Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Futura Publications (1977), Paperback, 160 pages
Description
Bringing his twin gifts of scientific speculation and scathing satire to bear on that hapless planet, Earth, Lem sends his unlucky cosmonaut, Ijon Tichy, to the Eighth Futurological Congress. Caught up in local revolution, Tichy is shot and so critically wounded that he is flashfrozen to await a future cure. Translated by Michael Kandel.
User reviews
LibraryThing member soylentgreen23
Lem peels back the layers of unreality so many times as he runs with his audience through this piece that it's kind of difficult to know where the story is... until about half way through he settles down and tells one. When he does, all the confusion of the first forty pages is forgiven, and what
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one then reads is a delight. If only it hadn't been so painful tumbling down the rabbit to get there. Show Less
LibraryThing member MyopicBookworm
On the whole, I found this book disappointing. The first part (chaotic mayhem in a narcotic haze) produced the kind of disorientation in the reader that was better done by Philip K. Dick, and provides an entirely unnecessary (and often rather silly) scene-setting for the second part. This is a
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dystopia in which society is regulated by narcotics. In terms of literary inventiveness, it offers little advance over older dystopias, particularly Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932), Samuel Butler's Erewhon (1872), or even Swift's Gulliver's Travels. Not all of the social insight seems especially deep either, though there are some interesting ideas which do strike a chord: debate over the rights of intelligent robots, for example, and the prospect of people dropping out of society while engrossed in virtual realities. The facetious satire (common to many SF dystopias) is sometimes wearing. On the positive side, some (not all) of the linguistic jokes and post-modern plays on words are truly witty or thought-provoking, and the translator's ingenuity is therefore highly impressive. But for someone who has heard of Lem and wants to sample his work, I don't think this is the place to start. MB 17-v-07, revised 3-vi-07 Show Less
LibraryThing member clong
This is a strange little book. It starts out with our protagonist Ijon Tichy arriving for one of group of competing conventions being held simultaneously in a massive luxury hotel in a third world nation. This leads into a very funny, almost slapstick, extended scene that brings to mind the Marx
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Brothers on drugs (he gets a room on the hundredth floor, which “had its own palm tree grove, in which an all-girl orchestra played Bach while performing a cleverly choreographed strip tease”). Then things start to get surreally dangerous when the local revolutionaries release mind altering chemicals and start shooting real bullets and setting off real bombs. Our protagonist is shot and flash frozen to await future advances in medical technology (a similar plot device is used in Lem’s Fiasco). When Tichy is thawed out, he finds himself in a very strange, chemically engineered utopian seeming future. But, he discovers, all is not as it seems. As in Cyberiad, Lem spends lots of time making up words to represent concepts nobody has ever thought of before (obviously, a translator’s nightmare). And we don’t really get much in terms of character development or action. This is definitely a novel of ideas, rooted in concerns about overpopulation, which ultimately manages to keep its dark sense of humor. Not my favorite Lem, but worth reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member TheAmpersand
Stanislaw Lem isn't the first person to ask whether we can be sure what we see is really real, nor is "The Futurological Congress" the best exploration of this philosophical chestnut, but this one is worth a read anyway. While it's still a wild, even disorienting ride from first page to last, Lem's
The prose is not the main attraction here. While our hero, Ijon Tichy, undergoes wild transformations in the course of this one, living, as he does, in a future where it's easier to switch bodies than to change a car tire, Lem doesn't really dwell on the import of these changes, and it can often seem as though too much is happening too fast. I had to reread the first half of this one just to keep my bearings. As might be expected from a science fiction novel from this period, there isn't much indirect in Lem's third person: he didn't write "the Futurological Congress" to explore the subjective nature of consciousness and identity. What surprised me, though, is how funny the book often is. Lem and his translator worked overtime to come up with bizarre, humorous drug names and charmingly redefine existing words to fit in their manic, buzzed, and horribly overcrowded future. I can't think of another book that would define an expectorant as a conception aid.
