Stanislaw Lems fiction
Explore the visionary fiction of Stanislaw Lem with our complete list of books. Dive into his sci-fi masterpieces, from 'Solaris' to 'The Cyberiad,' and discover Lem's profound impact on literature.
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Hospital of the Transfiguration
by Stanislaw Lem
The pensive story of Stefan Trzyniecki, a directionless, despairing young doctor who takes a job at a provincial Polish mental hospital at the outset of World War II. There he confronts the absurdity of life through events that occur both inside and outside the asylum walls. While corrupt and callous doctors perpetrate hideous abuses on mental patients, the Nazis are capturing Polish resistance fighters nearby. When the Nazis move to liquidate the asylum and turn it into an SS hospital, betrayals abound.
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The Star Diaries
by Stanisław Lem
Ijon Tichy encounters bizarre civilizations and creatures in space that serve to satirize science, the rational mind, theology, and other icons of human pride.
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Memoirs of a Space Traveler
by Stanisław Lem
Ijon Tichy is an ordinary space traveler whose extraordinary curiosity leads him to the very fringes of science. Their plans are grandiose, the bargains they make too often Faustian, for the ends these scientists pursue concern humanity's greatest and most ancient obsessions: immortality, artificial intelligence, and top-of-the-line consumer items. By turns philosophical, satirical, and absurd, Lem's stories follow Ijon's adventures as both an observer of--and participant in--strange experiments. Faulty time machines, intelligent washing machines, suicidal potatoes--Ijon Tichy navigates them all with common sense and in so doing shows why he endures as one of Lem's most popular characters.
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The Investigation
by Stanislaw Lem
A young officer at Scotland Yard is assigned to investigate a puzzling and eerie case of missing-and apparently resurrected-bodies. To unravel the mystery, Lt. Gregory consults scientific, philosophical, and theological experts, who supply him with a host of theories and clues.
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Eden
by Stanisław Lem
Six men crash-land on a planet in another solar system and, in an attempt to communicate with its inhabitants, they encounter violence and human cruelty.
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Solaris
by Stanisław Lem
Kris Kelvin lands on the space station Solaris only to face a cruel miracle.
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Memoirs Found in a Bathtub
by Stanisław Lem
The year is 3149, and a vast paper destroying blight-papyralysis-has obliterated much of the planet's written history. However, these rare memoirs, preserved for centuries in a volcanic rock, record the strange life of a man trapped in a hermetically sealed underground community. Translated by Michael Kandel and Christine Rose.
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The Cyberiad
by Stanislaw Lem
Trurl and Klaupacius are constructor robots who try to out-invent each other. They travel to the far corners of the cosmos to take on freelance problem-solving jobs, with dire consequences for their employers. The most completely successful of his books ... here Lem comes closest to inventing a real universe (Boston Globe). Translated by Michael Kandel.
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Mortal Engines
by Stanisław Lem
Publisher description: Translated from the original Polish text, and with an introduction by Michael Kandel. These fourteen science fiction stories reveal Stainslaw Lem's fascination with artificial intelligence and demonstrate just how surprisingly human sentient machines can be. The first eleven stories, a cycle called "Fables for Robots," are set in a cosmos inhabited exclusively by machines. Revolving around an assortment of electroknights and cyberkings, the stories combine the timeless quality of fairy tales and parables with a twist that is unmistakably Lem.
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The Futurological Congress (from the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy)
by Stanisław Lem
Bringing his twin gifts of scientific speculation and scathing satire to bear on that hapless planet, Earth, Lem sends his unlucky cosmonaut, Ijon Tichy, to the Eighth Futurological Congress. Caught up in local revolution, Tichy is shot and so critically wounded that he is flashfrozen to await a future cure. Translated by Michael Kandel.
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Tales of Pirx the Pilot
by Stanisław Lem
In Pilot Pirx, Lem has created an irresistibly likable character: an astronaut who gives the impression of still navigating by the seat of his pants-a bumbler but an inspired one. By investing Pirx with a range of human foibles, Lem offers a wonderful vision of the audacity, childlike curiosity, and intuition that can give humans the courage to confront outer space. Translated by Louis Iribarne. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
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More Tales of Pirx the Pilot
by Stanisław Lem
Commander Pirx, who drives space vehicles for a living in the galaxy of the future, here faces a new series of intriguing adventures in which robots demonstrate some alarmingly human characteristics. Translated by Louis Iribarne, assisted by Magdalena Majcherczyk and Michael Kandel. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
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The Chain of Chance
by Stanisław Lem
"On a trail leading from Naples to Rome to Paris, the ex-astronaut barely escapes numerous threats on his life. Having set himself up as a potential victim, he realizes that he may now be the target of a deadly conspiracy - and that the conspiracy is not the work of a criminal mind but a manifestation of the laws of nature. The population has numerically exceeded its critical mass; certain patterns have begun to emerge from the chaotic workings of society.
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Fiasco
by Stanisław Lem
The planet Quinta is pocked by ugly mounds and covered by a spiderweb-like network. It is a kingdom of phantoms and of a beauty afflicted by madness. In stark contrast, the crew of the spaceship Hermes represents a knowledge-seeking Earth. As they approach Quinta, a dark poetry takes over and leads them into a nightmare of misunderstanding. Translated by Michael Kandel. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
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Peace on Earth
by Stanislaw Lem
Are the self-programming robots on the moon ensuring "peace on Earth", or are they secretly plotting a terrestrial invasion of their own? This "futuristic version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (Boston Phoenix) presents a hilarious take on the conflict between the world's two hemispheres from "one of science fiction's true intellectuals" (Kirkus).