Science Fiction and Futurology

Science Fiction and Futurology (Polish: Fantastyka i futurologia) is a monograph of Stanisław Lem about science fiction and futurology, first printed by Wydawnictwo Literackie in 1970.[1]

The official Lem website describes the book as a triple feature: an attempt to create a theory of the genre, a self-interpretation of Lem's own works, and a review of the world's science fiction, "a yet another Lem's General Theory of Everything - everything related to science fiction and its role in human knowledge acquisition". [2][3]

The book was acutely critical of Western science fiction. As Lem wrote, "SF became a vulgar mythology of a technological civilization.<...> This monograph is an expression of my personal utopia, my longing for better SF, the one that should be."[2] In the 1972 edition the criticism was somewhat softened, in particular, in the judgement of the works of Philip K. Dick. Lem confessed that his opinion about Philip K. Dick was based on limited knowledge of his works, not the best ones.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Fantastyka i futurologia." Nn: Wojciech Orliński, Co to są sepulki? Wszystko o Lemie. Kraków: Znak, 2007. ISBN 978-83-240-0798-1.
  2. 1 2 "Fantastyka i futurologia", at Lem's official website
  3. ↑ Note: "General Theory of Everything" (ogolna teoria wszystkiego) is an allusion to the opus magnum of the great-grandfather of Ijon Tichy, rather than on the modern Theory of Everything
  4. ↑ "Philip K. Dick, czyli fantomatyka mimo woli"

Further reading

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