Old SF novel with people living in boxes like in The Matrix

Question

Don't remember the name of a very old and short SF novel that was probably one of the very initial sources of inspiration for The Matrix.

It describes a person owning a couple of boxes within which some other persons were held captive without knowing this and used to live a false neurostimulation life, similar to that described in "The Matrix" movie, to create the illusion of a real life.

The book describes the apparent life of some of these people living inside those boxes who didn't have the faintest idea about being captive in static boxes. I cannot remember more as I read this book during childhood, but I'm absolutely sure this book exists.

It is important as it could be the real inspiration source of The Matrix movie.

Answer 1

As @Dima suggested, it looks like "Memoirs of a space traveler: further reminiscences of Ijon Tichy" by Stanislaw Lem.

Its a series of short stories, in one of them ("Professor Corcoran") Ijon meets a professor that created a set of electronic brains in huge wooden boxes. Each brain is sentient and connected to a huge drum that has tapes recording all the events and sensations those brains can expect in their lifetime (often randomly selected), creating a Matrix-like universe. The professor describes few different "people" existing on those brains: a priest, scientist, celebrity, finally pointing to a madman, that believes that he is just an electronic brain hidden in wooden box connected to drum full of magnetic tapes.

Answer 2

Sounds like a story by Stanislaw Lem, that I read a long time ago. Except the boxes contained "electronic brains", rather than living people. Unfortunately, I cannot recall the title of the story.