Stanislaw Lem: Selected Letters to Michael Kandel

In Stanislaw Lem: Life and Selected Letters Peter Swirski brings the unknown elements of Lem's legacy to light. Filled with a welter of personal and historical detail and enriched by Lem's comments from personal letters to the author, the biographical section traces the thread of Lem's life and career in the context of his cultural influence, telling the story of one of the greatest writers and thinkers of the century. It is followed by a comprehensive critical overview of Lem's belletristic and philosophical oeuvre which comprises not only the classics like Solaris, but his untranslated first novels, realistic prose, experimental works, volumes of nonfiction, latter-day metafiction, as well as the final twenty years of polemics and essays.

The letters deliver an annotated translation of Lem's fifteen-year correspondence with his principal American translator. Covering the entire central period of Lem's life and career, they offer unparalleled vistas on the raw intellectual powers, smouldering literary passions, as well as startling and revealing personal concerns.

Peter Swirski is Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Stanislaw Lem was the internationally acclaimed author of many books, and has been cited as the most widely read science fiction writer in the world.

Introduction
PART ONE: BIOGRAPHY
1. Life and Times
2. In the Kaleidoscope of Books
PART TWO: LETTERS
3. A Man of Letters
4. Letters, 1972-1987
PART THREE: PROVOCATION
5. I've Got the Book at Home
6. Provocation
Appendices
Select Bibliography
Index