Stanislaw Lem

the-cyberiad

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The Cyberiad

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The linguistic inventiveness is extraordinary ... Lem has created a curious world in which robots and rockets rub shoulders with kings, dragons, witches and pirates

Fables for the Cybernetic Age

'A giant of twentieth-century science fiction' Guardian 
 
One of the world's most beloved science fiction writers, Stanislaw Lem was famed for his wryly comic, outlandish imaginings of the relationship between humans and technology. In this playful cosmic fantasia, two 'constructors' compete to dream up ever-more ingenious inventions in a universe beyond reality. 
 
'A Jorge Luis Borges for the Space Age, who plays with every concept of philosophy and physics' The New York Times

Stanislaw Lem (1921-2006) was born in Lviv, then part of Poland. He is probably the most original and influential European science-fiction writer since H.G. Wells. Best known in the West for Tarkovsky's film of his novel Solaris, Lem wrote novels and stories that have been published all over the world. He is credited with anticipating in his writing artificial reality, e-books and nano-technology. His most famous works include The Cyberiad, Mortal Engines, The Star Diaries, The Futurological Congress, Tales of Pirx the Pilot and Solaris.

Stanislaw Lem is perhaps the most original and influential European science-fiction writer of the twentieth century. 
The Cyberiad, one of Lem's most beloved works, follows the exploits of the Trurl and Klapaucius, two ingenious 'constructors'. In their adventures through a strange medieval universe they encounter a machine capable of creating anything that starts with the letter 'N'; kings who oppress their people with parlour games; and PhD pirates who demand ransom in knowledge rather than gold. It is a world where UFOs land silently on lawns at dawn, and where even the stars can be re-arranged for advertising purposes.

The Cyberiad

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