Polish satirical and philosophical science fiction writer, who's novel SOLARIS (1961) was filmed by Andrei Tarkovsky in 1971. Lem's books have been translated into some 30 languages and have sold over 10 million copies. He is probably the best single sci-fi author of the late 20th century not to write in English.

"Oh, I read good books, too, but only Earth side. Why that is, I don't really know. Never stopped to analyse it. Good books tell the truth, even when they're about things that never have been and never will be. They're truthful in a different way. When they talk about outer space, they make you feel the silence, so unlike the Earthly kind - and the lifelessness. Whatever the adventures, the message is always the same: humans will never feel at home out there."
(from 'Pirx's Tale' in More Tales of Pirx The Pilot, 1983)

Lem was born in Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine) the son of a physician. He studied medicine at Lwów University and at Jagiellonian University in Kraków, but World War II interrupted his studies. During the war and Nazi occupation Lem worked as a car mechanic and welder, and was a member of the resistance fighting against the Germans. Toward the end of the war Poland was occupied by the Red Army and the country was closely controlled by the Soviet Union for the next 50 years. In 1946 Lem moved to Kraców. After finishing his studies Lem received his MD. He worked as a research assistant in a scientific institution and started to write stories in his spare time.

In the beginning of his career Lem published lyrical verse, essays on scientific method and realistic novels. His first work was a story CZLOWIEK Z MARSA (1946), which appeared in a magazine. In the 1950s Lem turned to science fiction, publishing ASTRONAUCI (1951), OBLOK MAGELANA (1955), and EDEN (1959), a prophecy in which five ship-wrecked space travelling scientist explore a world where chemical manipulation is a part of the social lassez-faire.

The following novels and stories were more or less optimistic and based on the conventions of Socialist Realism. In the 1960s Lem's visions became more independent, experimental and radical. Although the communist Polish government did not tolerate criticism, the authorities regarded science fiction as an unimportant genre of literature, which made possible the critical revaluation of socials issues under the disguise of a fantasy. In the 1960s Lem was very productive: he wrote among others POWRŇT Z GWIAZD (1961), CIBERIADIA (1965), WYSOKI ZAMEK (1966), OPOWIESCI O PILOCIE PIRXIE (1968), and GLOS PANA (1968). Lem's adventure stories about Ijon Tichy, an astronaut, laughed at politics and showed the hollowess of some commonly accepted ideas. Lem's works include KATAR (1977), WISJA LOKALNA (1982), and FIASKO (1986, transl. 1987), a meditation on the nature of culture and technology, in which aliens avoid contact with humans.

Memoirs Found in a Bathtub (transl. 1973) is a story about an aspiring agent who seeks his mission and the meaning of his existence. Imaginary Magnitude (transl. 1984) is homage to Jorge Luis Borges, consisting only of introductions of other (imaginary) books. In Return from the Stars (transl. 1980) a space pilot returns to Earth after a 10-year journey. He has to adjust himself to a new world - meanwhile 120 years had passed in Earth time.

Lem's most famous novel Solaris is among the classic science fiction novels of the 1960s, and explores the limitations of human understanding. In a space station hovering above the planet Solaris scientists probe the mysteries the planet where the only living thing is an intelligent ocean that covers the whole surface. But the vast fluid "brain" turns out to be impenetrable to human probing, physical or metaphysical. However, the ocean creates phantoms that haunt the crew.

"And do you believe in God?"
"I do."
"But you didn't think a robot would, right?"
"Right."
(from 'The Inquest' in More Tales of Pirx the Pilot, 1983)

From 1983 Lem has lived in Austria and Italy. In his memoirs Highcastle: A Remembrance (1997) the author describes his innocent childhood as the son of a doctor in Lvov between the two world wars. After writing FIASKO (1986) and POKŇJ NA ZIEMI (1987), Lem announced that he would finish his career as a novelist and publish only essays and columns. However, in 2000 appeared Lem's new novel, OKAMGNIENIE, about how the world ends happily.

Series character: Ion Itchy, a time traveller who appeared in the short story collections (The Star Diaries etc.) - Peace on Earth (1987) is a story about military technology. One high-tech weapon slices through the left and right hemispheres of the legendary polymath. As a consequence, Tichy can type only with his right hand, while his left pinches women's behinds and otherwise acts with a will of its own. The fate of nations may depend on the secrets of his confused mind.

