"Being, Inc." presents the impossibility of each person on Earth selecting their fate, down to the fine details, from a catalog administered by corporations that arrange events such that everyone, eventually, has their desires arranged for and met. Of course, things get complicated when one considers capitalist competition in such an economy. One wonders where Lem, who lived through communism and the Solidarity movement in Poland, might fall in his preferences of economic systems. I suspect it was a bit of a sliding scale for him.
I think, in "Die Kultur als Fehler," the critic convinces himself, over the course of the review, that the author of the book is completely correct, which is the exact opposite of what the reviewer implies at the beginning. We see what seems to start as the opening of a Hegelian dialectic, but straightaway jumps to the opposite conclusion, leaving Hegel (and all supporters of "Civilization") behind. I'm reminded of a skeptic on youtube recently flipping his opinion about whether or not the moon was . . . brace for it . . . an artificially-constructed celestial object.
Right at the crossroads of philosophy and physics, "De Impossibilitate Vitae and De Impossibilitate Prognoscendi" examines the intersection and collision of probability theory and existentialism. What is the likelihood that you, as an individual different from all other individuals, exist at all? It's a rich question and Lem tackles it with a great deal of understated humor. You really are amazing!
. . . and so, but for the diarrhea of the mammoths, Professor Benedykt Kouska also would have not come into the world.
I can't understand why people were giving me weird looks for laughing out loud while I was reading this.
In "Non Serviam" Lem asks "the big questions" about life, morality, faith, existence, and God. He does this by positing what would happen, in terms of philosophical discourse, among virtual beings created by humans wielding computers with sufficient programming ability that the programmers become, effectively, gods. It's a compelling read, to say the least. I strongly suspect that the Brothers Quay were influenced by this story (they began their careers in Lem's native Poland, after all), and one cannot avoid comparing this work with the works of Philip K. Dick.
As for the concluding review/story, "The New Cosmogeny," I'll leave you to the Weird Studies examination of the same story. They explore it in much more depth and with more erudite insights than I can provide. Hopefully their analysis will also drive you to read A Perfect Vacuum.
May 6, 2019
E imaginamos moradas transparentes para guarecer nuestros sueños (Breve comentario tras la lectura, 2019)
A esta hora, con el domingo amenazando su final, puedo permitirme ser íntimo: los libros son una de las formas más frágiles e indestructibles de la libertad. Perdonarán la grandilocuencia en la oración, pero está tarde, y me pesa el cuerpo, y esto, entre la marea de incertezas, sirve para mantenerme a flote. Empapado pero a flote. Agotado pero a flote. Creo en los libros porque creo en los lectores, y esa fe, como toda fe, no tiene justificación alguna.
Vacío perfecto es un elogio al libro. Los libros imaginarios aquí reseñados son, antes de la sátira o el comentario o la expansión que pretenden, una carta de amor de Stanislaw Lem a los libros, en general. Todo, desde el primer texto, una reseña de una tal "Vacío perfecto" escrito por un tal Stanislaw Lem, hasta el último giro en torno a la construcción simbólica de nuestros universos, apostando, en ocasiones, por las grietas aprovechadas por la ficción para gotear y sumergir la realidad; otras veces por describir una hermenéutica de la existencia donde toda interpretación es, a su vez, creación absoluta de nuevos universos; algunas, incluso, por el desahogo humorístico de entender la vida como un texto incomprensible al que sólo le adivinamos sus renglones más evidentes, y está bien, y no hay problema, porque en el fondo es simplemente un apunte en proceso, un borrador, un esbozo.
Todo aquí apela al centro sobre el cual levanto mis días. Todo aquí es homenaje a la fantasía, a la posibilidad de existir dentro del misterio. Soy vago, digo poco, lo sé. Me hago cargo. No sería justo aplacar el entusiasmo para servir al argumento. Aquí encontré felicidad. La felicidad, aquí, es la posibilidad de un libro. De esos objetos imposibles donde refugiamos nuestra esperanza.
A esta hora, con el domingo amenazando su final, puedo permitirme ser íntimo: los libros son una de las formas más frágiles e indestructibles de la libertad. Perdonarán la grandilocuencia en la oración, pero está tarde, y me pesa el cuerpo, y esto, entre la marea de incertezas, sirve para mantenerme a flote. Empapado pero a flote. Agotado pero a flote. Creo en los libros porque creo en los lectores, y esa fe, como toda fe, no tiene justificación alguna.
Vacío perfecto es un elogio al libro. Los libros imaginarios aquí reseñados son, antes de la sátira o el comentario o la expansión que pretenden, una carta de amor de Stanislaw Lem a los libros, en general. Todo, desde el primer texto, una reseña de una tal "Vacío perfecto" escrito por un tal Stanislaw Lem, hasta el último giro en torno a la construcción simbólica de nuestros universos, apostando, en ocasiones, por las grietas aprovechadas por la ficción para gotear y sumergir la realidad; otras veces por describir una hermenéutica de la existencia donde toda interpretación es, a su vez, creación absoluta de nuevos universos; algunas, incluso, por el desahogo humorístico de entender la vida como un texto incomprensible al que sólo le adivinamos sus renglones más evidentes, y está bien, y no hay problema, porque en el fondo es simplemente un apunte en proceso, un borrador, un esbozo.
Todo aquí apela al centro sobre el cual levanto mis días. Todo aquí es homenaje a la fantasía, a la posibilidad de existir dentro del misterio. Soy vago, digo poco, lo sé. Me hago cargo. No sería justo aplacar el entusiasmo para servir al argumento. Aquí encontré felicidad. La felicidad, aquí, es la posibilidad de un libro. De esos objetos imposibles donde refugiamos nuestra esperanza.
September 2, 2014
“Niente, o la conseguenza non è soltanto l'opera prima della signora Solange Marriot, ma anche il primo romanzo a esaurire le possibilità della scrittura. E non perché sia un capolavoro artistico; piuttosto lo definirei un capolavoro di onestà. D'altronde è proprio l'esigenza di onestà il tarlo che al giorno d'oggi rode tutta la letteratura. Il letterato si affligge per il fatto di non poter essere contemporaneamente scrittore e uomo in senso completo, ossia serio e onesto.”
Questo libro molteplice, misterioso, infinitamente intelligente, scritto da un maestro di creatività e talento, racconta in modi differenti perché ci si trova ad amare la letteratura enigmaticamente e come la nostra esperienza di ultimi lettori si rinnovi ogni volta attraverso un unico, inestricabile e indefinibile senso.
Dalla teoria dei giochi al grado zero della scrittura, dalla corte seicentesca di esuli nazisti in Sudamerica ai servizi esistenziali a pagamento, metamorfosi, profezia e cosmogonia si intersecano e si riflettono l'una dentro l'altra in un continuum di episodi e racconti costruiti con disarmonico e spaventoso umanesimo.
