Stanislaw Lem (Lviv, 1921 – Krakow, 2006) became famous for his science fiction novels, such as Solaris (1961), which transcend genre, like Ursula K. Le Guin or George Orwell transcend it; they therefore imply a profound political and philosophical overlap. A prolific writer, he also cultivates stories and essays. Their interests were broad, but they shared a critical vision that warned against abuses of power; an attitude of suspicion which is perfectly understandable when we know his biography.
As a young Jew, the occupation of Poland caused him to hide under another identity for years. In addition to interrupting his medical studies – which he then resumed without completing – it is said that he even dyed his hair blonde.
His first novels are inspired by these experiences, very different from those which made him famous: the trilogy Time not wastedthree volumes written between 1948 and 1950 and published in 1955, of which Impedimenta recovered, coinciding with the 75th anniversary of the invasion, the first two and the third is in preparation. They take place in the real world, even if they belong more to the realm of the novel of ideas than to realism.
A “magic mountain” in wartime
Each novel develops its own universe and can be read independently, even if the second takes the protagonist from the previous one. Without being strictly autobiographical, it is based on events that he and his family experienced, hidden of course by the powerful mask of fiction. The first, Transfiguration Hospital (trans. Joanna Bardzińska), follows the adventures of Stefan Trzyniecki, his alter egoa young doctor who, during the first months of the invasion, finds work in a psychiatric hospital located in a remote forest.
This framework already invites us to recall another eminent sanatorium, that of The magic mountain (1924). Without reaching its complexity, this does not detract from the comparison: the innocence of the protagonist, discreet, calm and observant, is corrupted by the testimony of certain treatments and the delusional character, not only of the patients, but of certain colleagues. Basically, and this was not the case for Thomas Mann, there is fear, the awareness that at any moment the Nazi forces could burst in and break the order, a precarious and questionable order from a point of view. ethical view, but her order, after all. The sick are potential victims; The duty of doctors is to protect them and even the most unusual have unsuspected attempts at humanity.
Meanwhile, in the time suspended from the routine of the center, life goes on: friendships, attractions, disturbances, confrontations. With Stefan at its center, each episode focuses on one or more different characters. There are some luxurious supporting characters: the eccentric Dr. Sekulowski, a poet-philosopher who baffles and fascinates him with his transcendental conversations (it’s impossible not to remember Mann’s Settembrini); Dr Nosilewska, who fascinates young doctors; the intrepid surgeon Kauters; the honest director; the tenants of the women’s pavilion; or the electrician foreman at the end, humble but with the key to enlightening everything.
Like Hans Castorp, the protagonist is a young man open to life, receptive to stimuli, still a bit of a sponge for what happens around him, for the (great) dialogues. Healthy, healthy, in principle; because if he discovers anything, it is that the border between reason and madness is tenuous, especially in environments like the sanatorium or during war. Just look at the language of the German officers: vulgar, threatening, derogatory; Those who were ordinary citizens are transformed into thugs who believe they have the world in their hands (yes, this is very reminiscent of the discourse that the far right has co-opted).
The destiny of a prodigious mind
The second part, among the dead (trans. Abel Murcia and Katarzyna Moloniewicz), is even cruder; Lem hid reality less, which is why he ended up denying this one (and the next one); It’s not that talking about the past was forbidden, society was aware of the Holocaust, but what she describes is so harsh that, with the wounds still unhealed, it could hurt. In the time lapse, it takes place after the end of the previous one, but changes the setting to an urban area and divides the spotlight between Stefan, at his uncle’s house, and Karol Wilk, a self-taught mathematical genius.
Orphaned and poor, but endowed with a prodigious mind, Wilk proves to be an extraordinary character, too taciturn to be a Dickensian hero. After the loss of his parents, during his formative years, he experienced two turning points: the discovery of numbers, on the packaging of a package; and the message from a stranger who tells him about his father, communism and prison, ideas which awaken many questions in him, about who he is, what his roots are, what he will do from now on. Curious and with a great capacity for learning, he takes advantage of the few opportunities that present themselves to him; Despite this, when he was refused the scholarship, he was forced to enter a workshop where Jews worked.
The company, despite the humiliation it suffers from its subordinates (and even from its bosses), is a kind of cover. Wilk, diligent and simple, fits in like Stefan entered the hospital: without prejudice, forging his identity through encounters in the daily life of the factory. This is the darkest period of the occupation; Despair is in the air. The moral conflict instilled in him by his father’s friend is revived: in times of war, the individual must choose between taking sides (the legacy of his father), with the risks that this entails; or focus on your personal development, the gift with which you can enhance humanity.
Stefan, for his part, finds the family – in the first there was already a scene, at the beginning and towards the end, closing the loop, in a climate of uncertainty in which he is no longer the boy who left to study -. While looking for work by making contacts (more superb characters), he receives suspicious glances (he is not Jewish, but physically he responds to the prototype; there is a scene in the hairdressing salon inspired by the experience of Lem). The persecution of Jews and the transfer to concentration camps are part of the routine. Your dilemma will be to decide which side you are on and act accordingly. In addition, he meets someone who puts him in touch with the sanatorium.
You can’t escape the horror
The trilogy is more choral than it seems: we find a large number of characters there, representing different layers of society: rich and poor, Jews and Aryans, educated and illiterate, pious and unbelieving, healthy and sick, bosses and employees, all political types. , of a wide range of ages. They share being lost. And none of them are sincere, they can’t be; On the contrary, the protagonists are due to their inexperience; They maintain a capacity for attention, an open-mindedness and a lack of anchoring which lead them to move and discover the world (even if it is the world of their Poland), an essential condition for knowing others well. .
The contrasts also appear in the spaces: the city, the sanatorium, the workshop, the concentration camp (one of the rawest, almost documentary episodes). These are not settings, but are linked to the characters, to the lives they nest. For example, one chapter describes a building: no protagonist lives there, only secondary characters, but their stories eventually come together. Lem paints a mural of the neighborhood which is an x-ray of the era. His entire story has a patina of genius, also in the way he describes each character. A display of humor, metaphors and powerful images that combine the ridiculousness of the character with the turbidity of the mind.
Both novels end with the protagonist looking over the precipice. Wojciech Orliński, author of the prologue to the second part, says that it might disappoint by not picking up the action exactly where it left off in the first part; However, it is understandable that Stefan chose another path and faced another journey. If a criticism can be made, it is at most that it is somewhat disjointed, to compress a microcosm in each episode, to the detriment of the continuous narrative tension. Yet each page is such a marvel of prose, dialogue, psychological characterization, erudition and at the same time enjoyment, that it is read with absolute pleasure.
Lem avoided the concentration camp, but not all his relatives suffered the same fate. Either way, those years took a toll on him. Over time, devoted entirely to literary creation, he found in the invention of other galaxies a channel to express, in multiple forms, what the Holocaust meant. However, even in these first novels recovered today, which have nothing of a youthful attempt, he was already a great writer, with this thoughtful and moving background which permeates his great works. It remains only to hope that the third part will not be long in coming.
