279:
arrive to rescue everyone in the sewer Tichy refuses to move, believing that it is another illusion. He is then found by counter-revolutionaries, who shoot him. Awaking in another hospital, Tichy's mental state grows increasingly fragile as he cannot distinguish reality from hallucination (giving the staff inane nicknames, such as "Hallucinathan" and "Hallucinda"), and the medical staff make the decision to freeze him until a time when medicine can help his condition.
263:. The conference is set to focus on the world's overpopulation crisis and ways of dealing with it. It is held at the Costa Rica Hilton in Nounas, which is 164 stories tall. Lem is fiercely satirical from the start, and absurdities abound at the Hilton with its guaranteed "BOMB-FREE" rooms and the extravagances of Tichy's suite, which include a palm grove and an "all-girl orchestra played Bach while performing a cleverly choreographed striptease".
251:
congress was being held, and in the sewer he goes through a series of hallucinations and false awakenings, which cause him to be confused about whether or not what's happening around him is real. Finally, he believes that he falls asleep and wakes up many years later. The main part of the book follows Ijon's adventures in the future world â a world where everyone takes hallucinogenic drugs, and hallucinations have replaced reality.
682:
311:
protect order. Through successive doses of more and more powerful types of up'n'at'm, Tichy sees increasingly horrible visions of the world, climaxing in a frozen horrorscape where people sleep blissfully in the snow, and the police robots are revealed to be people who are convinced that they are robots. The frozen state of the world explains why he has always found the new world to be so cold.
271:
be reality). He realizes the next day that the government has drugged the public water supply with "benignimizers", a drug that makes the victim helplessly benevolent. Events spiral out of control at the Hilton, which was already so chaotic that charred corpses from bombing attacks would be covered with tarps where they lay while guests went about their business.
27:
319:"The year is 2098 ... with 69 billion inhabitants legally registered and approximately another 26 billion in hiding. The average annual temperature has fallen four degrees. In fifteen or twenty years there will be glaciers here. We have no way of averting or halting their advance â we can only keep them secret."
314:
In a state of panic, Tichy realizes that he is "no longer safely inside the illusion, but shipwrecked in reality", and he desperately seeks the seat of power. He ascends in a skyscraper to encounter his acquaintance George P. Symington
Esquire, who sits in a modest office and explains to Tichy that
310:
But this first dose is just the beginning of Tichy's journey. He sees that people do not drive cars or ride in elevators, but they run in the streets and climb the walls of empty elevator shafts, which explains why everyone in this new world is so out of breath. Robots whip people in the street and
294:
Following their break-up, Tichy becomes deeply disillusioned with the "psychem" mentality, wherein drugs regulate every waking moment of the day. He resolves to stop taking any drugs and confides to his friend, professor
Trottelreiner, that he can't stand this new world. Trottelreiner explains that
290:
Tichy learns that there is an inherent bias against defrostees, and that there are a great deal of words that he does not understand. Like cityspeak, and many other sci-fi futuristic languages, it is a mishmash of words with clear enough
English roots, though Tichy is mystified by it. Also, mood is
270:
In the middle of his first night at the conference, Tichy drinks some tap water in his hotel room, and his wild hallucinogenic trip begins, though it never becomes any more or less absurd than the brief glimpse of reality Lem presents in the beginning of the book (if indeed the congress is meant to
306:
The professor then gives Tichy a flask of "up'n'at'm, one of the vigilanimides, a powerful countersomniac and antipsychem agent. A derivative of dimethylethylhexabutylpeptopeyotine". With his first sniff of up'n'at'm, Tichy watches as the gilded surroundings of the five-star restaurant they are in
326:
Tichy realizes his only course of action and tackles
Symington, pushing them both out of the window. They plummet to the earth, but instead of colliding with the frozen ground, Tichy splashes into the black, stinking waters of the sewer beneath the Costa Rica Hilton, revealing that his suspicions
250:
The book opens at the eponymous congress. A riot breaks out, and the hero, Ijon Tichy, is hit by various psychoactive drugs that were put into the drinking water supply lines by the government to pacify the riots. Ijon and a few others escape to the safety of a sewer beneath the Hilton where the
298:
Trottelreiner explains, "mascon" derives from mask, masquerade, mascara: "By introducing properly prepared mascons to the brain, one can mask any object in the outside world behind a fictitious imageâsuperimposedâand with such dexterity, that the psychemasconated subject cannot tell which of his
278:
Protesters attack the hospital, and Tichy is nearly killed again. This time when he wakes up, he finds that he has been transplanted into the body of an overweight, red-haired man, however this too is an illusion (again, broken when Tichy falls into the sewer water). When the military once again
286:
In most regards, this future society is
Utopian. Money is no object. One can simply go to the bank and request any sum and borrow it interest-free. There is no effort made to collect the debt, either, as most people take a drug that instills a sense of pride and work-ethic, which would disallow
274:
The government ends up bombing the hotel, and Tichy escapes into the sewer, where rats walk around on their hind legs. Tichy is evacuated from the scene by the military: first he escapes by jetpack, only to realise he is hallucinating (falling in the sewer water to find he never left). After
282:
He awakes in the year 2039, and at this point, the novel adopts the format of a journal that Tichy keeps to chronicle his experience in this new world. His future shock is so great that he finds he is being introduced to the world in small stages by the medical staff.