I'm sure that a good amount of readers will enjoy "The Futurological Congress" for its retro charm: it is, at the very least, a curio from an era that, as Louis Menand put it, conceptualized almost everything as a drug trip. But some more durable themes do emerge. The author draws a neat parallel between lazy, underperforming and rebellious robots and the way that capitalists, according to communist critiques, view the working class. The book is also, in a roundabout way, one in a long tradition of literature that warns readers of our desires to distance ourselves from the harshest aspects of our reality: it could be argued that the difference between Lem's "psychem" and Zuckerberg's Meta is that one relies on chemistry and the other on circuitry. And Lem both echoes and criticizes contemporary postmodernists who aim to show that language provides the key to divining and creating our future. Interesting as all of this sometimes is, it's the very weirdness of "The Futurological Congress" that hits you hardest: it's a short book, but it describes a constant, freaked-out stream of events that barely pauses to catch a breath. It's not exactly a life-changer, perhaps, but it's certainly a trip. Whether you grok it or not, there isn't too much out there that's quite like this one.
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future also belongs to yesterday, defined, as it is, by the student protest and sexual liberation movements of the late sixties and early seventies and the dire prophecies of Paul Ehrlich's "The Population Bomb." It's the sort of book that could have only been written in 1971, featuring, as it does, bearded would-be assassins, shamelessly liberated literary movements, brutal Latin American dictatorships, and controlled psychotropic substances by the trainload. The prose is not the main attraction here. While our hero, Ijon Tichy, undergoes wild transformations in the course of this one, living, as he does, in a future where it's easier to switch bodies than to change a car tire, Lem doesn't really dwell on the import of these changes, and it can often seem as though too much is happening too fast. I had to reread the first half of this one just to keep my bearings. As might be expected from a science fiction novel from this period, there isn't much indirect in Lem's third person: he didn't write "the Futurological Congress" to explore the subjective nature of consciousness and identity. What surprised me, though, is how funny the book often is. Lem and his translator worked overtime to come up with bizarre, humorous drug names and charmingly redefine existing words to fit in their manic, buzzed, and horribly overcrowded future. I can't think of another book that would define an expectorant as a conception aid.
I'm sure that a good amount of readers will enjoy "The Futurological Congress" for its retro charm: it is, at the very least, a curio from an era that, as Louis Menand put it, conceptualized almost everything as a drug trip. But some more durable themes do emerge. The author draws a neat parallel between lazy, underperforming and rebellious robots and the way that capitalists, according to communist critiques, view the working class. The book is also, in a roundabout way, one in a long tradition of literature that warns readers of our desires to distance ourselves from the harshest aspects of our reality: it could be argued that the difference between Lem's "psychem" and Zuckerberg's Meta is that one relies on chemistry and the other on circuitry. And Lem both echoes and criticizes contemporary postmodernists who aim to show that language provides the key to divining and creating our future. Interesting as all of this sometimes is, it's the very weirdness of "The Futurological Congress" that hits you hardest: it's a short book, but it describes a constant, freaked-out stream of events that barely pauses to catch a breath. It's not exactly a life-changer, perhaps, but it's certainly a trip. Whether you grok it or not, there isn't too much out there that's quite like this one.
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LibraryThing member rdaneel
Really good. Michael Kandel is an amazing translator. This is a story about how civilization is falling apart due to overpopulation, and the government is resorting to mass drugging to keep things under control. Quite scary, once you realize that the physical drugging can be read as a metaphor for
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brainwashing by the mass media. Show Less
LibraryThing member gnapp
Not my kind of book. It's way too many things happening in way too few words; it's like a retelling of what happened in the book, without actually getting to see it. Some interesting ideas, but nothing more.
