Stanisław Lem

{{Short description|Polish science fiction author and futurologist (1921–2006)}} {{Good article}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox writer  | name = Stanisław Lem | birth_name = Stanisław Herman Lem<ref name="Zaglada">{{cite book|first=Agnieszka |last=Gajewska|title=Zagłada i gwiazdy. Przeszłość w prozie Stanisława Lema|year=2016|publisher=Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań|isbn=978-83-232-3047-2}}</ref> | image = Stanislaw Lem 2 manually dusted.jpg | caption = Lem in 1966 | birth_date = 12 September 1921 | birth_place = Lwów, Second Polish Republic | death_date = {{Death date and age|2006|3|27|1921|9|12|df=yes}} | death_place = Kraków, Poland | alma_mater = | occupation = Writer | period = 1946–2005 | genre = Hard science fiction, philosophy, satire, futurology | language = Polish | signature = Stanisław Lem signature.svg | website = {{URL|http://lem.pl/}} | spouse = {{marriage|Barbara Leśniak|1953}} | children = 1 | module = {{Infobox philosopher|embed=yes | school_tradition = {{plainlist| * Agnosticism * Humanism * Misanthropism * Postpositivism }} | notable_works = Full list | main_interests = {{flatlist| * Anthropology * Epistemology * Futurology * Technology }} }} }}

'''Stanisław Herman Lem''' ({{IPA|pl|staˈɲiswaf ˈlɛm|lang|pl-Stanisław Lem.ogg}}; 12 September 1921 – 27 March 2006) was a Polish writer. He was the author of many novels, short stories, and essays on various subjects, including philosophy, futurology, and literary criticism. Many of his science fiction stories are of satirical and humorous character. Lem's books have been translated into more than 50 languages and have sold more than 45 million copies.<ref name="41/27"/><ref name="zeit2005"/><ref name="thefirstnews.com">{{cite news |url=https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/sci-fi-king-stanislaw-lem-is-still-considered-master-of-his-genre-7599 |title=Sci-fi king Stanisław Lem is still considered master of his genre |access-date=14 September 2019 |archive-date=28 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728160339/https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/sci-fi-king-stanislaw-lem-is-still-considered-master-of-his-genre-7599 |url-status=live }}</ref> Worldwide, he is best known as the author of the 1961 novel ''Solaris''. In 1976, Theodore Sturgeon wrote that Lem was the most widely read science fiction writer in the world.<ref name="Strugatsky"/>

Lem was the author of the fundamental philosophical work ''Summa Technologiae'', in which he anticipated the creation of virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and also developed the ideas of human autoevolution, the creation of artificial worlds, and many others. Lem's science fiction works explore philosophical themes through speculations on technology, the nature of intelligence, the impossibility of communication with and understanding of alien intelligence, despair about human limitations, and humanity's place in the universe. His essays and philosophical books cover these and many other topics. Translating his works is difficult due to Lem's elaborate neologisms and idiomatic wordplay.

The Sejm (the lower house of the Polish Parliament) declared 2021 Stanisław Lem Year.<ref name=sly>{{cite web|url=https://www.sejm.gov.pl/Sejm9.nsf/komunikat.xsp?documentId=71D186DF43A23C4DC125862D0079916F|title=Sejm wybrał patronów roku 2021|website=www.sejm.gov.pl|access-date=28 November 2020|archive-date=28 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128123245/https://www.sejm.gov.pl/Sejm9.nsf/komunikat.xsp?documentId=71D186DF43A23C4DC125862D0079916F|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Life== ===Early life=== [[File:4 Lepkoho Street, Lviv (02).jpg|thumb|House No. 4 on Bohdan Lepky Street in Lviv, where, according to his autobiography ''Highcastle'', Lem spent his childhood]] Lem was born in 1921 in Lwów, interwar Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine). According to his own account, he was actually born on 13 September, but the date was changed to the 12th on his birth certificate because of superstition.<ref name="Orliński37">{{cite book|first=Wojciech |last=Orliński|title=Lem. Życie nie z tej ziemi|year=2017|publisher=Wydawnictwo Czarne/Agora SA|isbn=978-83-8049-552-4|page=37}}</ref> He was the son of Sabina née Woller (1892–1979) and Samuel Lem{{refn|group=note|Samuel Lem changed his last name from Lehm (meaning "loam", "clay" in German/Yiddish) to Lem in 1904.<ref>Agnieszka Gajewska, ''Zagłada i gwiazdy Przeszłość w prozie Stanisława Lema.'' Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM, Poznań, 2016, {{ISBN|978-83-232-3047-2}}</ref>}} (1879–1954), a wealthy laryngologist and former physician in the Austro-Hungarian Army,<ref name="Jarzȩbski1986"/><ref name=TF/> and first cousin to Polish poet Marian Hemar (Lem's father's sister's son).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lem.pl/polish/faq/faq.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070625093849/http://www.lem.pl/polish/faq/faq.htm|url-status=dead|title=Lem's FAQ|archive-date=25 June 2007}}</ref> In later years Lem sometimes claimed to have been raised Roman Catholic, but he went to Jewish religious lessons during his school years.<ref name="Zaglada"/> He later became an atheist "for moral reasons ... the world appears to me to be put together in such a painful way that I prefer to believe that it was not created ... intentionally".<ref name="rc"/><ref name="MisI"/> In later years he would call himself both an agnostic<ref name="SP-19960115"/> and an atheist.<ref>В. Шуткевич, [http://www.fandom.ru/inter/lem_6.htm СТАНИСЛАВ ЛЕМ: ГЛУПОСТЬ КАК ДВИЖУЩАЯ СИЛА ИСТОРИИ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316060927/http://www.fandom.ru/inter/lem_6.htm |date=16 March 2016 }} ("Stanislaw Lem: Stupidity as a Driving Force of History", an interview), ''Комсомольская правда'', 26 February 1991, p. 3.</ref>

After the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland's former eastern territory (now part of Ukraine and Belarus), he was not allowed to study at Lwów Polytechnic as he wished because of his "bourgeois origin"; it was due to his father's connections that he was accepted to study medicine at Lwów University in 1940.<ref name="self"/> During the subsequent Nazi occupation (1941–1944), Lem's Jewish family avoided placement in the Nazi Lwów Ghetto, surviving with false papers.<ref name=TF/> He would later recall:<ref name=TF/><ref name=NY/> {{bquote|During that period, I learned in a very personal, practical way that I was no "Aryan". I knew that my ancestors were Jews, but I knew nothing of the Mosaic faith and, regrettably, nothing at all of Jewish culture. So it was, strictly speaking, only the Nazi legislation that brought home to me the realization that I had Jewish blood in my veins.}}

During that time, Lem earned a living as a car mechanic and welder,<ref name=TF/> and occasionally stole munitions from storehouses (to which he had access as an employee of a German company) to pass them on to the Polish resistance.<ref>Stanisław Lem, [http://german.lem.pl/home/biographie/mein-leben ''Mein Leben''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022095520/http://german.lem.pl/home/biographie/mein-leben |date=22 October 2016 }} ("My Life"), Berlin, 1983.</ref>