La letteratura è una maledizione, una forma di incesto, un connubio spurio e illegittimo tra essere e non essere e lo scrittore non fa altro che tradurre una babele interiore in silenzio e predestinazione, per lettori artificiali dalla memoria decapitata. Così tanti futuri possibili formano un presente inevitabile, il libro.
Tra Herbert Quaine e Pierre Menard, dalla bibbia a Dostoevskij, Lem gioca con noi a viso aperto e con sapienza entropica per un antiromanzo dalla logica implacabile.
Questo libro molteplice, misterioso, infinitamente intelligente, scritto da un maestro di creatività e talento, racconta in modi differenti perché ci si trova ad amare la letteratura enigmaticamente e come la nostra esperienza di ultimi lettori si rinnovi ogni volta attraverso un unico, inestricabile e indefinibile senso.
Dalla teoria dei giochi al grado zero della scrittura, dalla corte seicentesca di esuli nazisti in Sudamerica ai servizi esistenziali a pagamento, metamorfosi, profezia e cosmogonia si intersecano e si riflettono l'una dentro l'altra in un continuum di episodi e racconti costruiti con disarmonico e spaventoso umanesimo.
La letteratura è una maledizione, una forma di incesto, un connubio spurio e illegittimo tra essere e non essere e lo scrittore non fa altro che tradurre una babele interiore in silenzio e predestinazione, per lettori artificiali dalla memoria decapitata. Così tanti futuri possibili formano un presente inevitabile, il libro.
Tra Herbert Quaine e Pierre Menard, dalla bibbia a Dostoevskij, Lem gioca con noi a viso aperto e con sapienza entropica per un antiromanzo dalla logica implacabile.
sampled
November 22, 2022Reviews of nonexistent books, a concept more tantalising in premise than execution. The piece on the Irish nonwriter Patrick Hannahan who attempts to write an even more recondite and allusive novel than Ulysses is a stupendously clever exercise in erudite, Joycean academic skewering ... however, the target of the other parodies for the most part eluded me, hence my exit on p.88.
November 12, 2020
Moved to gwern.net.
February 18, 2022
These faux reviews--reviews of nonexistent books--are more of an excuse to talk and speculate, and do satire and criticism, about various themes that interested that true Renaissance Man that was Stanislaw Lem, than actual snippets or looks into books that haven't been written but possibly might have. The majority of them sound too preposterous to treat their possible existence seriously, and the tone of their reviews makes that obvious. Therefore, it would be disadvantageous and inaccurate, I think, to treat the opinions expressed by the reviewer (assuming that Lem postulated a single reviewer-persona to write these texts, which I doubt) as Lem's. Yet, there is earnestness in all of these reviews, if you 'get' how to read them (and there might even be multiple ways of doing that), and all of them, with their polemical take, offer multiple opportunities for serious thought. Deeply fascinating, and vertiginous like only Lem knows how to be.
December 26, 2021
Vuoto assoluto di Stanislaw Lem è una raccolta di recensioni di libri inesistenti, scritti da autori immaginari, su tematiche che spaziano dalla fantascienza alla filosofia. Chi ha letto Solaris conoscerà già la predisposizione di Lem a descrivere minuziosamente una moltitudine di libri immaginari, scritti da autori fittizi, in quel caso studiosi di una branca multidisciplinare della scienza, la solaristica, totalmente inventata. Pur essendo inconsueta, la fantasia di Lem non è del tutto originale, ispirandosi fortemente alle illustri finzioni borgesiane, prime tra tutte quelle del Chisciotte di Pierre Menard, dell'opera di Herbert Quain, della biblioteca di Babele e della ricerca di Almotasim. Il tema dell'apocrifo, in effetti, accomuna questi due scrittori, così diversi eppure così affini.
Come a voler potenziare già dall'inizio questo gioco di specchi metanarrativo, Lem apre la sua pseudo-antologia con la recensione della propria raccolta (ovviamente, come tutte le altre recensioni presenti nell'opera, redatta da un critico immaginario), una sorta di “recensione alle pseudo-recensioni” che è sintomo di una inesauribile ironia, che non risparmia nemmeno se stesso.
Col procedere delle recensioni, poi, il livello di complessità critica ed il grado di astrazione aumentano notevolmente, ed alle opere più narrative, come ad esempio Les Robinsonades di Marcel Coscat (che narra le peripezie di un novello Robinson, un naufrago che si inventa una serie di compagni di sventura che assumono via via identità e comportamenti autonomi dalla mente che li ha creati), Gigamesh di Patrick Hannahan (riscrittura del mito di Gilgamesh, trasposto in epoca moderna, allo stesso modo con cui Joyce fece con l'Odissea nel suo Ulisse, avente per protagonista un soldato statunitense condannato per omicidio da un tribunale militare), Sexeplosion di Simon Merrill (il racconto del crollo demografico e del tramonto della civiltà umana in un futuro prossimo, attraverso la descrizione della parabola del ruolo sociale del sesso, dapprima diventata pratica sfrenata, poi moda commerciale, poi culto fideistico, poi ancora obbligo morale e infine esercizio inutile, superfluo e privo di qualsivoglia piacere, a causa della diffusione globale di una sostanza chimica chiamata NOSEX), Gruppenfuhrer Louis XVI di Alfred Zellermann (la storia della creazione di una anacronistica e grottesca corte seicentesca di esuli nazisti in Sudamerica), Being Inc. di Allstar Waynewright (sulla descrizione di un mondo dominato da società private che offrono servizi esistenziali a pagamento), seguono quelle più filosofiche e speculative, come ad esempio la descrizione del kit ludico nominato Do yourself a book (che permette di creare, a partire da strisce di carta contenenti frasi di opere i cui diritti d'autore sono scaduti, una serie potenzialmente illimitata di nuovi libri), La cultura come errore di Wilhelm Klopper, De impossibilitate vitae – De impossibilitate prognoscendi di Cezar Kouska, Non serviam di Arthur Dobb, fino a giungere a La nuova cosmogonia di Alfred Testa (una prolusione fittizia tenuta da uno studioso in occasione della cerimonia di conferimento del suo Premio Nobel, che delinea una visione rivoluzionaria dell'universo, l'idea del Cosmo come Gioco).
In tutte le finte recensioni di questa pseudo-antologia, Lem dimostra la sottile ironia, la vastissima erudizione e lo straordinario eclettismo che hanno contraddistinto la sua intera opera letteraria. Come suggerisce il suo titolo, sembra che il lettore si ritrovi trascinato in un gorgo, attratto da oggetti che in realtà non esistono, e che costruiscono un gioco di specchi dietro cui si cela il nulla, il vuoto assoluto. E forse, dal momento che la letteratura è menzogna, l'unico modo per dire la verità e per essere autentici è raccontare (quindi mentire su) questo nulla, questo vuoto: “Chi mente a proposito di niente, cessa immediatamente di essere un mentitore” (pagina 77).