LibraryThing member CBJames
The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem took me by surprise. The author wrote the novel Solaris which was made into a classic Russian movie, perhaps the only classic Russian science fiction picture of the Soviet era. Solaris is a serious piece, very similar to 2001: A Space Odessy. The
The protagonist, Ijon Tichy is a cosmonaut sent to attend the Eighth Futurological Congress which is being held at a luxury hotel in Costa Rica. A group of revolutionaries attack the city by releasing a hallucinogenic drug into the water system of the hotel sending scores of scientist into the streets where they are confronted by competing death squads. After Tichy is shot, he is flashfrozen into suspended animation to be cured at a later date. He wakes up in 2039 to find a future stranger than anything anyone at the congress ever dreamed of.
But the plot isn't important. Mr. Lem uses his storyline about the future to parody his own present, and he's quite good at it. Early in the novel he describes a modification The Futurological Congress made to accommodate the large numbers of scientists who have papers to present:
Each speaker was given four minutes to present his paper, as there were so many scheduled--198 from 64 different countries. To help expedite the proceedings, all reports had to be distributed and studied beforehand, while the lecturer would speak only in numerals, calling attention in this fashion to the salient paragraphs of his work. To better receive and process such wealth of information, we all turned on our portable recorders and pocket computers (which later would be plugged in for the general discussion.) Stan Hazelton of the U.S. delegation immediately threw the hall into a flurry by emphatically repeating: 4, 6, 11 and therefore 22; 5, 9, hence 22; 3, 7, 2, 11, from which if followed that 22 and only 22!! Someone jumped up, saying yes but 5, and what about 6, 18, or 4 for that matter; Hazelton countered this objection with the crushing retort that, either way, 22. I turned to the number key in his paper and discovered that 22 meant the end of the world.
The end of the world yes, but The Futurological Congress was published in the early 1970's when Kurt Vonnegut was producing books like Breakfast of Champions, Woody Allen's Sleeper was in theatres, and "Kilgore Trout's" novel Venus on the Halfshell was released. The end of the world was much more fun in those days.
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Futurological Congress is a comic romp similar to early Kurt Vonnegut or Kilgore Trout. It's a wild ride.The protagonist, Ijon Tichy is a cosmonaut sent to attend the Eighth Futurological Congress which is being held at a luxury hotel in Costa Rica. A group of revolutionaries attack the city by releasing a hallucinogenic drug into the water system of the hotel sending scores of scientist into the streets where they are confronted by competing death squads. After Tichy is shot, he is flashfrozen into suspended animation to be cured at a later date. He wakes up in 2039 to find a future stranger than anything anyone at the congress ever dreamed of.
But the plot isn't important. Mr. Lem uses his storyline about the future to parody his own present, and he's quite good at it. Early in the novel he describes a modification The Futurological Congress made to accommodate the large numbers of scientists who have papers to present:
Each speaker was given four minutes to present his paper, as there were so many scheduled--198 from 64 different countries. To help expedite the proceedings, all reports had to be distributed and studied beforehand, while the lecturer would speak only in numerals, calling attention in this fashion to the salient paragraphs of his work. To better receive and process such wealth of information, we all turned on our portable recorders and pocket computers (which later would be plugged in for the general discussion.) Stan Hazelton of the U.S. delegation immediately threw the hall into a flurry by emphatically repeating: 4, 6, 11 and therefore 22; 5, 9, hence 22; 3, 7, 2, 11, from which if followed that 22 and only 22!! Someone jumped up, saying yes but 5, and what about 6, 18, or 4 for that matter; Hazelton countered this objection with the crushing retort that, either way, 22. I turned to the number key in his paper and discovered that 22 meant the end of the world.
The end of the world yes, but The Futurological Congress was published in the early 1970's when Kurt Vonnegut was producing books like Breakfast of Champions, Woody Allen's Sleeper was in theatres, and "Kilgore Trout's" novel Venus on the Halfshell was released. The end of the world was much more fun in those days.
