I consider Oblok Magellana to be a rather poor work especially because of its language. I still can recall that I used to carry a notebook in which I scribbled down "beautiful expressions" I just invented. At that time I was under a strong influence of the German poet Rilke, hence my style was remotely related to this poet's. In addition the plot was way too "sweet" - so in the end The Magellan Nebula was an extract of the times of socialist realism. There are people who say one cannot criticize this book so much, since it is a fairy-tale utopia. So maybe my current evaluation is biased - because of bad experiences with socialist realism. Gallery
Lem's Opinion
I consider Oblok Magellana to be a rather poor work especially because of its language. I still can recall that I used to carry a notebook in which I scribbled down "beautiful expressions" I just invented. At that time I was under a strong influence of the German poet Rilke, hence my style was remotely related to this poet's. In addition the plot was way too "sweet" - so in the end The Magellan Nebula was an extract of the times of socialist realism. There are people who say one cannot criticize this book so much, since it is a fairy-tale utopia. So maybe my current evaluation is biased - because of bad experiences with socialist realism.