The “alien” alien in Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris and its manifold echoes in the world of literature

Abstract

Stanislaw Lem has left a remarkable impact on world literature in science fiction and beyond. One of the reasons for this is his – often radical – approach to exploring new topics and philosophical concepts. In this article, we study his concept of an unknowable intelligence that eludes all scientific approaches by humans who try to understand its motivations, reasoning and functioning; an “alien” alien, as it is most clearly presented in Lem’s 1961 novel Solaris. Echoes of this radical concept can be found, albeit often in a highly diluted form, in a number of subsequent works by various writers like Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Iain M. Banks and Cixin Liu. They also resurface in other media, from mainstream movies to anime. We argue that Lem’s original concept has been utilized by later writers for manifold purposes, sometimes merely as a plot device, but at other times as a metaphor exemplifying the insurmountable limits of knowledge or even for transporting entirely different ideas.