Postmodern Xenofiction
A book inspired a movie. The movie inspired remakes. One remake inspired a notable soundtrack. The soundtrack I’ve listened to 10,000 times. Even through a 50 year game of artistic telephone, the moods match precisely.
Music aside, Solaris fits in with Rendezvous with Rama, Southern Reach, and Roadside Picnic as explorative xenofiction. Like Roadside Picnic, Lem falls on the side of cosmic pessimism, with quotes such as * The time of cruel wonders was not yet over. * Yet the thinking colossus in Solaris only mildly interacts with our society, it is humanity’s struggle and inability to understand that is the focus. * The mere existence of the thinking colossus would not let people abide in peace again. * I couldn’t help but wonder if this is a critique of all science fictions, or even fiction itself, stories we invent to make sense out of the incomprehensible. Our very attempts and thought experiments are absurd, why should the universe make sense?
** 5th book of 2025 **