L'opera di Lem, che potrebbe essere percepita come un gioco intellettuale freddo e inquietante, un algido e disorientante esercizio di stile fine a se stesso, in realtà rivela le più complesse visioni della letteratura e del mondo secondo l'autore polacco, e nasconde, seminate qua e là nel testo, piccole frecciatine agli scrittori pieni di sé, che si credono attori principali dell'universo culturale, ma anche e soprattutto ai critici letterari che, con atteggiamento spesso compiaciuto, supponente o altezzoso, dall'alto della loro presunta superiorità solipsistica analizzano e scompongono minuziosamente le opere che vogliono demolire o incensare a seconda dei casi, cercando il proverbiale pelo nell'uovo e dimenticandosi di quello che nell'opera è più lampante e immediato, il suo significato più autentico (si veda, ad esempio, l'analisi estremamente minuziosa del critico che recensisce Gigamesh, anche con osservazioni che paiono forzate, piegate al proprio ragionamento).
A partire dal 1968 (un anno cruciale nella produzione letteraria di Lem: viene pubblicato infatti quello che da molti è ritenuto il suo capolavoro, La voce del padrone, un romanzo dove per la prima volta l'autore polacco fa prevalere nella propria scrittura il momento riflessivo, filosofico e speculativo su quello narrativo), Lem raggiunge la fama internazionale e non deve più scrivere per necessità: la qualità, ma anche la complessità, delle sue opere successive aumenta notevolmente. Ai romanzi di fantascienza più canonica e classica (genere che tuttavia Lem non abbandonò mai completamente) fanno posto scritti non convenzionali, ibridi, che si avvicinano maggiormente alla speculazione filosofica pura, dove la riflessione intellettuale prevale sulla fabula. Nel 1971 è la volta di Vuoto assoluto, un'antologia di pseudo-recensioni spiazzante per critica e pubblico, che sarà soltanto la prima opera di una serie di lavori altrettanto originali, il cosiddetto “ciclo degli apocrifi”: recensioni di libri mai scritti, discorsi di premi Nobel inventati, conferenze e dissertazioni di autori inesistenti. In queste opere, Lem dimostra un'elevata padronanza nel campo della “doppia finzione” (la finzione di una finzione), una spontanea tendenza al pensiero astratto e una capacità notevole nella sperimentazione di nuove forme letterarie, fuori dagli schemi consueti.
Vuoto assoluto è dunque solo l'inizio di un'impresa ambiziosa, un ciclo di opere che crea un intero pseudo-mondo dietro la moltitudine di libri fittizi, autori immaginari, critici inesistenti, citazioni inventate e falsi riferimenti bibliografici. Un mondo di fantasia, certo, ma un mondo che assomiglia in maniera inquietante e spiazzante al mondo vero, una realtà parallela alla nostra, che anzi arriva a sovrapporsi ad essa. Con questi espedienti metanarrativi, Lem trova l'occasione per enunciare delle visioni filosofiche semiserie, contaminate in egual misura da bizzarre citazioni patafisiche e rigorosi studi scientifici, creando al contempo una raffinata parodia del mondo dell'editoria, della letteratura e della cultura. Dalle teorie dei giochi, della probabilità e del Caso al grado zero della scrittura, dalle predizioni alle cosmogonie, la scrittura minuziosa e dettagliata di Lem trascina il lettore dentro un vortice entropico e sconfinato, un gioco raffinato e potente nel tradurre in parole le idee e nel dare una forma altamente realistica a tutti i vivaci capricci di un intelletto straordinario, di un genio inimitabile. Chiaramente, questo è un libro per lettori esigenti e preparati, per chi crede che “Un libro può arredare la testa del lettore solo se al suo interno c'è già qualche mobile” (pagina 77).
Come a voler potenziare già dall'inizio questo gioco di specchi metanarrativo, Lem apre la sua pseudo-antologia con la recensione della propria raccolta (ovviamente, come tutte le altre recensioni presenti nell'opera, redatta da un critico immaginario), una sorta di “recensione alle pseudo-recensioni” che è sintomo di una inesauribile ironia, che non risparmia nemmeno se stesso.
Col procedere delle recensioni, poi, il livello di complessità critica ed il grado di astrazione aumentano notevolmente, ed alle opere più narrative, come ad esempio Les Robinsonades di Marcel Coscat (che narra le peripezie di un novello Robinson, un naufrago che si inventa una serie di compagni di sventura che assumono via via identità e comportamenti autonomi dalla mente che li ha creati), Gigamesh di Patrick Hannahan (riscrittura del mito di Gilgamesh, trasposto in epoca moderna, allo stesso modo con cui Joyce fece con l'Odissea nel suo Ulisse, avente per protagonista un soldato statunitense condannato per omicidio da un tribunale militare), Sexeplosion di Simon Merrill (il racconto del crollo demografico e del tramonto della civiltà umana in un futuro prossimo, attraverso la descrizione della parabola del ruolo sociale del sesso, dapprima diventata pratica sfrenata, poi moda commerciale, poi culto fideistico, poi ancora obbligo morale e infine esercizio inutile, superfluo e privo di qualsivoglia piacere, a causa della diffusione globale di una sostanza chimica chiamata NOSEX), Gruppenfuhrer Louis XVI di Alfred Zellermann (la storia della creazione di una anacronistica e grottesca corte seicentesca di esuli nazisti in Sudamerica), Being Inc. di Allstar Waynewright (sulla descrizione di un mondo dominato da società private che offrono servizi esistenziali a pagamento), seguono quelle più filosofiche e speculative, come ad esempio la descrizione del kit ludico nominato Do yourself a book (che permette di creare, a partire da strisce di carta contenenti frasi di opere i cui diritti d'autore sono scaduti, una serie potenzialmente illimitata di nuovi libri), La cultura come errore di Wilhelm Klopper, De impossibilitate vitae – De impossibilitate prognoscendi di Cezar Kouska, Non serviam di Arthur Dobb, fino a giungere a La nuova cosmogonia di Alfred Testa (una prolusione fittizia tenuta da uno studioso in occasione della cerimonia di conferimento del suo Premio Nobel, che delinea una visione rivoluzionaria dell'universo, l'idea del Cosmo come Gioco).
In tutte le finte recensioni di questa pseudo-antologia, Lem dimostra la sottile ironia, la vastissima erudizione e lo straordinario eclettismo che hanno contraddistinto la sua intera opera letteraria. Come suggerisce il suo titolo, sembra che il lettore si ritrovi trascinato in un gorgo, attratto da oggetti che in realtà non esistono, e che costruiscono un gioco di specchi dietro cui si cela il nulla, il vuoto assoluto. E forse, dal momento che la letteratura è menzogna, l'unico modo per dire la verità e per essere autentici è raccontare (quindi mentire su) questo nulla, questo vuoto: “Chi mente a proposito di niente, cessa immediatamente di essere un mentitore” (pagina 77).
