Research Catalog

Title

The truth and other stories / Stanisław Lem ; translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, [foreword by Kim Stanley Robinson].

Author

Lem, Stanisław

Publication

• Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2021]
• ©2021

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Lloyd-Jones, Antonia
• Robinson, Kim Stanley

Description

xiv, 326 pages; 24 cm

Summary

"Of these twelve short stories by science fiction master Stanisław Lem, only three have previously appeared in English, making this the first "new" book of fiction by Lem since the late 1980s. The stories display the full range of Lem's intense curiosity about scientific ideas as well as his sardonic approach to human nature, presenting as multifarious a collection of mad scientists as any reader could wish for. Many of these stories feature artificial intelligences or artificial life forms, long a Lem preoccupation; some feature quite insane theories of cosmology or evolution. All are thought provoking and scathingly funny. Written from 1956 to 1993, the stories are arranged in chronological order. In the title story, "The Truth," a scientist in an insane asylum theorizes that the sun is alive; "The Journal" appears to be an account by an omnipotent being describing the creation of infinite universes--until, in a classic Lem twist, it turns out to be no such thing; in "An Enigma," beings debate whether offspring can be created without advanced degrees and design templates. Other stories feature a computer that can predict the future by 137 seconds, matter-destroying spores, a hunt in which the prey is a robot, and an electronic brain eager to go on the lam. These stories are peak Lem, exploring ideas and themes that resonate throughout his writing."--

Uniform Title

Short stories. Selections. English

Alternative Title

Short stories.

Subject

• Science fiction, Polish > Translations into English
• Science fiction, Polish

Genre/Form

• Short stories.
• Translations.
• Science fiction.

Note

• "© Tomasz Lem 2006. English translation © Antonia Lloyd-Jones 2021"--Title page verso

Language (note)

• Translated from the Polish.

Contents

The Hunt -- Rat in the Labyrinth -- Invasion from Aldebaran -- The Friend -- The Invasion -- Darkness and Mildew -- The Hammer -- Lymphater's Formula -- The Journal -- The Truth -- One Hundred and Thirty-Seven Seconds -- An Enigma.

Call Number

JFE 21-8769

ISBN

• 9780262046084
• 0262046083

LCCN

2020047150

OCLC

1200832067

Author

Lem, Stanisław, author.

Title

The truth and other stories / Stanisław Lem ; translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, [foreword by Kim Stanley Robinson].

Publisher

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2021]

Copyright Date

©2021

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Language

Translated from the Polish.

Added Author

Lloyd-Jones, Antonia, translator.

Robinson, Kim Stanley, writer of foreword.

Research Call Number

JFE 21-8769