Formidable Lem

Abstract

The article is a study of the ways in which the Gothic convention is used in Stanisław Lem’s prose. The presented examples demonstrate the multi-dimensional use of Gothicism, both in the degree of the modification of its elements and in the context and range of its employment in particular works. Both of these aspects appear together. The essay shows the typical elements of the genre, such as: dread, strangeness, the uncanny and mystery in the framework of Stanisław Lem’s thought experiment. The ultimate effect of interweaving of the Gothic convention into the sphere of this experiment is its transformation from a category in the history of literature into an epistemological category, and then further into an ontological one. The article expounds the abovementioned idea drawing on a selection of Stanisław Lem’s prose, but giving precedence to the interpretation of his Solaris.