A perfect vacuum

by Stanisław Lem

Other authorsMichael Kandel

Paper Book, 1999

Status

Available

Call number

891.8/5373

Genres

Science Fiction

All Topics

Fiction

Publication

Evanston, Ill. : Northwestern University Press, 1999.

Description

This is a collection of perfect yet imaginary reviews of nonexistent books. With insidious wit, the author beguiles us with a parade of delightful, disarmingly familiar inventions. "Lem is Harpo Marx and Franz Kafka and Isaac Asimov rolled up into one and down the white rabbit's hole" (Detroit News). A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book

Media reviews

The Spectator

Lem's new book is the first book reviewed in this book of imaginary book reviews. Lem as not-Lem reviewing not-Lem as Lem, or perhaps Lem1 enclosing Lem2, or the other way about. The title of the book means that it is a book 'about nothing'. In that the books, reviewed do not, and cannot, exist,

the reviews cannot exist either. Nor can my own review exist. Let us pretend that it does... Lem is too constructive a writer to be able to demolish through absurdity. Besides, literature can now take absurdity in its stride. In his review of Mme Solange's Rien du tout, ou la consequence, we meet the anti-roman to end all. Fiction lies, because it is fictitious; therefore let us create a verifaction ofdenials: 'He was not born, consequently he was not named either; on account of this he neither cheated in school nor later got mixed up in politics.' ... You have some idea now of the games Lem is playing, but towards the end they become not literary, which is easy, but philosophico-scientific, which is hard.

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User reviews

LibraryThing member Saerdna

A collection of reviews of imaginary books, many of which make Ulysses seem devoid of ambition.

2 more

LibraryThing member keylawk

Reviews of nonexistent books. One is a book entitled “U Write It”, which is a literary erector set. Another is “Sexplosion”, in which three giant corporations sort of have sex and meet ruin. In “The New Cosmogony”, a purported Nobel winner provides an address which is nonsense, but

sounds like erudition. And of course, there is “Rien du tout, ou la consequence”.

Stanislaw Lem shines a mirror upon the dark world of hypocrisy. He brings a kind of understanding to human idiocy.

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LibraryThing member tungsten_peerts

Jeepers, this is fun. Lem dances the Borges (and acknowledges that he's doing so) and gives it his inimitable, vigorously mentated spin-dizzy. *A Perfect Vacuum* consists of "reviews" of books that don't actually exist. The reader -- at least this one -- can't help but wish some of them *did* exist

(especially *Gigamesh* since I'm one of those weirdos who loves *Finnegans Wake*).

It helps that Lem has/had a wonderful translator in Michael Kandel -- I can't vouch for the accuracy of his translations since I don't know Polish, but I can certainly vouch for how well they read, and the two or three I've read read brilliantly.

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