275:
returning to reality, he is rescued again and this time evacuated by helicopter, but during his rescue the helicopter crashes, and he awakes in the hospital, where he finds that his brain has been transplanted into the body of an attractive young black woman.
266:
The conference itself is no less absurd. Papers and presenters are too numerous to allow for full presentations. Instead, papers are distributed in hard copy and speakers call out paragraph numbers to call attention to their most salient points.
355:. Like Ijon Tichy, the female protagonist is split between delusional and real mental states. The film follows the same general narrative thread but focuses on the struggles of an actress with future technology.
291:
highly regulated by drugs. Tichy gets involved with a woman, and during an argument, she deliberately takes a drug called recriminol to make her more combative, which prolongs the tiff.
307:
evaporates into a dingy concrete bunker, and his stuffed pheasant turns into "the most unappetizing gray-brown gruel, which stuck in globs to my tin â no longer silver â fork".
819:
389:
Lem sets the story in a fictional republic of
Kostarykana (Costarikana; Costa Rica is called Kostaryka in Polish). In most foreign translations, except the English one by
327:
were right all along: the whole future world he experienced was an illusion. He realizes that it is now the second day of the Eighth World
Futurological Congress.
497:
807:
295:
the
Narcotics and hallucinogens that Tichy is tired of are trifles compared to "mascons", which are so powerful that they mask whole swaths of reality.
712:
1246:
488:
1333:
1343:
1328:
945:
1308:
1313:
299:
perceptions have been altered, and which have not. If but for a single instant you could see this world of ours the way it
1303:
1223:
1114:
1001:
913:
156:
1044:
1268:
1155:
1318:
531:
1229:
799:
1251:
481:
1323:
613:
178:
456:
414:
403:
1078:
1130:
985:
757:
697:
589:
231:
871:
474:
993:
791:
347:
1028:
749:
653:
430:
Bernd Böttcher, "Die
Illusion der Wirklichkeit in StanisÅaw Lems âDer futurologische KongreÃâ",
1338:
1217:
1143:
1020:
726:
719:
669:
461:
953:
573:
360:
1119:
629:
1298:
1170:
1036:
549:
1190:
8:
1195:
1175:
1109:
1070:
969:
961:
937:
921:
836:
637:
260:
783:
1062:
733:
557:
516:
339:
wished to adapt the novel into a film, but failed to obtain funding for his project.
163:
151:
844:
828:
704:
565:
524:
366:
189:
929:
501:
223:
40:
905:
581:
439:
219:
208:
89:
393:, the name is rendered as "Costaricana", thus retaining its fictional reference.
1180:
879:
661:
597:
541:
432:
390:
259:
Ijon Tichy is sent to the Eighth World
Futurological Congress in Costa Rica by
60:
26:
1185:
1292:
1200:
977:
775:
443:
336:
107:
364:, which itself was rather based on the story "The Eighth Voyage" from Lem's
1261:
741:
216:
94:
1273:
466:
303:
isâundoctored, unadulterated, uncensoredâyou would drop in your tracks!"
238:. The book is Lem's take on the science fictional trope of an apparently
170:
1139:
1104:
1099:
605:
342:
235:
227:
1123:
645:
457:
The Futurological Congress book page on Stanislaw Lem's official site
358:
The title of the book was used for one episode of the German TV show
863:
315:
he and a few others employ mascons as a way of maintaining order:
226:. It details the exploits of the hero of a number of his stories,
1256:
239:
1135:
164:
230:, as he visits the Eighth World Futurological Congress at a
190:
322:"I always thought there would be ice in hell," I said.
