Cosmic novels of Stanislav Lem

Lem – a dreamer, a man with an ideal that has changed over time. Когда читаешь его произведения последовательно, то видишь развитие его идей, как сначала он, к примеру, очарован идеями коммунизма, в нем сильна вера в человечество и прогресс, а потом медленно, но верно, эта вера сходит на нет. Maestro is disappointed in humanity, communism also did not live up to his expectations, and the progress is more likely to be the destructive in itself.

Since at the very beginning I mentioned specifically cosmic themes, I must be consistent and consider the cosmic novels of Pan, that is, those in which there are flights, a meeting with an alien mind and attempts to comprehend it.

Let’s start with the first works, namely with the novels “Astronauts” and “Magellanic Cloud”.
In the “astronauts” the power of science allowed people to achieve success in conquering space, and the power of communism – universal prosperity. In such luxurious conditions, the heroes of Lem go to Venus – why? But I will not tell, suddenly someone wants to read, but then all the spoilers.
It feels here that Lem believes in humanity, its ability to create and achieve scientific heights. But he also warns: do not play, children, nuclear weapons. Like “boomcnes” – it will not seem a little.

In the “Magellanic Cloud”, people sent to distant Dali with https://bass-win-casino.uk/ a large and responsible mission also cope with all kinds of difficulties. The characters there are strong, communist, capable of building a strong society. Faith in humanity is still strong and seemingly unshakable.

“Eden” and “Return from the Stars” can be considered as novels-thoughts on the given topic “But what if if?”. But what if the alien form is hostile;But what if people will ever fly to the stars, whether this is a new “lost generation”, and so on. In addition, here you can see allusions for certain public construction, the future of the consumer society and new options for anti -utopia. A little longing is already noticeable here, it can be associated with the plot necessity, or you can think that Lem himself began to take his humanistic positions. By the way, in “Return from the Stars” a kind of prototype Skype is described. Science fiction writers of the 50-70s definitely knew something about the future.

About “Solaris” have already been talked. This is a novel that shows a new incomprehensible form of an alien mind. You can add a little from yourself: the most terrible enemy of man – he himself. He, his fears, unrealized dreams. This is what lies on the surface of the mysterious sea of ​​Solaris.

“Invincible”. Honestly, it was this novel that caused me joy: finally, well, finally, aliens are not anthropomorphic! Moreover, the technical evolution is shown here: from large and clumsy robots, nimble and dangerous “flies” turned out. These flies, of course, threatened the life of the heroes of the novel. This is a kind of answer to the question “What if aliens are hostile?”. Lem seems to say “yes, of course, they are hostile, just don’t fingers in the outlet Try to understand everything. We have our own understanding of life, they can have something completely different, it is impossible to realize it ”.

“The voice of God” is one of the most beloved novels. It has so much bitterness and disappointment in humanity that at least a wolf of howls. They accepted the signal from the cosmos, tried to decipher it, deciphered it, and from this “cipher” it was possible to create a terrible weapon, which the creators dubbed “frog caviar” and “lord of flies” – one might say, a diabolical creature. Whether it was a direct threat from an alien mind? Or this human mind is so spoiled by militarism and the struggle for land that it is able to see the negative in everything, to make a deadly weapon out of this? Who knows. So it is art-so that everyone sees something of their own.

I love Lema. I love his descriptions of alien landscapes, thoughts about the possibility of life on other planets. Its novels are interesting to read, not only because you are immersed in this amazing world painted with completely different colors, but also because of the philosophical component-Lem always tells his idea, warns in something, even teaches something. Whether people have learned any of his novels? I would like to believe.