robot, by Adam Wisniewski-Snerg

A Polish science fiction classic at last available to English readers.

A robot, known as BER-66, sits on an assembly line. When he comes to his final position, the robot in front of him turns and gives a long speech. It starts, “We have given you life, so you can discover a fraction of the great secret.” BER-66 learns he has been created by a force called “the Mechanism”. He is a robot, but he is able to at least imagine free will. His mission is to collect information on the inhabitants of a subterranean world, called the shelter. A catastrophic event, explained much later in the book, has caused the earth’s population to seek refuge underground. But BER-66 discovers another world, a petrified city, further down. BER-66 learns that time and gravity are different in the petrified city. “One second in the city equalled three hours in the shelter.” All objects are also correspondingly heavy. As BER-66 tries to solve the mystery of the petrified city, and also whether he is indeed human or robot, he will be forced to consider such weighty questions as fate, destiny, time, gravity and free will.

Robot by Polish writer Adam Wisniewski-Snerg is considered a science fiction masterpiece. First published in 1973, this English translation by Tomasz Mirkowicz was prepared some thirty years ago, in collaboration with the author. For some reason, it’s only been published now.

Science Fiction buffs will enjoy this complex, surreal and philosophical novel, with its concentration on Einstein’s theory of relativity. It’s haunting imagery reminded this reviewer of the paintings of Salvador Dali and films of David Lynch. Wisniewski-Snerg’s intellectual powers and conceptual gifts put him somewhere in the realm of Stanislav Lem, but without that author’s sense of humour and great sense of irony.

An eerie and creepy story, deeply intellectual and sometimes hard to grasp, but unforgettable nonetheless.

Robot, by Adam Wisniewski-Snerg. Published by Penguin. $19.99

​Review by Chris Saliba

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