Solaris (novel)

Solaris () is a 1961 science fiction novel by Polish writer Stanisław Lem. It follows a crew of scientists on a hovering near-surface research facility as they attempt to understand an extraterrestrial intelligence, which takes the form of a vast ocean on the titular alien planet. The novel is one of Lem's best-known works.Benét's Reader's Encyclopedia, fourth edition (1996), p. 590.

The book has been adapted many times for film, radio, and theater. Prominent film adaptations include Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972 version and Steven Soderbergh's 2002 version, although Lem said that the films shifted away from the book's thematic emphasis on the limitations of human rationality.

Plot summary Solaris chronicles the ultimate futility of attempted communications with the extraterrestrial life inhabiting a distant alien planet named Solaris. The planet is almost completely covered with an ocean of black, gelatinous material that forms a single, planet-encompassing entity. Terran scientists conjecture it is a living and sentient being, and attempt to communicate with it.

Kris Kelvin, a psychologist, arrives aboard Solaris Station, a scientific research station hovering near the oceanic surface of Solaris. The scientists there have studied the planet and its ocean for many decades, mostly in vain. A scientific discipline known as Solaristics has degenerated over the years to simply observing, recording and categorizing the complex phenomena that occur on the surface of the ocean. Thus far, the scientists have only compiled an elaborate nomenclature of the phenomena, and do not yet understand what they really mean. Shortly before Kelvin's arrival, the crew exposed the ocean to a more aggressive and unauthorized experimentation with a high-energy X-ray bombardment. Their experimentation gives unexpected results and becomes psychologically traumatic for them as individually flawed humans.

The ocean's response to this intrusion exposes the deeper, hidden aspects of the personalities of the human scientists, while revealing nothing of the ocean's nature itself. It does this by materializing physical simulacra (including human ones) based on the unpleasant repressed memories of the researchers, who visit the corresponding researchers. Kelvin confronts memories of his dead lover and guilt about her suicide, which constitutes a significant part of the plot. The "visitors" of the other persons are only alluded to.

All efforts to make sense of Solaris's activities prove futile.

Characters Dr. Kris Kelvin, is a psychologist recently arrived from Earth to the space station studying the planet Solaris. He had previously been cohabiting with Harey ("Rheya" in the Kilmartin–Cox translation), who died by suicide. Snaut ("Snow" in the Kilmartin–Cox translation) is the first person Kelvin meets aboard the station. Gibarian, who had been an instructor of Kelvin's at university, killed himself just hours before Kelvin arrives at the station. Sartorius is the last inhabitant Kelvin meets. Harey ("Rheya" in the Kilmartin–Cox translation, an anagram of "Harey"), who kills herself with a lethal injection after quarreling with Kelvin and later her copy reappears at the space station, apparently produced by the Ocean of Solaris.

Commentary

The novel is the best known elaboration of Lem's trope of the impossibility of communication with extraterrestrial intelligence, present in many of Lem's novels, including his first, The Man from Mars, and his last, Fiasco.Wojciech Orliński, Co to są sepulki? Wszystko o Lemie [What are Sepulki? Everything about Lem], 2007, , p. 54.

As Lem wrote, "the peculiarity of those phenomena seems to suggest that we observe a kind of rational activity, but the meaning of this seemingly rational activity of the Solarian Ocean is beyond the reach of human beings."Stanisław Lem, Fantastyka i Futuriologia, Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1989, vol. 2, p. 365 Lem also wrote that he deliberately chose to make the sentient alien an ocean to avoid any personification and the pitfalls of anthropomorphism in depicting first contact.

In an interview, Lem said that the novel "has always been a juicy prey for critics", with interpretations ranging from that of Freudianism, critique of contact and colonialism, to anticommunism, proponents of the latter view holding that the Ocean represents the Soviet Union and the people on the space station represent the satellite countries of Central and Eastern Europe. He also commented on the absurdity of the book cover blurb for the 1976 edition, which said the novel "expressed the humanistic beliefs of the author about high moral qualities of the human".Lem's FAQ Lem noted that the critic who promulgated the Freudian idea actually blundered by basing his psychoanalysis on dialogue from the English translation, whereas his diagnosis would fail on the idioms in the original Polish text.Lem's commentary on Solaris

English translations

Both the original Polish version of the novel (published in 1961) and its English translation are titled Solaris. Jean-Michel Jasiensko published his French translation in 1964. This version was the basis of Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox's English translation (Walker and Company, 1970; Faber and Faber, 1971).Kellman, Steven G., "Alien autographs: how translators make their marks", in Neohelicon (2010) 37:15 (online). Lem, who read English fluently, repeatedly voiced his disappointment with the Kilmartin–Cox version.

In 2011, Bill Johnston completed an English translation from the Polish. Lem's wife and son reviewed this version more favorably: "We are very content with Professor Johnston's work, that seems to have captured the spirit of the original."Alison Flood, "First ever direct English translation of Solaris published", The Guardian, 15 June 2011 It was released as an audio book and later in an Amazon Kindle edition (2014, ). Due to legal issues, this translation did not appear in print until 2024, when Conversation Tree Press published a fine press edition of the book.