415:
Ari Folman on the Genius of Stanislaw Lem â interview
51:Ze wspomnieÅ Ijona Tichego Kongres futurologiczny
1290:
436:, vol. 102, 2005, pp. 89â104. (in German)
482:
31:Cover of the first English-language edition
496:
489:
475:
25:
242:future that turns out to be an illusion.
1291:
404:"ÅwiÄty spokój", an interview with Lem
470:
330:
385:
383:
396:
13:
424:
14:
1355:
1045:End of the World at Eight O'Clock
914:Voyage to the End of the Universe
698:End of the World at Eight O'Clock
450:
380:
1334:Polish novels adapted into films
680:
462:Review at challengingdestiny.com
351:is partially based on the novel
70:Menten Ted (1st English edition)
946:Hospital of the Transfiguration
532:Hospital of the Transfiguration
254:
800:Science Fiction and Futurology
408:
1:
1344:Polish science fiction novels
1329:Novels set in Central America
373:
1309:Comic science fiction novels
1230:Rozmowy ze StanisÅawem Lemem
7:
1314:1971 science fiction novels
1252:Neologisms of StanisÅaw Lem
1079:The Invincible (video game)
245:
20:The Futurological Congress
10:
1360:
622:The Futurological Congress
590:Memoirs Found in a Bathtub
204:The Futurological Congress
16:1971 book by StanisÅaw Lem
1239:
1209:
1163:
1154:
1092:
1055:
1012:
897:
890:
855:
818:
767:
689:
678:
508:
188:
176:
162:
150:
142:
134:Published in English
132:
124:
114:
103:
82:
74:
66:
56:
46:
36:
24:
872:Do You Exist, Mr. Jones?
792:The Philosophy of Chance
287:defaulting on the debt.
1304:Novels by StanisÅaw Lem
1029:Ijon Tichy: Space Pilot
750:Tales of Pirx the Pilot
654:Observation on the Spot
222:novel by Polish author
1319:Overpopulation fiction
1247:Honors bestowed on Lem
1218:A Stanislaw Lem Reader
1021:The Adventures of Pirx
353:Futurological Congress
213:Kongres futurologiczny
212:
1224:Correspondence of Lem
954:Inquest of Pilot Pirx
574:Return from the Stars
361:Ijon Tichy: Raumpilot
110:(1st English edition)
1324:Novels set in hotels
1037:Fear of a Bot Planet
550:The Magellanic Cloud
402:Åukasz Maciejewski,
196:PG7158.L39 Z413 1985
1196:Franz Rottensteiner
1176:Konstantin Dushenko
1110:Professor Tarantoga
962:Victim of the Brain
837:Imaginary Magnitude
727:Lymphater's Formula
638:The Chain of Chance
261:professor Tarantoga
47:Original title
21:
1002:His Master's Voice
784:Summa Technologiae
630:Professor A. DoÅda
614:His Master's Voice
331:Cultural influence
19:
1286:
1285:
1282:
1281:
1191:Wojciech OrliÅski
1088:
1087:
734:Fables for Robots
558:The Investigation
517:The Man from Mars
200:
199:
125:Publication place
67:Cover artist
1351:
1161:
1160:
895:
894:
845:One Human Minute
829:A Perfect Vacuum
705:The Star Diaries
684:
683:
491:
484:
477:
468:
467:
418:
412:
406:
400:
394:
387:
367:The Star Diaries
192:
166:
116:Publication date
29:
22:
18:
1359:
1358:
1354:
1353:
1352:
1350:
1349:
1348:
1289:
1288:
1287:
1278:
1269:Works about Lem
1235:
1205:
1171:StanisÅaw BereÅ
1150:
1084:
1051:
1008:
906:The Silent Star
886:
851:
814:
763:
685:
681:
676:
504:
495:
453:
440:Brave New World
427:
425:Further reading
422:
421:
413:
409:
401:
397:
388:
381:
376:
333:
257:
248:
220:science fiction
181:
143:Media type
135:
117:
99:
90:Science fiction
32:
17:
12:
11:
5:
1357:
1347:
