After 10 years in space, astronaut Hal Bregg returns home to find that, in accordance with the laws of Einsteinian relativity, 127 years have elapsed on Earth.  Confronting what is essentially an alien culture, Bregg finds himself puzzled and dismayed by various developments, including Earth's dependence on robots and a medical procedure administered to every human that effectively neutralizes all aggressive impulses.

  As always, Lem is dealing with an interesting theme in an absorbing was.  First-rate in all aspects, Return from the Stars is more intellectual science fiction from a very gifted writer. 

Lewis Beale, Philadelphia Inquirer

Harcourt Brace, 
New York 1980

 
 

  I have some reservations about this book because of sentimentalism and the brawn of its characters. Besides I recognize some traces of Remarque. An author cannot help his characters - only because he likes them. The romance could have ended just like in the novel but under one condition - the heroine should have been a more expressive character. I still consider the idea of "betrization" to be an interesting concept, however I slightly oversimplified its realization. My ambiguous feelings toward this book can be seen in the fact that I gave permission for translation and foreign editions.

Return From the Stars

"Acknowledged".

The significance of that reply, so peculiar coming from the lips of a beautiful young woman, I did not immediately grasp, for it reached me when my back was turned, as I was halfway out the door. I went to put my foot on a step, but there was no step. Between the metal hull and the edge of the platform yawned a meter-wide crevice. Caught off balance, unprepared for such a trap, I made a clumsy leap and, in mid air, felt an invisible flow of force take hold of me as if from below, so that I floated across the void and was set down softly on a white surface, which yielded elastically. In flight, I must have had a none-too-intelligent expression on my face - I felt a number of amused stares, or so it seemed to me. I quickly turned away and walked along the platform. The rocket on which I had arrived was resting in a deep bay, separated from the edge of the platforms by an unprotected abyss. I drew close to this empty space, as if unintentionally, and for the second time felt an invisible resilience that kept me from crossing the white border. I wanted to locate the source of this peculiar force, but suddenly, as if I were waking up, it occurred to me: I was on Earth.

Translated by Barbara Marszal and Frank Simpson, Mandarin