Sepulkas, also renditioned as sepulcas, and called scrupts in English translation,
["Scrupts"](_blank)
at the FAQ page of Lem's official website are unclearly defined fictional objects found in works of Polish
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...
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 satirica ...
, ''
The Star Diaries
, image = File:TheStarDiaries.jpg
, caption = First edition
, author = Stanisław Lem
, translator = ''English:'' Michael Kandel
, illustrator = Stanisław Lem
, cover_artist = Marian Stachurski
, country = Poland
, language = Polish, Engli ...
'' and ''
Observation on the Spot
''Observation on the Spot'' (Polish ''Wizja lokalna'', with the common meaning of the expression being crime scene reconstruction) is a social science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem. The novel is a report of Ijon Tichy's travel to a faraway pl ...
''. A fictional encyclopedia lists them as "objects used for sepuling".
In-universe sepulkas
Sepulkas were first mentioned by Lem's interstellar traveller
Ijon Tichy Ijon Tichy (Polish pronunciation: ) is a fictional character who appears in several works of the Polish science fiction writer Stanisław Lem: initially in ''The Star Diaries'', later in ''The Futurological Congress'', '' Peace on Earth'', ''Observ ...
in his
fourteenth voyage. It is, however, never explained what they actually are and what their use is.
The ''Encyclopaedia Cosmica'' gives the following definitions on the subject:
*Sepulka – pl.: sepulkas, a prominent element of the civilization of ''Ardrites'' from the planet of ''Enteropia''; see "''Sepulkaria''"
*Sepulkaria – sing: sepulkarium, establishments used for ''sepuling''; see "''Sepuling''"
*Sepuling – an activity of ''Ardrites'' from the planet of ''Enteropia''; see "''Sepulka''"
Although omnipresent in art and commercials of the alien civilisation Tichy visits, discussions of sepulkas is a major taboo and all of Tichy's attempts to learn about them are seen by the locals as a ''
faux pas
English words
{{Short pages monitor