Provocation
Prowokacja
by Stanisław Lem
This thin booklet contains two reviews on two non-existent books by non-existent authors. Both Der Völkemord by Horst Aspernicus and One Human Minute by J. Johnson & S. Johnson exist in the reviewer`s imagination only; yet the reviews make them very real.
The first book is an apologia for evil. The other looks into the topic of needless information flooding the world and brains. The reviews seem to be about the world going more and more crazy, but there`s much more to Prowokacja than just that. The book is by no means easy reading. It`s not for them that would rather believe; it`s for them that prefer to think.
I feel kinda foolish writing a review on a review on books non-existent, so I suppose I`d better just tell you what I like about Prowokacja. It provokes, and I love that! It makes one think, and I love that. It`s for them that will question rather than unconditionally accept, and I love that, too. Besides, it is fun! Weird kind of fun, granted…
Matter is, the author prefers joking in earnest. Nobody with any brain could take our crazy stupid brainwashed/brainwashing world seriously without going crazy themselves. And laughing at it, or ridiculing it, is better than the other option. Ridiculing it in a scholarly manner is quite some aerobatics, but there`s this problem: many a reader is likely to mistake the style for the gist… I`d declare the first part of the book is not about murder, and the second part of the book is not about what all the people in the world might be doing within the limits of but one minute. Just try and imagine lifting, let alone reading, to say nothing about compiling, a mammoth volume really describing everything happening everywhere within that minute. Eh? I`m not asking who would buy it, though. Compulsive buyers happen. As to the other issue, namely, that of murder and evil in general, well, according to the ancient truism, you can explain away anything, as long as you preach some Greater Good…
I do recommend reading the book, but I suppose, in this case, I`d better secure me a waiver… Read At Your Own Risk!
© Dodo