In 1945, Lwów was annexed into the Soviet Ukraine, and the family, along with many other Polish citizens, was resettled to Kraków, where Lem, at his father's insistence, took up medical studies at the Jagiellonian University.<ref name=TF/> He did not take his final examinations on purpose, to avoid the career of military doctor, which he suspected could have become lifelong.<ref>E. Tuzow-Lubański, "Spotkanie ze Stanisławem Lemem", ''Przegląd Polski'', 9 May 1996, pp. 1, 15. ([http://www.lwow.home.pl/semper/lem.html fragment] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191127061535/http://www.lwow.home.pl/semper/lem.html |date=27 November 2019 }}) ''Quote:'' "W 1948 r. zrobiłem absolutorium z medycyny. I wtedy okazało się, że jak się kończy medycynę i dostaje dyplom, to trzeba iść do wojska jako lekarz – i nie na rok czy dwa, ale na zawsze"</ref><ref name=self/><ref group="note">Lech Keller suggests a slightly different reason why Lem did not pursue the diploma: since his father was a functionary of Sanitary Department of the infamous UB (Ministry of Public Security), he would have probably been assigned to the hospital subordinated to UB, probably to the same department his father served. Keller further remarks that it was well-known that UB doctors were used to "restore the conditions" of the interrogated dissidents. See Lech Keller, [https://www.academia.edu/41989171/ACTA_LEMIANA_MONASHIENSIS_SPECIAL_STANISLAS_LEM_EDITION_OF_ACTA_POLONICA_MONASHIENSIS_PRZYCZYNEK_DO_BIOGRAFII_STANIS%C5%81AWA_LEMA_CONTRIBUTION_TO_BIOGRAPHY_OF_STANISLAS_LEM_VOLUME_3_NUMBER_2?auto=download "Przyczynek do biografii Stanisława Lema"] (retrieved 16 February 2020), ''Acta Polonica Monashiensis ''(Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) Volume 3 Number 2, R&S Press, Melbourne, Victoria, 2019, pp. 94, 107</ref> After receiving ''absolutorium'' (Latin term for the evidence of completion of the studies without diploma), he did an obligatory monthly work at a hospital, at a maternity ward, where he assisted at a number of childbirths and a caesarean section. Lem said that the sight of blood was one of the reasons he decided to drop medicine.<ref>"Jestem Casanovą nauki" In: Marek Oramus, ''Bogowie Lema'', Kurpisz Publishing House, 2006, p. 42. {{ISBN|978-83-89738-92-9}}.</ref>

===Rise to fame=== [[File:Stanisław Lem.jpg|thumb|Stanisław Lem and toy cosmonaut, 1966]] Lem started his literary work in 1946 with a number of publications in different genres, including poetry, as well as his first science fiction novel, ''The Man from Mars'', serialized in ''{{Interlanguage link multi|Nowy Świat Przygód|pl}}'' (''New World of Adventures'').<ref name=TF/> Between 1948 and 1950 Lem was working as a scientific research assistant at the Jagiellonian University, and published a number of short stories, poems, reviews, etc., particularly in the magazine ''Tygodnik Powszechny''.<ref name=PWN/> In 1951, he published his first book, ''The Astronauts''.<ref name=TF/><ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/one-hundred-years-ago-today-stanislaw-lem-was-born-he-would-go-on-to-become-one-of-the-worlds-greatest-sci-fi-writers-24688 | title = One hundred years ago today, Stanisław Lem was born. He would go on to become one of the world's greatest sci-fi writers | access-date = 14 September 2021 | archive-date = 13 September 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210913163600/https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/one-hundred-years-ago-today-stanislaw-lem-was-born-he-would-go-on-to-become-one-of-the-worlds-greatest-sci-fi-writers-24688 | url-status = live }}</ref> In 1954, he published a short story collection, ''{{Interlanguage link multi|Sezam i inne opowiadania|pl}}'' [''Sesame and Other Stories''] .<ref name=TF/> The following year, 1955, saw the publication of another science fiction novel, ''The Magellanic Cloud''.<ref name=TF/>

During the era of Stalinism in Poland, which had begun in the late 1940s, all published works had to be directly approved by the state.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stanisław Lem – biografia, wiersze, utwory |url=https://poezja.org/wz/Lem_Stanis%C5%82aw/ |access-date=2022-06-02 |website=poezja.org}}</ref> Thus ''The Astronauts'' was not, in fact, the first novel Lem finished, just the first that made it past the state censors.<ref name=TF/> Going by the date of the finished manuscript, Lem's first book was a partly autobiographical novel ''Hospital of the Transfiguration'', finished in 1948.<ref name=TF/> It would be published seven years later, in 1955, as a part of the trilogy ''Czas nieutracony'' (''Time Not Lost'').<ref name=TF/> The experience of trying to push ''Czas nieutracony'' through the censors was one of the major reasons Lem decided to focus on the less-censored genre of science fiction.<ref name=PWN/> Nonetheless, most of Lem's works published in the 1950s also contain various elements of socialist realism as well as of the "glorious future of communism" forced upon him by the censors and editors.<ref name=PWN/><ref name=sfenc/> Lem later criticized several of his early pieces as compromised by the ideological pressure.<ref name=TF/>

Lem became truly productive after 1956, when the de-Stalinization period in the Soviet Union led to the "Polish October", when Poland experienced an increase in freedom of speech.<ref name=TF/><ref name=PWN/><ref name=sfenc/> Between 1956 and 1968, Lem authored seventeen books.

In 1957, he published his first non-fiction, philosophical book, ''Dialogs'', as well as a science fiction anthology, ''The Star Diaries'',<ref name=TF/> collecting short stories about one of his most popular characters, Ijon Tichy.<ref name="Lem2000">{{cite book|first=Stanisław |last=Lem|title=Memoirs of a Space Traveler: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1DNVzphAHD0C|year=2000|publisher=Northwestern University Press|isbn=978-0-8101-1732-7|quote=[Tichy] endures as one of Lem's most popular characters|page=Back cover blurb|access-date=6 October 2016|archive-date=28 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128110321/https://books.google.com/books?id=1DNVzphAHD0C|url-status=live}}</ref> 1959 saw the publication of three books: the novels ''Eden'' and ''The Investigation'', and the short story anthology ''An Invasion from Aldebaran'' (''Inwazja z Aldebarana'').<ref name=TF/> 1961 saw the novels ''Memoirs Found in a Bathtub'', ''Solaris'', and ''Return from the Stars'', with ''Solaris'' being among his top works.<ref name=TF/> This was followed by a collection of his essays and non-fiction prose, ''Wejście na orbitę'' (1962), and a short story anthology ''Noc księżycowa'' (1963).<ref name=TF/> In 1964, Lem published a large work on the border of philosophy and sociology of science and futurology, ''Summa Technologiae'', as well as a novel, ''The Invincible''.<ref name=TF/><ref name=sfenc/>

[[File:Stanislaw Lem by Kubik.JPG|thumb|Lem signing in Kraków, 30 October 2005]]

1965 saw the publication of ''The Cyberiad'' and of a short story collection, ''The Hunt'' ({{Interlanguage link multi|Polowanie|pl|3=Polowanie (zbiór opowiadań)}}).<ref name=TF/> 1966 was the year of ''Highcastle'', followed in 1968 by ''His Master's Voice'' and ''Tales of Pirx the Pilot''.<ref name=TF/><ref name=sfenc/> ''Highcastle'' was another of Lem's autobiographical works, and touched upon a theme that usually was not favored by the censors: Lem's youth in the pre-war, then-Polish, Lviv.<ref name=TF/> 1968 and 1970 saw two more non-fiction treatises, ''The Philosophy of Chance'' and ''Science Fiction and Futurology''.<ref name=TF/> Ijon Tichy returned in 1971's ''The Futurological Congress''; in the same year Lem released a genre-mixing experiment, ''A Perfect Vacuum'', a collection of reviews of non-existent books.<ref name=TF/> In 1973 a similar work, ''Imaginary Magnitude'', was published.<ref name=TF/> In 1976, Lem published two works: "The Mask" and ''The Chain of Chance''.<ref name=TF/> In 1980, he published another set of reviews of non-existent works, ''Provocation''.<ref name=TF/> The following year saw another Tichy novel, ''Observation on the Spot'',<ref name=TF/> and ''Golem XIV''. Later in that decade, Lem published ''Peace on Earth'' (1984) and ''Fiasco'' (1986), his last science fiction novel.<ref name=TF/>

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Lem cautiously supported the Polish dissident movement, and started publishing essays in the Paris-based magazine ''Kultura''.<ref name=TF/> In 1982, with martial law in Poland declared, Lem moved to West Berlin, where he became a fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin (''Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin'').<ref name=TF/> After that, he settled in Vienna. He returned to Poland in 1988.<ref name=TF/>

===Final years=== From the late 1980s onwards, Lem tended to concentrate on philosophical texts and essays, published in Polish magazines including ''Tygodnik Powszechny'', ''Odra'', and ''Przegląd''.<ref name=TF/><ref name=PWN/> These were later collected in a number of anthologies.<ref name=TF/>

