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Eden (Lem novel)

1959 novel by Stanisław Lem

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ1283523
Source-derived summary

Eden is a 1958 social science fiction novel by Polish writer Stanisław Lem. It was first published in 1958 in issues 211-271 of the newspaper Trybuna Robotnicza. The first book edition was in 1959. It was first published in English in 1989 (ISBN 0-15-127580-7).

Plot

A starship crew—Captain (in the original, Coordinator), Doctor, Engineer, Chemist, Physicist and Cyberneticist (robotics expert)—crash land on an alien world they call Eden. After escaping their wrecked ship they set out to explore the planet, first traveling through an unsettling wilderness and coming upon an abandoned automated factory. There they find a constant cycle of materials being produced and then destroyed and recycled. Perplexed, they return to their ship. At the crash site they find a local sentient alien has entered their vessel. They name these large creatures, with small torsos retractable into their large bodies, doublers (a translation of Lem's neologism dubelt, to mean "double-bodied").

Editorial summary

“Eden (Lem novel)” enters the record as 1959 novel by Stanisław Lem. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Eden, novel and Stanisław can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1958, 1959, 1989—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1958. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Eden, novel and Stanisław.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Eden (Lem novel)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Eden, novel and Stanisław provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1283523. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1958, 1959 and 1989.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Eden (Lem novel)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Eden (Lem novel) primary sources, Eden (Lem novel) archive and Eden research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Eden (Lem novel)”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Eden (Lem novel)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.