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A perfect vacuum

Front Cover
21 Reviews
Northwestern University Press, 1999 - Fiction - 229 pages
In a perfect vacuum, Stanislaw Lem presents a collection of book reviews of nonexistent works of literature - works that, in many cases, could not possibly be written. Embracing postmodernism's "games for games' sake" ethos, Lem joins the contest with hilarious and grotesque results.
Most of the "reviews" target the postmodern infatuation with antinarratives by lampooning their self-indulgence and exploiting their mannerisms. Lem exposes the limits of postmodern fiction, showing how its studious self-consciousness frequently conceals intellectual paucity. Beginning with a review of his own book, Lem moves on to tackle (or create pastiches of) the French new novel, James Joyce, pornography, authorless writing, and Dostoevsky, while at the same time ranging across scientific topics, from cosmology to the pervasiveness of computers.
  

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Review: A Perfect Vacuum

User Review  - Josh - Goodreads

I loved loved loved this book. Did I mention I love this book? It's the perfect blend of philosophy and fiction. If you dig this, also check out Imaginary Magnitude. Read full review

Review: A Perfect Vacuum

User Review  - Delford - Goodreads

I really enjoyed this book, but I would like to pick it up again as it has been many years since I read it. Read full review

All 21 reviews »

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Selected pages

Contents

Les Robinsonad
9
Gigamesh
28
Sexplosion
41
Gruppenfiihrer Louis XVI
49
Rien du tout ou la consequence
69
Pericalypsis
80
Idiota
86
UWriteH
96
Odysseus of Itliaca
102
112
112
by A last air Waynewright
117
Die Kultur ah Fehler
127
De Impossibilitate Vitae
141
Non Servian
167
The New Cosmogony
197
Copyright

Other editions - View all

A Perfect Vacuum
A Perfect Vacuum
Stanislaw Lem
Limited preview - 1983
A perfect vacuum
A perfect vacuum
Stanisław Lem
Snippet view - 1979
A Perfect Vacuum
A Perfect Vacuum
Stanisław Lem
No preview available - 1983

Common terms and phrases

able Acheropoulos ADAN antinovel become begins believe Benedykt Kouska Bertrand billion birth body called centillion chance chapter civilization Coscat cosmic Cosmogony course court created creation Creator culture Dinaric Alps Dobb Duc de Rohan entire erector set existence fact faith father feel Fersengeld Game geniuses Gigamesh Gruppenfiihrer Hamuras hand Hannahan human idea idiot Klopper lady language literature living logic Louis XVI machine Maesch mathematics matter Mdivani means merely million years B.C. mind never novel Odysseus one's otorhinolaryngologist Paris Olympia person personetics personoids physics Players possible precisely present Prix Femina probability Professor Kouska purely quasars reader reason Robinson Robinsonad sense Sergius Seurat Silentium simply situation Snibbins someone sort speak surgeon takes place Taudlitz theodicy theory thing thought tion true turn Universe Universum Vltava Wendy Mae words write young

References to this book

From other books

Cognitive science and psychoanalysis
Cognitive science and psychoanalysis
Kenneth Mark Colby,Robert J. Stoller
Snippet view - 1988
Imagining language
Imagining language
Jed Rasula,Steve McCaffrey
Limited preview - 2001
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From Google Scholar

A Nervous Theory: The Troubling Gaze of Psychoanalysis in Media ...
Craig Saper - 1991 - Diacritics
What is color? A speculative essay
Rolf G Kuehni - 1989 - Color Research & Application
Pericalypsis, pangnosis and the ontology of Babel: the oddball ...
Bob Duckett - Library Review

References from web pages

A Perfect Vacuum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Perfect Vacuum (Polish: Doskonała próżnia) is a 1971 book by Polish author Stanisław Lem. It is an anthology of imaginary reviews of nonexistent books. ...
en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ A_Perfect_Vacuum