In the early 1980s literary critic and historian Stanisław Bereś conducted a lengthy interview with Lem, which was published in book format in 1987 as ''Rozmowy ze Stanisławem Lemem'' (''Conversations with Stanisław Lem)''. That edition was subject to censorship. A revised, complete edition was published in 2002 as ''Tako rzecze… Lem'' (''Thus spoke... Lem'').<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wyborcza.pl/1,75517,909390.html?disableRedirects=true|title=Tako rzecze...Lem, Bereś, Stanisław|last=Orliński|first=Wojciech|date=1 July 2002|website=Gazeta Wyborcza|language=pl|access-date=29 March 2019|archive-date=29 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329134918/http://wyborcza.pl/1,75517,909390.html?disableRedirects=true|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the early 1990s, Lem met with the literary critic and scholar Peter Swirski for a series of extensive interviews, published together with other critical materials and translations as ''A Stanislaw Lem Reader'' (1997). In these interviews Lem speaks about a range of issues he rarely discussed previously. The book also includes Swirski's translation of Lem's retrospective essay "Thirty Years Later", devoted to Lem's nonfictional treatise ''Summa Technologiae''. During later interviews in 2005, Lem expressed his disappointment with the genre of science fiction, and his general pessimism regarding technical progress. He viewed the human body as unsuitable for space travel, held that information technology drowns people in a glut of low-quality information, and considered truly intelligent robots as both undesirable and impossible to construct.<ref name="zeit"/>

==Writings== {{main|List of works by Stanisław Lem and their adaptations|List of works about Stanisław Lem}} ===Science fiction=== Lem's prose shows a mastery of numerous genres and themes.<ref name=TF/>

====Recurring themes==== One of Lem's major recurring themes, beginning from his very first novel, ''The Man from Mars'', was the impossibility of communication between profoundly alien beings, which may have no common ground with human intelligence, and humans.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Stanislaw-Lem|title=Stanisław Lem | Polish author|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=17 July 2020|archive-date=12 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200912054539/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Stanislaw-Lem|url-status=live}}</ref> The best known example is the living planetary ocean in ''Solaris''. Other examples include the intelligent swarms of mechanical insect-like micromachines in ''The Invincible'', and strangely ordered societies of more human-like beings in ''Fiasco'' and ''Eden'', describing the failure of first contact.

Another key recurring theme is the shortcomings of humans. In ''His Master's Voice'', Lem describes the failure of humanity's intelligence to decipher and truly comprehend an apparent message from space.<ref name="google1"/><ref name="google2"/><ref>"you cannot conceive of your neighbors from the stars in any connection other than a civilizational one," p91, Golem XIV, Imaginary Magnitude</ref><ref>"the obstinacy of your antropocentrism," p55, Golem XIV, Imaginary Magnitude</ref> Two overlapping arcs of short stories, ''Fables for Robots'' and ''The Cyberiad'' provide a commentary on humanity in the form of a series of grotesque, humorous, fairytale-like short stories about a mechanical universe inhabited by robots (who have occasional contact with biological "slimies" and human "palefaces").<ref name=TF/><ref name="solaris"/> Lem also underlines the uncertainties of evolution, including that it might not progress upwards in intelligence.<ref>"uncertain zigzags of the evolutionary game", p. 85, Golem XIV, Imaginary Magnitude</ref>

===Other writings=== ''The Investigation'' and ''The Chain of Chance'' are crime novels (the latter without a murderer); ''Pamiętnik...'' is a psychological drama inspired by Kafka.<ref name=TF/> ''A Perfect Vacuum'' and ''Imaginary Magnitude'' are collections of reviews of and introductions to non-existent books.<ref name=TF/> Similarly, ''Provocations'' purports to review a non-existent Holocaust-themed work.<ref name=TF/>

===Essays=== ''Dialogs'' and ''Summa Technologiae'' (1964) are Lem's two most famous philosophical texts. The ''Summa'' is notable for being a unique analysis of prospective social, cybernetic, and biological advances;<ref name=TF/> in this work, Lem discusses philosophical implications of technologies that were completely in the realm of science fiction at the time, but are gaining importance today—for instance, virtual reality and nanotechnology.

===Views in later life=== Throughout the entirety of his life, Stanisław Lem remained deeply attached to his original hometown of Lwów (then in Poland, now Lviv in Ukraine) and missed it greatly. Although he never called for Poland to retake the city, he expressed sorrow and felt a sense of injustice at Poland losing the city to the USSR after the Second World War.<ref name="rdto">{{cite book|last=Lem|first=Stanisław|date=2006|title=Rasa drapieżców. Teksty ostatnie|location=Kraków|publisher=Wydawnictwo Literackie|isbn=9788308038901}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Wilgusiewicz|first=Antoni|date=2021|title=Obraz Lwowa we wspomnieniach Stanisława Lema|url=https://cyfrowa.biblioteka.krakow.pl/Content/6768/nr3i4_2021.pdf|journal=Cracovia Leopolis|volume=104-105|issue=3–4|pages=1–7|issn=1234-8600|access-date=2024-09-19}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Nespiak|first=Danuta|date=2021|title=Lwów w optyce Stanisława Lema|url=https://cyfrowa.biblioteka.krakow.pl/Content/6768/nr3i4_2021.pdf|journal=Cracovia Leopolis|volume=104-105|issue=3–4|pages=8–10|issn=1234-8600|access-date=2024-09-19}}</ref> His criticism of most science fiction surfaced in literary and philosophical essays ''Science Fiction and Futurology'' and interviews.<ref name="interview.htm"/> In the 1990s, Lem forswore science fiction<ref>{{cite web|url=https://english.lem.pl/home/reading/interviews/folha-de-spaulo|title="Folha de S.Paulo"|website=Stanislaw Lem The Official Site|access-date=17 July 2020|archive-date=24 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924085203/https://english.lem.pl/home/reading/interviews/folha-de-spaulo|url-status=live}}</ref> and returned to futurological prognostications, most notably those expressed in ''{{Interlanguage link multi|Okamgnienie|pl}}'' [''Blink of an Eye'']. He had a deep appreciation for the works of Polish writer Czesław Miłosz and respected Józef Piłsudski as a national leader.<ref name="rdto" />

Lem said that since the success of the trade union Solidarity, and the collapse of the Soviet empire, he felt his wild dreams about the future could no longer compare with reality.<ref>Christopher Priest, Introduction, ''The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age'', Lem</ref> He became increasingly critical of modern technology in his later life, criticising inventions such as the Internet, which he said "makes it easier to hurt our neighbors."<ref name="english3"/> He was a proponent of nuclear power, which he saw as a potential means for Poland to secure its sovereignty via reducing dependency on fossil fuels from Russia.<ref name="rdto" /> In his 2004-2006 columns for ''Tygodnik Powszechny'', Lem was highly critical of Vladimir Putin, George W. Bush, Andrzej Lepper, Samoobrona, the League of Polish Families, and the All-Polish Youth.<ref name="rdto" />

==Relationship with American science fiction== ===SFWA=== Lem was awarded an honorary membership in the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) in 1973. SFWA honorary membership is given to people who do not meet the publishing criteria for joining the regular membership, but who would be welcomed as members had their work appeared in the qualifying English-language publications. Lem never had a high opinion of American science fiction, describing it as ill-thought-out, poorly written, and interested more in making money than in ideas or new literary forms.<ref name="faq.htm sfwa"/> After his eventual American publication, when he became eligible for regular membership, his honorary membership was rescinded. This formal action was interpreted by some SFWA members as a rebuke for his stance,<ref name="depauw"/> and it seems that Lem interpreted it as such. Lem was invited to stay on with the organization with a regular membership, but he declined.<ref name="SFWA"/> After many members (including Ursula K. Le Guin, who quit her membership and then refused the Nebula Award for Best Novelette for ''The Diary of the Rose'')<ref>{{cite web |last=Le Guin |first=Ursula |title=The Literary Prize for the Refusal of Literary Prizes |url=https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/12/06/literary-prize-refusal-literary-prizes/ |work=The Paris Review |access-date=25 December 2018 |date=6 December 2017 |archive-date=21 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200121094400/https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/12/06/literary-prize-refusal-literary-prizes/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Dugdale 2018">{{cite news |last1=Dugdale |first1=John |title=How to turn down a prestigious literary prize – a winner's guide to etiquette |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/21/how-turn-down-prestigious-literary-prize-winners-guide-etiquette |access-date=25 December 2018 |work=The Guardian |date=21 May 2016 |archive-date=25 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225175448/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/21/how-turn-down-prestigious-literary-prize-winners-guide-etiquette |url-status=live }}</ref> protested against Lem's treatment by the SFWA, a member offered to pay his dues. Lem never accepted the offer.<ref name="faq.htm sfwa"/><ref name=SFWA />

===Philip K. Dick=== Lem singled out only one<ref name="visionary"/> American science fiction writer for praise, Philip K. Dick, in a 1984 English-language anthology of his critical essays, ''Microworlds: Writings on Science Fiction and Fantasy''. Lem had initially held a low opinion of Philip K. Dick (as he did for the bulk of American science fiction) and would later say that this was due to a limited familiarity with Dick's work, since Western literature was hard to come by in the Polish People's Republic.

