Introductions
By pure chance scientists discover a signal from space that could be an statement from rational beings. How can we read this message knowing nothing about the senders? What if we are not even sure whether they exist? "His Master's Voice" is not a typical book. It lacks an adventure plot, yet struggle with the mystery rivets readers' attention more than in many adventure books, especially since the encounter with the unknown provokes elementary questions about the nature of the world, nature of man and reasons for defects of Being.
None of Lem's series took so long to write; there were thirty years between the first and last tale of „The Star Diaries” (“The Advantages of the Dragon”). Author's inventiveness in creating fantastic worlds and extraordinary plots seems endless. The famous interstellar traveler Ijon Tichy on the one hand resembles baron Münchausen, on the other – Gulliver. The tales of his incredible adventures bring as many hilarious and improbable events as serious reflections on the paradoxical nature of the world, of man and of his culture - based on contradictions.
"The Cyberiad" and "Robot's tales" (in the US a collection entitled “The Cosmic Carnival of Stanislaw Lem was also published) is a witty blend of traditional tales and science-fiction - there are “constructors” instead of wizards and magic; apparent miracles turn out to be the outcome of exceptional engineering capabilities. However, greedy kings, cruel and hungry for power, stem from our very own world. Just as among us, there live naive healers of the world, who believe it takes only one good idea to save humanity. In robots' states nothing good results from that. The case with us – suggests Lem – would be very similar, since neither evil nor (fortunately) good cannot be eradicated. And we will never give up telling tales.
"The Astronauts", one the most famous novels by Lem, was initially published in 1951; since it had to comply with the schematics of the so-called socialist realism in communist Poland, Lem was reluctant to authorize reissues. His first novel dedicated to interstellar travel presented author's exceptional imagination and faith that reason eventually would overcome political madness. The story of Earth attacked by Venus, previously destroyed in a fratricidal battle, remains a moving vision of results of primitive practicism and struggle for power.