Customer Reviews

Fiasco

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How hard can you take it? Fiasco is the fourth and most pessimistic of Lem's "contact" novels (after Eden, The Invincible and Solaris). Humanity undertakes its first interstellar voyage in the hope of making contact with the inhabitants of the planet Quinta, but the aliens won't play ball and all the scientists can do, as usual, is present various theories which achieve little, nothing, or worse than nothing. The basic problem is a simple one (and a recurrent Lem theme): how can human beings hope to recognize, let alone understand or talk to, creatures which are wholly different in their biological and technological heritage? There's a good deal of technical discussion, concerning both the possibilities of contact and the workings of interstellar travel, which might prove difficult going; but if you stick with it the paradoxes are delightful, though hardly encouraging; and the descriptive passages are as good as anything in Solaris. The opening chapter is a stunning jou!rney through a literally titanic landscape, and although it might at first seem rather loosely related to the rest of the book, its perspective on the "heroic" protagonist is vital to the ending - another set-piece in a beautifully evoked alien landscape, this time on Quinta. Heroism, even human-ness itself, when confronted with the alien, is not just an irrelevance (as it is to varying degrees in the three previous books) but a deadly liability. Even now that it can resurrect the dead and travel to the stars, humanity still can't see outside itself. The expedition, though a miracle of human endeavour, is a fiasco. But Fiasco is a hard, ironic, sometimes breathtaking triumph.

Almost all of Lem's science fiction centers around one or two variations of one theme. The theme is "What is intelligence?" and the two variations are "What would robotic life be like?" and "What would a truly alien intelligence be like?" "Fiasco" is in the latter category. An expedition from Earth approaches and attempts to contact an alien race that does everything it can to avoid being contacted. The humans use their technological advantage to slowly escalate their efforts with ultimately catastrophic results.

"Fiasco" is a brilliant read on its own, and very approachable, but should really be considered part of Lem's larger set of works on this theme: "Solaris", "Eden" and "His Master's Voice" being the most obvious...with "Fiasco" being the most approachable, "Solaris" the best known and "His Master's Voice" the most challenging.

The finest example of science fiction in the world. Kandel does his usual acrobatics in rendering Lem's Polish into English. Lem has obviously learned much from Olaf Stapeldon; if only other writers would do the same, sci-fi would not be such a disappointing genre. Instead, sadly, Fiasco and Stapeldon's sci-fi books seem to be out-of-print.

Fiasco is simply astonishing: a meditation on the nature of intelligence, culture, technology. Lem often parodies science fiction while writing serious literature, but with this novel he and translator Michael Kandel outdid all previous efforts.

While The Futurological Congress remains my favorite Lem book (personal taste), Fiasco is the best Lem book in English, followed closely by the 'lectures' of GOLEM the computer in Lem's Imaginary Magnitude.

The cover art has nothing to do directly with the story. Simply the artists idea of what the story was about in a metaphorical way.

What IS the story about? Set in a future when humankind finally acts on the basis of a scientific ideal not personal gain a planet is discovered in a distant solar system that has a high probability of supporting life. An expedition is sent and seemingly noble efforts are made to make contact with the inhabitants. The story illustrates, in my own opinion, that no matter how 'evolved' we think we are, no matter how noble and honorably we think we can be, our pride in ourselves and our accomplishments has a way of causing us to ultimately act in barbaric ways.

The beginning of the story is astonishing and relates the re-animation of a man frozen on Titan a century earlier. The scene painted by Lem of this mans technique in saving himself, his death, and his eventual return to the living are all astonishingly well-written and full of imagery. Lem is a master at getting the reader to imagine a very realistic and plausible scenario. All of this takes place in the first few chapters. This introductory story also serves to acquaint us with the 'evolved' and noble human of the distant future. The human we all hope our childrens children become.

There is also a short description of mans mastery of gravity and cybernetics. This is related in a short description of an smart probe vehicle and the probes independently deduced attempts to avoid capture by the planets inhabitants.

Ive read other readers comments regarding Lems use of science as a tool only and that he is not a true science fiction writer. I completely disagree. Perhaps Lem does not display a firm understanding of science to some readers, but it is obvious to me that he not only understands the science behind his ideas he is capable of explaining that understanding in the way he can illustrate the possibilities and limitations of his machines.

Lem's stories are unusual in that there is rarely a happy ending or any ending at all. When the message is delivered the story ends often without a climactic scene. Also, it is rare (except for Ijon Tichy or Kris Kelvin) for Lem to make any of his characters more important than any others in a particular story.