L'opera di Lem, che potrebbe essere percepita come un gioco intellettuale freddo e inquietante, un algido e disorientante esercizio di stile fine a se stesso, in realtà rivela le più complesse visioni della letteratura e del mondo secondo l'autore polacco, e nasconde, seminate qua e là nel testo, piccole frecciatine agli scrittori pieni di sé, che si credono attori principali dell'universo culturale, ma anche e soprattutto ai critici letterari che, con atteggiamento spesso compiaciuto, supponente o altezzoso, dall'alto della loro presunta superiorità solipsistica analizzano e scompongono minuziosamente le opere che vogliono demolire o incensare a seconda dei casi, cercando il proverbiale pelo nell'uovo e dimenticandosi di quello che nell'opera è più lampante e immediato, il suo significato più autentico (si veda, ad esempio, l'analisi estremamente minuziosa del critico che recensisce Gigamesh, anche con osservazioni che paiono forzate, piegate al proprio ragionamento).
A partire dal 1968 (un anno cruciale nella produzione letteraria di Lem: viene pubblicato infatti quello che da molti è ritenuto il suo capolavoro, La voce del padrone, un romanzo dove per la prima volta l'autore polacco fa prevalere nella propria scrittura il momento riflessivo, filosofico e speculativo su quello narrativo), Lem raggiunge la fama internazionale e non deve più scrivere per necessità: la qualità, ma anche la complessità, delle sue opere successive aumenta notevolmente. Ai romanzi di fantascienza più canonica e classica (genere che tuttavia Lem non abbandonò mai completamente) fanno posto scritti non convenzionali, ibridi, che si avvicinano maggiormente alla speculazione filosofica pura, dove la riflessione intellettuale prevale sulla fabula. Nel 1971 è la volta di Vuoto assoluto, un'antologia di pseudo-recensioni spiazzante per critica e pubblico, che sarà soltanto la prima opera di una serie di lavori altrettanto originali, il cosiddetto “ciclo degli apocrifi”: recensioni di libri mai scritti, discorsi di premi Nobel inventati, conferenze e dissertazioni di autori inesistenti. In queste opere, Lem dimostra un'elevata padronanza nel campo della “doppia finzione” (la finzione di una finzione), una spontanea tendenza al pensiero astratto e una capacità notevole nella sperimentazione di nuove forme letterarie, fuori dagli schemi consueti.
Vuoto assoluto è dunque solo l'inizio di un'impresa ambiziosa, un ciclo di opere che crea un intero pseudo-mondo dietro la moltitudine di libri fittizi, autori immaginari, critici inesistenti, citazioni inventate e falsi riferimenti bibliografici. Un mondo di fantasia, certo, ma un mondo che assomiglia in maniera inquietante e spiazzante al mondo vero, una realtà parallela alla nostra, che anzi arriva a sovrapporsi ad essa. Con questi espedienti metanarrativi, Lem trova l'occasione per enunciare delle visioni filosofiche semiserie, contaminate in egual misura da bizzarre citazioni patafisiche e rigorosi studi scientifici, creando al contempo una raffinata parodia del mondo dell'editoria, della letteratura e della cultura. Dalle teorie dei giochi, della probabilità e del Caso al grado zero della scrittura, dalle predizioni alle cosmogonie, la scrittura minuziosa e dettagliata di Lem trascina il lettore dentro un vortice entropico e sconfinato, un gioco raffinato e potente nel tradurre in parole le idee e nel dare una forma altamente realistica a tutti i vivaci capricci di un intelletto straordinario, di un genio inimitabile. Chiaramente, questo è un libro per lettori esigenti e preparati, per chi crede che “Un libro può arredare la testa del lettore solo se al suo interno c'è già qualche mobile” (pagina 77).
June 15, 2022
Un libro estupendo, baño de erudición imaginaria que hace estrujar tu cerebro en elucubraciones ontológicas, semánticas, cosmogónicas, de ingenio puro. Es bastante difícil seguir ciertos razonamientos sobre libros inventados, cual castillos abstractos hechos en el aire, no obstante desarrolla unas conclusiones demoledoras, bellas en su concepción, artísticamente imposibles de realizar, pero de un satisfactorio ejercicio reflexivo.
Las críticas que más me gustaron: “De imposibilitate vitae..”, con ese juego perdido de probabilidades futuras, seguida de cerca por la incisiva “Die Kultur als Fehler”. Respecto a cuáles de aquellos libros me gustaría leer, “Gruppenführer Louis XVI” creo sería el que más.
Las críticas que más me gustaron: “De imposibilitate vitae..”, con ese juego perdido de probabilidades futuras, seguida de cerca por la incisiva “Die Kultur als Fehler”. Respecto a cuáles de aquellos libros me gustaría leer, “Gruppenführer Louis XVI” creo sería el que más.
Read
April 29, 2023Lem wplatający wątki filozoficzne w beletrystykę to rzecz znana. W "Doskonałej próżni" rozważania m.in. z obszaru filozofii kultury ukrywa pod płaszczykiem esejów, spod którego niekiedy wystaje ostrze ironii lub wręcz szyderstwa. Dostrojone stylistycznie posłowie Dukaja to wisienka na torcie.
February 23, 2018
Borges lo hacía mejor, sin duda, pero a Lem no le quedan mal tampoco. Lo malo es que son más las piezas mediocres que las estupendas. Las mejores, por mucho, son Non Serviam, La Nueva Cosmogonía, De Impossibilitate Vitae / De Impossibilitate Cognoscendi, Odis de Ítaca, Idiota, y Gruppenführer Louis XVI; de estas las mejores son La nueva Cosmogonía y De Impossibilitate Vitae / De Impossibilitate Cognoscendi; y de estas dos la ganadora es La nueva Cosmogonía.
Esta última, cualquiera puede notarlo, sirve de inspiración al asunto de Death's End, de Cixin Liu.
Esta última, cualquiera puede notarlo, sirve de inspiración al asunto de Death's End, de Cixin Liu.
January 24, 2017
chulada de libro. reseñas de libros que no existen. imaginación pura y una prosa envidiable.
April 23, 2024
Brillante y divertidísimo
February 6, 2017
"[...] And the only subterfuge the evasive Lem might still avail himself of would be a counterattack: in the assertion that it was not I, the critic, but he himself, the author, who wrote the present review and added it to - and made it part of -'A Perfect Vacuum.'"
