Hospital of the Transfiguration

“Absorbing, also, to watch Lem outline many of the themes and ideas that he will later develop brilliantly in his science fiction.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Lem carefully develops his characters before he etches them away with the stresses of war, showing them as archetypes of courage, cowardice, perfidy, and love.” —Village Voice

“A phenomenon called Lem did not grow into a writer, but sprang from the head of Zeus like Athena, full armed; but with a portable Remington instead of a spear.” —Bloomsbury Review

“The release of these new volumes seems to expand the possibilities of what a university publisher can do.” —LitHub

“Fourteen years after his death, the universe is still struggling to catch up with the vast creative force that was Stanisław Lem. And for my money, it won’t be surpassing him anytime soon…Enjoying the genius of Lem requires readerly dexterity and a willingness to go wherever the author takes you…These marvelous, absorbing and often hilarious books make our weary universe seem pale and undistinguished by comparison.” —The Washington Post

“In 1948, in a white heat, Lem wrote Hospital of the Transfiguration, a realist novel about a young doctor who observes moral ambiguities in a psychiatric hospital… The book is full of fine observations, such as when the doctor hears a patient shouting ‘as if practicing,’ and features the kind of philosophizing that distinguishes Lem’s science fiction.”  —The New Yorker