Special Circumstances: A Perfect Vacuum by Stanislaw Lem
`A Perfect Vacuum' is unusual in that it purports to be an anthology made up entirely of such critiques. Pedantry or joke, this methodicalness? ...
www.cs.sfu.ca/ ~anoop/ weblog/ archives/ 000181.html

Stanislaw Lem - A Perfect Vacuum
Stanislaw Lem - A Perfect Vacuum amazon.com. Non-Serviam 1971 (an extract). (Personetics): A “world” for personoid “inhabitants” can be prepared in a couple ...
www.sscnet.ucla.edu/ geog/ gessler/ topics/ lem.htm

"Bibliographie de Lem Stanislaw"
A Perfect Vacuum 1979; Cyberiada également paru sous le titre de The Cyberiad 1965 ... A Good Shellacking 1974; A Perfect Vacuum 1979; Altruizine 1974 ...
www.allsf.net/ Autrauteurs/ L/ Lem.htm

Wyszukiwarka: secker
Doskonala Proznia A Perfect Vacuum A Perfect Vacuum English London 1979 SECKER AND WARBURG M. Kandel Dzienniki gwiazdowe The Star Diaries The Star Diaries ...
lem.hostingpro.pl/ cgibin/ search?words=secker

Light reading: Brain-twisters circa 1970
Actually I'm daunted just thinking about putting down my thoughts on Stanislaw Lem's collection of reviews of imaginary books, A Perfect Vacuum (the ...
jennydavidson.blogspot.com/ 2006/ 04/ brain-twisters-circa-1970.html

Waggish: Stanislaw Lem (1921-2006)
A Perfect Vacuum mixes major and minor works, but on the whole it is Lem’s ... Lem’s approach is more pragmatic, but in A Perfect Vacuum, he deals in these ...
www.waggish.org/ 2006/ 04/ stanislaw_lem_19212006.html

Stanislaw Lem, A PERFECT VACUUM, first edition su ebay.it ...
Trova Stanislaw Lem, A PERFECT VACUUM, first edition nella categoria Books, Antiquarian Collectible su ebay.it.
cgi.ebay.it/ Stanislaw-Lem-A-PERFECT-VACUUM-first-edition_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQitemZ170196421263

1979 Stanislaw Lem photo A Perfect Vacuum book ad en venta en ebay ...
Compra 1979 Stanislaw Lem photo A Perfect Vacuum book ad en la categoría Collectibles, Advertising, Other Advertising, Ads-Print de ebay España.
cgi.ebay.es/ 1979-Stanislaw-Lem-photo-A-Perfect-Vacuum-book-ad_W0QQitemZ110219786371QQihZ001QQcategoryZ37837QQcmdZVie...

Stanislaw Lem, Author of Science Fiction Classics, Is Dead at 84 ...
One of the books reviewed is "A Perfect Vacuum" itself. "Did Lem really think," the review reads, "he would not be seen through all this machination?" ...
www.nytimes.com/ 2006/ 03/ 28/ books/ 28lem.html?pagewanted=print

About the author (1999)

Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem was born on September 12, 1921. A medical graduate of Cracow University, he is at home both in the sciences and in philosophy, and this broad erudition gives his writings genuine depth. He has published extensively, not only fiction, but also theoretical studies. His books have been translated into 41 languages and sold over 27 million copies. He gained international acclaim for The Cyberiad, a series of short stories, which was first published in 1974. A trend toward increasingly serious philosophical speculation is found in his later works, such as Solaris (1961), which was made into a Soviet film by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky in 1972 and remade by Steven Soderbergh in 2002. He died on March 27, 2006 in Krakow at the age of 84.

Kandel is a translator.

Bibliographic information

QR code for A perfect vacuum
TitleA perfect vacuum
AuthorStanisław Lem
EditorMichael Kandel
Translated byMichael Kandel
Editionreprint
PublisherNorthwestern University Press, 1999
ISBN0810117339, 9780810117334
Length229 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Fiction / Literary
Fiction / Science Fiction / General
  
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