by Stanislaw Lem (Author)
Ijon Tichy, Lem's Candide of the Cosmos, encounters bizarre civilizations and creatures in space that serve to satirize science, the rational mind, theology, and other icons of human pride. Line drawings by the Author. Translated by Michael Kandel. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
Back Jacket
One of the most intelligent, erudite, and comic writers working today. -Anthony Burgess
In a firsthand account, Lem's hapless cosmonaut Ijon Tichy tells warped tales from the civilizations he discovers in a deep space galaxy so unlike our own that concepts of science, the rational mind, human progress, the sanctity of life, and motherhood all no longer apply. In their place, Tichy finds sadomasochistic robots who speak a dialect much like Chaucerian English, killer potatoes with an appetite for spacecraft, and robot theologians who are being relentlessly persecuted by creators who have renounced their original faith. Full of the intellectual satire for which Stanislaw Lem is esteemed, The Star Diaries speaks volumes about contemporary society in its depiction of highly bizarre, faraway, futuristic worlds.
"A Jorge Luis Borges for the Space Age, who plays in earnest with every concept of philosophy and physics..." --New York Times
Stanislaw Lem is the most widely translated and best known science fiction author writing outside of the English language. Winner of the Kafka Prize, he is a contributor to many magazines, including the New Yorker, and he is the author of numerous works, including Solaris.