Autor Wątek: As modern sci-fi as modern goes. [Futurological Congress]  (Przeczytany 10900 razy)

erwinvg

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As modern sci-fi as modern goes. [Futurological Congress]
« dnia: Stycznia 19, 2011, 11:30:16 pm »
by Erwin Villuendas
I am not a frequent visitor of traditional science fiction authors: though I have read a few of those considered as not to be missed, I haven’t read others whose names I’d rather not mention though they do not exclude Arthur Clarke, for instance. I arrived at Lem’s works through a recommendation of Fernando Savater, the Spanish author. In an article published early in the last decade, he mentioned two authors: Anatolly Ribakov and Stanislaw Lem, stating that The Congress of Futurology was an imprescindible masterpiece. I finally found a Spanish translation of the book and eversince I have struggled to find every single one of Lem’s books (some of them have not been reprinted since the 70’s).
It must be said that I haven’t so far read explicitly the link between the famous Matrix series by the Wachowski brothers and The Congress of Futurology. Though the reader will surely find references that seem to me more than evident, it seems that reviewers haven’t yet paid attention, and as far as I know, the Wachowski brothers have not stated the influence of this of Lem’s work in their films. This regards the book’s leitmotiv: a world in which reality is created by psychotropic drugs, as the real world has become unbearable (I must say that as horrible as the real world created by the Wachowski brothers might be, It isn’t nearly as awful as the one described by Lem).
When it comes to the structure of the book, The Congress of Futurology pays tribute to a not very well known French author: Emannuel Bove. I must say that I am frequently interested in the structure the authors use to tell a story, and together with some friends we had talked about an imaginary book in which the story would fluctuate between awaken and sleep states, some sort of waveform story in which the story teller would move. It was a good idea, too good not to have been already used by a writer. Two of my favorite books use this sort of storytelling: Bove’s Derniére nuit and Lem’s Congress. This might not be an easy read, though it surely is worth the effort from the reader.
Bottomline: if you think the Matrix series was innovative, watch out for Lem’s apocalyptic view (decades earlier!), and if you like Lem, don’t miss Emmanuel Bove.
E.Villuendas
« Ostatnia zmiana: Stycznia 20, 2011, 12:15:53 pm wysłana przez Forum Admin »