Dick alleged that Stanisław Lem was probably a false name used by a composite committee operating on orders of the Communist party to gain control over public opinion, and wrote a letter to the FBI to that effect.<ref name=mdavies>[http://culture.pl/en/article/philip-k-dick-stanislaw-lem-is-a-communist-committee "Philip K. Dick: Stanisław Lem is a Communist Committee"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921182200/http://culture.pl/en/article/philip-k-dick-stanislaw-lem-is-a-communist-committee |date=21 September 2017 }}, Matt Davies, 29 April 2015</ref> There were several attempts to explain Dick's act. Lem was responsible for the Polish translation of Dick's work ''Ubik'' in 1972, and when Dick felt monetarily short-changed by the publisher, he held Lem personally responsible (see ''Microworlds'').<ref name="english"/><ref name=mdavies/> Also it was suggested that Dick was under the influence of strong medications, including opioids, and may have experienced a "slight disconnect from reality" some time before writing the letter.<ref name=mdavies/> A "defensive patriotism" of Dick against Lem's attacks on American science fiction may have played some role as well.<ref name=mdavies/> Lem would later mention Dick in his monograph ''Science Fiction and Futurology''.

==Significance== ===Writing=== thumb|First Polish editions of books by Lem|400px Lem is one of the most highly acclaimed science fiction writers, hailed by critics as equal to such classic authors as H. G. Wells and Olaf Stapledon.<ref name="Times"/> In 1976, Theodore Sturgeon wrote that Lem was the most widely read science fiction writer in the world.<ref name="Strugatsky"/> In Poland, in the 1960s and 1970s, Lem remained under the radar of mainstream critics, who dismissed him as a "mass market", low-brow, youth-oriented writer; such dismissal might have given him a form of invisibility from censorship.<ref name=TF/>

In 1999, Franz Rottensteiner, Lem's former agent abroad, had this to say about Lem's reception on international markets:<ref name=Rottensteiner/> {{bquote|With [number of translations and copies sold], Lem is the most successful author in modern Polish fiction; nevertheless his commercial success in the world is limited, and the bulk of his large editions was due to the special publishing conditions in the Communist countries: Poland, the Soviet Union, and the German Democratic Republic. Only in West Germany was Lem really a critical and a commercial success [... and everywhere ...] in recent years interest in him has waned.

Lem is the only writer of European [science fiction, most of whose] books have been translated into English, and [...] kept in print in the USA. Lem's critical success in English is due mostly to the excellent translations of Michael Kandel.}}

Lem's works were widely translated abroad, appearing in more than 40 languages<ref name=TF/> and have sold more than 45 million copies.<ref name="41/27"/><ref name="zeit2005"/><ref name="thefirstnews.com"/> {{As of|2020}}, about 1.5 million copies were sold in Poland after his death, with the annual numbers of 100,000 matching the new bestsellers.<ref name=wtm-beres>[https://wroclaw.twoje-miasto.pl/art-ciekawostki-i-historia/2021-to-bedzie-dobry-rok-i171587 "2021. to będzie dobry rok ?!? O Stanisławie Lemie, patronie tego roku, opowiada prof. Stanisław Bereś z Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122002916/https://wroclaw.twoje-miasto.pl/art-ciekawostki-i-historia/2021-to-bedzie-dobry-rok-i171587 |date=22 January 2021 }}, January 21, 2021</ref>

===Influence=== Will Wright's popular city-planning game ''SimCity'' was partly inspired by Lem's short story "The Seventh Sally" in ''The Cyberiad''.<ref name="NY Times Archive"/>

The video game ''Stellaris'' is highly inspired by his works, as its creators said at the start of 2021,<ref>{{cite web |title=Stellaris Devs Pay Tribute to Lem in New Update |url=https://www.gamepressure.com/newsroom/stellaris-devs-pay-tribute-to-lem-in-new-update/z8396f |website=GamePressure |date=16 September 2021 |access-date=13 May 2022}}</ref> designated the "Year of Lem".

A major character in the film ''Planet 51'', an alien Lem, was named by screenwriter Joe Stillman after Stanisław Lem. Since the film was intended to be a parody of American pulp science fiction shot in Eastern Europe, Stillman thought that it would be hilarious to hint at the writer whose works have nothing to do with little green men.<ref>[http://wyborcza.pl/duzyformat/1,127290,7504865,Lem_wsrod_zielonych_ludzikow.html Lem wśród zielonych ludzików] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107063327/http://wyborcza.pl/duzyformat/1,127290,7504865,Lem_wsrod_zielonych_ludzikow.html |date=7 November 2018 }}</ref>

==Adaptations of Lem's works== ''Solaris'' was made into a film in 1968 by Russian director Boris Nirenburg, a film in 1972 by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky—which won a Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1972—and an American film in 2002 by Steven Soderbergh. Film critics have noted the influence of Tarkovsky's adaptation on later science fiction films such as ''Event Horizon'' (1997)<ref>[https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/event-horizon-1997 "Event Horizon"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125191741/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/event-horizon-1997 |date=25 November 2020 }}, film review by Roger Ebert</ref><ref>[https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/event-horizon/Film?oid=16580962 "Event Horizon"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926093507/https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/event-horizon/Film?oid=16580962 |date=26 September 2020 }}, film review by Jonathan Rosenbaum</ref> and Christopher Nolan's ''Inception'' (2010).<ref>[https://screencomment.com/2010/07/the-other-view-bowen-sounds-off-on-inception/ "Inception – THE OTHER VIEW"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201210211304/https://screencomment.com/2010/07/the-other-view-bowen-sounds-off-on-inception/ |date=10 December 2020 }}, by Kevin Bowen, ''Screen Comment'', January 16, 2020</ref><ref>Thorsten Bothz-Bornstein "The Movie as a Thinking Machine", In:''Inception and Philosophy: Ideas to Die for'', 2011, {{ISBN|0812697332}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=q62dW7vEjE0C&pg=PA205 p.205] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202212912/https://books.google.com/books?id=q62dW7vEjE0C&pg=PA205 |date=2 February 2021 }}</ref>

A number of other dramatic and musical adaptations of his work exist, such as adaptations of ''The Astronauts'' (''First Spaceship on Venus'', 1960) and ''The Magellanic Cloud'' (''Ikarie XB-1'', 1963).<ref name="Swirski2008">{{cite book|first=Peter |last=Swirski|title=The Art and Science of Stanislaw Lem|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n8bPGfcFI40C&pg=PA154|year=2008|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP|isbn=978-0-7735-7507-3|pages=153–170|access-date=6 October 2016|archive-date=28 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128120633/https://books.google.com/books?id=n8bPGfcFI40C&pg=PA154|url-status=live}}</ref> Lem himself was, however, critical of most of the screen adaptations, with the sole exception of ''Przekładaniec'' in 1968 by Andrzej Wajda.<ref name=TF/> In 2013, the Israeli–Polish co-production ''The Congress'' was released, inspired by Lem's novel ''The Futurological Congress''.<ref name="filmneweurope"/>

György Pálfi directed a film adaptation of ''His Master's Voice'' with the same title, which was released in 2018.

In 2023, 11 Bit Studios published ''The Invincible'', an adventure video game developed by Starward Industries. The game is an adaptation of Stanisław Lem's 1964 novel.

