Solaris

Stanisław Lem, a prominent Polish philosopher, essayist, and literary critic who achieved notoriety in the mid-20th century, is best known for his science fiction novels. Among these books, Solaris is regarded by most reviewers and critics as Lem’s masterpiece. Published in Polish in 1961, the English version was translated from the French version in 1970—which Lem allegedly referred to as “poor” (Flood, Alison. “First Ever Direct English Translation of Solaris Published.” The Guardian, 15 June 2011). Solaris focuses on an interstellar researcher in the future, Dr. Kris Kelvin, who travels to the titular planet to study its living ocean. For decades, humans attempted to establish communication with the ocean—and Kris’s arrival coincides with the ocean’s first direct response. He and other researchers begin to experience visitors, replications of problematic people in their lives. One of these visitors resembles Rheya, Kris’s late wife who died by suicide at age 19, 10 years ago, and who continues to haunt him. Solaris has been translated into more than 50 languages, with more than 45 million copies sold. Two film adaptations have been made, with the most recent being a 2002 Twentieth Century Fox version.

This guide is based on the 1970 translation by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox, reprinted by Harper Voyager Books in 1987.

Content Warning: Solaris mentions death by suicide and depicts the aftermath of a suicide attempt in the Chapter 9 Summary. It also uses outdated language surrounding autism and Black people.

Plot Summary

After a 16-month trip through space, Dr. Kris Kelvin, a psychologist, arrives at a space station hovering above the planet Solaris. Solaris, discovered 100 years ago, has a living ocean, which Kris and other researchers are studying to achieve communication. Kris is surprised at the absence of humans and robots when he arrives at the station. Eventually, he finds one researcher, Dr. Snow, who is inebriated, his hands bloody. Snow, the station’s cyber technician, is initially terrified at Kris’s presence, only gradually realizing he is the latest researcher from Earth. Kris finds it difficult to get information from Snow about the chaos surrounding the station. He learns that his mentor, Dr. Gibarian, has died by suicide. When he goes to the storage room where the body of Gibarian lies, he is stunned to encounter a tall Black woman who walks past him wordlessly.

Kris begins to investigate the station, which only has three humans present: Kris himself, Snow, and Dr. Sartorius, the station’s nuclear physicist. When he attempts to confront Sartorius in his laboratory, he must threaten to break the door before Sartorius comes out. It is apparent that someone or something is in Sartorius’s laboratory, waiting for him to return. As with Snow, Kris receives no information regarding what happened and is taking place on the station. Both men say he will soon find out. He wonders if he is hallucinating. Kris uses the ship’s computer and, through a series of calculations, discerns what he senses is real.

When Kris awakes after his first night on the station, he finds his deceased wife, Rheya, in the room with him. This “Rheya” is a perfect replica of the 19-year-old woman who died 10 years ago. This Rheya believes she is Kris’s wife, though she is confused about what is happening. In verifying her authenticity, he notices she has the red mark from the hypodermic needle she used to take her life after an argument. Her presence fills him with remorse. Kris decides to get rid of her as soon as possible: He leads her to the space capsules, lures her into one, latches her inside, and fires the pod into space, orbiting Solaris.

Kris has a revealing conversation with Snow, who explains the nature of visitors like Rheya. They appeared in the space station as a result of Gibarian and Sartorius’s experiment, in which they radiated a portion of the ocean with X-rays. Snow says these visitors appear each day, regardless of being “killed.” Gibarian despaired at his visitor and took his own life. However, he left Kris a book called The Little Apocrypha that details previous researchers’ hallucinations. As Kris awaits Rheya’s return, he studies other researchers’ encounters with the ocean, experiences discounted by those in charge of their research.

In the middle of the night, Rheya returns. This time, Kris is more inviting. He wants to understand her nature. When he goes into the restroom of his cabin and Rheya cannot see him, she panics and destroys the door. Kris notices that her injured hands quickly heal. He persuades her to come to the laboratory for tests. There, he discovers Rheya is not made of atoms. Kris surmises that she is made of neutrinos, which are far smaller than atoms. He discusses this with Snow and Sartorius, the latter of whom is working on a disruptor to eliminate the visitors.

Even as Kris assists Sartorius and Snow, his relationship with Rheya becomes intimate. She tells him of her true nature and strange dreams, which may be emanating from the ocean. He reflects on previous research, particularly that documenting mimoids (small constructs and visitors) and symmetriads (structures), the ocean’s projections. Because Rheya is a living expression of the ocean and his wife, Kris decides to keep her rather than destroy her.

Gibarian comes to Kris in a dream and warns him that the other two scientists are plotting against him. When Kris wakes, he asks Rheya what happened to the tape recorder of Gibarian’s voice, which had messages specifically for him. She confesses to listening to these messages, and now understands she is not the real Rheya but a manifestation of the ocean. While Kris sleeps that night, Rheya goes to the laboratory and drinks liquid oxygen, which should have destroyed her organs and killed her. As he watches, her body slowly recovers. They have an intimate conversation in which Kris dedicates himself to finding a way for them to be together.

In addition to developing a disruptor, Sartorius devises an experiment using X-rays to project a person’s thoughts into the ocean. The scientists hope the ocean will understand that the visitors are disruptive and take them away. Kris is torn about participating, fearing he might cause the ocean to take Rheya. Still, he agrees to send his thoughts into the ocean. When nothing happens for six days, the scientists try a second time. Kris dreams that the ocean is responding to him.

Though Kris does not know it at the time, his second attempt results in the cessation of new visitors. Rheya drugs Kris and allows Snow to use the disruptor to evaporate her, so Kris will not have to deal with her when he returns to Earth. The scientists create a report that they beam to Earth. Snow decides to remain on the station, and Kris decides to return to Earth. For the first time, he goes to the ocean’s surface and interacts with it, hoping it might restore Rheya.