Whenever I begin a re-read of a Stanislaw Lem's book I am afraid of disappointment. Lem was by far the most favorite author of my youth, some 35 to 55 years ago, and I have been worrying that in re-reading his works my enthusiasm may diminish for the Polish philosopher and futurologist who is best known for his incomparable science fiction books, such as Solaris. I am happy to report there have been no disappointments so far and A Perfect Vacuum (originally published in 1971) is one of the best books I have recently read, maybe even better than Lem's His Master's Voice which I rated with almost five stars.
A full review would take too much space so let me just offer a few remarks about this impressive work. A Perfect Vacuum is set up as an exercise in metafiction where Lem offers a collection of reviews of non-existent books. In the author's stroke of genius, the collection even includes a review of the book that contains the review - how's that for advanced self-referentiality? On a similar note, in the review of (fictitious) Gigamesh Lem provides delicious satire on literary criticism that indulges in looking for non-existent references: after all, it is true that any reference to anything can be found anywhere if one looks hard enough.
Lem creates the author of Gruppenführer Louis XVI who writes about artificial reality of 17th century French royal court created in Argentina by SS officers who escaped Germany. Any older Polish reader will immediately recognize this as satire on the so-called communist government in Poland that created an artificial reality for the citizens. A contemporary reader, on the other hand, may easily make a connection to the current situation when it seems that about half of all people are unable to distinguish the artificial reality of TV shows from the actual reality. Another fictitious book under review, Rien du tout, ou la conséquence, pushes the meta-literature to the extreme positions: narration is eliminated to the extent that only pure language remains. The piece also contains a hilarious passage about an author who wrote Don Quixote from the scratch and obtained exactly the same text as the one produced by Cervantes.
Now about my three favorite pieces. The review of De Impossibilitate Vitae, a fictitious work halfway between mathematics and total lunacy, is a playful take on probability theory (the subject that I teach, by the way). Lem presents the author's clear and convincing explanation that his existence is a result of chains of events so improbable that it is not at all possible for him to exist. Neither is it for any other person (De Selby's observations presented in The Third Policeman come to mind).
Non Serviam, perhaps the deepest piece in the set, reviews a book about personetics - science and technology that enabled people to create personoids, sentient beings that exist as executing programs, computer models implemented in software. Nevertheless they are completely real to themselves; they build their culture, philosophy and even religion that seeks to embrace the Creator of their Universe. Lem, as the reviewer, emphasizes the monumental moral and ethical dilemmas of those sentient creatures' creators. Alas he takes an easy way out and only glides over the crucial issue of the origin of self-awareness.
Finally, in New Cosmogony Lem quotes the Nobel Prize acceptance speech of a physicist and philosopher who is one of the pioneers of a new model of cosmology - Universe as a Game - where the oldest civilizations are the players who apply minimax strategies to construct the "laws of nature." It is also here that Lem, through the fictitious physicist's words, states the audacious yet utterly brilliant thesis that the expanding Universe serves the purpose of keeping the distance between new civilizations and the existing ones, which would cleanly account for the so-called Silentium Universi. Physics of the Universe as a by-product of sociology - it is not possible not to admire the author's (and the author's author's) cheek!
Despite Lem's usual hang-ups about sex, the piece Sexplosion exudes sheer hilarity with its memorable mentions of unchastity belts, sodomobiles, cybordellics, gomorcades (my own translations as I read the book in its original Polish version), and many, many other vehicles of pleasure. Perycalipsis is also a hoot with its spiritual masturbation, that is getting off on promises rather than releases. Phenomenal stuff!
Great book: funny yet deep and thought-provoking. In fact, now I love it more than 45 years ago. Despite my stinginess with top ratings here's the second one in just one week! Maybe I am getting soft in the head faster than I think.
Four and three quarter stars.
Whenever I begin a re-read of a Stanislaw Lem's book I am afraid of disappointment. Lem was by far the most favorite author of my youth, some 35 to 55 years ago, and I have been worrying that in re-reading his works my enthusiasm may diminish for the Polish philosopher and futurologist who is best known for his incomparable science fiction books, such as Solaris. I am happy to report there have been no disappointments so far and A Perfect Vacuum (originally published in 1971) is one of the best books I have recently read, maybe even better than Lem's His Master's Voice which I rated with almost five stars.
A full review would take too much space so let me just offer a few remarks about this impressive work. A Perfect Vacuum is set up as an exercise in metafiction where Lem offers a collection of reviews of non-existent books. In the author's stroke of genius, the collection even includes a review of the book that contains the review - how's that for advanced self-referentiality? On a similar note, in the review of (fictitious) Gigamesh Lem provides delicious satire on literary criticism that indulges in looking for non-existent references: after all, it is true that any reference to anything can be found anywhere if one looks hard enough.
Lem creates the author of Gruppenführer Louis XVI who writes about artificial reality of 17th century French royal court created in Argentina by SS officers who escaped Germany. Any older Polish reader will immediately recognize this as satire on the so-called communist government in Poland that created an artificial reality for the citizens. A contemporary reader, on the other hand, may easily make a connection to the current situation when it seems that about half of all people are unable to distinguish the artificial reality of TV shows from the actual reality. Another fictitious book under review, Rien du tout, ou la conséquence, pushes the meta-literature to the extreme positions: narration is eliminated to the extent that only pure language remains. The piece also contains a hilarious passage about an author who wrote Don Quixote from the scratch and obtained exactly the same text as the one produced by Cervantes.
Now about my three favorite pieces. The review of De Impossibilitate Vitae, a fictitious work halfway between mathematics and total lunacy, is a playful take on probability theory (the subject that I teach, by the way). Lem presents the author's clear and convincing explanation that his existence is a result of chains of events so improbable that it is not at all possible for him to exist. Neither is it for any other person (De Selby's observations presented in The Third Policeman come to mind).
Non Serviam, perhaps the deepest piece in the set, reviews a book about personetics - science and technology that enabled people to create personoids, sentient beings that exist as executing programs, computer models implemented in software. Nevertheless they are completely real to themselves; they build their culture, philosophy and even religion that seeks to embrace the Creator of their Universe. Lem, as the reviewer, emphasizes the monumental moral and ethical dilemmas of those sentient creatures' creators. Alas he takes an easy way out and only glides over the crucial issue of the origin of self-awareness.
Finally, in New Cosmogony Lem quotes the Nobel Prize acceptance speech of a physicist and philosopher who is one of the pioneers of a new model of cosmology - Universe as a Game - where the oldest civilizations are the players who apply minimax strategies to construct the "laws of nature." It is also here that Lem, through the fictitious physicist's words, states the audacious yet utterly brilliant thesis that the expanding Universe serves the purpose of keeping the distance between new civilizations and the existing ones, which would cleanly account for the so-called Silentium Universi. Physics of the Universe as a by-product of sociology - it is not possible not to admire the author's (and the author's author's) cheek!