I would love to see this story made into a movie. In fact I think this particular book is much better subject matter than Solaris for movie material. With the recent advances in CGI and special effects I think this could be done very well.

Finally, Lem is a science fiction writer like no other. No one in the west comes close and Michael Kandle's translations are absolutely the best.

Contrary to an impassioned and misplaced review Lem isn't arguing against space-travel, nor is he being morbidly sensitive about the death of traditional cultures. Lem is holding up a mirror of introspection about the human race and our technological future - the aliens the expedition sets out to contact are in many ways us, at least the collectivised Communo-Capitalist version of ourselves. The key to understanding is the "mini-novel" cleverly embedded in the main-story as a bit of VR entertainment for the crew. An expedition into an inhospitable African desert to find the control centre of the kingdom of the termites. And a centre that, in the end, doesn't exist. Lem has frequently pitted massive hulking machinery against techno-biological collectives, and usually the big machines fail. Bottom-up collective action defeats top-down command-decision hierarchies. But the collective doesn't make right either - Quinta's collectives are engaged in apocalyptic Cold-War, countering each other's espionage efforts so violently that the EM spectrum from the planet is full of noise and all space-vehicles are autonomous AIs. The planet is ruined and the populace seemingly enslaved to the war effort. The expedition is attacked by the machines, but instead of retaliation more vocal contact efforts are attempted. When contact is made the Quintans are too distracted to care about the newcomers. All that matters is countering the enemy, or so it seems. That's where the whole thing unravels. SETI and CETI become a fiasco when we don't fit in the mental space of the aliens. Yet Lem is really telling us about the futility of war, hot or cold, and the dangers of the collective, the hive, and technology that enslaves. He's written a book packed with ideas and new ones will stick in your head with each re-read.

This is the only one of his books that I've ever read outside of Solaris and there are a lot of parallels in that book. Like that one, Lem discusses contact with an alien race and like Solaris, that contact goes against all previous sci-fi notions along those lines. Though in Solaris the alien was the planet and it was largely unreachable as an entity, which was the point, here the aliens even talk to the crewmembers though Lem still never shows what they look like. But this has some of his most interesting philosophical discussions, something we don't see a lot of in science-fiction today, or ever, for that matter. The reactions of the crew to a planet completely at war are fascinating, instead of staying out of it, they keep trying to show their strength and scare the inhabitants . . . so much for that Prime Directive. To me, the reactions of the crew were much more realistic than any other book I've read and if some people think they're extreme . . . well try to imagine yourself in the same situation. It's nearly impossible. It's a pity that this book is out of print when so many other lesser books are, but a dedicated fan can find it and if the number of reviews here inspires someone to go search it out, then hey, we've done our job.

Walked into this one with Eden, Return From The Stars, Solaris, Cyberiad and most of the Pirx stories under my belt. After reading Fiasco, I researched Lem on the Web, for the first time, just to get to know this extaordinary man and his career better. I found out that I not only learn from him, I also learn just from reading about him.

I believe this novel, Lem's last, contains his finest effort of all. The playfulness and leitmotifs of some of his other work are absent, but we get a sober treatment of just how a voyage of several light years could be carried out, and a cautionary tale about expectations,self delusion and just how alien alien can get. The first chapter, that some other reviewers found boring, I found to be written in the style of his Pirx stories, with one event leading to the next, and with our pilot Parvis' viewpoint featured. No deep concepts, no long, involved conversations - just an adventure story prequel to the Quinta voyage. For example, the six-page description of Parvis taking control of the fusion-powered Digla is a fascinating and satisfying tour de force of traditional hard scifi. I climbed into the control harness as if I was Parvis, while I renewed my deep love of Lem's evocative prose (see title of this review). The first chapter takes place on the moon Titan, and depicts the workaday world of our thoroughly conquered Solar system, while informing us that Pirx has disappeared on a Digla operation, and a spaceman very much like Pirx sets out in another one to find him. Lem's mixture of hard science fiction with lyrical description is pure catnip for readers with hungry imaginations. You aren't merely wowed by all the mecha; you enter into the joy of it.

The remainder of 'Fiasco' is, in my opinion, the blueprint, the highest court of appeal, for ALL hard science fiction. 'Fiasco' isn't fiction with a scientific theme; it is fiction about science. As was pointed out in an essay by Matt McIrvin, unlike other authors, that became skilled at giving the appearance of science to their stories(e.g. Michael Crichton), Lem gives the appearance of actual research. The theory, physics and the philosophy of his science are expounded upon in conversations and books being read by characters in the story (during the subjective 6 year journey to Quinta). We learn about things right along with the resurrected pilot Tempe, who may be Pirx, or may be Parvis. (Tip: have your Latin/English translation dictionary handy as you read "Fiasco". At several points in various dialogues, characters resort to Latin to make or embellish or clarify a point; yet another learning opportunity for Lem fans.)

