Lem's biographical novels and thrillers can also be read as political works. In his SF, Lem privileged the role of chance and the impossibility of meaningful contact between truly alien cultures. Both of these genres have important links to Lem's science fiction as well as to his philosophical writings.
Lem's non-fantastical prose can be divided roughly into autobiographical (or semi-autobiographical) novels and unorthodox detective stories. It is important to analyse Lem's non-science fiction novels in order to prove that the classification of Lem as a SF writer is artificial and reductionist. Wells and Karel Čapek, virtually none of the SF writers (including such outstanding authors as Olaf Stapledon) was regarded as a " highbrow " artist. Therefore I shall only mention that after H.G. The reasons for such an artificial and obviously incorrect classification are manifold, and beyond the scope of this paper.
Aldous Huxley and George Orwell are the most striking examples of this popular misconception. Secondly, some prominent authors are not regarded as writing SF, in spite of the fact that they really write in this genre. First, some SF writers are indeed regarded seriously by the critics (for example Kurt Vonnegut). Obviously, there are many exceptions to this rule. Another is the popular misconception (quite common even in the literary circles of America) that since SF is only a popular genre, with very lowly origins in so-called pulp magazines and comics, no SF writer can be seriously regarded as a true artist. The most important seems to be the high level of commercialisation of SF in the English-speaking countries, especially in the US. The reasons for such a phenomenon are manifold.
2 This is in significant contrast to Lem's reception in countries such as Germany (with no significant difference between the eastern and western lands), the former Soviet Union and, of course, his native Poland. This is despite the fact that two of his best non-fantastic novels were translated into English, 1 and his numerous critical papers and reviews published in such periodicals as Science-Fiction Studies. Stanisław Lem is known in the English-speaking countries virtually only as a Science Fiction (SF) writer.
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