The complete emptiness

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The complete emptiness (also The absolute vacuum ; original title: Doskonała próżnia , first publication: 1971) is a book by the Polish author Stanisław Lem . In experimental and literary form, it contains the author's philosophical and ideological views in a hidden way. The complete emptiness is a collection of “fictitious” reviews , i.e. book reviews of non-existent books . Lem explains in the foreword of the book that this enables interesting literary gimmicks. Belonging to the collection and preceded by it is a fictional review of this anthology itself: A review of “Stanislaw Lem: The Perfect Emptiness”, which makes it “unclear” whether or not it belongs to the anthology. It could have been written by another author and preceded the anthology - or it was written by Lem himself and belongs to the "content" (which of course is the case). The purpose of the first “fictional” review is to “calibrate” the reader to a certain basic attitude with which he (according to the author's request) should go into the other reviews.

The self-review

The fictional critic of the first, preceding review tries to get behind the hidden meaning of the 14 reviews and the intentions of Lem. He considers the introduction to the book "Autosoil" (which does not exist) to be a distraction. The critic does not believe that the 14 reviews were written just for the fun of an increased freedom of storytelling, but represent pastiches and sketches, so at least partially represent "summaries of (for Lem) books that cannot be written" - books that he likes wrote, but for one reason or another he could not write. The critic even suspects that Lem was not allowed to write these non-written books, which he hides behind the fictional reviews, because of his "realistic" attitudes. But at the very end of the review, the critic points out that it was not he who wrote this review, but Lem himself, which again makes some statements uncertain:

“And the only ruse that the hooking Lem could still use would be the counterattack in the form of the claim that it was not I, the critic, but he himself, the author, who wrote the present review, and it became part of the“ Complete Void " made"

The other reviews

Marcel Coscat: Die Robinsonaden - The critic discusses a modern “ Robinson Crusoe ”. Unlike the Robinson Crusoe in Defoe , the Robinson of this fictional novel is an atheist and can therefore not draw the strength for survival from faith. He falls into the infinite realm of imagination and begins to imagine things and people so that he no longer has to be alone. In his first imaginary servant Glum, Robinson recognizes the fatal persistence of imaginations, which of course are not as easy to get rid of as they were created. As a result, Robinson indulges in increasingly complicated and bizarre fantasies that conjure up a new servant ("midweek") and other things and imaginary people. Finally, Robinson inevitably goes mad with the increasingly complex imaginations. The reviewer of the book describes some of the interpretations of other critics, but rejects them as incorrect and makes his own interpretation.

Patrick Hannahan: Gigamesh - The discussed, nonexistent book is symbolic of Joyce's later works (" Ulysses ", " Finnegans Wake "), which are known for numerous, often confusing thought games. Gigamesh represents an extreme increase in these works. The fictional novel consists of thousands of hidden meanings that are supposed to depict the entire human culture on a few hundred pages. An equally fictional “interpretation”, which is more than twice as extensive as the actual novel, sets out all of these - often extremely complicated - allusions. Some of them are presented in the review. For example, the title “Gigamesh” alone has a hundred different meanings. This meeting closes with the words:

"Gigamesh is either the sum of modern literature, or neither he nor the story of Finnegan including Joyce's Odyssey have the right to enter the fictional Olympus."

Simon Merril: Sexplosion - The review is about a satirical book that tells of the sudden change in the meaning of eroticism for mankind after a catastrophe. It is basically just about the wandering of an old man through a forgotten underground complex and the memories triggered by it of a time when humanity liberated itself sexually and the adult industry became more and more extensive and shameless. Female robots were made for erotic purposes, all sexual perversions were equated with non-perversions, and all lusts were satisfied by the ever-growing adult industry. After all, due to an accident with a chemical warfare agent, mankind lost all sensations of pleasure during sex, so that the sexual act is only perceived as a senseless effort, which everyone tries to avoid despite appeals from politicians and priests. The earth is threatened with extinction while previously suffering from overpopulation. The position previously occupied by sex is now being replaced by eating.

