''The Investigation'' (original title ''Śledztwo'') is a
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 uni ...
/
detective/
thriller novel
by the
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
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 ...
. The novel incorporates a philosophical discourse on explanation of unknown phenomena.
[ It was first published in 1958 in '']Przekrój
''Przekrój'' (; ''Cross-section'') was the oldest Polish weekly newsmagazine in operation, established in 1945 in Kraków. After temporary closure in 2013, it was bought by photographer Tomasz Niewiadomski and subsequently relaunched in December ...
'' magazine (issues 698-711) and in 1959 as a book by the Publishing House of the Ministry of National Defense (Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej).
Plot
The novel is set in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. A young Scotland Yard lieutenant Gregory investigates the mysterious disappearances of corpses from London morgues to reappear somewhere else. The only "explanation" is an abstruse statistical theory that correlates the body snatching
Body snatching is the illicit removal of corpses from graves, morgues, and other burial sites. Body snatching is distinct from the act of grave robbery as grave robbing does not explicitly involve the removal of the corpse, but rather theft from ...
with local cancer rates. The detective suspects the statistician Sciss who came up with the theory of being the perpetrator. In reality it appears as if the corpses " resurrect". Gregory suggests that the corpses are being infested by certain microorganisms, which have some kind of collective intelligence. Sciss ponders upon this and thinks that this phenomenon existed for a long time and may explain the belief in resurrection in many religions. Eventually all was explained as a highly unlikely coincidence of several factors. However it turns out that some cases do not fit...[
]
Discussion
In ''The Investigation'' the classic procedural police mystery is turned into a metaphysical puzzle, with Kafkaesque
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typi ...
themes. As in almost all Lem's production, philosophical and epistemological questions are presented under the simple surface of the plot: what is the role of scientific inquiry? What does the existence of competing explanations mean for that goal? The novel also introduces a theme that will later be present in Lem's works, in particular, in his major 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 ...
'': that observations are formed by the properties of the observer's mind, rather than by any properties of the observed.
Lem wrote that he received many angry letters from readers who demanded an explanation how corpses can move.
Adaptations
In 1970s the novel was put on screen in Poland twice.[Krzysztof Walecki]
"ŚLEDZTWO (1973 & 1997). Groza według Lema"
''film.org.pl, August 31, 2018
*1973: TV film (director ) (production: 1973, premiere: 1974)
*:Lem was unhappy with the work, but he wrote he was aware of the extremely low budget and appreciated the director's dedication, who sometimes used dirty tricks to make shots (e.g., he pretended to be a crazy man and bursted into the Scotland Yard with a camera to make some valuable shots for free) .[Łukasz Maciejewsk]
"Święty spokój", an interview with Lem
/ref>
*1997 TV play (director Waldemar Krzystek
Waldemar Krzystek (born 23 November 1953) is a Polish film director and screenwriter. His film '' Ostatni prom'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.
His 2008 cold war romance '' Little Moscow'' (''Ma ...
).[ŚLEDZTWO Spektakl telewizyjny]
/ref>
See also
* '' Chain of Chance'', a 1975 Lem's novel based on a similar philosophy
References
20th-century Polish novels
1958 science fiction novels
Mystery novels
Novels by Stanisław Lem
Novels set in London
Polish science fiction novels
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