"The Cyberiad" by Stanislaw Lem

above: Trurl the Constructor.

(Polish author Stanislaw Lem was one of the great writers of Science Fiction; Best known for his novel "Solaris", he could always find new ways of looking at things, and had a wry sense of irony and politics. He died on March 27, 2006 at the age of 84. (more on Lem's death here.))

""Not far from here, by a white sun, behind a green star, lived the Steelypips, illustrious, industrious, and they hadn't a care: no spats in their vats, no rules, no schools, no gloom, no evil influence of the moon, no trouble from matter or antimatter - for they had a machine, a dream of a machine with springs and gears and perfect in every respect."
- The first sentence of "The Fifth Sally or Trurl's Prescription".

Lem's"The Cyberiad" delivers to my tastes better than any other book I've read. Subtitled "Fables for the Cybernetic Age", it is set in a universe (possibly the distant future) where most sentient creatures are machines. Carbon-based life exists, but it is rare to the point of being mythological. The book is a series of short stories (or fables) primarily concerning the doings of Trurl and Klapaucius, two "constructors" who are able to build just about anything, from a machine that can create anything beginning with "n" to a poet which can create poetry from almost any set of requirements. Instructed to create a "Poem about a haircut! But lofty, noble, tragic, timeless, full of love, treachery, retribution, quiet heroism in the face of certain doom! Six lines, cleverly rhymed, and every word beginning with the letter s!" the mechanical bard recited:

Seduced, shaggy Samson snored.
She scissored short.
Sorely shorn,
Soon shackled slave, Samson sighed,
Silently scheming, Sightlessly seeking
Some savage, spectacular suicide.

Their creations are not perfect, however. For example, Trurl creates a stories-tall calculator which not only thinks two and two are seven, but is arrogant about it. He ends up chasing the constructors into a cave after ransacking a village looking for the constructors. Another time, Trurl tries to help an exiled king by giving him a tiny "model" of a society. The king, a despot, creates a religion with the king as a god. Later, Klapaucius convinces Trurl that he modeled the world too well, and that the "people" in the "model" suffered as much as everyone. Trurl went back to take it away, only to find... well I won't spoil it.

Lots of great, fun adventures, written masterfully, telling meaningful stories. I just can't recommend it enough, although I don't expect anyone to enjoy it as much as I have.

Credit for the beautiful prose (and poetry) in this book should be given not just to Lem, but to his translator, Michael Kandel. To maintain the meaning, humor and poetic structure of Lem's writing while moving it from Polish to English must have been quite difficult. Since I don't read Polish, I can't actually say that it gained or lost anything in translation, but the result is (to me) extraordinarily amusing and beautiful.