In 'Fiasco', Lem also introduces a new technique of interstellar travel - made possible by something he calls the Holenbach Interval, and employed using 'Sidereal Engineering'. Einstein's speed limit is observed, but instead of playing tricks with distance or velocity, starship Eurydice's 18 supercomputers ping a black hole with a very large explosive charge, creating a momentary assymetrical resonance reaction in the topology of gravity waves surrounding it. Within them, time runs backwards, creating a haven that, if successfully entered, allows only two weeks of shiptime to elapse for one and one-half years of galactic time - the time during which the Hermes makes it's fateful encounter with Quinta. The Eurydice, The Hermes, Quinta, and Earth all have different reference frames in this scheme, which has the purpose of minimizing the effects of time dilation. One of my favorite quotes from the book : "Physics, my friend, is a narrow path drawn across a gulf that the human imagination cannot grasp. It is a set of answers to certain questions that we put to the world, and the world supplies answers on the condition that we will not then ask it other questions, questions shouted out by common sense. And common sense? It is that which is understood by an intelligence using senses no different than those of a baboon."

The ideas and discussions here breathe the fourth dimension of speculative fiction into your mind as you read, and give insight into the responsibility that goes along with being a science fiction author (or should). Truly, you are not just entertained; you are enlightened and expanded and filled with the enormity of this mission and all of it's implications, and those of any similar missions you may read about in the future.

If there is a core competency, and serious responsibility, associated with speculative fiction, it is meaningful prognosis. With fiction becoming fact on a near-daily basis, speculative fiction is the only literature we can turn to for imaginative exploration of technologies and rank profiteering masquerading as "progress" ahead of the time someone is trying to foist them on us. "Fiasco" is about another aspect of this - exploring the idea that technology plus the best of intentions carried out by trained and educated and compassionate people can still pave the road to Hell, because we perceive the universe with "senses no different than those of a baboon".

Stanislaw Lem took a dim view of American scifi writers, considering them, for the most part, to be purveyors of kitsch. I can understand his opinion, but I do not share it. I have had too many transcendent moments, with the likes of Heinlein, Silverberg and Bester - to lump them in with Lem's dismissive labeling. But Lem's assertion of the serious nature of speculative fiction is well taken, and I truly honor his memory, and the genius of his writing.

I can't believe this book is out of print! I found a stack of new ones in my local used bookstore marked at $1 each and decided to pick one up. Result - I LOVE Lem even more than before.

If you haven't really been exposed to literary science fiction, this is a good place to start. Many readers may be put off by the seemingly overlong first chapter and the detailed tangents into sidereal engineering, but bear with it. The exposure to an alien civilization much more complex and foreign than any that could be reproduced by humans in cinematic makeup is well worth it. All seemingly insignificant tangents wend their way back into the plot elegantly. The end is surprising and very climactic.

But the real value in this book is uncovered in examining the human reaction/interaction with the completely alien. While this book may seem pessimistic or depressing to some, the overt commentary on the Cold War is very astute, and all the more interesting in that it comes from the other side of the world.

Highly recommended to non-scifi readers.

Fiasco's premise is that Mankind manipulates the space-time continueum in order to travel to the planet of Quinta in a far away star system. The Quintans don't want any contact with humans thus the humans don't take too kindly to this rebuttal.

Fiasco boils down to no matter where Mankind goes in the universe, Mankind cannot escape its inherited traits of deceit, paranoia, and destruction.

Fiasco is a briliant novel. For those of you reading this message and have not ever read a Lem novel before I would recommend Fiasco after reading Solaris. Not that they are connected storywise, it's just that Solaris is Lem's crowning jewel and it will warm you to Lem's style.

Fiasco should be made into a film. With today's computers having the ability to render incredible CGI scenes I would think that the incident with Quinta's moon would be a fantastic site to see play out on the silver screen.

What a fabulous combination of perfectly designed technological cover and deep philosophical content! As an aerospace engineer by background I found very little discrepancies in Lem's perception of future mankind machinery. At the same time I was amazed by the way Lem describes human factor. Can you imagine feelings of this guy who was stranded on Titan with no chances of survival? And finally Lem, in his usual manner, throws in a much broader philosophical question without any answer whatsoever: what happens to a civilization when it disappears from a 'contact window'(if it survives)? Excellent stimulus to think about our future. I really enjoyed it. Highly recommended for hard SF readers.