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Pilot Pirx is a fictional character introduced in 1966 in the
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
stories of
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
writer
Stanisław Lem Stanisław Herman Lem (; 12 September 1921 – 27 March 2006) was a Polish writer of science fiction and essays on various subjects, including philosophy, futurology, and literary criticism. Many of his science fiction stories are of satirical ...
: ten short stories (published in English in two parts, 1979's ''
Tales of Pirx the Pilot ''Tales of Pirx the Pilot'' is a science fiction stories collection by Polish author Stanisław Lem, about a spaceship pilot named Pirx. The first collection of stories about Pirx was published in 1965 in the Soviet Union in Russian under the ...
'' and 1982's ''More Tales of Pirx the Pilot''). Later he appeared in the novel ''
Fiasco Fiasco may refer to: * a failure or humiliating situation * Fiasco (bottle), a traditional Italian straw-covered wine bottle often associated with Chianti wine Media * ''Fiasco'' (novel), a 1987 science-fiction novel by Stanisław Lem * ''F ...
''. In the stories, Pirx is progressively depicted as a spaceship cadet, beginner pilot, a seasoned pilot, navigator, and finally, captain (''komandor''). In 7 of the 10 stories Pirx acts in the role of
Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...
, to investigate mysterious events."Pilot Pirx jako Sherlock Holmes"
in: Marek Oramus, ''Bogowie Lema'' ("Gods of Lem"), Warsaw, 2006
Although Pirx appears in the first half of Lem's later novel ''Fiasco'', the identity of the protagonist in the second half is never firmly established, but Pirx is one of the two possibilities. The bulk of the novel is set much further in the future, and it is vastly different from Lem's previous works.


Personality traits

While this overall storyline resembles that of a
bildungsroman In literary criticism, a ''Bildungsroman'' (, plural ''Bildungsromane'', ) is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood ( coming of age), in which character change is impo ...
,"Stanislaw Lem—A Moralist Who Doesn’t Moralize"
''Science Fiction Studies'', No.83, Volume 28, Part 1, March 2001 (retrieved December 10, 2015)
Lem writes that it was not his intention; he was going to write only 2–3 stories. Therefore, Pirx does not really have any background: no family, not even a first name.
Wojciech Orliński May 9, 2005, ''
Gazeta Wyborcza ''Gazeta Wyborcza'' (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It is the first Polish daily newspaper after the era of "real socialism" and one of Poland's newspapers of record, covering the g ...
'' (retrieved December 10, 2015)
The timid attitude of Pirx towards women, as seen in stories ''The Conditioned Reflex'' and ''The Albatross'' (the only two where Pirx interacts with women), may lead to the conclusion that he is a hardcore loner. From the story ''On Patrol'' we know that he smoked and liked spicy food and beer. Unlike traditional heroic space pilots, Pirx is as an ordinary "space truck driver" and has little if anything heroic about him. Personality traits of Pirx include cold blood, self-control and common sense—which serve Pirx well in all his predicaments. Pirx is also described as "noble-minded to the extent of being decent" (''zacny aż do poczciwości''). Pirx is of average intelligence and he rather relies on his instinct. Often he solves his problems by chance, but he does "give a chance a chance", a philosophy elaborated by Lem in his essay, ''
The Philosophy of Chance ''The Philosophy of Chance'', with subtitle ''"Literature in the Light of Empiricism"'' ( pl, Filozofia przypadku. Literatura w świetle empirii) is an essay by Polish author Stanisław Lem on the literary theory and the influence of literatur ...
''. For example, in the story ''The Inquest'', where Pirx is tasked with identifying a perfect android among a space crew, all his smart questioning and tests are for nothing and only by chance the circumstances give Pirx a chance. In this story, Lem also puts forth the idea that what may be perceived a human weakness is in fact an advantage over a perfect machine. In this tale Pirx succeeds because a human can hesitate, have doubts, but a robot cannot because it is programmed to be perfectly effective. In a sense, Pirx here is an
anti-hero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actions ...
: he defeats the perfect robot due to his lack of resolution, mistakes, and his decency—the latter may also be perceived as a drawback, because it stands in the way of ideal effectiveness. In the opinion of
Robert Stiller Robert Reuven Stiller (25 January 1928 – 10 December 2016) was a Polish Multilingualism, polyglot, writer, poet, translator, and editor. Life Robert Stiller was born in Warsaw, Poland, to Polish parents and spent his early childhood in what is n ...
, Pirx "does not have to be, and is not a hero nor personality, nor an intellectual, only an average man in this profession; his adventures are sometimes on the verge of comedy and sometimes of drama. As a concept, it is an advantage and a novelty in the genre."


Adaptations and other appearances

A television mini-series, ''Pirx kalandjai'' ('' The Adventures of Pirx''), was released in Hungary in 1973. There is a 1979 film ''Pilot Pirx's Inquest'' (''
Test pilota Pirxa ''Inquest of Pilot Pirx'' ( pl, Test pilota Pirxa, russian: Дознание пилота Пиркса, Doznaniye pilota Pirksa, et, Navigaator Pirx) is a joint Polish-Soviet 1979 film directed by . It is based on the short story "The Inquest" ...
'') based on the story ''Inquest'', a Polish-Soviet (Estonia and Ukraine) collaboration. In the short story "Appendix Solariana" (2014) by Wiktor Żwikiewicz, Commander Pirx visits the Station by
Solaris Solaris may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature, television and film * ''Solaris'' (novel), a 1961 science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem ** ''Solaris'' (1968 film), directed by Boris Nirenburg ** ''Solaris'' (1972 film), directed by ...
, possibly as another creation of the ocean-planet.


Commemoration

The July 2008 issue 107 of ''
3D World ''3D World'' is a magazine and website published by Future plc whose main focus is 3D animation, visual effects, videogame design, illustration and architectural visualisation. ''3D World'' appears every four weeks and is sold in the UK, th ...
'' magazine features the 3D rendering of Commander Pirx by Anders Lejczak, both on the magazine cover and pages 2–3. In 2009 an
exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...
was discovered and named after Pirx. When
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
was fishing for naming ideas for features on
Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...
and its moons mapped with the help of
New Horizons ''New Horizons'' is an Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research ...
, the name "Pirx" for a crater on
Charon In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon (; grc, Χάρων) is a psychopomp, the ferryman of Hades, the Greek underworld. He carries the souls of those who have been given funeral rites across the rivers Acheron and Styx, which separate the wo ...
received an overwhelming support among Russian voters"NASA’s Pluto Naming Spreadsheet Is ‘Star Trek,’ ‘Star Wars,’ and Lovecraft Approved"
(retrieved December 10, 2015)
and the name was approved in 2018.


References

{{Stanisław Lem Stanisław Lem fictional characters Polish science fiction Fictional astronauts Fictional amateur detectives