An astronaut returns to Earth after a ten-year mission and finds a society that he barely recognizes.Stanislaw Lem's Return from the Stars recounts the experiences of Hal Bregg, an astronaut who returns from an exploratory mission that lasted ten years-although because of time dilation, 127 years have passed on Earth. Bregg finds a society that he hardly recognizes, in which danger has been eradicated. Children are "e;betrizated"e; to remove all aggression and violence-a process that also removes all impulse to take risks and explore.
The people of Earth view Bregg and his crew as "e;resuscitated Neanderthals,"e; and pressure them to undergo betrization. Bregg has serious difficulty in navigating the new social mores.While Lem's depiction of a risk-free society is bleak, he does not portray Bregg and his fellow astronauts as heroes. Indeed, faced with no opposition to his aggression, Bregg behaves abominably.
He is faced with a choice: leave Earth again and hope to return to a different society in several hundred years, or stay on Earth and learn to be content. With Return from the Stars, Lem shows the shifting boundaries between utopia and dystopia.
| ISBN: | 9780262357692 |
| Publication date: | 24th January 2020 |
| Author: | Lem, Stanislaw |
| Publisher: | The MIT Press |
| Format: | Ebook |
An astronaut returns to Earth after a ten-year mission and finds a society that he barely recognizes.Stanislaw Lem's Return from the Stars recounts the experiences of Hal Bregg, an astronaut who returns from an exploratory mission that lasted ten years-although because of time dilation, 127 years have passed on Earth. Bregg finds a society that he hardly recognizes, in which danger has been eradicated.
Return from the Stars features in the following genres: Fiction in translation
Ebook, Paperback. £50.00. Digital. Available Immediately. Country restrictions apply..
Return from the Stars was written by Lem, Stanislaw and published by The MIT Press
£50.00. Digital. Available Immediately. Country restrictions apply..