SOURCE: “Space for Writing: Stanislaw Lem and the Dialectic ‘That Guides My Pen,’” in Science-Fiction Studies, Vol. 13, Pt. 3, November, 1986, pp. 292–312.

In the following essay, Hayles explores the dichotomy of Lem's intuitive approach to writing and analytical scrutiny, drawing upon The Cyberiad and His Master's Voice as representative examples.

Few writers speak as much about their own and others’ works as Stanislaw Lem. His interviews, personal essays, critiques of SF [science fiction], philosophical treatises on language, and sweeping attempts to categorize modern fiction testify to his continuing fascination with the processes and products of writing. In this writing about writing, there is a curious division between process and product—between how Lem talks about the creation of texts and how he thinks about fictional works, including his own, once they have been written. The bifurcation is of course not unique to Lem. Most writers experience a split between the...