Cultural influence of the novel

Film Solaris has been filmed three times:

Solaris (1968), a Soviet TV play directed by , follows the plot quite closely and keeps the emphasis on the planet rather than the human relationships. Solaris (1972), a Soviet feature-length film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. The film loosely follows the novel's plot, emphasizing the human relationships instead of Lem's astrobiology theories — especially Kelvin's life on Earth prior to his space travel to the planet. The film won the Grand Prix at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. Solaris (2002), an American film directed by Steven Soderbergh, starring George Clooney and produced by James Cameron. This film also emphasizes the human relationships and again excludes Lem's scientific and philosophical themes.

Lem himself observed that none of the film versions depict much of the extraordinary physical and psychological "alienness" of the Solaris ocean. Responding to film reviews of Soderbergh's version, Lem, noting that he did not see the film, wrote:

Audio 1963: by the Teatre of Polskie Radio; director: Józef Grotowski, Kelvin: Stanisław ZaczykSolaris, 1963, Encyklopedia Teatru Polskiego 1975: by the Teatre of Polskie Radio; director: Józef Grotowski, Kelvin: Marek WalczewskiSolaris (odcinek 1), 1975, Encyklopedia Teatru Polskiego 2007: BBC Radio 4 broadcast a two-hour dramatized version of the novel.Solaris: The Classic Serial 2007: an audio play was released in Russia on a CD-MP3 disc (226 minutes, 14 tracks).Лем Станислав - Радиоспектакль Солярис

Audiobooks 2010: Polskie Radio, narrated by Piotr Fronczewski 2011: Audible.com released the first direct Polish-to-English translation as an audiobook download narrated by Alessandro Juliani. The original Polish text was translated into English by Bill Johnston, with the approval of Lem's estate.Solaris: The Definitive Edition audiobook An e-book edition () of the Johnston translation followed.

Theatre The 2009 Polish stage production Solaris: The Report (Polish: Solaris. Raport), TR Warszawa, Poland."Solaris.Raport""Ofiary umowności", Agnieszka Rataj, Życie Warszawy, 4 October 2009 The British stage production Solaris by Dimitry Devdariani (London, England, 2012). La velocidad del zoom del horizonte, a 2014 play written by David Gaitán and directed by Martín Acosta, premiered in Mexico City, was loosely based on the novel.La velocidad del ZOOM del horizonte Martín Acosta (full play on YouTube) In 2018 the Theater Magdeburg, Germany, staged an adaptation by Tim Staffel directed by Lucie BerelowitschSOLARIS von Stanisław Lem | Bühnenfassung von Tim Staffel"Science Fiction ohne Schnickschnack" Solaris (2019 play), premiered in Malthouse Theatre, production of an adaptation by David Greig, in association with Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, that ran in Edinburgh in September–October 2019 and at London's Lyric Hammersmith in October–November 2019. Its protagonist was a woman, and the spaceship crew was gender-balanced."Solaris review – love and loneliness collide in best take yet on sci-fi classic, The Guardian, 15 September 2019 Solaris 2 (2026 play), in Croatian language, a theatre project by Borut Šeparović "which transponds the text of the novel and Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972 film into the age of generative artificial intelligence and cloud data". The actors are performing on stage faced to the projected screens of Tarkovsky's film, while their's and film actors's faces are being AI-generated live on screens. Premiered in Istrian National Theater in Pula, January 2026.

Opera The German opera Solaris by Michael Obst (Munich Biennale, Germany, 1996). The Italian opera Solaris by Enrico Correggia (Turin, Italy, 2011)."Stefano Tempia: Incursioni contemporanee, Omaggio a Berio e Correggia, 16-17 giugno 2013 Torino", News Spectaccolo, 14 June 2013 The Austrian opera Solaris by Detlev Glanert (Bregenzer Festspiele, Austria, 2012). The Japanese opera Solaris by Dai Fujikura and Saburo Teshigawara (Opéra de Lille, and travelling to other venues, 2015).

Other

Musician Isao Tomita's 1977 album Kosmos, specifically the track "The Sea Named 'Solaris'", is based on music by Bach featured in Tarkovsky's film. Tomita was inspired by the film and even sent his recording to Tarkovsky."TATYANA EGOROVA: 'EDWARD ARTEMIEV: HE HAS BEEN AND WILL ALWAYS REMAIN A CREATOR...'" – An interview with Eduard Artemyev, the author of the music to Tarkovsky's film. Originally published by Muzykalnaya Zhizn ("Musical Life"), No.17, 1988. Hungarian rock band Solaris named themselves after the novel. The 1990 Russian ballet Solaris by (Dnipro Opera and Ballet Theatre).Размышления после премьеры, at the ballet author's website. The song "Solaris", composed by Ken Andrews, from space rock band Failure's 1996 album Fantastic Planet, summarizes the novel. Photek's 2000 album Solaris. The 2011 album Sólaris by Daníel Bjarnason and Ben Frost was inspired by Tarkovsky's film. The plot of the 2021 Icelandic TV series Katla uses elements from Solaris, inspired by the novel. The Solaris is the only synchrotron in Central Europe and takes its name from the novel."Cyclotron and Solaris", welcometo.pl, 22 March 2017. The 2018 Russian ballet Solaris by Yuri Smekalove with music by Bhima Yunusov, premiered in Priyut Komedianta theatre in Saint Petersburg. Elements of the plot of the 2019 Chinese video game Arknights are inspired by the novel. The Ocean's 2026 album Solaris.

Solaris (novel)

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