Despite Lem's usual hang-ups about sex, the piece Sexplosion exudes sheer hilarity with its memorable mentions of unchastity belts, sodomobiles, cybordellics, gomorcades (my own translations as I read the book in its original Polish version), and many, many other vehicles of pleasure. Perycalipsis is also a hoot with its spiritual masturbation, that is getting off on promises rather than releases. Phenomenal stuff!
Great book: funny yet deep and thought-provoking. In fact, now I love it more than 45 years ago. Despite my stinginess with top ratings here's the second one in just one week! Maybe I am getting soft in the head faster than I think.
Four and three quarter stars.
Read
August 31, 2025This is one of those books I probably hyped myself up too much for, given both the conceit (If on a Polish Winter’s Night a Traveler…) and my love of much of Lem’s other work. It was perfectly OK at points, but a bit of a slog at others (the last “review” in here probably being the one that was the most viscerally interesting for me to read). Mostly, though, it felt like a bit of retread. Honestly not an essential read, which is something of a bummer to report.
December 3, 2022
Simply put, Stanislaw Lem is one of the masters of science fiction. Yet you can meet an endless number of SF fans who don't know his work and even find best-SF-books lists from seemingly respectable sources that don't include anything by him. Is it because the smarter you are, the more you'll appreciate in his work? (That risks being a nasty comment. But it must be admitted that much Western SF still possesses a pulp-fiction aspect, and at least some of its many readers may believe that's all there is or needs to be.) Is it that the further you go from Western societies, the less likely are the authors to be known? Milan Kundera hails from Czechoslovakia but has broken through, as has Czeslaw Milosz, a Pole. Then why not Lem, another Pole? Or, for that matter, the Strugatsky brothers, who are Russian? Lem himself could probably have constructed not one but half a dozen or more increasingly complex and satirical reasons to account for it; I can't.
I bought and read this collection more than five years before entering it here. The reason was that I wanted to refresh my memory of the story "Non Serviam," which I had first encountered in the 90s, as research for something I was considering writing. I won't try to explain that, but "Non Serviam" is a profound meditation on artificial consciousnesses, who in this case engage in their own meditations on whether they were created or not and, if so, whether they owe anything to their creator. I won't call it a masterpiece, but only because I want to avoid the need to justify through argument and evidence my use of that much-overused word. The book is worth obtaining simply for "Non Serviam," but that isn't the only reward it contains.
Postscript 12/03/22: Herewith, a slightly less inadequate account of this book, which I just reread, than what I previously wrote.
One day, Stanisław Lem must have realized that he had more ideas than he had time. His solution? To write, as though they were real, about some of the books that he didn’t have the time or the means to actually write in full. This led to a handful of shorter pieces and two entire books: Imaginary Magnitude, published in 1973, which consists of introductions to books that can be imagined but that could only exist in the future, and A Perfect Vacuum, from 1971, which assembles reviews of books that could already exist but don’t—and which also, for good measure, reviews itself.
Since I, too, lack time, I’ll say just a few things. One: If you want to know what’s in this book, check the Wikipedia summary. Two: Reviewers bothered by the suspicion that their work is insufficiently creative have an out, as this book demonstrates—make up something and review it. Three, a personal aside: I had this idea decades ago, when I wished I could see a production of a particular Henry James play (yes, he wrote plays). Since no one seemed likely to produce it (it’s not that good a play), I imagined that someone had staged it and reviewed that.
I bought and read this collection more than five years before entering it here. The reason was that I wanted to refresh my memory of the story "Non Serviam," which I had first encountered in the 90s, as research for something I was considering writing. I won't try to explain that, but "Non Serviam" is a profound meditation on artificial consciousnesses, who in this case engage in their own meditations on whether they were created or not and, if so, whether they owe anything to their creator. I won't call it a masterpiece, but only because I want to avoid the need to justify through argument and evidence my use of that much-overused word. The book is worth obtaining simply for "Non Serviam," but that isn't the only reward it contains.
Postscript 12/03/22: Herewith, a slightly less inadequate account of this book, which I just reread, than what I previously wrote.
One day, Stanisław Lem must have realized that he had more ideas than he had time. His solution? To write, as though they were real, about some of the books that he didn’t have the time or the means to actually write in full. This led to a handful of shorter pieces and two entire books: Imaginary Magnitude, published in 1973, which consists of introductions to books that can be imagined but that could only exist in the future, and A Perfect Vacuum, from 1971, which assembles reviews of books that could already exist but don’t—and which also, for good measure, reviews itself.
Since I, too, lack time, I’ll say just a few things. One: If you want to know what’s in this book, check the Wikipedia summary. Two: Reviewers bothered by the suspicion that their work is insufficiently creative have an out, as this book demonstrates—make up something and review it. Three, a personal aside: I had this idea decades ago, when I wished I could see a production of a particular Henry James play (yes, he wrote plays). Since no one seemed likely to produce it (it’s not that good a play), I imagined that someone had staged it and reviewed that.
Want to read
February 23, 2015I mean, yeah, I do want to read reviews of books that don't exist. Why wouldn't I?
April 15, 2024
Vacío perfecto es un libro de reseñas falsas de Stanislaw Lem. En él, Lem imagina dieciséis obras (novelas, ensayos...) que reseña como si fueran reales, describiendo su trama, la evolución y tratamiento de los personajes, las intenciones del autor (que tampoco existe), sus influencias (que, estas sí, pueden ser reales), contexto histórico (los falsos libros abarcan varias épocas)...
El juego de jugar con la realidad es especialmente llamativo en el prólogo: dicho prólogo está escrito en tercera persona por Lem (es explícito en el título) y en él, el autor del prólogo (Lem) describe el libro y elucubra acerca de las intenciones de su autor (Lem) de forma crítica, concluyendo en ocasiones el Lem autor del prólogo que el Lem autor del libro escribe una reseña falsa por su falta de capacidad de escribir la inexistente novela reseñada.
[+] Reseña completa en Alt+64 wiki: http://alt64.org/wiki/index.php?title...
El juego de jugar con la realidad es especialmente llamativo en el prólogo: dicho prólogo está escrito en tercera persona por Lem (es explícito en el título) y en él, el autor del prólogo (Lem) describe el libro y elucubra acerca de las intenciones de su autor (Lem) de forma crítica, concluyendo en ocasiones el Lem autor del prólogo que el Lem autor del libro escribe una reseña falsa por su falta de capacidad de escribir la inexistente novela reseñada.
[+] Reseña completa en Alt+64 wiki: http://alt64.org/wiki/index.php?title...
Read
May 17, 2020I downloaded this from the library because of a reference in the book I'd read just before (I Am a Strange Loop) to "Non Serviam," one of the pieces that make up this wonderfully bizarre and thought-provoking book.