==Honors== {{main|List of honors bestowed on Stanisław Lem}}

===Awards=== * 1957 – City of Kraków's Prize in Literature (''Nagroda Literacka miasta Krakowa'') * 1965 – Prize of the Minister of Culture and Art, 2nd Level (''Nagroda Ministra Kultury i Sztuki II stopnia'') * 1973 ** Prize of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for popularization of Polish culture abroad (''nagroda Ministra Spraw Zagranicznych za popularyzację polskiej kultury za granicą'') ** Literary Prize of the Minister of Culture and Art (''nagroda literacka Ministra Kultury i Sztuki'') and honorary member of Science Fiction Writers of America * 1976 – State Prize 1st Level in the area of literature (''Nagroda Państwowa I stopnia w dziedzinie literatury'') * 1979 – Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for his novel ''Katar''. * 1986 – Austrian State Prize for European Literature for year 1985<ref>"Stanisław Lem: Jestem jak Robinson Crusoe", a Polish translation of the interview with Lem by Franz Rottensteiner, ''Fantastyka'', 9/48, 1986 (originally in ''Wochenpresse'', no. 14, April 1986),</ref> * 1991 – Austrian literary {{ill|Franz Kafka Prize (Austria)|lt=Franz Kafka Prize|de|Franz-Kafka-Preis}} * 1996 – recipient of the Order of the White Eagle<ref name=PWN/> * 2005 – Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis (on the list of the first recipients of the newly introduced medal)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://wiadomosci.wp.pl/medal-gloria-artis-dla-tworcow-i-dzialaczy-kultury-6037194289398401a|title=Medal Gloria Artis dla twórców i działaczy kultury|first=Wirtualna Polska Media|last=S.A|date=5 October 2005|website=wiadomosci.wp.pl|access-date=19 February 2019|archive-date=29 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329234203/https://wiadomosci.wp.pl/medal-gloria-artis-dla-tworcow-i-dzialaczy-kultury-6037194289398401a|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Recognition and remembrance=== * 1972 – member of commission "Poland 2000" of the Polish Academy of Sciences * 1979 – a minor planet, 3836 Lem, discovered by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh is named after him.<ref name="Dictionary of Minor Planet Names"/> * 1981 – ''Doctor honoris causa'' honorary degree from the Wrocław University of Technology<ref name=PWN/> * 1986 – the whole issue (#40 = Volume 13, Part 3) of ''Science Fiction Studies'' was dedicated to Stanislaw Lem<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/abstracts/a40.htm|title=Article Abstracts: #40 (Stanislaw Lem)|website=www.depauw.edu|access-date=12 July 2018|archive-date=7 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170307073932/http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/abstracts/a40.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> * 1994 – member of the Polish Academy of Learning * 1997 – honorary citizen of Kraków<ref name=PWN/> * 1998 – ''Doctor honoris causa'': University of Opole, Lviv University, Jagiellonian University<ref name=PWN/> * 2003 – ''Doctor honoris causa'' of the University of Bielefeld<ref name=PWN/> * 2007 – A street in Kraków is to be named in his honour.<ref name="krakow"/> * 2009 – A street in Wieliczka was named in his honour<ref name="wrotamalopolski"/> * 2011 – An interactive Google logo inspired by ''The Cyberiad'' was created and published in his honor for the 60th anniversary of his first published book: ''The Astronauts''.<ref name="google"/><ref name="Ggoogle"/> * 2013 – two planetoids were named after Lem's literary characters: ** 343000 Ijontichy, after Ijon Tichy ** 343444 Halluzinelle, after Tichy's holographic companion {{Proper name|Analoge}} Halluzinelle from German TV series ''Ijon Tichy: Space Pilot'' ** Lem (satellite), a Polish optical astronomy satellite launched in 2013 as part of the Bright-star Target Explorer (BRITE) programme * 2015 – Pirx (crater), a90 km (55.9 miles) wide impact crater on Pluto's natural satellite Charon, discovered in 2015 by the American New Horizons probe * 2019 – the star Solaris and its planet Pirx, after the novel ''Solaris'' and ''Tales of Pirx the Pilot''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://polandin.com/45829714/scifi-becoming-real-star-and-planet-with-names-from-lems-books|title=Sci-fi becoming real: star and planet with names from Lem's books|website=Poland In|date=17 December 2019|access-date=18 December 2019|archive-date=18 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218125801/https://polandin.com/45829714/scifi-becoming-real-star-and-planet-with-names-from-lems-books|url-status=live |last1=s. a |first1=Telewizja Polska }}</ref> * In December 2020 Polish Parliament declared year of 2021 to be the Year of Stanisław Lem.<ref name=sly/> * The Museum of City Engineering, Kraków, has the Stanislaw Lem Experience Garden, an outdoor area with more than 70 interactive locations where children can carry out various physical experiments in acoustics, mechanics, hydrostatics and optics.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ogroddoswiadczen.pl/|title=Ogród Doświadczeń im. Stanisława Lema|website=www.ogroddoswiadczen.pl|access-date=16 January 2021|archive-date=25 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125093527/https://www.ogroddoswiadczen.pl/|url-status=live}}</ref> Since 2011 the Garden has been organizing out the competition "Lemoniada", inspired by the creative output of Lem.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ogroddoswiadczen.pl/lemoniada-2015|title=Ogród Doświadczeń|website=www.ogroddoswiadczen.pl|access-date=16 January 2021|archive-date=12 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812213333/https://www.ogroddoswiadczen.pl/lemoniada-2015|url-status=live}}</ref> * 2021 – Lem Prize has been established by Wrocław University of Science and Technology to commemorate the 100th birthday Stanisław Lem. It is awarded annually to one young (under 40) European researcher whose creative work in science or engineering has potential for positive impact on the future of civilization increasingly filled with technology.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lem Prize {{!}} Wroclaw Tech |url=https://lemprize.pwr.edu.pl/ |access-date=2023-11-15 |website=Lem Prize {{!}} Wroclaw University of Science and Technology |language=pl-PL}}</ref>

==Political views== Lem's early works were socialist realist, possibly to satisfy state censorship.<ref>see ''The Astronauts''</ref> In his later years, Lem was critical of this aspect of his work.<ref name=Culture.pl/> In 1982, with the onset of the martial law in Poland, Lem moved to Berlin for studies; between 1983 and 1988, he lived in Vienna.<ref>[https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/contributor/stanisaw-lem "Contributor: Stanisław Lem"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807210454/https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/contributor/stanisaw-lem |date=7 August 2020 }}, ''Wordswithoutborders.org''</ref> He never showed any wish to relocate permanently in the West. By the standards of the Eastern Bloc, Lem was financially well off for most of his life.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/apr/08/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries|title=Stanislaw Lem|newspaper=The Guardian|first=Christopher|last=Priest|date=8 April 2006|access-date=19 July 2020|archive-date=23 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523232358/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/apr/08/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries|url-status=live}}</ref> Lem was a critic of capitalism,<ref>{{cite news|title=Stanislaw Lem, Chilly Satirist|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB114443933216420329|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|first=Martin Morse|last=Wooster|date=8 April 2006|access-date=19 July 2020|archive-date=19 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719172442/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB114443933216420329|url-status=live}}</ref> totalitarianism, and of both Stalinist and Western ideologies.<ref>"Lem may have been critical of the Soviet Union, but that didn't mean he had a positive view of the West. "Say, one country permits eating little children right before the eyes of crazed mothers", he wrote to Kandel in 1977, "and another permits eating absolutely anything, whereupon it turns out that the majority of people in that country eat shit. So what does the fact that most people eat shit demonstrate [...] ?" In other words, just because life behind the Iron Curtain was bad, that didn't make the United States good. For Lem the world wasn't divided between good and evil, but between bad and even worse." Ezra Glinter, The World According to Stanislaw Lem, https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/world-according-stanislaw-lem/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200707042633/https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/world-according-stanislaw-lem/ |date=7 July 2020 }}</ref>