1346:
1341:
1336:
1331:
1326:
1321:
1316:
1311:
1306:
1301:
1284:
1283:
1280:
1279:
1277:
1276:
1271:
1266:
1265:
1264:
1259:
1249:
1243:
1241:
1237:
1236:
1234:
1233:
1226:
1221:
1213:
1211:
1207:
1206:
1204:
1203:
1198:
1193:
1188:
1183:
1181:Michael Kandel
1178:
1173:
1167:
1165:
1158:
1152:
1151:
1149:
1148:
1147:
1146:
1128:
1127:
1126:
1115:Mad scientists
1112:
1107:
1102:
1096:
1094:
1090:
1089:
1086:
1085:
1083:
1082:
1076:
1068:
1059:
1057:
1053:
1052:
1050:
1049:
1041:
1033:
1025:
1016:
1014:
1010:
1009:
1007:
1006:
998:
990:
982:
974:
966:
958:
950:
942:
934:
926:
918:
910:
901:
899:
892:
888:
887:
885:
884:
880:Faithful Robot
876:
868:
859:
857:
853:
852:
850:
849:
841:
833:
824:
822:
820:Pseudepigraphy
816:
815:
813:
812:
804:
796:
788:
780:
771:
769:
765:
764:
762:
761:
754:
746:
738:
730:
723:
716:
709:
701:
693:
691:
687:
686:
679:
677:
675:
674:
670:Peace on Earth
666:
658:
650:
642:
634:
626:
618:
610:
602:
598:The Invincible
594:
586:
578:
570:
562:
554:
546:
542:The Astronauts
538:
537:
536:
521:
512:
510:
506:
505:
494:
493:
486:
479:
471:
465:
464:
459:
452:
451:External links
449:
448:
447:
437:
433:Quarber Merkur
426:
423:
420:
419:
407:
395:
391:Michael Kandel
378:
377:
375:
372:
332:
329:
324:
323:
320:
256:
253:
247:
244:
198:
197:
194:
186:
185:
182:
177:
174:
173:
168:
160:
159:
154:
148:
147:
144:
140:
139:
136:
133:
130:
129:
126:
122:
121:
118:
115:
112:
111:
105:
101:
100:
98:
97:
92:
86:
84:
80:
79:
76:
72:
71:
68:
64:
63:
61:Michael Kandel
58:
54:
53:
48:
44:
43:
38:
34:
33:
30:
15:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
1356:
1345:
1342:
1340:
1339:Polish novels
1337:
1335:
1332:
1330:
1327:
1325:
1322:
1320:
1317:
1315:
1312:
1310:
1307:
1305:
1302:
1300:
1297:
1296:
1294:
1275:
1272:
1270:
1267:
1263:
1260:
1258:
1255:
1254:
1253:
1250:
1248:
1245:
1244:
1242:
1238:
1232:
1231:
1227:
1225:
1222:
1220:
1219:
1215:
1214:
1212:
1208:
1202:
1201:Peter Swirski
1199:
1197:
1194:
1192:
1189:
1187:
1184:
1182:
1179:
1177:
1174:
1172:
1169:
1168:
1166:
1162:
1159:
1157:
1153:
1145:
1141:
1137:
1134:
1133:
1132:
1129:
1125:
1121:
1118:
1117:
1116:
1113:
1111:
1108:
1106:
1103:
1101:
1098:
1097:
1095:
1091:
1080:
1077:
1075:
1073:
1069:
1067:
1065:
1061:
1060:
1058:
1054:
1047:
1046:
1042:
1039:
1038:
1034:
1031:
1030:
1026:
1023:
1022:
1018:
1017:
1015:
1011:
1004:
1003:
999:
996:
995:
991:
988:
987:
983:
980:
979:
975:
972:
971:
967:
964:
963:
959:
956:
955:
951:
948:
947:
943:
940:
939:
935:
932:
931:
927:
924:
923:
919:
916:
915:
911:
908:
907:
903:
902:
900:
896:
893:
889:
882:
881:
877:
874:
873:
869:
866:
865:
861:
860:
858:
854:
847:
846:
842:
839:
838:
834:
831:
830:
826:
825:
823:
821:
817:
810:
809:
805:
802:
801:
797:
794:
793:
789:
786:
785:
781:
778:
777:
773:
772:
770:
766:
759:
755:
752:
751:
747:
744:
743:
739:
736:
735:
731:
728:
724:
721:
717:
714:
710:
707:
706:
702:
699:
695:
694:
692:
690:Short stories
688:
672:
671:
667:
664:
663:
659:
656:
655:
651:
648:
647:
643:
640:
639:
635:
632:
631:
627:
624:
623:
619:
616:
615:
611:
608:
607:
603:
600:
599:
595:
592:
591:
587:
584:
583:
579:
576:
575:
571:
568:
567:
563:
560:
559:
555:
552:
551:
547:
544:
543:
539:
