European science fiction

Abstract

Science fiction from the continent of Europe is still relatively unknown in the English-speaking countries, despite the efforts of publishers such as Seabury Press, Daw Books and Macmillan; translations are few and far between, and they are often of a poor quality. In science fiction terms, Stanislaw Lem may be an isolated figure; in terms of literature, he is not. He is creating in a science-fiction desert, although it is by no means true that he is the only science fiction writer producing in Poland. It is only after Lem that one should turn to the most important science fiction field in Europe, that of the Soviet Union. Czechoslovakia produced one of the prime influences in modern science fiction, Karel Capek, the man who gave the word ‘robot’ to the world in his play R.U.R. France undoubtedly has the strongest native science fiction field in Europe, quite aside from the many translations.