The Star Diaries

The Star Diaries is a series of short stories of the adventures of space traveller Ijon Tichy, of satirical nature, by Polish writer Stanisław Lem. The first ones were published in a 1954 collection Sezam i inne opowiadania and first published as a separate book in 1957 titled Dzienniki gwiazdowe, expanded in 1971. Closely related to this series is the series Ze wspomnień Ijona Tichego [From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy]. Usually these stories, and several others, are considered to be the same cycle of the adventures of Ijon Tichy. The permit of the Communist censors for the 1954 publication described The Star Diaries as a satire of the capitalist society while failing to notice numerous parallels with the Communist society.The collections were published in English in two volumes, The Star Diaries (published New York, 1976) and Memoirs of a Space Traveller (published London, 1982).