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List of works by Stanisław Lem and their adaptations

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Some of Lem's works in 9 languages

Stanisław Lem was a Polish science fiction writer. His works have been translated into 40 languages and over 30 million copies have been sold.

Fiction

Individual works

  • The Man from Mars (1946) – short novel, originally published in a magazine serial form. In 2009 for the first time a long excerpt from Chapter 1 was translated into English by Peter Swirski and published, with permission of Lem's family, in the online literary magazine Words Without Borders.
  • Hospital of the Transfiguration [pl] (1948) – partly autobiographical novella about a doctor working in a Polish asylum during World War II, centred on a German Nazi euthanasia program Action T4. It was published in expanded form in 1955 as Czas nieutracony: Szpital przemienienia, and translated into English by William Brand (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988). In Poland it was made into a film in 1979.
  • The Astronauts [pl] (1951) – young adult science fiction novel. In the early 21st century, it is discovered that the Tunguska meteorite was a crash of a reconnaissance ship from Venus, bound to invade the Earth. A spaceship sent to investigate finds that Venusians killed themselves in an atomic war first. It was made into a film in 1960. Not translated into English.
  • The Magellanic Cloud [pl] (1955) – the first interstellar travel of mankind to the Alpha Centauri system. Not translated into English.
  • Eden [pl] (1959) – science fiction novel; after crashing their spaceship on the planet Eden, the crew discovers it is populated with an unusual society. Translated into English by Marc E. Heine (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989).
  • The Hunt [pl] (1950s) – short story, found in Lem's archives and published in 2018.
  • The Investigation [pl] (1959) – philosophical mystery novel. Translated by Adele Milch (New York: The Seabury Press, 1974). The book was made into a short film of the same name by Marek Piestrak in 1973.
  • Memoirs Found in a Bathtub [pl] (1961) – Kafkaesque novel set in the distant future about a secret agent, whose mission in an unnamed ministry is so secret that no one can tell him what it is. Translated by Michael Kandel and Christine Rose (New York: The Seabury Press, 1973)
  • Return from the Stars [pl] (1961) – science fiction novel. An astronaut returns to Earth after a 127-year long mission. Translated by Barbara Marszal and Frank Simpson (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980)
  • Solaris [pl] (1961) – science fiction novel. The crew of a remote space station is strangely influenced by the living ocean occupying a whole planet while they attempt communication with it. Translated into English from the French translation by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox (New York, Walker & Co., 1970; London: Faber and Faber, 1970). Also translated by Bill Johnston in 2014. Made into two Russian films in 1968 and 1972, and an American film in 2002.
  • The Invincible [pl] (1964) – a hard science fiction novel credited with introducing nanotechnology into the genre. The crew of a space cruiser searches for a disappeared ship on the planet Regis III, discovering swarms of insect-like micromachines. Translated from German by Wendayne Ackerman (New York: The Seabury Press, 1973). Also translated by Bill Johnston in 2014.
  • His Master's Voice [pl] (1968) – science fiction novel about the effort to translate an extraterrestrial transmission. Translated by Michael Kandel (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983).
  • The Futurological Congress [pl] (1971) – an Ijon Tichy novella, published in the collection Bezsenność (Insomnia) and Ze wspomnień Ijona Tichego. Translated by Michael Kandel and published as a standalone novella. (New York: The Seabury Press, 1974).
  • The Chain of Chance [pl] (1976) – borderline SF novel. A former US astronaut is sent to Italy to investigate a series of mysterious deaths. Translated by Louis Iribarne (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978).
  • Golem XIV [pl] (1981) – science novel. Expansion of an essay/story from the collection Imaginary Magnitude [pl].
  • Observation on the Spot [pl] (1982) – Ijon Tichy novel about the planet Entia. Not translated into English.
  • Peace on Earth [pl] (1985) – Ijon Tichy novel. A callosotomised Tichy returns to Earth, trying to reconstruct the events of his recent visit to the Moon. Translated by Michael Kandel and Elinor Ford (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1994).
  • Fiasco [pl] (1986) – dystopian science fiction novel about an expedition to communicate with an alien civilization that results in a major fiasco. Translated by Michael Kandel (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987)

