# Stanislaw Lem died... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 27, 2006, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanislaw-lem-died/350123 "2006-03-27T18:32:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanislaw-lem-died/350123/1 "2006-03-27T18:32:23Z")
He was, I think, the most brilliant sci fi writer, and one of the great writers of the 20th Century. I can’t be sad, though… the man did a lot with his life and left the world a better place. [http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/books/03/27/obit.lem.ap/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/books/03/27/obit.lem.ap/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanislaw-lem-died/350123/2 "2006-03-27T18:48:31Z")
That’s too bad. I’ve read some of his; almost want to learn Polish to read _The Cyberiad_ in the original. Great stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanislaw-lem-died/350123/3 "2006-03-27T18:50:16Z")
I must confess…I thought he was already dead. But I did admire his works. I remember being on a road trip when I was 18, and lolling around in the back of my friend’s VW microbus. With nothing else to do, I picked up a well-worn copy of “The Futurological Congress” and began reading it. I had never heard the name before, but I was blown away by it. It’s a pity nobody’s ever been able to make a good version of “Solaris.” ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanislaw-lem-died/350123/4 "2006-03-27T19:36:25Z")
Aw man, and I was hoping he’d win the Nobel. Truly among a small handful of great writers who were able to bridge the chasm between SF and great literature. And Tarkovsky’s original version of \*Solyaris \*has been one of my personal top three movies since I saw it for the first of at least a dozen times by now almost 20 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanislaw-lem-died/350123/5 "2006-03-28T12:41:11Z")
> [@Art Vandelay](#): > > I must confess…I thought he was already dead Ahem, so did I :o I just came on to post the news too, my girlfriend bought me a copy of Solaris, quite interesting, a solid read. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanislaw-lem-died/350123/6 "2006-03-28T13:17:39Z")
Lem was the man to broadly expand my horizons at the tender age of 14 or so. I checked out a book from some guy with a funny name in the Sci-Fi section. The content was astounding…then I found out he was _Russian_(\* insert accurate origin group here) and it was _translated_ to english. For some strange reason, I’d never considered other languages could be as expressive, or that it could translate so well to English. What can I say, I was a youngun. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanislaw-lem-died/350123/7 "2006-03-28T13:44:42Z")
> [@Unintentionally Blank](#): > > Lem was the man to broadly expand my horizons at the tender age of 14 or so. I checked out a book from some guy with a funny name in the Sci-Fi section. The content was astounding…then I found out he was _ **Polish** _(\* insert accurate origin group here) and it was _translated_ to english. > > For some strange reason, I’d never considered other languages could be as expressive, or that it could translate so well to English. > > What can I say, I was a youngun. I think that looks better 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanislaw-lem-died/350123/8 "2006-03-28T13:50:52Z")
> [@Art Vandelay](#): > > But I did admire his works. I remember being on a road trip when I was 18, and lolling around in the back of my friend’s VW microbus. With nothing else to do, I picked up a well-worn copy of “The Futurological Congress” and began reading it. I had never heard the name before, but I was blown away by it. Heh. Same age, same book. Almost as much as the story itself, I was impressed by how well the translator was able to keep up the endless wordplay of the drug and technology names. He was the author that got me to make the transition from pulp sci-fi (my main read up to then had been Piers Anthony, for Og’s sake) to actual literature. Reading him, I got interested in Calvino, Borges and Eco, and from them the older classics. He was truly one of those writers that changed my life. And now he’s gone. But as **Walter Windchill** said, it’s hard to feel too sad when so much of him is still here with us. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanislaw-lem-died/350123/9 "2006-03-28T13:56:26Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Aw man, and I was hoping he’d win the Nobel. You know, I’d been hoping the same thing. Are they ever awarded posthumously? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanislaw-lem-died/350123/10 "2006-03-28T15:20:39Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > You know, I’d been hoping the same thing. Are they ever awarded posthumously? Never. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanislaw-lem-died/350123/11 "2006-03-28T16:25:22Z")
This is interesting . . . [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislaw\_Lem#Controversy:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislaw_Lem#Controversy:) > [@](#): > > Lem was awarded an honorary membership in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) in 1973. Lem, however, never had a high opinion of American science-fiction describing it as kitsch, ill thought-out, poorly written, and interested more in making money than ideas or new literary forms; despite that fact, it is now known that Lem read little of American SF that was not in poor translations or written after the 1950s. Lem’s honorary membership was rescinded in 1976 when he became eligible for regular membership. (Lem singled out only one American SF writer for praise, namely Philip K. Dick, whom he lauded in his collection of critical essays, 1986’s Microworlds.) After many members (including Ursula K. Le Guin) protested, the SFWA then offered him a free regular membership, which he refused. He had also been critical of science fiction in general, and had recently distanced himself from the genre, saying that his young works may have been SF, but his latter ones were more mainstream. The Polish Harlan Ellison? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanislaw-lem-died/350123/12 "2006-03-29T01:37:22Z")
Too bad about the Nobel. Anyway, yeah, in **Microworlds** , he goes into fairly extensive detail about his feelings for American SF. IIRC, he had read some early in his life and was deeply inspired by it, but then had little access to any contemporary western SF while he was writing in the 50’s and 60’s. When he started reading it again in the 70’s, was intensely disappointed by what he found, and said so quite plainly. Basically, he thought American SF had started out with enormous potential, but had largely failed to live up to it. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanislaw-lem-died/350123/13 "2006-03-29T01:58:11Z")
Man, that Wikipedia article is wrong – it’s the worst I’ve ever seen them. According to Jerry Pournelle, who was president of SFWA the time: 1. Lem was incorrectly given an honorary membership. The rules only gave them to authors who were otherwise ineligible for membership. It was created for J.R.R. Tolkien (the only true honorary member in SFWA history), who had LOTR pirated; SFWA did not want to recognize a pirated edition, so made him an honorary member and fought to get him the royalties he deserved. Once the authorized edition of LOTR was published in the US, Tolkien joined as a regular member. 2. Lem, who really had no idea what SFWA was about, wrote an article attacking the organization. Several members (including Philip K. Dick) were angry that the guy had been given the free membership when they paid their dues even when they were trying to scrape together a living. The treasurer (in charge of membership) reread the rules and realized that Lem was ineligible for honorary membership (SFWA does tend to be a bit slipshod in occasionally letting people who are ineligible; we’ve tightened up the rules the past few years to make everything clear to everyone). 3. Lem was told that there had been a mistake and that he’d be welcome as a member if he paid his dues. Fred Polh offered to pay it for him. Lem never replied. (Note that this wasn’t a free membership – all SFWA members pay dues, though they can be waived or delayed if they ask for a hardship renewal.) It is important to note that no one has ever actually been kicked out of SFWA, though a few have had memberships downgraded because they were errors when they applied.