It's a series of essays about imaginary books, occupying a strange nether realm between satire, science fiction and metafiction. I've never read anything quite like it; but then maybe I've just been reading the wrong things. Perhaps Borges comes the closest. Clearly it was a mistake not to have read Stanislaw Lem before now. The only problem is, which of his work to read next?
It's a series of essays about imaginary books, occupying a strange nether realm between satire, science fiction and metafiction. I've never read anything quite like it; but then maybe I've just been reading the wrong things. Perhaps Borges comes the closest. Clearly it was a mistake not to have read Stanislaw Lem before now. The only problem is, which of his work to read next?
May 28, 2022
“Vacío perfecto” es el delirio cautivante de la literatura que carece de autores, pero no así de propósito. Es una mezcla de géneros que se dejó macerar en la mente de su abajo-firmante, cuando este ya había escrito las novelas (de ficción científica) que le darían notoriedad y fama en el mundo entero. Fábula que emplaza a su lector (o lectora) a descubrir la tradición de la reseña auténtica de los libros ficticios, hermanándola con la obra de Marcel Schwob, R. L. Stevenson, Henry James, Iris Murdoch, Umberto Eco, Coetzee, y J. L. Borges.
Este “Vacío perfecto”, que de veras casi lo es, enseña, tampoco sin proponérselo, que es posible despojarse de la tradición (para volverse profético), de la certeza apodíctica (para volverse retóricamente lúdico), de la textualidad (para abrazar lo reticente) y aun de la linealidad autoral (para sumirse en el caos autorreferencial).
Un libro heterogéneo que coquetea a ratos con el ensayo, la autoficción, y aun la poesía, pero que evidencia lo obvio: las y los autores, sin importan qué tan “consagrados” estén, no escriben los libros que quieren, sino únicamente los que pueden y que la literatura reivindicada “como un juego” puede ser más sesuda y profunda de lo que se cree.
Este “Vacío perfecto”, que de veras casi lo es, enseña, tampoco sin proponérselo, que es posible despojarse de la tradición (para volverse profético), de la certeza apodíctica (para volverse retóricamente lúdico), de la textualidad (para abrazar lo reticente) y aun de la linealidad autoral (para sumirse en el caos autorreferencial).
Un libro heterogéneo que coquetea a ratos con el ensayo, la autoficción, y aun la poesía, pero que evidencia lo obvio: las y los autores, sin importan qué tan “consagrados” estén, no escriben los libros que quieren, sino únicamente los que pueden y que la literatura reivindicada “como un juego” puede ser más sesuda y profunda de lo que se cree.
August 3, 2017
Maravilloso de leer. Me hizo desear leer más divulgación de la ciencia. Fue agua en un desierto en que todo parecen trágicas historias de amor. La creatividad de este hombre parece no tener límites, los mundos que crea son únicos, dan cada uno para una novela entera
May 20, 2023
Inspired by Borge's, this is a collection of book reviews with the twist being that none of these books actually exist. This allows the author to at times explore some deeply strange ideas which wouldn't really be possible to write about directly.
This idea really appeals to me in theory, but I found the book a little lacking overall. My main problem was with that non-existent books themselves were usually premised on an idea that was only mildly interesting at best. The reviews themselves are amusingly written and in a number of different styles, lampooning academia quite well in my opinion. This could also just concern my taste, I feel most of the ideas explored were more psychological in nature as opposed to philosophical and I went in expecting the latter.
For me the most disappointing review was the first and the most engaging was the last. The first was a review for A Perfect Vacuum itself. This idea has loads of potential and I was very excited to see how the author played with self-reference. But there is none at all, as far as I can tell the review is for a different book to the one we're reading. The review makes no reference to itself which was hugely disappointing and it also references things that are no included in the book we're reading.
The final review concerns a new cosmogony for physics in which the 'why' of physics is explained using game theory. The idea is that the early universe had variable laws in different regions. The beings that arose in these pockets in the first few billion laws were incentivized to both change and expand the laws in their regions. Things get tricky when two such expanding pockets begin to intersect and now the beings may be viewed as players in a game concerning the disputed territories. A fixed speed of light is implicitly agreed upon (via game theoretic reasoning apparently) because it disincentives stockpiling of energy since there is a hard limit on how fast things can be accelerated to. Anyway, there are a number of fun ideas explored here and this story is probably worth reading.
This idea really appeals to me in theory, but I found the book a little lacking overall. My main problem was with that non-existent books themselves were usually premised on an idea that was only mildly interesting at best. The reviews themselves are amusingly written and in a number of different styles, lampooning academia quite well in my opinion. This could also just concern my taste, I feel most of the ideas explored were more psychological in nature as opposed to philosophical and I went in expecting the latter.
For me the most disappointing review was the first and the most engaging was the last. The first was a review for A Perfect Vacuum itself. This idea has loads of potential and I was very excited to see how the author played with self-reference. But there is none at all, as far as I can tell the review is for a different book to the one we're reading. The review makes no reference to itself which was hugely disappointing and it also references things that are no included in the book we're reading.
The final review concerns a new cosmogony for physics in which the 'why' of physics is explained using game theory. The idea is that the early universe had variable laws in different regions. The beings that arose in these pockets in the first few billion laws were incentivized to both change and expand the laws in their regions. Things get tricky when two such expanding pockets begin to intersect and now the beings may be viewed as players in a game concerning the disputed territories. A fixed speed of light is implicitly agreed upon (via game theoretic reasoning apparently) because it disincentives stockpiling of energy since there is a hard limit on how fast things can be accelerated to. Anyway, there are a number of fun ideas explored here and this story is probably worth reading.
December 3, 2020
Hiçbir kitabı puanlarken böylesine "haddimi aşıyorum" hissi olmamıştı.
Eksik olan tek yıldız, benim Lem'e ayak uyduramadığım bölümlere işaret eder.
Bir dehanın hayalgücü ile aşık atmak kolay değil.
Eksik olan tek yıldız, benim Lem'e ayak uyduramadığım bölümlere işaret eder.
Bir dehanın hayalgücü ile aşık atmak kolay değil.
October 3, 2023
This is an anthology of reviews of non-existent books, the first of which is a review of itself by a non-existent author lol. It’s pretty much as fun as it sounds, with more postmodernist flair than I was expecting.
Lem’s classic satirical wit shines throughout, and the only other thing I’ll say is that the best way to read it, in my opinion, is a review or two at a time with some time in between. Leave it on your nightstand and read a couple every now and then, maybe while you read something else that’s more cohesive. Otherwise it can feel like a collection of half-baked ideas rather than funny, clever blurbs.
Lem’s classic satirical wit shines throughout, and the only other thing I’ll say is that the best way to read it, in my opinion, is a review or two at a time with some time in between. Leave it on your nightstand and read a couple every now and then, maybe while you read something else that’s more cohesive. Otherwise it can feel like a collection of half-baked ideas rather than funny, clever blurbs.