Alfred Zellermann: Group leader Louis XVI. - The fictional book by a literature professor is discussed. In this book a former group leader of the SS tries to form an independent state together with his former comrades, which - because this is not possible elsewhere - has its seat in ancient ruins in the jungle. The SS-Gruppenführer sees himself as the new " Sun King ", as an absolutist tyrant, but his naive ideas of the state and culture of this historical period mean that this society is only an extremely shabby imitation of that time, which even the layman can easily understand is. Also the heir to the throne of the new Louis XVI. - a primitive replica of Hamlet - sees through it and takes part in the decline of the “fretwork” of the absolutist art state.

As long as Marriot: Nothing or the consequence - The critic indulges in statements about the theory of the " Nouveau Roman ", ie the experimental literature and about the fact that all statements require a novel by the reader who converts the statements into ideas, that is, literary "Being" animates. The novel Nothing - which is or should be a Nouveau Roman - begins with a negation

"He didn't arrive."

This plunges the reader into uncertainty right from the start. The non-being grabs his imaginary being, which is also continued in the further fictional novel: The novel consists of nothing but negations, and finally the uncertainty of the comments completely destroys the possibility of a statement. The fictional critic, however, has reviewed a novel that not only was not written, but apparently also cannot be written.

Joachim Fersengeld: Perycalipsis - A book that is radical because it destroys readers is discussed here. The fictional author of the book turns against the trivialization of literature, against the inundation of the literary space with trash. Since the fictional author sees no other option, he suggests a radical solution to free the true literature from the multitude of junk books: Those who do not write should receive a pension, those who write have to pay money, the more the more they write. Only those who have a vital need to write write like this. In addition, all works from the twentieth century are to be destroyed. Fersengeld consistently recommends that the first thing you do is burn your own treatise after going through it.

Gian Carlo Spallanzani: The Idiot - The title of this book is identical to Dostoevsky 's novel of the same name . But it is a modern alternative. The idiot is a child who has been devotedly cared for by his parents for years. This child is not a saint, but a constant threat. There are always terrifying incidents. So the grandmother was probably killed by this child. In their mutual communication, the parents manage to suppress the child's true condition. Your child is not an idiot for you, just different. The reviewer sees this repression as a kind of act of faith and describes the novel as atheistic heterodoxy . He praises both the attack on Dostoevsky and the new perspective the novel conveys.

Do yourself a book - A literature construction kit is discussed, which consists of text modules that can be put together into finished novels. According to the critics, the work is wrong because a Sofja Marmeladowa (Dostojewski: Schuld und Atonement ) is only a symbol filled with depth for a few, but is vacant for the other readers. Apart from that, the critic is also talking about an impossible idea here because the diversity of what can be said is too great to fit into a construction kit.

Kuno Mlatje: Odysseus from Ithaca - This fictional book is about an Odysseus from the city of Ithaca in Massachusetts. According to his theory, there are always first-class geniuses on earth who are misunderstood, persecuted or ignored by their contemporaries. Since it is a great loss for mankind if their knowledge is lost, he sees it as his task to find the traces of these geniuses all over the world. In order to get the necessary support for this goal, he draws attention to himself through scandals. He founds an organization that sends scouts all over the world who bring him a lot of finds. Eventually, a document is found describing another math that would invalidate three-quarters of the current math. At this point Odysseus realizes that his endeavor is doomed to failure, because the history of mankind has developed in a direction that cannot do anything with the knowledge of the first-class geniuses.

Raymond Seurat: Toi - This fictional book is not a novel. The author wants to rebel against the author-reader relationship in which the author is always the servant of the reader. This he tries u. a. to achieve by addressing the reader with offensive swear words. However, the reviewer is of the opinion that the author did not succeed in achieving his goal. The only way to fail to serve the reader is to remain silent.

