The Playful Lem

Classic speculative fiction with a comedic approach

Conjuring worlds in which robots are kings and Earthlings exist on the fringes of the universe, Stanisław Lem's anachronistic fairy tales and science fiction parables envision knights who fight for the favor of a mechanical princess, a computer that can create anything (so long as it begins with the letter n), and a human astronaut who goes undercover on a planet ruled by robots. In celebrated translations by Michael Kandel and with a new introduction by Bożena Shallcross, the stories in this volume highlight age-old human weaknesses—vanity, jealousy, cowardice, and cruelty—while tickling the reader with layered humor ranging from satire to wordplay to slapstick.

Lem's oblique approach to indicting aggression and totalitarianism helped him avoid censorship while living under a restrictive government during the Cold War. Originally published in Polish in the 1950s and '60s, the stories collected here both evoke the concerns of the era and foresee today's technological capabilities as well as society's response.