Great Writer Passes On: Stanislaw Lem 1921-2006
It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Stanislaw Lem, the outstanding Polish writer who died in Krakow this Monday afternoon.
Mr. Lem, arguably the greatest science fiction writer of his day, was eighty-four, and he had been dogged by heart disease in recent years.
Lem's most famous novels included 'Solaris' (made into two rather unfaithful films!), 'The Cyberiad' and 'Memoirs Found In A Bathtub'. Later he came to reject the science fiction label, and he ceased to write books that could be described as such, following the collapse of the Iron Curtain in 1989.
Lem was born in the grand city of Lwow (now Lviv), but like thousands of other Poles, he was compelled to leave when the city was absorbed into the Soviet Union in the wake of the Second World War. He lived much of the remainder of his years in Cracow, where he began his career as a writer.
Mr Lem may have been weakened by illness in recent years, but visitors who met him noted that he had lost none of his sprightliness. Lem continued to write a sparkling bi-weekly column for the newspaper 'Tygodnik Powszechny' right until the end. He will be sorely missed.