An early realist novel by Stanis aw Lem taking place in a Polish psychiatric hospital during
World War II. Taking place within the confines of a psychiatric hospital Stanis aw Lem's The
Hospital of the Transfiguration tells the story of a young doctor working in a Polish asylum
during World War II. At first the asylum seems like a bucolic refuge but a series of sinister
encounters and incidents reveal an underlying brutality. The doctor begins to seek relief in
the strange conversation of the poet Sekulowski who is posing as a patient in a bid for safety
from the occupying German forces. Meanwhile Resistance fighters stockpile weapons in the
surrounding woods. A very early work by Lem The Hospital of the Transfiguration is partly
autobiographical drawing on the author's experiences as a medical student. Written in 1948 it
was suppressed by Polish censors and not published until 1955. The censorship of this realist
novel is partly what led Lem to focus on science fiction and nonfiction for the rest of his
career.
