In Stanislaw Lem: Selected Letters to Michael Kandel, Peter Swirski brings a treasury of unknown elements of Lem's life and literary legacy to light. The Polish science fiction writer died in 2006, but in this book his voice is heard afresh for the benefit of those who believe that, with his passing, quintessential element of twentieth-century artistic and intellectual heritage has come to an end. This edited and annotated translation of Lem’s fifteen-year correspondence with his principal American translator offers an unparalleled testimony to the raw intellectual powers, smouldering literary ... More

In Stanislaw Lem: Selected Letters to Michael Kandel, Peter Swirski brings a treasury of unknown elements of Lem's life and literary legacy to light. The Polish science fiction writer died in 2006, but in this book his voice is heard afresh for the benefit of those who believe that, with his passing, quintessential element of twentieth-century artistic and intellectual heritage has come to an end. This edited and annotated translation of Lem’s fifteen-year correspondence with his principal American translator offers an unparalleled testimony to the raw intellectual powers, smouldering literary passions, and abiding personal concerns from the central period of the writer’s life and career. Even as they reposition Lem as a consummate litterateur and an intellectual oracle, the letters reveal tantalizing glimpses of the man behind the science fiction literature giant. Fighting depression, at times hitting the bottle, plagued by ill health, obsessed by his legacy, driven to distraction by lack of appreciation in the United States, Lem the arch-rationalist emerges here at his most human, vulnerable, and likeable.