Stanisław Lem

Stanislaw Lem died on 26 March, 2006. No one can bring his mortal engine back to life, but in this book his voice can be heard afresh for the benefit of all those who believe that, with his passing, a quintessential element of twentieth-century artisic and intellectual heritage has come to an end. Peter Swirski's 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 giant. Fighting depression, at times hitting the bottle, plagued by ill-health, obsessed by his legacy, driven to distraction by lack of apprectiation in the United States, Lem the arch-rationalist emerges here at his most human, vulnerable, and ... likeable. -- Publisher's description.