534:
533:
529:
528:
527:
526:
525:Time Not Lost
522:
519:
518:
514:
513:
511:
507:
503:
502:StanisÅaw Lem
499:
492:
487:
485:
480:
478:
473:
472:
469:
463:
460:
458:
455:
454:
445:
444:Aldous Huxley
441:
438:
435:
434:
429:
428:
416:
411:
405:
399:
392:
386:
384:
379:
371:
369:
368:
363:
362:
356:
354:
350:
349:
344:
340:
338:
337:Andrzej Wajda
328:
321:
318:
317:
316:
312:
308:
304:
302:
296:
292:
288:
284:
280:
276:
272:
268:
264:
262:
252:
243:
241:
237:
233:
229:
225:
224:StanisÅaw Lem
221:
218:
214:
210:
206:
205:
195:
193:
191:LC Class
187:
183:
180:
179:Dewey Decimal
175:
172:
169:
167:
161:
158:
157:0-15-634040-2
155:
153:
149:
145:
141:
137:
131:
127:
123:
119:
113:
109:
108:Seabury Press
106:
102:
96:
93:
91:
88:
87:
85:
81:
77:
73:
69:
65:
62:
59:
55:
52:
49:
45:
42:
41:StanisÅaw Lem
39:
35:
28:
23:
1228:
1216:
1131:Lem's robots
1124:A. Lymphater
1071:
1063:
1043:
1035:
1027:
1019:
1000:
994:The Congress
992:
984:
976:
968:
960:
952:
944:
936:
928:
920:
912:
904:
878:
870:
862:
843:
835:
827:
806:
798:
790:
782:
774:
768:Major essays
748:
742:The Cyberiad
740:
732:
703:
668:
660:
652:
644:
636:
628:
621:
620:
612:
604:
596:
588:
580:
572:
564:
556:
548:
540:
530:
523:
515:
431:
417:(March 2011)
410:
398:
365:
359:
357:
352:
348:The Congress
346:
341:
334:
325:
313:
309:
305:
300:
297:
293:
289:
285:
281:
277:
273:
269:
265:
258:
255:Plot summary
249:
232:Hilton Hotel
217:black humour
215:) is a 1971
203:
202:
201:
184:891.8/537 19
95:Black humour
50:
1299:1971 novels
1274:Year of Lem
1186:Daniel Mróz
1074:(2019 play)
891:Adaptations
808:Microworlds
1293:Categories
1140:Klapaucius
1105:Pilot Pirx
1100:Ijon Tichy
1093:Characters
606:Highcastle
374:References
343:Ari Folman
236:Costa Rica
228:Ijon Tichy
57:Translator
1262:Lem's Law
1064:Cyberiada
930:Roly Poly
715:" (1950s)
713:The Hunt
646:Golem XIV
335:Director
104:Publisher
1156:Lemology
1144:Terminus
1120:A. DoÅda
864:Korzenie
760:" (1974)
758:The Mask
729:" (1961)
722:" (1961)
720:Terminus
700:" (1947)
345:'s film
246:Overview
171:11812537
75:Language
1257:Sepulka
1072:Solaris
1066:(opera)
970:Solaris
938:Solaris
922:Solaris
867:(1940s)
776:Dialogs
582:Solaris
240:Utopian
1164:People
1081:(2023)
1048:(2015)
1040:(1999)
1032:(2007)
1024:(1973)
1005:(2018)
997:(2013)
989:(2010)
981:(2009)
973:(2002)
965:(1988)
957:(1979)
949:(1978)
941:(1972)
933:(1968)
925:(1968)
917:(1963)
909:(1960)
883:(1961)
875:(1955)
848:(1986)
840:(1973)
832:(1971)
811:(1984)
803:(1970)
795:(1968)
787:(1964)
779:(1957)
753:(1966)
745:(1965)
737:(1964)
708:(1957)
673:(1987)
665:(1986)
662:Fiasco
657:(1982)
649:(1981)
641:(1975)
633:(1973)
625:(1971)
617:(1968)
609:(1966)
601:(1964)
593:(1961)
585:(1961)
577:(1961)
569:(1959)
561:(1959)
553:(1955)
545:(1951)
535:(1948)
520:(1946)
509:Novels
446:, 1932
301:really
209:Polish
128:Poland
78:Polish
37:Author
1240:Other
1210:Works
1136:Trurl
1056:Other
986:Maska
898:Films
856:Plays
498:Works
146:Print
83:Genre
1138:and
566:Eden
165:OCLC
152:ISBN
138:1974
120:1971
500:by
442:by
234:in
1295::
1142:,
1122:,
1013:TV
382:^
370:.
211::
978:1
756:"
725:"
718:"
711:"
696:"
490:e
483:t
476:v
207:(
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
