SOURCE: “Spin, Memory,” in New Republic, May 20, 1996, pp. 39–41.

In the following review, Baranczak discusses the critical reception of Highcastle: A Remembrance upon its original 1966 publication, and the problems with reading Lem's factual memoir in light of his previous works of imaginative fiction.

A renowned science fiction writer who all of a sudden publishes a book subtitled A Remembrance is like your local Delphic oracle announcing its conversion into a branch of the Genealogical Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You hate it when such a thing happens. There's nothing wrong in searching for one's roots, but you somehow don't expect it from people who specialize in prophecy. Imagination, not memory, is supposed to be their field. If they are so good at foreseeing all the troubles that the universe has in store, why are they wasting their valuable time delving into things infinitely less...