History Literature / TheStarDiaries

* MyOwnGrampa: In "The Twenty-eigth Voyage", Ijon Tichy reads the private log of Cosimo Tichy, captain of a spaceship approaching the speed of light, which mentions Cosimo's relative Amphotericus confiding to him that as a consequence of the latest temporal paradox (accelerating, the ship's stern had "cut across an isochronal"), he is now his own father.

* NoodleIncident: In the Twenty-Eighth Voyage, Ijon Tichy admits that grandfather Jeremiah was unpopular because "not everyone knew how to take his humour"; hence

* HumansAreCthulhu: In the Eighth Voyage, Tichy represents Earth to petition for its admission to the United Planets. The members, who are highly advanced creatures are utterly disgusted and outraged by humans. In the end, it turns out that life on Earth was actually created by two crew members of an alien spaceship as some kind of sick joke. [[spoiler:Luckily it turns out to be AllJustADream.]]

* {{Dedication}}: Parodied. The book contains a foreword by Ijon Tichy's friend Professor Tarantoga. He ends it with saying that nobody helped him in his work, and listing those who set him back would take too much space. Tarantoga also notes that the rumours of some computer-like device called "Lem" having written the memoirs are absolutely ridiculous. Everyone knows that "[=LEM=]" stands for "[[UsefulNotes/NASA Lunar Excursion Module]]" and it wasn't nearly advanced enough to write anything.

* {{Dedication}}: Parodied. The book contains a foreword by Ijon Tichy's friend Professor Tarantoga. He ends it with saying that nobody helped him in his work, and listing those who set him back would take too much space.

** Also in "The Twenty-eighth Voyage", Ijon Tichy relates that his ancestor Anonymous Tichy was accused of killing and eating his twin brother while on a one-year voyage in space, undertaken as part of a failed attempt to empirically test the twin paradox (the incriminating evidence was a cookbook discovered in the rocket, with the chapter "Pickling in Outer Space" marked in red).

* NoPartyLikeADonnerParty: In "The Twenty-eighth Voyage", Ijon Tichy sings the praise of his cousin Arystarch Felix Tichy, a brilliant pioneer of "gastronautics", i.e. the construction of space rockets from edible materials. Ijon Tichy is especially pleased that Arystarch's tasty inventions (such as "macaroni insulation", "cells with alternating currants", or the "semolina noodle drive") have put an end to cannibalism in space, which (he casually mentions) used to be a common occurrence in his youth.

Besides his identity as a pioneer of space exploration and an established travel writer, Ijon Tichy is an amateur scholar who moves in scientific circles both on Earth and around the Galaxy, and, if the need arises, an ambassador of humankind on the parquet of galactic diplomacy (he has even been known to serve his home planet as a secret agent in undercover missions); he is a noble soul wishing to go where no man has gone before, to push the limits of humanity’s horizon and bring the cosmos together in peace, as a brotherhood of all sapient civilizations.

That, or a charlatan and liar, who makes a living off bamboozling gullible Earth-lubbers with astronautical folklore and hair-raising tall tales too absurd to be believed by anyone with so much as a grain of common sense. Take your pick.

* TimePolice: In the Twentieth Voyage, there is a "Chronicle Squad" with the task to hunt down corrupt and criminal time travellers.

--> [[CrowningMomentOfFunny "You dog!" I cried. "Tricking your own self - that's really low!"]]

* HumansAreCthulhu: In the Eighth Voyage, Tichy represents Earth to petition for its admission to the United Planets. The members, who are highly advanced creatures are utterly disgusted and outraged by humans. In the end, it turns out that life on Earth was actually created by two crew members of an alien spaceship as some kind of sick joke.

'''''The Star Diaries''''' (''Dzienniki gwiazdowe'') by Creator/StanislawLem, often published together with their sequel ''Memoirs of a Space Traveller'', are supposedly the journals and travelogues of Ijon Tichy, a famous space traveller, recording his remarkable adventures exploring the cosmos.

* InsideAComputerSystem: An interesting example in the first story: instead of people being trapped in a virtual reality, it's cybernetic brains created by a scientist. These are all hooked up to a large computer, which is creating their reality around them. Every brain is a different person: a beautiful girl, a scientist... and a madman, who thinks that paranormal stuff like prophecies or telepathy are the result of an error in the illusion that is his reality.

''The Star Diaries'' were loosly adapted during the late Noughties into a German live action TV show called ''Ijon Tichy: Raumpilot''. The show, a wacky sitcom, [[StylisticSuck invoked a intentionally trashy look]] with bizarre costumes and consciously corny special effects, and gave Ijon Tichy a [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent thick fake slavic accent]].

''The Star Diaries'' were loosly adapted during the late Noughties into a German live action TV show called ''Ijon Tichy: Raumpilot''. The show invoked a intentionally trashy look with bizarre costumes and consciously corny special effects, and gave Ijon Tichy a [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent thick fake slavic accent]].

* Veganopia: The advanced aliens in the Eighth Voyage do not eat other creatures, and are disgusted by humans for not only eating meat but doing so proudly.

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[[quoteright:317:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1161e5e7dcc1de19a72db3c1bd9ddd6e.jpg]]

[[quoteright:300:[[http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328875062l/889418.jpg http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/StarDiariesCoverArt_px300_1837.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Another beautiful day in space.]]

-->''the affair with the milkman and the two mailmen, who doubtless would have gone insane anyway because of hereditary predisposition; the more as the skeletons were on wheels and the pit's depth was no more than two and a half meters.''

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* ChildHater: The Twenty-Eighth Voyage informs us that Ijon Tichy's grandfather Jeremias did indeed--"not unlike Creator/{{Aristotle}}"--dislike children; but the poisoned candy was meant for the jackdaws. The labels on the wrapping paper are proof of that.

* NoodleIncident: In the Twenty-Eighth Voyage, Ijon Tichy admits that grandfather Jeremias was unpopular because "not everyone knew how to take his humour"; hence

** One of Tichy's ancestors, whose fate is recalled in the Twenty-Eighth Voyage, created a substance that made sex painful, so humanity wouldn't be controlled by carnal desires anymore. When he put it into the water supply of his city, he was lynched.
** Also, in the Twentieth Voyage, Ijon Tichy whines how ugly and misplaced human sexual organs are. [[spoiler: It was his fault. Indirectly.]]
* SpacePirates: Ijon Tichy mentions that [[BlackSheep his grandfather made a committed attempt]], but it didn't pay off.

* ChildHater: The Twenty-Eighth Voyage informs us that Ijon Tichy's grandfather Jeremias did indeed--"not unlike Creator/{{Aristotle}}"--dislike children; but the poisoned candy he strewed in his garden was meant for the jackdaws. The labels on the wrapping paper are proof of that.

* ChildHater: The Twenty-Eighth Voyage informs us that Ijon Tichy's grandfather Jeremias did indeed--not unlike Creator/{{Aristoteles}}--dislike children; but the poisoned candy he strewed in his garden was meant for the jackdaws. The labels on the wrapping paper are proof of that.