Compilations

  • Sesame and Other Stories [pl] (1955) – linked collection of short fiction, dealing with time machines used to clean up Earth's history in order to be accepted into intergalactic society. Not translated into English.
  • The Star Diaries [pl] (1957–1971) – collection of short fiction dealing with the voyages of Ijon Tichy. English translations of some stories were published in two volumes: the first, The Star Diaries, by Michael Kandel (New York: The Seabury Press, 1976) and the second, Memoirs of a space traveler: further reminiscences of Ijon Tichy, by Joel Stern and Maria Swiecicka-Ziemianek (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982).
  • The Invasion from Aldebaran [pl] (1959) – collection of nine science fiction stories, among them three Tales of Pirx the Pilot and Darkness and Mold [pl], about the creation of Whisteria Cosmolytica which is described as "a microbe annihilating matter and drawing its vital energy from that process", creating a grey goo scenario.
  • Mortal Engines (1961) – also contains The Hunt from Tales of Pirx the Pilot. Selected translation by Michael Kandel (New York: The Seabury Press, 1977).
  • The Cyberiad (1965) – collection of humorous baroque-style stories about the exploits of Trurl and Klapaucius, "constructors" among robots. The stories of Douglas Adams have been compared to the Cyberiad. Transl. by Michael Kandel (New York: The Seabury Press, 1974)
  • A Perfect Vacuum (1971) – collection of reviews of fictional books. Transl. by Michael Kandel. (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979.)
  • Imaginary Magnitude [pl] (1973) – collection of introductions to nonexistent books. Also includes Golem XIV, a lengthy essay/short story on the nature of intelligence delivered by an eponymous US military computer. In the personality of Golem XIV, Lem with a great amount of humor describes an ideal of his own mind. Transl. by Marc E. Heine (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984).
  • Tales of Pirx the Pilot [pl] (1973) – collection of linked short fiction involving the career of astronaut Pirx. English translations of some stories were published in two volumes: the first, Tales of Pirx the Pilot, by Louis Iribarne (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979) and the second, More Tales of Pirx the Pilot by Louis Iribarne, Magdalena Majcherczyk and Michael Kandel (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982).
  • The Cosmic Carnival of Stanisław Lem – edited with commentary by Michael Kandel. New York: Continuum, 1981. Includes:
    • The Condor from The Invincible (trans. from German by Wendayne Ackerman)
    • Excerpt from Solaris" (trans. from French by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox)
    • The Test (trans. from Polish by Louis Iribarne)
    • Chapter Seven of "Return from the Stars" (trans. from Polish by Barbara Marszal and Frank Simpson)
    • Excerpt from "The Futurological Congress" (trans. from Polish by Michael Kandel)
    • Two Monsters (trans. from Polish by Michael Kandel)
    • The Second Sally (trans. from Polish by Michael Kandel)
    • Tale of the Computer That Fought a Dragon (trans. from Polish by Michael Kandel)
    • The History of Zipperupus
    • The Star Diaries: The Seventh Voyage (trans. from Polish by Michael Kandel)
    • The Star Diaries: The Fourteenth Voyage (trans. from Polish by Michael Kandel)
    • Les Robinsonades (trans. from Polish by Michael Kandel)
  • Provocation [pl] (1984) – contains two faux reviews. Not translated into English.
  • One Human Minute (Biblioteka XXI wieku - lit. Library of 21st century, 1986) – 3 more fictional reviews (trans. from Polish by Catherine S. Leach)
  • The Riddle. Stories [pl] (1996) – collection of short stories. Not translated into English.
  • The Fantastical Lem [pl] (2001) – short stories collection. Not translated into English.
  • Lemistry: a celebration of the work of Stanisław Lem. Edited by Ra Page. A collection of three translated short works by Lem (The Lilo; Darkness and Mildew; The Invasion from Aldebaran) and works by other authors but inspired by Lem. (2011).
  • The Truth and Other Stories (2022) – short stories collection, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones.

Nonfiction

Unless noted, not translated into English

Adaptations

Dramatic adaptations

See also: Solaris (novel) § Cultural allusions

Musical adaptations

  • The Cyberiad (1970; 2nd version 1985), an opera by Krzysztof Meyer; broadcast by Polish Television (1st act, 1971), staged in Wuppertal (Germany) (1986)
  • Solaris (2010-2012) (2012), an opera by Detlev Glanert, libretto by Reinhard Palm, staged in Bregenz (Germany) (2012)
  • Texts by Lem were set to music by Esa-Pekka Salonen in his 1982 piece, Floof.

Videogame adaptations

See also

References

  1. "FAQ at Lem's website". Archived from the original on 2011-08-07. Retrieved 2009-12-12.
  2. "Man from Mars", an excerpt (in English)
  3. Hospital of the Transfiguration at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  4. The Astronauts at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  5. Polish Studies Center
  6. "Aliens - The Anthropology of Science Fiction - page 44" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-11-06. Retrieved 2013-10-31.
  7. "Vitrifax: On Stanislaw Lem - The Cyberiad". Archived from the original on 2012-01-22. Retrieved 2012-10-02.
  8. The cosmic carnival of Stanisław Lem
  9. "Dialogues". MIT Press. Retrieved 2024-04-14.
  10. "Peering into the Future ", by Peter Swirski, Central Europe Review, vol. 3 no. 13, 2001, — a review of Stanisław Lem's Okamgnienie , Wydawnictwo Literackie, Krakow 2000 ISBN 8308030386
  11. Profesor Zazul at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  12. Przekładaniec (Roly Poly or Layer Cake) at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  13. Ikarie XB 1 (1963)
  14. Pirx Kalandjai at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  15. "Theatre :: Solaris".
  16. "Die Preisträger des IKFF 1999" (in German). KurzFilmAgentur Hamburg. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  17. Gorinsky, Liz (2008-08-23). "SF Theatre: There Will Come Soft Rains". Tor.com. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
  18. About show Thirty-Minute Theatre on TV.com
  19. Fischer, Russ (10 January 2011). "Watch the trailer for Maska, in which the Brothers Quay adapt Stanislaw Lem". /Film. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  20. The Congress at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  21. Shaw, Helen (2020-07-31). "Go Small and Go Home: Tiny Theater Made in Quarantine". Vulture. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
  22. Detlev Glanert - Solaris - Opera
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