Future gone soft

Press, 2 May 1981, Page 17

Future gone soft

Return from the Stars. By Stanislaw Lem. Seeker and Warburg, 1980. 247 pp. $25. The pilot of a space craft returns to Earth after a 10-year expedition to discover' that 127 years of Earth-time have passed. Society has gone soft, living in a mechanised state in which people are tamed by a compulsory drug treatment which removes beligerence and has the side effect of eliminating the spirit of adventure. The world has rejected the values which drove the pilot and his crew to. seek new worlds. This story is about his struggles to. come to terms withthe situation. It is a rather worn theme, but the side issues raise questions which will appeal'to those who like to think about the futureof mankind. If the ability to kill is artificially removed, could it also destroy man’s desire to improve? This book does not- supply the answers, merely the problems. The story does not have a. really solid conclusion, which spoils it a little. However, the view-point presented is particularly interesting because it comes from "behind the Iron Curtain. Stanislaw Lein is a prolific Polish science fiction writer and this .story, was written in the early; 19605. which accounts for it being a little old fashioned. ■ It has. been translated from Polish by Barbara Marszal and Frank Simpson. This task has been done well. The tale is skilfully told, and likely to inspire a desire for more from Mr Lem.—Rod Dew.