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Return from the stars

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"Originally published in 1961, Return from the Stars recounts the experiences of Hal Bregg, an astronaut who returns from an exploratory mission of ten years. Due to time dilation 127 years have passed on Earth. Bregg returns to a society that he hardly recognizes, one where danger has been eradicated. Children are 'betrizated' to remove all aggression and violence, but this also removes all impluse to take risks and explore. Bregg has serious difficulty in navigating the new social mores, and fails to adapt. While Lem's depiction of a risk-free society is bleak, he avoids heroizing Bregg and his fellow astronauts -- faced with no opposition to his aggression, Bregg behaves abominably. The middle of the book recounts the space mission, in which several of their collagues died horribly and very little of any scientific magnitude was discovered. As usual with Lem's books, there is no simple answer, and Lem's dissection has multiple targets"-- Provided by publisher.An astronaut returns to Earth after a ten-year mission and finds a society that he barely recognizes.Stanislaw Lem's Return from the Stars recounts the experiences of Hal Bregg, an astronaut who returns from an exploratory mission that lasted ten years--although because of time dilation, 127 years have passed on Earth. Bregg finds a society that he hardly recognizes, in which danger has been eradicated. Children are betrizated to remove all aggression and violence--a process that also removes all impulse to take risks and explore. The people of Earth view Bregg and his crew as resuscitated Neanderthals, and pressure them to undergo betrization. Bregg has serious difficulty in navigating the new social mores.While Lem's depiction of a risk-free society is bleak, he does not portray Bregg and his fellow astronauts as heroes. Indeed, faced with no opposition to his aggression, Bregg behaves abominably. He is faced with a choice: leave Earth again and hope to return to a different society in several hundred years, or stay on Earth and learn to be content. With Return from the Stars, Lem shows the shifting boundaries between utopia and dystopia.OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

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Detail Information

Series Title

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Call Number

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Publisher

: The MIT Press., 2020

Collation

1 online resource.

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

0262357690

Classification

NONE

Content Type

text

Media Type

computer

Carrier Type

online resource

Edition

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Subject(s)

Science fiction, Polish.

Specific Detail Info

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Statement of Responsibility

Stanis?aw Lem ; Translated by Barbara Marszal and Frank Simpson.

Other Information

Cataloger

Hasan

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