Chris Kelvin arrives at a space station above the planet Solaris to study the ocean that covers it. He knows that only two other people are participating in the same mission, until one night, unexpectedly, he is visited by a woman who bears an astonishing physical resemblance to his deceased wife. The initial scientific explanations converge on the bizarre hypothesis that the planet's ocean has the power to materialize memories.
Solaris was published in 1961 and brought Lem worldwide recognition. In 1972, it was adapted into a film by Andrei Tarkovsky and in 2002 by Steven Soderbergh. Tragic romance, Kafkaesque parable, parody of hermeneutics, ironic chivalric novel, philosophical treatise: aspects of the same book, which is considered a masterpiece of science fiction.