The voice of the Lord

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The Voice of the Lord is a novel by the Polish author Stanisław Lem , who stands in the tradition of scientific fantasy, the Eastern European-Russian equivalent of Western science fiction . The novel was first published in 1968 under the original title "Głos Pana"; a German translation by Roswitha Buschmann was published in 1981 by Insel Verlag and Volk und Welt .

content

The fictional author of the novel (supposedly an unfinished manuscript), an American professor named Peter E. Hogarth, a brilliant mathematician , describes his experiences and thoughts from the time he participated in the fictional Master's Voice project (MAVO), the deals with the decryption of a mysterious, continuously repeated neutrino signal in the last third of the 20th century . The constant repetition of the signal gives rise to the assumption that it must have been generated by intelligent beings - superior aliens or, as some project participants joke, the Lord himself (hence the name Voice of the Lord ). In the course of the investigation, some rather minor discoveries are made. In this way, Hogarth proves that the signal represents a "circular phenomenon" or the description of a "circular process". The researchers then suspect that the signal could describe a living organism and, on the basis of the information, they succeed in producing a gelatinous substance (called "frog spawn" or "lord of the flies") that reacts to "certain stimuli". reacts and generates energy through cold nuclear fusion , but has no biological metabolism . When directed at this substance, the signal has the property of promoting the formation of amino acids in it - so do the mysterious aliens want to promote the formation of life on alien celestial bodies?

Eventually it turns out that the signal could be used to build a terrible weapon . The narrator and one of his close friends on the project discover this, but initially keep it a secret in order to investigate further themselves (it is always clear to them that this property of the signal will sooner or later also be discovered by others.) that the construction of such a weapon is only theoretically possible, but insurmountable "safeguards" are inserted in the star code for a realization. Did the aliens want to make sure that if their signal were intercepted by an immature, warlike civilization, it would not be able to use it?

At the end of the novel, completely new theories about the origin of the signal emerge. However, the signal itself cannot be translated or read. Rather, Lem's reflections on the failure of attempts to decipher it serve as a hook for philosophical considerations about the general degree of maturity of modern civilizations. Lem exaggerated these considerations in a comparison: He ponders what advantage a group of Stone Age people could have from finding a blueprint for a Gothic cathedral . This benefit could exist for the Neolithic in the heat value of the campfire - but the real meaning of the plan would inevitably remain hidden from them, as they did not have an adequate cultural level that would give them access to a comprehensive understanding.

Theme and shape

In the novel, Lem depicts the awkwardness of man and all his technical abilities in the face of the arrival of a "message" from space, although it is not even certain whether it is such. Characteristic is the sentence: "The ants who come across a dead philosopher on their wandering also derive their profit from it." In The Voice of the Lord , the author focuses less on the representation of a course of action in the classical sense. The plot , which strictly speaking does not begin until the third chapter, only represents the framework for a philosophical work throughout the work, the statements of which Lem wants to bring closer to a broad readership. In the novel, the fictional author repeatedly discusses the inadequacy of language for describing real events and addresses the problem of individual evaluation of absolute categories. The Polish literary scholar Jacek Rzeszotnik states in an essay on Solaris and The Lord's Voice that the latter novel lacks “even more flagrant ... genre-typical fictional narrative patterns”.

reception

For the Encyclopædia Britannica , The Voice of the Lord, along with Solaris and the Kyberiad, is one of Stanislaw Lem's “three great books”, a “classic of traditional science fiction subjects”.

Peter S. Beagle describes the novel, which was published in 1983 in English translation in the New York Times, as "fascinating, unsettling and sometimes frustrating". The first third is difficult to read; the confused and bored reader longs for Pilot Pirx . When you get to the last chapters, however, you rush through like a “romance addict”, eager to experience the nature of the substance created with the help of the signal. Beagle praises the voice of the narrator character Hogarth, which touches the readers and makes them listen. The reviewer concludes that he would not suggest The Voice of the Lord as the simplest introduction to Lem's work, but would strongly recommend the book to anyone interested in a piece of nobility ("anyone in need of a taste of nobility") .

German editions

The novel was translated by Roswitha Buschmann and was published simultaneously in 1981 by Insel Verlag in Frankfurt am Main and by Volk und Welt in Berlin ( GDR ). Later editions of this translation were also published as Volume 97 (then Volume 311) in the Fantastic Library at Suhrkamp , the Volk und Wissen publishing house and the GDR book club buchclub 65 .

First editions:

  • The voice of the Lord . Insel, Frankfurt a. M. 1981, ISBN 3-458-04887-1 .
  • The voice of the Lord . People and World, Berlin 1981.

Current paperback edition:

  • The Voice of the Lord (=  Suhrkamp Taschenbuch . Volume 2494 ). 5th edition. Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-518-38994-2 .

literature

  • Jacek Rzeszotnik: Not seeing, not hearing, not speaking - not understanding . The epistemological impotence of the human being according to Stanisław Lem. In: Walter Delabar, Frauke Schlieckau (Ed.): Bluescreen . Visions, dreams, nightmares and reflections of the fantastic and utopian (=  June. Magazine for Literature and Politics . Volume 2007 , no. 43-44 ). 2010, ISBN 978-3-89528-769-5 , pp. 145-168 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stanisław Lem: The Voice of the Lord (=  Suhrkamp paperback . Volume 2494 ). Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt a. M. 1995, ISBN 3-518-38994-7 , pp. 37 .
  2. ↑ Rzeszotnik, p. 157
  3. ^ William L. Hosch: Stanisław Lem ( English ) In: Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved February 16, 2012.
  4. ↑ Peter S. Beagle: Lem: Science Fiction's passionate realist ( English ) In: The New York Times . March 20, 1983. Retrieved February 16, 2012.