September 6, 2022
Jest to moim zdaniem najtrudniejsza książka Lema jaką czytałem. Pierwszych trzech rozdziałów nie byłem w stanie zrozumieć. Autor pokazuje swój kunszt poprzez umieszczenie w jednej pozycji ponad dziesięć innych książek traktujących o tym samym.
Zabiegiem do osiągnięcia powyższego celu jest uchwycenie każdej książki w ramy recenzji.
Nie sposób zauważyć kolejnego przejawu indywidualnego rozliczenia się z niemieckim okrucieństwem II Wojny Światowej, jak zawsze w pełen humoru sposób.
Motywem przewodnim utworu zdaje się być prawdopodobieństwo i relatywizm. Lem stara się przedstawić kolejny raz szereg jego przemyśleń prowadząc nas za rękę jego śladem.
Dla mnie najlepszą częścią jest zdecydowanie Nowa Kosmogonia, Non Serviam i De imbosibilitate vitae.
Autor wykazuje się szeroką wiedzą, analitycznym i filozoficznym myśleniem oraz jak zawsze humorem.
Idea Personoidów koresponduje z ideą Boga oraz tematów poruszanych chociażby w filmie Matrix. Czyli tego, że bardzo prawdopodobne jest, że jesteśmy jedną z wielu symulacji stworzonych przez istotę, którą nazywamy Bogiem, która dla nas rzeczywiście jest wszechmocna. Ale oprócz naszego wszechświata może ona mieć tysiące innych i podobnych. Zaś w Nowej Kosmogonii kontynuuje temat przedstawiając wizję tego, że świat został stworzony przez "graczy" dla których zasadami gry są obecne prawa natury I fizyki. Jednak znowu otwiera nam oczy pokazując, że cała nasza wiedza opiera się na założeniu, że wszechświat stworzony przez graczy-bogów jest już skończony i żadne reguły gry(prawa nim rządzące) się nie zmienią.
Ogromna to przyjemność móc uczestniczyć z Lemem w tych rozważaniach.
Zabiegiem do osiągnięcia powyższego celu jest uchwycenie każdej książki w ramy recenzji.
Nie sposób zauważyć kolejnego przejawu indywidualnego rozliczenia się z niemieckim okrucieństwem II Wojny Światowej, jak zawsze w pełen humoru sposób.
Motywem przewodnim utworu zdaje się być prawdopodobieństwo i relatywizm. Lem stara się przedstawić kolejny raz szereg jego przemyśleń prowadząc nas za rękę jego śladem.
Dla mnie najlepszą częścią jest zdecydowanie Nowa Kosmogonia, Non Serviam i De imbosibilitate vitae.
Autor wykazuje się szeroką wiedzą, analitycznym i filozoficznym myśleniem oraz jak zawsze humorem.
Idea Personoidów koresponduje z ideą Boga oraz tematów poruszanych chociażby w filmie Matrix. Czyli tego, że bardzo prawdopodobne jest, że jesteśmy jedną z wielu symulacji stworzonych przez istotę, którą nazywamy Bogiem, która dla nas rzeczywiście jest wszechmocna. Ale oprócz naszego wszechświata może ona mieć tysiące innych i podobnych. Zaś w Nowej Kosmogonii kontynuuje temat przedstawiając wizję tego, że świat został stworzony przez "graczy" dla których zasadami gry są obecne prawa natury I fizyki. Jednak znowu otwiera nam oczy pokazując, że cała nasza wiedza opiera się na założeniu, że wszechświat stworzony przez graczy-bogów jest już skończony i żadne reguły gry(prawa nim rządzące) się nie zmienią.
Ogromna to przyjemność móc uczestniczyć z Lemem w tych rozważaniach.
January 13, 2021
Con este libro me equivoqué, lo pillé en la biblioteca confundiendo el título por otro y, cuando lo empecé, enseguida lo abandoné decepcionada. Lo retomé en una noche de insomnio y, si bien no es el libro de mi vida y hay muchas cosas que, en mi científica incultura, no he llegado a entender, la verdad es que me lo he pasado bien.
El autor juega como autor con la lengua, juega como científico con sus teorías y saberes y juega con nosotros como lectores, que no podemos fiarnos de él ni un momento, principalmente porque él no es autor, sino también lector. Lector de la nada, de lo inexistente, del vacío, pero lector al fin y al cabo, y no se hace responsable de nada más que del batiburrillo que reseña. No sabemos quién está al otro lado, no sabemos qué sostiene ni qué quiere transmitir y, encima, nos exige un tremendo esfuerzo: ¡que pensemos! Y que leamos lo que escribe, con un lenguaje no poco difícil, sobre lo que no ha leído.
En fin, admito que a veces no he pensado y que en algunos fragmentos me he rendido a la incomprensión, pero es un libro muy interesante, especialmente si uno está dispuesto a pensar mucho y jugar a descifrar. Quizá si uno está familiarizado con el lector o con lo que dice es más fácil, para mí ha sido muy costoso. Me arrodillo ante el autor para presentarle todos mis respetos por su desmesurada creatividad y su capacidad de escritura.
El autor juega como autor con la lengua, juega como científico con sus teorías y saberes y juega con nosotros como lectores, que no podemos fiarnos de él ni un momento, principalmente porque él no es autor, sino también lector. Lector de la nada, de lo inexistente, del vacío, pero lector al fin y al cabo, y no se hace responsable de nada más que del batiburrillo que reseña. No sabemos quién está al otro lado, no sabemos qué sostiene ni qué quiere transmitir y, encima, nos exige un tremendo esfuerzo: ¡que pensemos! Y que leamos lo que escribe, con un lenguaje no poco difícil, sobre lo que no ha leído.
En fin, admito que a veces no he pensado y que en algunos fragmentos me he rendido a la incomprensión, pero es un libro muy interesante, especialmente si uno está dispuesto a pensar mucho y jugar a descifrar. Quizá si uno está familiarizado con el lector o con lo que dice es más fácil, para mí ha sido muy costoso. Me arrodillo ante el autor para presentarle todos mis respetos por su desmesurada creatividad y su capacidad de escritura.
July 26, 2020
A Perfect Vacuum is a peculiar text, even in the Sci-Fi genre, even when considering Lem's body of work. As you will know from the very beginning, it's a book of fictional scholarly reviews of various fictional works. It's also a mixed bag - some are extremely funny and creative, while others tend to drone on aimlessly. My favorites would have to be: The one about a story written strictly in a negative form ("this and that did not do this, this did not happen", etc.), the review of a book about the mechanics of artificial consciousness, and definitely the one about Robinson Crusoe. In all his works Lem's positively obsessed with our inability to connect to one another, and in Les Robinsonades this takes a very schizophrenic turn, quite similar to R.D. Laing's "The Divided Self".
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