I’m not even a third of the way through Lem’s The Cyberiad, but i’m struck with how it reminds me of mythology, with a pair of trickster-heroes inventing and lying their way through reality. It’s not a collection of Just-So stories, but the deep connection to something very ancient in human storytelling is powerful.
There hasn’t been a book that i’ve read in months that i have not loved (aside from The Historian. Fuck that book,) but it’s more fun reading The Cyberiad than i could have imagined. Lem’s a name tossed about by literati and elite geeks for decades, but only now i’m catching on to the fact that Douglas Adams is regularly dismissed by fans of Lem’s The Cyberiad, being a pale imitation, or lesser cousin via convergent evolution at best. Poor Adams… i don’t doubt for a moment now that he read Lem’s work or lifted elements from it, but he also came from a tradition of British humor that Lem borrowed little or nothing from. The peculiar folk-myth quality of Lem’s Cyberiad is nothing Adams used.
It doesn’t seem unlikely for Trurl and Klapaucius to be renamed as Coyote and Crow.
Off to read more, but this is among my favorite books read in quite a few years, just for pure entertainment.
the cyberiad is utterly fantastic! if you haven’t read it, once you’re done w/the cyberiad, you should check out ‘mortal engines,’ which is a kind of sequel and features many of the same characters. all of his interconnected works are amazing, from the comical ijon tichy tales to the more serious and far darker pirx the pilot tales. oh, his other ‘greatest, imho, is ‘fiasco’– don’t miss that one!
dang, you have some really great taste in stuff . . . .
well, you have read this stuff before, and i have not! Who’s the real person with good taste?
Perfect Vacuum was my first exposure to Lem, and it was instant addiction. Mortal Engines was already ordered and is on hold at work. Noticed Fiasco and the second Pirx the Pilot book is at the library last night.
Don’t rush into “His Master’s Voice”. Not great, although it had its moments and you might like it in your twisted hyper-intelligent way.
…..I’ve given all my copies of Pirx the Pilot away, the last one leaving with friends from Winnipeg a few weeks ago….but I love that series. I love Lem…..