Published 1961
Translated
from the French in 1970 by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox
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| On a space station
orbiting the planet Solaris, Kris Kelvin encounters Rheya, an entity generated
by the organic ocean that dominates the planet. Rheya has the form and memories
of Kelvin's wife who had committed suicide. |
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| Background |
- Darko Suvin describes the levels of the novel: "It is a puzzle, a parable
about human relations and emotions, and a demonstration that anthropocentric
criteria and 'final solutions' of the religious kind are inapplicable in
the modern world" (218).
- Suvin states that "one of Lem's basic themes [is] the erroneousness
of pretending to a final solution or total knowledge of any complex situation"
(219).
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| Navigation Guide |
| Describe
the various theories of the nature of the ocean. To which of
these theories do you subscribe? |
| Compare Solaris to the Gaia theory. |
| Describe
the evolving relationship between Kelvin and Rheya. |
| How does anthromorphism create a barrier to the conception of the nature
of Solaris? |
| Compare and contrast Kelvin's reaction to Solaris and to the emanation that
becomes his companion to the reactions of Gibarian, Snow, and Sartorius. |
| Explain Kelvin's concept of the imperfect God. |
| Describe the memmords and discuss their significance. |
| What does Kelvin learn from his experience on Solaris? |
| What do you think Lem is saying about the promises and dangers of the exploration
of other planets? |
| Is this a first contact story? |
| What is Rheya's purpose and function? |
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| Further Exploration |
Solaris has been filmed twice:
- 1972, Russian film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
- 2002, directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney
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 Sources |
| Suvin, Darko. "The Open-Ended Parables of Stanislaw Lem and Solaris."
Afterward. Lem, Stanislaw, Solaris. Trans. Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox.
New York: Berkley: 212-23. |
