Solaris continually defies not only understanding, but analysis. The problem is no less than the question of life and consciousness: if the sea is organic is it conscious and, if so, can it be communicated with and understood? The confrontation with Solaris forces scientists to continually re-evaluate the assumptions that inform their understanding of the universe: first that of the possibility of life on a planet orbiting two suns, for they discover the sea is indeed organic, then the conditions necessary for the development of consciousness and finally the possibility of making contact with and understanding something so utterly different. Solaris is a planet orbiting two suns, a red and a blue, whose surface is covered by a single “ocean” that has been the subject of debate in 'Solarist studies' for a century. Kris Kelvin, and the motives behind the ideal of the scientific quest for knowledge are built around this foundation. Coming to the book after having watched the 2002 adaptation I was unprepared for the magnificent focus on the planet Solaris and the way in which the psychological examination the narrator, Dr. While the Fabe & Faber edition I read for this review takes its cover art from the 2002 film it is perhaps no surprise that a reading of the book provides quite a different experience from the film Lem himself has said that he never liked the first and was unenthusiastic about the second.

It has been adapted for film twice: in 1972 by Andrei Tarkovsky and in 2002 by Steven Soderbergh. Solaris was written by Polish author Stanislaw Lem in 1961 and has since been regarded as a science fiction classic. Apart from sf and music his interests include postcolonialism and environmentalism which he plans to study at PhD level later this year under an Allott Graduate Teaching Assistantship. Chris Pak was born and grew up in Hong Kong and is currently completing an MA in Science Fiction Studies at the University of Liverpool.

Solaris lem book