“ Man from Mars ” ( Polish Człowiek z Marsa ) is the literary debut of the Polish writer Stanislav Lem . A small novel [1] [2] was written during the occupation of Poland by German troops , and was published with continuation in the journal Nowy Świat Przygód (1946, Nos. 1–31). Until 1985, it was not reprinted until a “pirate” ( fanzine ) edition was published. The official Polish publication followed only in 1994 (in German in 1989) [3] . Lem himself reacted negatively to his debut, and once declared that “it was an extremely naive and weak thing that should be forgotten” [1] [2] .
| Man from Mars | |
|---|---|
| Człowiek z Marsa | |
| Genre | Novel |
| Author | Stanislav Lem |
| Original language | Polish |
| Date of writing | 1944 |
| Date of first publication | Nowy Świat Przygód, 1946 |
Content
Story
The novel takes place in New York , USA , approximately at the end of 1944 or the beginning of 1945 (the text mentions that winter is coming and the war with Japan is not over yet). A young unemployed reporter accidentally finds himself in a classified group of leading world scientists and is witnessing attempts to establish contact with the areoanthropus , whose ship crashed in Dakota . The alien turned out to be an aggressive telepath , subjugated one of the members of the research group to his power, and only with great difficulty could he be defeated and destroyed.
Even at the dawn of his writing career, Lem expressed a number of his constant ideas in the novel, in particular, his belief in the impossibility of effective contact between various cultures and civilizations of the universe. The Martian is described as a clot of intelligent protoplasm with a fundamentally different biochemistry of the body: he needs constant radiation exposure. It is created by complex engineering devices, fused with the biological matter of the areoanthropus.
Literary features
In the preface to the collection of his early works, Irrläufer (Frankfurt am Main, 1989), S. Lem recalled that he wrote the novel, "... for a few hours to forget about the war, about the genocide that reigned in the Governor General " [4] . The author himself emphasized that some of the plot moves, as well as the ideas of “Man from Mars” were subsequently repeated in his mature works.
My voice was not yet strong, the style was uncertain, the handwriting was awkward, but it seemed that something was about to appear in these stories; it developed the ability to write, as in a child - the ability to walk: it is what is given from above in the form of makings of potential skills and what will be - or what can be - embodied ... [3] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Człowiek z Marsa - Komentarz Lema . lem.pl. Date of treatment December 2, 2012. Archived December 5, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 The Man from Mars . lem.pl. Date of treatment December 2, 2012. Archived December 5, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 Lem . C. Crystal ball: Sat / Comp., Lane, afterword and notes V. Yaznevich. - M .: Astrel, 2012 .-- S. 7.
- ↑ Lem C. Crystal ball: Sat / Comp., Lane, afterword and notes V. Yaznevich. - M .: Astrel, 2012 .-- S. 6.
Editions
- Lem S. Man from Mars. - M .: Eksmo-press , 1998 .-- 448 p.
- Lem S. Man from Mars // Magellanic Cloud; Man from Mars; Astronauts. - M .: LLC "Publishing house AST" , 2003. - S. 363-453.
- Lem S. Man from Mars // High Castle. - M .: AST, Guardian, AST Moscow, 2007 .-- 720 p. The same edition is reproduced in the series “under the Watch” .
- Lem S. Man from Mars / Per. E. Weissbrota. - M .: AST, 2010 .-- 160 s. The same edition is reproduced in the classic and modern prose series .