Bill Johnston on Translating Stanislaw Lem's Solaris

Solaris by Stanislaw lem is arguably one of the most admired works of science-fiction in any language. Originally written in Polish in 1961 it's been made into 2 feature films. The book has been translated into many other languages with the notable exception of English. It's taken more than 50 years since the text was originally published - but now we English speakers have an accurate translation. I spoke with the book's translator - Bill Johnston who is a professor of comparitive literature at Indiana University. I began by asking Bill why it took so long to get a decent translation of this important story? -- -- Why did it take so long? - I'm looking for a brief history of this novel - The previous failed attempts to translate the story - How did you get involved with the project Lem is a literary hero in Poland and much of eastern Europe - so it must be a pretty daunting task to attempt a translation of his most famous novel. Were you willing to face the consequences of Lem's fans not liking your translation? - Any personal fears - How did you prepare for this challenge? Can you talk about some of the themes in this novel: Lem sets us up for what initially seems to be the old cliche of the alien encounter, and then completely overturns our expectations by reveling the most utterly alien alien-planet ever conceived in literature. - Looking for a basic outline of the book's premise Much of the plot of the book involves repeated, but failed attempts to communicate - by the end of the book, the astronauts who have been trying to commuinicate with the solaris ocean are utterly defeated, and they become convinced that communication is futile. Do you think that this scenario reflected Lem's personal beliefs about the difficulty or impossibility of human communication? - Feel free to speculate about what Lem is really saying here - Why this theme is so important to all of his books This is the first translation to English that has been approved by the Lem estate, and it's certainly a very different work of fiction to the 2002 Soderbergh movie adaptation. I understand that Stanislaw Lem was upset that his novel about an incomprehensible alien world had been transformed by hollywood into "Love in Outer-Space", Lem's original really isn't like that at all, is it? - Can you say what Soderbergh got wrong in his adaptation? - What can we expect form a more authentic translation? - Feel free to add your own feelings about the movie And your own work as a professional translator and a teacher of translation, do you find any irony in having just helped translate a book whose main thesis is utter pessimism about mankind's ability to meaningfully relate to just about anybody? If you want to hear Bill's translation of Solaris it's available right now via Audible.com - you can get a copy for free from Audible and help suppoprt the show by using our affiliate link in the show-notes. This is Salim Fadhley for The Pod Delusion