Born 1921 in L'vov (part of Poland then, now part of Ukraine) as son of a doctor and former k.u.k. officer. He had a lightheartedly childhood and started early to reflect upon the Creator and hierarchies in general, which is explained in his autobiographical novel Wysoki zamek (1965; ger. Das Hohe Schloß, 1974). He studied medicine from 1939 to 1941 in L'vov, worked as auto body repariman for a short time and continued his study 1946-48 in Kraków, (engl. Cracow, thx Gritchka). However, he worked as medical doctor only for very short time. He was employed at the conservatory of Naukonawcze as assistant. He wrote reviews of scientific books and articles for magazines (mainly for Zycie Nauki) but he wrote lyrics as well. His first published work in the genre of science fiction was the short story Czlowiek z Marsa (ger. Der Marsmensch) which was written during the war and has been published 1946 in Nowy Swiat Przygód (ger. Neue Welt des Abenteuers).

In 1948-50 he wrote the trilogy Czas nieutracony (ger. Die Irrungen des Dr. Stefan T., 1959). However, he dissociated himself from the second and third part and he allowed only the first one (ger. Hospital der Verklärung) to be reprinted. His first SF-novel was published 1951, Astronauci (ger. Planet des Todes, 1954, later Die Astronauten, 1974). From then on, Lem stayed loyal to the genre of SF, even if he attacked it himself in the essay Fantastyka i Futurologia (ger. Phantastik und Futurologie, 1st Part 1977, 2nd Part 1980).

Apart from his work on the field of SF, where his books have been sold more than 10 million times and translated into more than 30 languages, Lem wrote philosophical and socially critical essays. Summa technologiae (1964) is an unusual piece of fiction which doesn't bother to predict exact evolution, but attemts to test the power of the human mind.

Lem was member of the polish cybernetic society (he discussed in Dialogi (1957) the aftermath of cybernetics in an inventive way) and a founding member of the society for astronautics. However, he quitted his membership in both already.

Lem's start on the genre of SF consisted of pretty simple, adventurous creations. Later he started to write in a much more philosophical way. He sometimes tried to apply elements from the tale of the humoresque or grotesque. Lem often succeeds in mixing humor and seriousness in a playful and sometimes even paradoxical way.

Coincidence, communication with foreign worlds and creatures, the limits of understanding, the simulation of new worlds, the evolution of civilization, and troubles of creation are the subjects of lems works, and he often handles them in a pretty ironic way.

Lem was honored in Poland with the Grand State Award For Literature 1976 and 1985 with the Austrian State Award For European Literature. He is considered the most original and most profound author of the genre of SF, and he has a prominence only H.G. Wells shares.

Ed. note: Stanislaw Lem died on March 27, 2006 at the age of 84.

Important works:


The above is an english translated (from German) part from an essay of mine: Science Fiction - principles and evolution. (The prefix "ger." refers to the german title of the mentioned original)
Since I'm no native english speaker nor trained translator, please excuse my clumsy grammar. Critics about typos/grammar/style are not frowned upon, but warmly welcome.