Alistar Waynewright: Being Inc. - This fictional book is about a future in which the residents of the USA can order the control of their fate from “Being Inc.” or from “Sein GmbH” or from one of the two competing companies. This control is done by computers and sensors distributed throughout the country. When a millionaire gives the unusual order that her life's fate should not be influenced, it turns out that this is no longer possible. But even the top managers of the three companies do not notice that the three central computers of these companies have become one in three people , the almighty fate arranger who has already taken total control of all life's fates.

Wilhelm Klopper: The culture as a mistake - In this fictional book the view is represented that all existing culture has the task of reinterpreting the human defects in positive characteristics in order to make them bearable. However, this will no longer be necessary in the future, as humanity will perfect itself thanks to technical progress and get rid of deficiencies. Thus, further clinging to the culture turns out to be a mistake, as it fixes the defects instead of eliminating them.

Cezar Kouska: De Impossibilitate Vitae; De Impossibilitate Prognoscendi - The reviewer first presents the position of the fictional author Kouska, who critically deals with the validity of the theory of probability . Had the probability that the author comes into the world, during the interglacial period calculated total would be 1: 1 Centillion. If you go back further in the history of the earth, this probability becomes even lower. The number of seconds from today to the thermodynamic end of space is less than 1 centillion. However, the current state of the universe takes less than 1 centillion seconds. So an event with such a low probability does not have time to occur. From the point of view of thermodynamic physics, the existence of every single person is impossible. But since humans exist, physics must be in error in proclaiming the universal validity of probability theory. Kouska makes similar considerations in order to prove the impossibility of predictions being fulfilled. The reviewer now refers to a professor who takes an opposing position in a critical article and presents his arguments. Finally, the reviewer admits that he does not have the expertise to take a position in this dispute.

Arthur Dobb: Non serviam (included only in the edition The Perfect Emptiness , not in The Absolute Vacuum ) - The review of this fictional book on personetics begins with a philosopher's view that this science is the cruellest science that man has ever created . Professor Dobb, the author of the book, is also convinced that this science is immoral, but nevertheless considers it necessary. The term personetics emerged from the two terms person and genetics in the sense of creating, generating. The scientists use the computer to create worlds from mathematical axioms in which personoids then develop. The development of these personoids and especially their communication is researched. In the book, Professor Dobb describes his own research. The personoids' conversations about the question of whether there is God and, if so, what properties he has and whether he intervenes in the world occupy a particularly large space . The reader already knows that Professor Dobb's research method is not to intervene in the world he has created and thus not to reveal himself as its creator. All conversations take place according to the programming on the logical level of this world. Finally, the personoids also discuss the question of how one should behave towards God. They come to the conclusion that they don't have to serve him, which is what gave the book its title. At the end of the book, the reader is confronted with the fact that due to the limited research budget, the scientist will soon have to switch off the computer and thus bring about the end of the world for the personoids.

Alfred Testa: The new cosmogony (also included in the Nacht und Schimmel collection) - This is a speech by a professor on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Prize . In it he tells how he came up with the idea through Aristides Acheropoulos' book "The New Cosmogony" that the laws of nature are not immutable, but are transformed into a kind of game by us superior intelligences . What we are currently observing only represents a snapshot of the game that we can observe. In particular, the Boltzmann constant will decrease. We cannot understand what the aim of this transformation is. He now speculates about what the reasons for certain momentary laws of nature could be and whether mathematics could also change with the laws of nature, so that z. B. Godel's proof of incompleteness would only be valid for the cosmos in its present state. At the end of the lecture he asks whether this explanatory model of the cosmos will one day be replaced by a completely new one.

See also

literature

  • Stanisław Lem: The Complete Void (= Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch 707). Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1981, ISBN 3-518-37207-6 .
  • Bernd Wahlbrinck: Unbelievable: Reviews of books that were never written . ISBN 978-3-00-029514-0 . The author takes up Lem's idea and supplements it with photos and images that allegedly come from the fictional works.