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LibraryThing member BayardUS
Science fiction as satire has been done before (see Gulliver's Travels) as have narratives that make you question whether the main character's experiences are actually happening (see anything by Leo Perutz) but Lem does both well and at the same time to boot. The opening convention was funny,
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something I don't say about many books, and the final two thirds go far enough down the rabbit hole that it started to make me question my guess as to what was truly going on. Lem has range, a quality few science fiction authors possess, and even if I prefer his more straight-faced science fiction books this one was a lot of fun too. Show Less
LibraryThing member ChadReasco
Was anyone else aroused during that probot scene?
While I love the concept of dystopian futures, none of them usually satisfy. But this book is both hilarious and disturbing to your sense of security in society, while not attempting to moralize (afterall, why the hell would you want to do that
While I love the concept of dystopian futures, none of them usually satisfy. But this book is both hilarious and disturbing to your sense of security in society, while not attempting to moralize (afterall, why the hell would you want to do that
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after deconstructing morals for about two hundred pages). His obsession with puns may seem quaint, but I think this was Lem's comment on advertising which is just as relevant as Orwell's points about Newspeak. Again, the reality of politics is frightening enough. It's like listening to a They Might Be Giants album; Lem proves you can do a light-hearted nightmare. Show Less
LibraryThing member defrog
Well, I had to try Lem after the meme gods told me to. It’s a pretty wild ride – the main character attends a conference of futurologists then ends up in the future to see what it really looks like. It’s packed with ideas – so much so that a lot of things can happen in a single paragraph,
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so you have to pay attention. But it’s pretty interesting, so I may have to try Lem again sometime soon. Show Less
LibraryThing member melydia
Ijon Tichy is attempting to attend a conference of futurists when his hotel is attacked by terrorists with mind-altering gas. Through a series of absurd events, Tichy finds himself resurrected several decades in the future, when everyone relies on chemical supplements to provide them with all
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knowledge and emotion, perception-altering drugs that hide a distressing reality. This all sounds terribly dystopian and horrifying, and in some ways it is, but it is also pretty hilarious satire. It's one of those sorts of books where you just have to go with it, and pay special attention to the made-up words and random asides, many of which are the funniest parts of the book. I hadn't expected to so enjoy this book - I'd sort of expected it to be a bit of a slog, a book about an idea only tenuously strung together with plot - but this was quite a romp. The humor is dark, to be sure, but still quite entertaining. Show Less
LibraryThing member James.Igoe
Get into the rhythm...
This satire has a particular patter, very fast, and once you go with it, the ribald 'ride' becomes immensely enjoyable.
This satire has a particular patter, very fast, and once you go with it, the ribald 'ride' becomes immensely enjoyable.
LibraryThing member greeniezona
It's entirely thanks to my sister, Jessa, that I discovered Lem, and thanks to the used bookstore in Mecosta that I keep finding old paperbooks of his and adding them to my collection.
This is a dystopian, chaotic future, full of rioting and hallucinogenic drugs used as societal control. This book
This is a dystopian, chaotic future, full of rioting and hallucinogenic drugs used as societal control. This book
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is a hallucination within a hallucination within a hallucination. Where do they end? And what is the truth? The multiple hallucinations allow Lem to explore a number of possible futures and possible realities. None of which are terribly comforting. Show Less
Language
Original language
Polish
Original publication date
1971 (Kongres futurologiczny: Ze wspomnień Ijona Tichego )
1974 (The Futurological Congress)
Physical description
160 p.; 17 cm
ISBN
0860079287 / 9780860079286
Local notes
Omslag: Ikke angivet
Omslaget viser nogle pudsige helikoptere der svæver over en by. I en sandbunke viser kranie og skeletarm fra en pilot vejen frem
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Omslaget viser nogle pudsige helikoptere der svæver over en by. I en sandbunke viser kranie og skeletarm fra en pilot vejen frem
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Other editions
Fremtidskongressen by Stanislaw Lem (Paper Book)
Similar in this library
Series
Pages
160
DDC/MDS
| 891.8537 |