Soundscapes in the Literary Works of Stanisław Lem and Science Fiction Film Soundtracks Cover Image

Audiosfera w utworach literackich Stanisława Lema i ich (dźwiękowych) adaptacjach
Soundscapes in the Literary Works of Stanisław Lem and Science Fiction Film Soundtracks

Author(s): Dariusz Brzostek
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Music
Published by: Uniwersytet Wrocławski, Instytut Kulturoznawstwa, Pracownia Badań Pejzażu Dźwiękowego
Keywords: Stanisław Lem; soundscape; electronic music;

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the complex and heterogeneous soundscapes of Stanisław Lem’s literary works, filled with many sounds and many voices: “the absolute silence of the cosmos”, “the overwhelming hum of the future”, “the unsettling knocking on a space station”, “the furtive whisper of a robot”. These are the sounds of Lem’s worlds, in which he conjures up his futurological speculations, shaping them into sci-fi stories about humans, who - among other things - listen. Lem’s space fantasies have inspired film directors and playwrights (particularly radio dramas), posing a challenge for composers and sound producers facing the problem of translating the shape of things to come, emerging from the futurological stories written by the author who gave us Solaris, into the language of sound and music. A peculiar sonic distinctiveness of electronic sonority rises from this genre-oriented and continuous creative practice in film and radio science-fiction with all its earmarks: spaceships, robots, advanced technologies, laboratories, and extraterrestrial worlds – all sounding “electronic,” and thus exotic and distinct to those enjoying this type of fiction in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

  • Issue Year: 4/2016
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 1-13
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: Polish