Christian Conceptualization of Jewish Experience in Stanisław Lem’s Hospital of Transfiguration

• In Event: Postsecular Interpretations of Eastern European Literature and Art

Abstract

The paper analyzes Stanisław Lem’s realist novel, Hospital of Transfiguration, and asks why a Jewish, atheist author in his early non-science fiction book turns to a Christian concept to talk about World War II. Through that analysis, the paper aims to explain Lem’s later shift towards Science Fiction. As well as attempts to place Lem in a broader context of Christianizing post-WWI Jewish authors such as Leo Lipski and Aleksander Wat.

Author

• Andrzej Brylak, U of Southern California