| Date: 08 May 2011, 01:49
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Stanislaw Lem (September 12, 1921 - March 27, 2006) was a Polish science fiction, philosophical and satirical writer. His books have been translated into 41 languages and have sold over 27 million copies. At one point, he was the most widely read non-English-language science fiction author in the world.
His works explore philosophical themes; speculation on technology, the nature of intelligence, the impossibility of mutual communication and understanding, despair about human limitations and humankind's place in the universe. They are sometimes presented as fiction, to avoid both trappings of academic life and limitations of readership and scientific style, but others are in the form of essays or philosophical books. Translations of his works are difficult; Michael Kandel's translations into English have generally been praised as capturing the spirit of the original.
Return from the Stars is one of the better known science fiction novels of Stanislaw Lem, the most famous Polish science-fiction author. Written in 1961, it revolves around the story of an astronaut returning to his homeworld, Earth - and finding it a completely different place than when he left. The novel touches among the ideas of alienation, culture shock and dystopias. It was translated into English language in 1980.
The novel tells the story of an astronaut, Hal Bregg, who returns to Earth after a 127 year mission to Arcturus. Because of the time dilation the mission has lasted only 10 years for him. On Earth he faces the culture shock, as he finds what looks like a utopian society, with no wars or violence. For Hal it is a civilization he does not recognize, one that is too comfortable, too safe, every aspect of the environment designed to ease the burden of life. Accidents are almost unknown, as technology has made human life extremely safe - and long.
Hal soon finds out that at least part of this is achieved through the procedure called 'betrization', which effectively neutralizes all aggressive impulses but that also has some negative psychological side effects - or at least what he views as the side effects. Humanity, now completely 'betrizatied', is now very risk-averse. Society disapproves of space travel and space exploration as youthful and dangerous adventurism.
For Hal, coming home was in effect anything but: Earth has became 'another, alien planet'. He and the other returning astronauts are alienated and regarded as "resuscitated Neanderthals". They are faced with social pressure to accomodate the 'betrizatied' society or refuse it and become outcasts. Or, as some of his fellow astronauts have done, leave Earth again for few hundred years, hoping to come back to a more familiar world.
Olaf Staave, a fellow astronaut, protests this tranquilized state, and Hal, too, initially rebels from such a world: "... they have killed the man in man". Yet, after Hal's marriage to Eri, a girl born and raised in this new world, he comes to accept the new ways. He begins to share the current disapproval of space expeditions. Even when he discovers that members of his former group are planning a mission to Sagittarius, he is unmoved, presumably content to leave the stars to others.
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