Lem believed there were no absolutes. He said: "I should wish, as do most men, that immutable truths existed, that not all would be eroded by the impact of historical time, that there were some essential propositions, be it only in the field of human values, the basic values, etc. In brief, I long for the absolute. But at the same time I am firmly convinced that there are no absolutes, that everything is historical, and that you cannot get away from history."<ref>"Don't Believe Everything That You Know About Lem" (interview with Lem), Nurt #8 (1972), as quoted in https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/12/jarzebski12.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715055714/https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/12/jarzebski12.htm |date=15 July 2020 }}</ref> Lem was concerned that if the human race attained prosperity and comfort, this would lead it to passiveness and degeneration.<ref name=Culture.pl/>

==Personal life== thumb|right|200px|Stanisław Lem's grave at the Salwator Cemetery, Kraków Lem was a polyglot: he knew Polish, Latin (from medical school), German, French, English, Russian and Ukrainian.<ref name=atpc>Tomasz Lem, ''Awantury na tle powszechnego ciążenia'', Kraków, Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2009, {{ISBN|978-83-08-04379-0}}, p. 198.</ref> Lem claimed that his IQ was tested at high school as 180.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=The Weekly Standard|url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/stanislaw-lem-1921-2006|title=Stanislaw Lem 1921-2006|date=10 April 2006|first=John|last=Wilson|via=Washington Examiner|access-date=19 July 2020|archive-date=19 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719160327/https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/stanislaw-lem-1921-2006|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1953, Lem met radiology student Barbara Leśniak, whom he married in a civil ceremony the same year.<ref name="Stanislaw Lem – Obituaries – News">{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/stanislaw-lem-472148.html |title=Stanislaw Lem – Obituaries |newspaper=The Independent |date=31 March 2006 |access-date=13 September 2013 |archive-date=26 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226171601/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/stanislaw-lem-472148.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Stanisław Lem, [http://german.lem.pl/home/biographie/mein-leben ''Mein Leben''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022095520/http://german.lem.pl/home/biographie/mein-leben |date=22 October 2016 }} ("My Life"), Berlin, 1983</ref> The couple's church marriage ceremony was performed in February 1954.<ref name=TF/> Barbara died on 27 April 2016.<ref>[http://nekrologi.wyborcza.pl/0,11,,357078,Barbara-Lem-nekrolog.html "Barbara Lem"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807210239/http://nekrologi.wyborcza.pl/0,11,,357078,Barbara-Lem-nekrolog.html|date=7 August 2016}}, a necrolog in ''Gazeta Literacka'' (retrieved 2 March 2017).</ref> Their only child, {{interlanguage link|Tomasz Lem|pl|lt=Tomasz}} (born 1968), who graduated with a degree in physics from Princeton University, has written ''Awantury na tle powszechnego ciążenia'' (''Tantrums on the Background of the Universal Gravitation''), a memoir which contains numerous personal details about Lem. The book jacket says Tomasz works as a translator and has a daughter, Anna.<ref>[http://www.wydawnictwoliterackie.pl/ksiazka/202/Awantury-na-tle-powszechnego-ciazenia---Tomasz-Lem "Lem jakiego nie znamy"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170303044218/http://www.wydawnictwoliterackie.pl/ksiazka/202/Awantury-na-tle-powszechnego-ciazenia---Tomasz-Lem |date=3 March 2017 }}, Publisher's annotation of the book ''Awantury na tle powszechnego ciążenia'' by Tomasz Lem.</ref>

As of 1984, Lem's writing pattern was to get up a short time before five in the morning and start writing soon after; Lem would write for five or six hours before taking a break.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Stanislaw|last=Lem|title=Chance and Order|magazine=The New Yorker|volume=59|date=30 January 1984|pages=88–98|url=http://csc.ucdavis.edu/~chaos/courses/poci/Readings/Lem_CAO_NY1984.html|access-date=19 July 2020|archive-date=19 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719203635/http://csc.ucdavis.edu/~chaos/courses/poci/Readings/Lem_CAO_NY1984.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Lem was an aggressive driver. He loved sweets (especially halva and chocolate-covered marzipan), and did not give them up even when, toward the end of his life, he fell ill with diabetes. Due to health problems, Lem stopped smoking in the mid-1980s.<ref name=Culture.pl>{{cite web|url=https://culture.pl/en/article/the-many-masks-faces-of-stanislaw-lem|title=The Many Masks & Faces of Stanisław Lem|website=Culture.pl|first=Janusz R.|last=Kowalczyk|date=5 October 2016|access-date=19 July 2020|archive-date=16 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200916171829/https://culture.pl/en/article/the-many-masks-faces-of-stanislaw-lem|url-status=live}}</ref> Coffee often featured in Lem's writing and interviews.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.celebatheists.com/wiki/Stanislaw_Lem|title=Stanislaw Lem – Celebrity Atheist List|website=www.celebatheists.com|access-date=24 August 2021|archive-date=24 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824175417/https://www.celebatheists.com/wiki/Stanislaw_Lem|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/interviews/federman29.htm|title=Raymond Federman – An Interview with Stanislaw Lem|website=www.depauw.edu|access-date=24 August 2021|archive-date=11 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811090030/https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/interviews/federman29.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://english.lem.pl/english/works/novels/fiasco/63-a-look-inside-fiasco|title=A Look Inside Fiasco|website=Stanislaw Lem The Official Site|access-date=24 August 2021|archive-date=24 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824175358/https://english.lem.pl/english/works/novels/fiasco/63-a-look-inside-fiasco|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://przekroj.pl/en/culture/the-polish-road-to-motorization-stanislaw-lem|title=The Polish Road to Motorization – Przekrój Magazine|website=przekroj.pl|date=12 March 2021 |access-date=24 August 2021|archive-date=24 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824175358/https://przekroj.pl/en/culture/the-polish-road-to-motorization-stanislaw-lem|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.monstertrucker.de/en/arbeiten/meltdown-2040/|title=Meltdown 2040 | Monster Truck|website=www.monstertrucker.de|access-date=24 August 2021|archive-date=24 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824175358/http://www.monstertrucker.de/en/arbeiten/meltdown-2040/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Stanisław Lem died from a heart failure<ref>{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Stephen |date=2007 |title=The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror |volume=18 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JG4sAQAAIAAJ&q=stanislaw%20lem%20heart%20disease |location=London |publisher=Robinson |page=509 |isbn=9781780332772 |access-date=11 September 2021 |archive-date=8 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108144043/https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/The_Mammoth_Book_of_Best_New_Horror/JG4sAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=stanislaw+lem+heart+disease |url-status=live }}</ref> in the hospital of the Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków on 27 March 2006 at the age of 84.<ref name=PWN/> He was buried at Salwator Cemetery, Sector W, Row 4, grave 17 ({{langx|pl|cmentarz Salwatorski, sektor W, rząd 4, grób 17}}).<ref>[https://dziennikpolski24.pl/krakow-groby-znanych-osob-na-cmentarzach-rakowickim-i-salwatorskim/ga/12627342/zd/26116380 Grób Stanisława Lema] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927132520/https://dziennikpolski24.pl/krakow-groby-znanych-osob-na-cmentarzach-rakowickim-i-salwatorskim/ga/12627342/zd/26116380 |date=27 September 2020 }}, ''Dziennik Polski''</ref>

In November 2021, Agnieszka Gajewska's biography of Lem, ''Holocaust and the Stars'', was translated into English by Katarzyna Gucio and published by Routledge.<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=2022-01-06|title=A Holocaust Survivor's Hardboiled Science Fiction|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/17/a-holocaust-survivors-hardboiled-science-fiction|access-date=2022-01-18|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Gajewska|first1=Agnieszka|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d-eEzgEACAAJ|title=Holocaust and the Stars: The Past in the Prose of Stanislaw Lem|last2=Gucio|first2=Katarzyna|year=2021|publisher=Taylor & Francis Limited|isbn=978-0-367-42873-0|language=en}}</ref> It discussed aspects of Lem's life, such as being forced to wear the yellow badge and being struck for not removing his hat in the presence of Germans, as required of Jews at the time.

