„The Hospital of Transfiguration” marks the beginning of Lem's writing. It is a different novel – contemporary, even a „war novel”. Yet the author managed – within the confinement of a psychiatric hospital, separated from the outside world – to stage a drama of one man strangely torn between his mind and body, desperately seeking meaning of life and trying to save his ethical instinct in the face of the new European nihilism attacking both from the outside and from the inside – in the form of a disease of the soul. Contrary to what might seem in „Hospital of Transfiguration” lie the roots of the most important of Lem's science fiction works.
5.00 out of 5 based on 2 ratings2 user reviews.
A trip into the surreal
Reviewed by Kostandin Pajcini "fudull" on
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The symbolism and philosophical insight in this book is astounding. The setting is Poland, following the Nazi invasion, but it seems that by starting a new job in an insane asylum, the protagonist escapes the outside world and his "lost motherland" only to join an alien landscape where deranged and yet fascinating people live. You can almost see that even in his first book Lem was already thinking science fiction by reading some of the case histories of the patients. The story almost carries you to another world and until the last chapter you seem to forget the reality of the precarious situation that mental patients faced during Nazi occupation. While I truly enjoyed the story and the dialogues between Stefan and Sekulowski, this book lacks a coherent plot, and suffers from detailed focus into inconsequential details, such as the appearance of a graveyard in the winter and the rays of sunlight shining through the window of a room.
Kostandin Pajcini "fudull"
Rating: 55
Different from Lem's others
Reviewed by Connor on
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But that's probably because it is his first novel.Hospital of the Transfiguration is about a young man called Stefan who is overly self-concious about his every action.But from reading The Cyberiad first,this was a new experience for me.But nonetheless,it is still a very good novel.
Rating: 55