For further reading: New Worlds for Old by David Ketterer (1974); Stanislaw Lem by Richard E. Ziegfeld (1985) in Science Fiction Studies, vol. 13; Stanislaw Lem by J. Madison Davis (1987); A Stanislaw Lem Reader, ed. by Peter Swirski (1997)

Solaris - film 1972, dir. by Andrei Tarkovsky. Called the 2001 of Russian sci-fi cinema. A scientist (Donatis Banionis) is sent to investigate why his colleagues on a space station situated above the planet Solaris, have suffered mental breakdowns. He discovers that the mysterious organic, sentient 'ocean' of the planet is capable of reproducing images and people from a person's past, and their innermost obsessions. Banionis himself is haunted by a reincarnation of his wife who has committed suicide. Horrified he kills the phantom wife, but a replica reappears. Ultimately the meeting force him to face up the past events of his life. Solaris itself remains an enigma - the phantoms may be an attempt by the planet to communicate.

• ASTRONAUCI, 1951 - The Astronauts - Kuoleman planeetta - film Der schweigende Stern (DDR / Poland, 1959), dir. by Kurt Maetzig, starring Kurt Rackelmann, Ignacy Machowski, Gunter Simon
• OBLOK MAGELLANA, 1955
• SEZAM, 1955
• CZAS NIEUTRACONI, 1955
• DIALOGI, 1957
• DZIENNIKI GWIAZDOWE, 1957
• SZPITAL PRZEMIENIENIA, 1957 - The Hospital of the Transfiguration
• SLEDZTWO, 1959 - The Investigation of Eden
• INWAZJA Z ALDEBARANA, 1959
• POWROT Z GWIAZD, 1961 - Return from The Stars
• PAMIETNIK ZNALEZIONY W WANNIE, 1961 - Memoirs found in a Bathtub
• SOLARIS, 1961 - film Soljaris /Solaris (1972), dir. by Andrei Tarkovski, starring Donatas Banionis, Natalija Bondartsuk, Juri Järvet
• KSIEGA ROBOTÓW, 1961
• WEJSCIE NA ORBITE, 1962
• NOC KSIEZYCOWA, 1963
• BAJKI ROBOTÓW, 1964
• NIEZWYCIEZONY I INNE OPOWIADANIA, 1964 - The Invincible SUMMA TECHNOLOGIAE, 1964
• CYBERADIA, 1965 - Cyberiad
• POLOWANIE, 1965
• RATUJMY KOSKOS, 1966
• WYSOKI ZAMEK, 1966
• OPOWIESCI O PILOCIE PIRXIE, 1968 - Tales of Pirx the Pilot; More Tales of Pirx the Pilot - film Test pilota Pirxa (1978) was based on the short story 'Rozprawa,' dir. by Marek Piestrak, starring Sergei Desnitski, Bleslaw Abart, Vladimir Ivasov
• GLOS PANA, 1968 - His Master's Voice
• FANTASTYKA I FUTUROLOGIA, 1970
• DOSKONALA PROZNIA, 1971 - A Perfect Vacuum
• BEZSENNOSC, 1971 - from the collection transl. The Futurological Congress
• DZIENNIKI GWIAZDOWE, 1971 - parts published earlier, translated as The Star Diaries / Memoirs of a Space Traveller: The Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy
• GOLEM XIV, 1973 - selections published under the title Imaginary Magnitude
• KATAR, 1977 - The Chain of Change
• Mortal Engines, 1977
• The Cosmic Carnival of Stanislaw Lem, 1981
• WISNA LOKALNA, 1982
• PROWOKACJA, 1984
• Microwords: Writings on Science Fiction and Fantasy, 1984
• FIASKO, 1986 - One Human Minute Fiasco - Fiasco
• POKŇJ NA ZIEMI, 1987 - Peace on Earth
• CIEMNOSC I PLESN, 1988
• Highcastle: A Remembrance, 1997 (paperback)
• A Stanislaw Lem Reader, 1997, ed. by Peter Swirski
• OKAMGNIENIE, 2000