The Year of Stanislaw Lem ( 1921 – 2006)
 
September of last year marked the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of the extraordinary author, Stanislaw Lem. This occasion has allowed us the opportunity to remember his incredible creativity and look back at his unique and fascinating literary works which are known throughout the world. Stanislaw Lem was quite well versed in many areas of the sciences. Whether pertaining to nature, medicine, technology, emerging technologies or subjects such as philosophy and social phenomena, he regularly introduced his immense knowledge into his writing. Particularly valuable are his philosophical ruminations on questions regarding the essence of humankind – who is man, what role does he play in the universe and what is the current human condition? Lem was an extraordinary phenomenon in the field of literature because he was able to merge imagination with scientific facts in his writings and create complex worlds. One reads him these days almost like a prophet who saw the future of our civilization. He is regarded as someone who could see into the future, a fact evident in all of his work. In his original and fantastic science fiction, he described with startling accuracy how an electronic book would look and operate; he wrote of virtual reality, nanotechnology and internet browsers as well as artificial intelligence long before they became reality. Lem was also in the forefront of current trends in food science and nutrition. He wrote about veganism before that word even existed. He regarded the culinary arts as most important in the development of human civilizations and believed that without the evolution of ways of preparing food and progress in cuisines and nutrition we humans would not have been able to evolve to today’s level. He often emphasized the importance of developments in cookery and gastronomy as applied sciences. According to Lem, peoples’ tastes and preferences in foods created the different nations as ethnic groups each brought something new and original to civilization. Slavic peoples aren’t able get by without barszcz (beet soup). As for Lem who was born in Lviv, this soup was his lifelong favorite meal. To him cuisine was everlasting, unlike other technologies which quickly become dated and useless. For example, an object such as a locomotive from the 19th century exists pretty much only as an exhibit in a museum today whereas a kohlrabi, straight from the fields and served with dillweed has always been and always will be a fresh and tasty dish to be enjoyed. According to Lem, those individuals who came up with recipes for various foods and who discovered herbs and spices deserve to have monuments dedicated to them just like Columbus had for discovering America. Someone had to be the first to try poisonous mushrooms before they were eliminated from the human diet. He discretely inserted discussions about a people’s cuisine and about preparing foods into almost all of his stories. In “A Perfect Vacuum” a collection of Lem’s fictitious criticisms of non-existing books, he foresaw an explosion of sexuality where anyone could engage in any kind of sex with whomever. Accompanying that development of course, were the appropriate structures and tools. But then he also came up with “No-Sex” an unexpected outcome from the “Sexplosion”, which resulted in humans completely losing interest in sex and the extinction of the sex drive as sex became viewed as unnecessary, boring, and exhausting. As of yet, this imagined development of “No-Sex” has not occurred in our world. He wrote of parliaments debating the need to eradicate gender when it became seen as a prehistoric throwback that had outlived its usefulness. Children were to be born without a determinable gender thanks to programs developed through genetic engineering. One could say Lem was not actually imagining these things, as much as he was predicting what he saw as the future of mankind based on his observations and knowledge of science and social progress. Lem’s tales were translated into 41 languages in the 1960’s and 1970’s when Poland was isolated from the rest of the world behind the Iron Curtain. Thanks to the translations, especially into English, the author was discovered and read widely around the world. His most famous work, “Solaris” was twice made into a movie. His name was given to Poland’s first satellite #3836 as well as to innumerable streets and schools. From his diaries, letters and journals we discern Lem to be a humble and private man. He was agreeable and gregarious and particularly enjoyed joking about himself. One of his most famous anecdotes involves being locked in a room with 3 kilograms of Halvah which he adored. After consuming the entire lot, he confesses to feeling that he had committed suicide by sweets. Observations and tributes for this 100th year anniversary of his birth was not only held in many cities, schools and publications here on earth, but also in space on the International Space Station (ISS). Many of his wise quotes can be found on the internet. One of his sayings greets visitors in the city where he spent most of his life: Krakow, near a major street where a large sign features his words: “We have no need of other worlds. We only need mirrors.“ We need mirrors, indeed.
 
Translated by Zofia Wiśniewski