A couple nights ago I picked up one of my favorite fictional books, Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem… It is a book that I enjoy for three reasons:
- it is relatively short (204 pages),
- Law’s vivid description of “Solaris” – an ocean planet with cerebral tendencies, and
- the love story (yep, I’m a romantic).
It is a book that can be read in one sitting though I stretched it into a two-night affair, and if you can get past Lem’s meandering in the sometimes overly complex description of the planet’s features and behavior, you’ll find a gem of a story about two lover’s who are reunited after a tragic separation 10 years previous (to let you in on the circumstances surrounding would be too much of a give-away).
Note: it is not a typical progression of lost then found love, as it is more of a tragedy (think: R&J).
I think the reason I like it so much is that it reminds me of lost love and the dichotomy of emotion when a chance encounter brings that loved one back into one’s life. In most cases the spark of love that flashes in that moment has the same elements that lit the flame to begin with, but there is a lack. Something is lost that can never be restored… though love may be found again it usually does not burn with the same intensity. I cannot say that this is a “given” for all who get a second chance at love, but in generalities I believe this holds true. There is always a hint of the past that chides us to believe that the second chance is doomed for failure. And the past, though forgiven, cannot be erased.
Moving away from the love plotline, one of my favorite quotes from this book has to do with man’s pursuit of knowledge:
Man has gone out to explore other worlds and other civilizations without having explored his own labyrinth of dark passages and secret chambers, and without finding what lies behind doorways that he himself has sealed.
If Stanislaw was writing a thesis statement, this would be it, as it encapsulates the books philosophical roots: mankind’s pursuit of absolute power and complete understanding. We seek external and completely ignore the internal… we ask, “Why are we here?” instead of asking “Why are we?” It is a book that compels the reader to investigate the reason for being, for living and loving.
