Hello,
I am new to this board, so if I seem a bit ignorant of things, I appologise. I would like to know whether Mr. Bradbury has ever heard of Stanislaw Lem, a Polish Sci-Fi writer and his contemporary. I find increadible parallels between the writings of the two authors, and would like to find out if there were, and still are, some cross-influences between the two. Mr Lem wrote such novels as Solaris and The Star Diaries, and continues to write to this day. I may be writing my dissertation on sci-fi writers, hence any help in this matter will be greatly appreciated. For anyone else who is interested in Stanislaw Lem, here is his website: www.lem.pl
Thanks,
Translator

Hello to all again,
nobody is replying, which means either that no one knows an answer to this question, or that the message is no longer at the forefront of the board and people are just ignoring it. This, I hope, will spark some interest in it: Lem was an honorary memeber of the American Science-Fiction Association (or something like that), until he wrote, in the 70's, a scathing report on the state of science fiction writing in America. In response, K Dick wrote a letter to the FBI (or the CIA, I don't know which one) denouncing Lem as a bogus personality (he thought that Lem might be a collection of communist writers bent on defaming the ASFA). Lem was subsequently kicked out of the association. As some people here lived during the 70's, they had to hear of this petite scandal. Any help from you guys? (Also, if anyone actually talks to Bradbury, can they ask him whether he knew of Lem's works, or if the two authors corresponded, or anything else? It would help me immensely).
Cheers,
Translator

To spike this matter somewhat, here is the letter:


On September 2, 1974 Philip K. Dick sent the following letter to the FBI (Please keep in mind Mr. Dick was most probably suffering from schizophrenia):

Philip K. Dick to the FBI, September 2, 1974

I am enclosing the letterhead of Professor Darko Suvin, to go with information and enclosures which I have sent you previously. This is the first contact I have had with Professor Suvin. Listed with him are three Marxists whom I sent you information about before, based on personal dealings with them: Peter Fitting, Fredric Jameson, and Franz Rottensteiner who is Stanislaw Lem's official Western agent. The text of the letter indicates the extensive influence of this publication, SCIENCE-FICTION STUDIES.

What is involved here is not that these persons are Marxists per se or even that Fitting, Rottensteiner and Suvin are foreign-based but that all of them without exception represent dedicated outlets in a chain of command from Stanislaw Lem in Krakow, Poland, himself a total Party functionary (I know this from his published writing and personal letters to me and to other people). For an Iron Curtain Party group - Lem is probably a composite committee rather than an individual, since he writes in several styles and sometimes reads foreign, to him, languages and sometimes does not - to gain monopoly positions of power from which they can control opinion through criticism and pedagogic essays is a threat to our whole field of science fiction and its free exchange of views and ideas. Peter Fitting has in addition begun to review books for the magazines Locus and Galaxy. The Party operates (a U..S.] publishing house which does a great deal of Party-controlled science fiction. And in earlier material which I sent to you I indicated their evident penetration of the crucial publications of our professional organization SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS OF AMERICA.

Their main successes would appear to be in the fields of academic articles, book reviews and possibly through our organization the control in the future of the awarding of honors and titles. I think, though, at this time, that their campaign to establish Lem himself as a major novelist and critic is losing ground; it has begun to encounter serious opposition: Lem's creative abilities now appear to have been overrated and Lem's crude, insulting and downright ignorant attacks on American science fiction and American science fiction writers went too far too fast and alienated everyone but the Party faithful (I am one of those highly alienated).

It is a grim development for our field and its hopes to find much of our criticism and academic theses and publications completely controlled by a faceless group in Krakow, Poland. What can be done, though, I do not know.

............And the Follow-up..............

The following is a quote from J. Madison Davis' book on Stanislaw Lem

Lem has always been critical of most science fiction, which he considers ill thought out, poorly written, and interested more in adventure that ideas or new literary forms. (...) Those opinions provoked an unpleasant debade in the SFWA [the "Lem affair"]. Philip Jos� Farmer and others were incensed by Lem's comments (...) and eventually brought about the removal of the honorary membership(...). Other members, such as Ursula K. Le Guin, then protested the removal (...) and the SFWA then offered Lem a regular membership, which he, of course, refused in 1976. Asked later about the "affair," he remarked, that his opinions of the state of science fiction were already known when he was offered an honorary membership (...). He also added he harboured no ill feelings towards the SFWA or U.S. writers in particular, "...but it would be a lie to say the whole incident has enlarged my respect for SF writers".

************************************************* Both things were taken from the Lem website




[This message has been edited by Translator (edited 02-24-2004).]

[This message has been edited by Translator (edited 02-24-2004).]

I don't know of any Bradbury/Lem connection.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I found the content of your post fascinating. I love studying the history of science fiction and find all the he said, she said, suspicions, investigations, allegations, inclusions, exclusions, alliances, and power plays to be as fascinating as the actual science fiction.

I noticed you're from Canada. I've been led to believe that Quebec has several good science fiction authors. Because they write in french, they are virtually unheard of in the U.S.A. I was lucky enough to come across a translated anthology of Quebec SF. I don't know if it was the translation or what, but I was not impressed by the stories that I read. Authors sometime remark on how a story wrote itself. A story can't translate itself. The person doing the translating has to be as creative as the author, for much less pay and virtually no recognition. I dream of one day being able to read Japanese SF. Looks like I'll be learning Japanese.

Hello Grasstains,
Quebec does indeed have some great authors, both sf and other. I strongly suggest you learn french before Japanese; the french culture, both canadian as well as mainland, is just chock full of sf goodness.
Without sounding like a pompous fool, being a translator, I would have to say that translating is probably harder to do than just composing in your original language. A translator has to battle both languages, as well as the ideas, and the flow and feel of the book. I could go on, but you get the idea. For the record, I translate between Polish and English, and sometimes between French, German, and English.
Cheers,
Translator

Here is a link some might find interesting. It's another take on the issue in this post.
http://lib.bigmir.net/read.php?e=8440

Cheers, Translator

I had no idea...

Now you do...
Cheers, Translator