The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age by Stanislaw Lem (Translated by Michael Kandel)

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/fables
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In article <t1pkfr$hlv$1@reader1.panix.com>,
James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
>The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age by Stanislaw Lem (Translated by Michael Kandel)
>
>https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/fables

Forgot the description: a collection of short whimsical pieces about two robot
inventors whose ingenuity is a menace to them and everyone around them.
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

James Nicoll wrote:
>>The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age by Stanislaw Lem (Translated by Michael Kandel)
>>
>>https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/fables
>
> Forgot the description: a collection of short whimsical pieces about two robot
> inventors whose ingenuity is a menace to them and everyone around them.

"How the World Was Saved" offers a cornucopia of usefully alliterative
n-words. LOL. Perhaps a gadfly publisher ought to titularly transform it
to "N-word" to subvert expectations. ROTFL.
Anyhow, /Universal Nothingness/ brings to mind a short story where
Gabriel blows his horn to signal the end of the world. It's set in a
small town, perhaps in New England. The twilit town becomes overcrowded
as more and more formerly dead people rise from their graves.
Lite SFF research on my part only digs up "This Way to the Regress"
(Knight).

https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/time_in_reverse

We'll return to the Knight, at the proper time, in a moment. Meanwhile,
let's move on to your Rhodious dislike of Rhodan:

However, much of what was translated was translated poorly.
Jules Verne’s English editions often provided a How Not To
for translators; at least with Ace's Perry Rhodan books, it
was unlikely the prose could get worse.

You sort of segue there into a double entendre? If so, everyone's
entitled to their own opinion. OTOH, if this is supposed to pertain to
translation, there's at least one problem.
Clark Darlton wrote "Testflight to Eden" in English while in
residence at the Ackermansion. So, if you don't like "Testflight," it's
simply because you don't like this particular Darlton as there was no
translation involved.

Neither PR nor Ackerman's for everyone. Picture Forry's humor as a
bookend. And Lem as the opposite bookend. They hold a brow in place.
Forry's on the low-brow side and Lem on the high-brow side. Both
wordsmiths make me laugh, but in different ways.
Now, to get back to the Knight. Among other things, this followup
furnishes foreshadow for the Lynn's next PR review. There's a Professor
Toohey in the Knight. And Ackerman's Arkonidean logic uses 2E as the
numeral name for the Professor.
My upcoming followup to Lynn's "#31 Realm of the Tri-Planets" review
contains more of the same. ROTFLMAO.

Danke,

--
Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. https://crcomp.net/reviews.php
telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,.
tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

In article <20220327a@crcomp.net>, Don <g@crcomp.net> wrote:
>James Nicoll wrote:
>>>The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age by Stanislaw Lem
>(Translated by Michael Kandel)
>>>
>>>https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/fables
>>
>> Forgot the description: a collection of short whimsical pieces about two robot
>> inventors whose ingenuity is a menace to them and everyone around them.
>
>"How the World Was Saved" offers a cornucopia of usefully alliterative
>n-words. LOL. Perhaps a gadfly publisher ought to titularly transform it
>to "N-word" to subvert expectations. ROTFL.
> Anyhow, /Universal Nothingness/ brings to mind a short story where
>Gabriel blows his horn to signal the end of the world. It's set in a
>small town, perhaps in New England. The twilit town becomes overcrowded
>as more and more formerly dead people rise from their graves.
> Lite SFF research on my part only digs up "This Way to the Regress"
>(Knight).
>
> https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/time_in_reverse
>
>We'll return to the Knight, at the proper time, in a moment. Meanwhile,
>let's move on to your Rhodious dislike of Rhodan:
>
> However, much of what was translated was translated poorly.
> Jules Verne’s English editions often provided a How Not To
> for translators; at least with Ace's Perry Rhodan books, it
> was unlikely the prose could get worse.
>
> You sort of segue there into a double entendre? If so, everyone's
>entitled to their own opinion. OTOH, if this is supposed to pertain to
>translation, there's at least one problem.
> Clark Darlton wrote "Testflight to Eden" in English while in
>residence at the Ackermansion. So, if you don't like "Testflight," it's
>simply because you don't like this particular Darlton as there was no
>translation involved.
>
>Neither PR nor Ackerman's for everyone. Picture Forry's humor as a
>bookend. And Lem as the opposite bookend. They hold a brow in place.
>Forry's on the low-brow side and Lem on the high-brow side. Both
>wordsmiths make me laugh, but in different ways.
> Now, to get back to the Knight. Among other things, this followup
>furnishes foreshadow for the Lynn's next PR review. There's a Professor
>Toohey in the Knight. And Ackerman's Arkonidean logic uses 2E as the
>numeral name for the Professor.
> My upcoming followup to Lynn's "#31 Realm of the Tri-Planets" review
>contains more of the same. ROTFLMAO.
>
>Danke,
>

I only read two Lem's that I can recall, _Tales of Pirx the Pilot_, which
I didn't much care for, and _The Cyberiad_ which I found fairly amusing.
I have no idea how good the translation was or wasn't, but I recall one
story where the duo managed to uncreate (on a universal level) all the
things starting with a particular letter and thinking that must have been
hard to do in English.. come up with a list similar to the original in
Polish and get the right mix of amusing and catastrophic items.

I never had any issues with the Ackerman PR's, certainly when the series
came to the US again in the early 90s, the few issues that arrived read
like they translated from German were.
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

Don - was your apocalypse story,
<https://www.blackgate.com/2018/09/19/birthday-reviews-damon-knights-backward-o-time/>
("This Way to the Regress"), or was it,
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Trump> - Asimov?

On Sunday, 27 March 2022 at 23:35:11 UTC+1, Robert Carnegie wrote:
> Don - was your apocalypse story,
> <https://www.blackgate.com/2018/09/19/birthday-reviews-damon-knights-backward-o-time/>
> ("This Way to the Regress"), or was it,
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Trump> - Asimov?

....P.S.: <https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/TheLastTrump>

Robert Carnegie wrote:
> Robert Carnegie wrote:
>> Don - was your apocalypse story,
>> <https://www.blackgate.com/2018/09/19/birthday-reviews-damon-knights-backward-o-time/>
>> ("This Way to the Regress"), or was it,
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Trump> - Asimov?
>
> ...P.S.: <https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/TheLastTrump>

The Knight was a potential. But it's not the one. However, its Professor
Toohey character proves useful to illustrate Ackerman's Arkondiean
logical numeral nym nomenclature.
Toohey, for instance, is 2E in Ackerman Arkondiean. <- There's more
of this on the way, BTW.

"The Last Trump" is my apocalypse story! Bless you, or perhaps, "live
long and prosper" if you prefer.

Danke,

--
Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. https://crcomp.net/reviews.php
telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,.
tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'