Magellanic clouds

The introduction

Now I want to tell you about this book about space and future and astronauts and stuff like that, which was written by Stanislev Lem and which was pretty interesting when I read it. It's called "Magellanic Clouds".

Author _ details

“The human was lying on the huge shatter of the meteor. The meteor was so black that you would think a darkness of abysm, where it revolved during centuries, had been stuck on it. This fallen giant was seen very well from the furthest side of the town in daytime. Its breast had been broken by the wing of the racket. Now its shape had been lost in the torchlights from the further town. The wrinkles on the spacesuit had been darkened like clefts of a crag, only a huge head laying behind and touching a stone was like a real human.”_ This is a statue of a strange astronaut of the future centuries described by Stanislev Lem. That astronaut fell, but he hadn’t been defeated, because you can kill a man and destroy, but it’s impossible to defeat him!

Stanislav Lem was the one of the well-known writers of the world. His books have been translated into many languages, there are films filmed by his novels.

Stanislav Lem was born in Lvov in 1921. He studied there in Poland.

After the Second World War he moved toKrakow. He chose to study medicine and he graduated high school.

He lived there in Krakow in a small normal house. He liked when there was calmness around, so that he didn’t even have a telephone. At first Stanislav Lem was interested in taking photos and movies, but then he thought it was a waste of time and began to write novels. When he was tired he started his car “Tatra” and drove it into the streets of Krakow.

Stanislav Lem started writing in 1946. His first book is called “The Used Time.”

Short content

It’s 32 century and everything is depended on technic. People can’t imagine their life without it. Some scientists have decided to fly to another gallactic and try to find humans on other planets. They’ve been working about it for many years... But there are also other people who have planned to fly in space and they became astronauts, and in the story they fly with a space-ship called “Gea” without any serious experience. There are very well described those people’s feelings, emotions and strengths in the novel. They know, that they won’t meet most of their friends and relatives, when they return from the gallactic. And the rest of those relatives will be very old and weak, and maybe they’ll barely recognize each other after nine years. But these nine years won’t be nine years for the people, who stay on the Earth... Years slowly pass and there will born children on the “Gea.” Those children and also others, who little children were when they went to “Gea” think, that the real sky is dark and that the blue sky is only their imagination. Those people on “Gea” have many problems with each other and with the expanse around them. It will be a very long way to the further stars in their life. These people will pass the Rubicon from the Earth to the deep darkness. Many people die in the war with the space of the stars, but they come back with “Gea.” Its destination was nine years far from the earth, but they did it. Those people found humans on planet near the Magellenic Clouds.

My favourite part

I touched Nils’s shoulder. He didn’t hear anything as I was in my childhood, when I was looking at this painting and he was shivering now as I was.

Suddenly the whole laboratory was lighted and it was Ther-haar’s voice:

_Haven’t you seen this painting yet Nils?

The boy turned his faded face to him.

_What... So this is a painting? What are these dark-clothed people doing with the others?

Historians approached us.

_This creature belongs the 19-th century, _ Said one of them.

_There are Spanish peasants arrested by the soldiers... _ Add Moletich.

_But the child won’t understand. _ I said. _ This painting...

_Stop! _I was interrupted by Ther-haar with a high tone which I had never heard of him and he turned to the boy:

_Say! What do you see on this painting?

Nils was silent.

_You can’t dare to say that, can you? No, you must say it! Tell me what do you see, what do you think, what do you feel?

_I intend, they...

_Yes, yes, say that!

_They are killing them...

Silence fell. Then Ther-haar looked at his friends, a strange feeling was on his face:

_Do you hear it?

Then he turned to Nils and said:

_This painter was called Francisco Goya, he lived 1500 years ago. Remember his name: He is one of those people who never die.”

“What is the death? To remember the nonentity? The face of the corse that we’ll become? To understand that in the war with the sky and land and  the stars, we’ll beat the dead substance to become the same dust? Yes. But at the same time the death awards every second and every breath with an unappreciative value. It’s like a command _ to strain our forces to reach as much as possible and to handover our creatures to the next generations; It reminds us to be responsible to our actions, because we can’t change what we’ve done and we can’t forget it during the life of the man. The death teaches us to love life, to love people, mortals with bravery and fear like us, people who aim to continue their phisical being and who build the future, which they’ll never see. People would need to pierce their most valuable attribute _ the memory: Would any brain .. the giant amount of memorials that are made by the immensity? It would be necessary for him to have ancestors’ Gods’ wisdom and ruthless calmness. But who would be that crazy who would want to be God, when he could be a human? Who would want to live forever if his death would give life to others, as well as an astronavigator Songram’s death gave life to other people? I don’t want to live forever. Every beat of my heart makes my life longer and that’s why I tell you: I don’t let anyone to steal me the death!..”

Characters

There are lots of characters in the novel, but I think, the main characters are the doctor, Ameta, Zorin and others. They are astronauts and they know almost everything about space.

The doctor tells himself everything about their adventures. He was born in Greenland, near the polar circle. Their house had many windows and verandas. There was a huge garden around the house. The windows were opened in every season and plants were coming into the house. The doctor loved running and playing in the garden...

Ameta was a pilot. He was experienced pilot. When he was still very young, he rescued children from the horrible space fog. He told fairy-tales to them and he drank coffee not to fall asleep... And one the children there was Zorin.

Zorin had become an astronaut too. He and the doctor had a very hard work to do: They had to build a transgallactical station on a comet. But there came a rain of meteorites. Zorin went out to turn off the Automats, he did that, but when he returned he couldn’t see anything: He fell down on something that could kill a man. But he was alive and was waiting for “Gea” to come back and take him home. But he died. He died at the moment, when the radio was repaired and it rendered that “Gea” was coming to them...

Recomandations _ Why to read

I would like everybody to read this novel, because it’s very interesting.

There are so many great ideas and words, which sometimes I think about.

At the same time this book is tragic, romantic, philosophical, scientific and historical; It’s a novel with formed ideas, arguments and thoughts.

In short, this book must be read because of the content first of all, and then you must pay attention every word and phrase written be Stanislav Lem.

I’ve read this book. I read it a year ago. But I’m going to read it again...