Lem loved movies and greatly enjoyed artistic cinema (especially the movies of Luis Buñuel). He also liked King Kong, James Bond, ''Star Wars'', and ''Star Trek''<ref>https://culture.pl/en/article/the-many-masks-faces-of-stanislaw-lem {{"As a viewer, Lem preferred artistic cinema, especially the films of Luis Buñuel. The writer’s favourite pop culture pictures included several King Kong movies, the James Bond series, Star Wars, as well as the TV series Star Trek. The latter, however, he did criticise for disregarding the basic laws of physics."}}</ref> movies but he remained mostly displeased by movies which were based upon his own stories.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lithub.com/20-literary-adaptations-disavowed-by-their-original-authors/|title = 20 Literary Adaptations Disavowed by Their Original Authors|date = 27 February 2018}}</ref> The only notable exceptions are ''Voyage to the End of the Universe'' (1963) (which didn't credit Lem as writer of the original book ''The Magellanic Cloud'') and ''Przekładaniec'' (''Layer Cake'') (1968) (which was based upon his short story "Do You Exist, Mr Jones?").<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://docplayer.org/118956433-Diplomarbeit-titel-der-diplomarbeit-ikarie-xb1-und-die-entwicklung-des-science-fiction-films-verfasst-von-eliska-cikan.html|title=DIPLOMARBEIT. Titel der Diplomarbeit. Ikarie XB1 und die Entwicklung des Science-Fiction- Films. Verfasst von. Eliška Cikán|access-date=14 March 2022|archive-date=14 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314020552/https://docplayer.org/118956433-Diplomarbeit-titel-der-diplomarbeit-ikarie-xb1-und-die-entwicklung-des-science-fiction-films-verfasst-von-eliska-cikan.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Bibliography== A list of works by Stanisław Lem and their subsequent adaptations in other media: {{Main|List of works by Stanisław Lem and their adaptations}} A list of books and monographs about Stanisław Lem: {{Main|Bibliography of Stanisław Lem}}

==Explanatory notes== {{Reflist|group=note}}

==Citations== {{Reflist|refs=

<ref name="41/27">{{cite web|url=http://english.lem.pl/index.php/arround-lem/critique/articles/180-obituary-by-rob-jan|first=Rob |last=Jan|publisher=ZERO-G AUSTRALIAN RADIO and lem.pl|title=Stanislaw Lem 1921–2006. Obituary by Rob Jan|access-date=20 February 2009|archive-date=7 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807142140/http://english.lem.pl/index.php/arround-lem/critique/articles/180-obituary-by-rob-jan|url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="depauw">{{cite web|url=http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/14/lemaffair14.htm|title=The Lem Affair (Continued)|publisher=Science Fiction Studies, # 14 = Volume 5, Part 1 = March 1978|year=1978|access-date=10 May 2007|archive-date=17 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017020142/http://depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/14/lemaffair14.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="Dictionary of Minor Planet Names">{{cite book | last = Schmadel | first = Lutz D. | title = Dictionary of Minor Planet Names | page = 325 | edition = 5th | year = 2003 | publisher = Springer Verlag | location = New York | isbn = 3-540-00238-3 }}</ref>

<ref name="english">{{cite web|url=http://english.lem.pl/index.php/faq#P.K.Dick|title=Stanislaw Lem – Frequently Asked Questions. P.K. Dick, Letter to FBI, quoted on Lem's homepage|work=Stanislaw Lem|access-date=20 February 2009|archive-date=20 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090220073127/http://english.lem.pl/index.php/faq#P.K.Dick|url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="visionary">{{cite web|url=http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/5/lem5art.htm|title=Philip K. Dick: A Visionary Among the Charlatans|work=Stanislaw Lem|access-date=3 September 2010|archive-date=5 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405185053/http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/5/lem5art.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="english3">{{cite web|url=http://english.lem.pl/home/reading/interviews/shargh-daily-newspaper|title="Shargh" daily newspaper interview|work=Stanislaw Lem|access-date=15 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807142351/http://english.lem.pl/index.php/home/interviews/qsharghq-daily-newspaper?start=3 |archive-date=7 August 2011}}</ref>

<ref name="faq.htm sfwa">{{cite web|url=http://english.lem.pl/index.php/faq#SWFA|title=Stanislaw Lem – Frequently Asked Questions. SWFA, quoted on Lem's homepage|work=Stanislaw Lem|access-date=20 February 2009|archive-date=20 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090220073127/http://english.lem.pl/index.php/faq#SWFA|url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="filmneweurope">{{cite web|first= Katarzyna |last=Grynienko|title=Israeli Polish coproduction 'The Congress' to Open Director's Fortnight in Cannes|url=http://www.filmneweurope.com/news/poland/105415-israeli-polish-coproduction-the-congress-to-open-directors-fortnight-in-cannes/menu-id-158|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520162521/http://www.filmneweurope.com/news/poland/105415-israeli-polish-coproduction-the-congress-to-open-directors-fortnight-in-cannes/menu-id-158|archive-date=20 May 2013}}</ref>

<ref name="google1">{{cite book|first=David |last=Langford|title=The Sex Column and Other Misprints, a collection of essays from SFX magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n78kYbvUd_8C&pg=PA65|year=2005|publisher=Wildside Press LLC|isbn=978-1-930997-78-3|page=65|access-date=6 October 2016|archive-date=28 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128105912/https://books.google.com/books?id=n78kYbvUd_8C&pg=PA65|url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="google2">{{cite book|first=Gary |last=Westfahl|title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SQMQQyIaACYC&pg=PA296|year=2005|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-32951-7|access-date=6 October 2016|archive-date=28 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128112910/https://books.google.com/books?id=SQMQQyIaACYC&pg=PA296|url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="google">{{cite web |url=http://www.google.com/logos/lem/ |title=Stanisław Lem doodle |access-date=13 September 2013 |archive-date=22 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210322044909/http://www.google.com/logos/lem/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name="Ggoogle">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/nov/23/google-doodle-stanislaw-lem-anniversary|title=Google doodle marks 60th anniversary of Stanislaw Lem's first book|newspaper=The Guardian|date=23 November 2011|access-date=29 August 2019|archive-date=3 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190903151012/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/nov/23/google-doodle-stanislaw-lem-anniversary|url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="interview.htm">{{cite web|url=http://english.lem.pl/home/reading/interviews/folha-de-spaulo|title="Folha de S.Paulo" – interview with Lem|work=Stanislaw Lem's homepage|access-date=4 July 2016|archive-date=14 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914062923/http://english.lem.pl/home/reading/interviews/folha-de-spaulo|url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="Jarzȩbski1986">{{cite book|author-link=Jerzy Jarzȩbski|first=Jerzy |last=Jarzȩbski| title=Zufall und Ordnung: zum Werk Stanlisław Lems|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YalKAAAAYAAJ|year=1986|publisher=Suhrkamp|isbn=978-3-518-37790-1|page=1|language=de|access-date=6 October 2016|archive-date=28 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128093517/https://books.google.com/books?id=YalKAAAAYAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="krakow">{{cite web|url=http://www.cyfronet.krakow.pl/mk/bip/rada/uchwaly/show_pdf.php?id=33060|title=UCHWAŁA NR VIII/122/07 Rady Miasta Krakowa z dnia 14 marca 2007 r. w sprawie nazw ulic. Par.1, pkt.1|language=pl}} {{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

<ref name=PWN>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/Lem-Stanislaw;3931487.html|title=Lem, Stanisław|first=Jerzy |last=Jarzębski|publisher='PWN|access-date=30 October 2014|language=pl|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235722/http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/Lem-Stanislaw;3931487.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="Strugatsky">Theodore Sturgeon: {{cite web|url=http://russiansifiction.com/translated/strugazckie/picnic/ |title=Introduction |access-date=7 April 2010 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017093353/http://russiansifiction.com/translated/strugazckie/picnic/ |archive-date=17 October 2007 }} to ''Roadside Picnic'' by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc, New York 1976</ref>

<ref name="rc">{{cite web|url=http://www.adherents.com/people/pl/Stanislaw_Lem.html|title=The religion of Stanislaw Lem, science fiction writer|publisher=adherents.com|access-date=15 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623104053/http://www.adherents.com/people/pl/Stanislaw_Lem.html|archive-date=23 June 2011|url-status=usurped}}</ref>

<ref name="MisI">{{cite web|url=http://missourireview.com/printable.php?genre=Interviews&title=An%20Interview%20with%20Stanislaw%20Lem |title=An Interview with Stanislaw Lem |access-date=12 May 2017 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927051312/http://missourireview.com/printable.php?genre=Interviews&title=An%2BInterview%2Bwith%2BStanislaw%2BLem |archive-date=27 September 2007 }} by Peter Engel. ''Missouri Review'' Volume 7, Number 2, 1984.</ref>

