Solaris author Stanislaw Lem dies at 84

Yahoo News ^ | Mon Mar 27, 2006

[A. Pole]

KRAKOW, Poland (Reuters) - Polish author Stanislaw Lem, one of the world's leading science-fiction writers, died on Monday in his home city of Krakow at the age of 84 after a battle with heart disease.

Lem, whose books have sold more than 27 million copies and have been translated into more than 40 languages, won widespread acclaim for "The Cyberiad," stories from a mechanical world ruled by robots, first published in English in 1974.

"Solaris," published in 1961 and set on an isolated space station, was made into a film epic 10 years later by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky. A 2002 Hollywood remake directed by Steven Sodebergh starred George Clooney.

"Shortly after 3 p.m. (1300 GMT) Stanislaw Lem died in the heart clinic, where he had been treated over the past few weeks for circulatory problems," Andrzej Kulig, director of the Jagiellonian University hospital, told Reuters.

Lem, born on September 12, 1921, in what is now the Ukrainian city of Lviv, studied medicine before World War Two. Following the war, communist censorship blocked the publication of his earliest writings.

After the fall of communism in 1989 Lem ceased writing science-fiction, instead devoting himself to reports on near-future predictions for governments and organizations.

He wrote essays on computer crime, as well as about technological and ethical problems posed by the expansion of the Internet.

[A. Pole]

Bump

[Tarantulas]

That's too bad. I really enjoyed his books.

[Borges]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1603944/posts

[SquirrelKing]

Sci-Fi literary achievements aside, I'd hate to be remembered by the masses as someone who wrote a book that became a George Clooney movie...

=)

[CaptRon]

I defy anyone to stay awake through either version.

[Mi-kha-el]

The novel is excellent, though.

[CaptRon]

I confess I never read it. I did see the original movie, well part of it anyway. As far as I know the ending is a test pattern.

[Jonah Johansen]

The original Russian Version of Solaris was great. One of the best movies I have seen. The special effects were not up to Hollywood standards and you had to read subtitles, but other than that well worth hunting down to watch.

I thought Solaris, the book, offered the most realistic account in all of science fiction, of what an encounter with alien life might be; i.e. truly 'alien'.
Most aliens in science fiction are far more simular to humans than different. I do not think most science fiction writers are able to create a convincing example of what humans will be like 200 years from now. When it comes to aliens, who may be 200,00 years more advanced, they do not have a clue. They still have visitors from advanced civilizations visiting us here with ships, that have mechanical problems and crash in the desert.


Lem's book the Investigation is worth checking out, also.

[anonymoussierra]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1603944/posts?page=17#17

[skandalon]

Very creative writer, I really liked The Futurological Congress. May he rest in peace.

[Darkwolf377]

I defy anyone to stay awake through either version.

You are correct...and yet both versions are among the greatest TRUE SF movies, as opposed to action movies in sci-fi trappings. They are about ideas, not terribly original ones, perhaps, but the exploration of them touches on the real value in science fiction, the sense of contact with the unknown.

I won't argue with anyone over the tedium factor, but I love both movies. Sometimes it's worth it to work a little, and not just have everything laid out.

[Darkwolf377]

Excellent post. I thought the original was truly "alien"-feeling in its FX--I don't see them as not up to Hollywood standards (which were poor at the time, remember) but as different.

The Criterion DVD is beautiful.

[Jonah Johansen]

I agree with you actually. I should have said speical effects were not like what Hollywood has produced recently.

I believe the Russian original was critically acclaimed and was directed by a noted Russian director.

[Darkwolf377]

Tarkovsky was an amazing director...whose movies are SOOOOO slow.

But I love them, they are visually amazing. Solaris is second only to Tarkovsky's "Stalker" in my list of favorite SF movies.