<ref name=NY>{{cite magazine|first=Stanisław |last=Lem|title=Chance and Order|magazine=The New Yorker 59 / 30|date=January 1984|pages=88–98}}</ref>

<ref name=Rottensteiner>{{cite book|first=Franz |last=Rottensteiner|title=View from Another Shore: European Science Fiction|chapter=Note on the Authors: Stanisław Lem|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wxt9s6UmcSQC&pg=PA252|year=1999|publisher=Liverpool University Press|isbn=978-0-85323-942-0|page=252|access-date=6 October 2016|archive-date=28 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128112240/https://books.google.com/books?id=wxt9s6UmcSQC&pg=PA252|url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="self">{{cite web|url=http://english.lem.pl/index.php/home/biography/abouthimself|title=Lem about Himself|work=Stanislaw Lem homepage|access-date=20 February 2009|archive-date=7 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807142216/http://english.lem.pl/index.php/home/biography/abouthimself|url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name=sfenc>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lem_stanislaw|title=Lem, Stanislaw|publisher=SFE|date=25 October 2014|access-date=6 November 2014|archive-date=22 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022100349/http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lem_stanislaw|url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="SFWA">{{cite web |url=http://www.sfwa.org/faq/lem.htm |title=Lem and SFWA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080111142618/http://www.sfwa.org/faq/lem.htm |archive-date=11 January 2008}} in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America FAQ, "paraphrasing Jerry Pournelle" who was SFWA President 1973–74</ref>

<ref name="solaris">{{cite web|url=http://solaris.lem.pl/ksiazki/beletrystyka/cyberiada|title=Cyberiada|publisher=Lem's official website|access-date=6 November 2014|archive-date=31 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141031105656/http://solaris.lem.pl/ksiazki/beletrystyka/cyberiada|url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="SP-19960115">{{cite web |last=Noack |first=Hans-Joachim |title=Jeder Irrwitz ist denkbar Science-fiction-Autor Lem über Nutzen und Risiken der Antimaterie (engl: Each madness is conceivable Science-fiction author Lem about the benefits and risks of anti-matter) |url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-8871192.html |date=15 January 1996 |work=Der Spiegel |access-date=6 March 2014 |archive-date=18 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118210604/https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-8871192.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name="Times">{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1082652.ece |title=Stanislaw Lem |newspaper=The Times |url-access=subscription |date=28 March 2006 |access-date=5 May 2010 |archive-date=23 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100523210132/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1082652.ece |url-status=dead }}</ref>

<ref name="NY Times Archive">{{cite news | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE4D71F3AF936A25755C0A96F948260 | title=Making City Planning a Game | newspaper=The New York Times | access-date=28 May 2010 | first=Julie | last=Lew | date=15 June 1989 | archive-date=13 October 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013085818/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE4D71F3AF936A25755C0A96F948260 | url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=TF>{{cite web|url=http://solaris.lem.pl/o-lemie/artykuly/60-artykuly/232-artykul-fialkowski|title=Stanisław Lem czyli życie spełnione|first=Tomasz |last=Fiałkowski|publisher=solaris.lem.pl|language=pl|access-date=21 October 2014|archive-date=29 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429165334/http://solaris.lem.pl/o-lemie/artykuly/60-artykuly/232-artykul-fialkowski|url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="wrotamalopolski">{{cite web|url=http://www.wrotamalopolski.pl/NR/rdonlyres/0C1712E0-5BE5-4C85-A5B1-966AC6CDED7F/596705/dzu679.pdf|title=Uchwała nr XXXII/479/2009 Rady Miejskiej w Wieliczce z dnia 30 września 2009 r. w sprawie nadania nazwy ulicy|publisher=Urząd Marszałkowski Województwa Małopolskiego|language=pl}} {{Dead link|date=November 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

<ref name="zeit">[http://www.zeit.de/zeit-wissen/2005/03/g_lem_hosentraeger Auch Hosenträger sind intelligent] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002130138/http://www.zeit.de/zeit-wissen/2005/03/g_lem_hosentraeger |date=2 October 2008 }}, ''Zeit Wissen'', 1/2005; [http://www.zeit.de/zeit-wissen/2005/03/g_lem_ramschladen Im Ramschladen der Phantasie] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616200141/http://www.zeit.de/zeit-wissen/2005/03/g_lem_ramschladen |date=16 June 2008 }}, ''Zeit Wissen'', 3/2005. {{in lang|de}}</ref>

<ref name="zeit2005">{{cite news|url=http://www.zeit.de/2005/31/P-Lem/komplettansicht|title=Technik: Visionär ohne Illusionen|date=28 July 2005|work=Die Zeit|access-date=12 September 2014|archive-date=20 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020235412/http://www.zeit.de/2005/31/P-Lem/komplettansicht|url-status=live |last1=Remus |first1=Joscha }} Part essay, part interview with Lem by Die Zeit newspaper</ref>

}}

==Further reading== {{Library resources box|by=yes|viaf=56612733}} * Jameson, Fredric. "The Unknowability Thesis." In ''Archaeologies of the Future: This Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions.'' London and New York: Verso, 2005. * Suvin, Darko. "Three World Paradigms for SF: Asimov, Yefremov, Lem." ''Pacific Quarterly (Moana): An International Review of Arts and Ideas'' 4.(1979): 271–283.

==External links== {{commons}} {{wikiquote|Stanisław Lem}} * {{Official website|http://english.lem.pl}}, maintained by Lem's son and secretary ** [https://forum.lem.pl forum.lem.pl], internet forum about Lem and his works ** [http://lem.pl/lemopedia/The_Lem_Encyclopedia Lemopedia, The Lem Encyclopedia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612151534/http://lem.pl/lemopedia/The_Lem_Encyclopedia |date=12 June 2021 }} wiki * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Stanisław Lem}} * {{isfdb name|id=166136|name=Stanisław Lem}} * {{iMDb name|0501015}} * [https://culture.pl/en/article/stanislaw-lem-did-the-holocaust-shape-his-sci-fi-world Stanisław Lem: Did the Holocaust Shape His Sci-Fi World?] from Culture.pl

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lem, Stanislaw}} Category:Stanisław Lem Category:1921 births Category:2006 deaths Category:20th-century atheists Category:20th-century Polish essayists Category:20th-century Polish Jews Category:20th-century Polish novelists Category:20th-century Polish philosophers Category:20th-century scholars Category:20th-century short story writers Category:21st-century atheists Category:21st-century essayists Category:21st-century Polish Jews Category:21st-century Polish non-fiction writers Category:21st-century Polish novelists Category:21st-century Polish philosophers Category:21st-century Polish writers Category:21st-century scholars Category:21st-century short story writers Category:Artificial intelligence ethicists Category:Artificial intelligence researchers Category:Atheist philosophers Category:Burials at Salwator Cemetery Category:Communication theorists Category:Crime fiction writers Category:Futurologists Category:Hyperreality theorists Category:Independent scholars Category:Jagiellonian University alumni Category:Jewish atheists Category:Jewish humorists Category:Jewish non-fiction writers Category:Jewish philosophers Category:Jewish Polish writers Category:Literacy and society theorists Category:Literary theorists Category:Mass media theorists Category:Neologists Category:People from Lwów Voivodeship Category:Philosophers of science Category:Philosophers of social science Category:Polish anti-capitalists Category:Polish atheists Category:Polish literary critics Category:Polish male non-fiction writers Category:Polish male novelists Category:Polish male short story writers Category:Polish philosophers Category:Polish satirical novelists Category:Polish sceptics Category:Polish science fiction writers Category:Polish speculative fiction critics Category:Polish speculative fiction editors Category:Princeton University alumni Category:Psychological fiction writers Category:Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1944–1989) Category:Recipients of the Order of the Banner of Work Category:Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland) Category:Science fiction critics Category:Social philosophers Category:Surrealist writers Category:Theorists on Western civilization Category:University of Lviv alumni Category:Writers about communism Category:Writers about religion and science Category:Writers from Kraków Category:Writers from Lviv