The Body and the Universe: On Corporeality in Stanisław Lem’s 𝑅𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑠

Authors:

Pages: 397-407

Abstract:

This paper is concerned with the analysis of implicit and explicit meanings conveyed by Lem’s portrayal of the body and corporeality in his 𝑅𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑠. In this novel about Hal Bregg, an astronaut who returns to Earth after a long voyage, the author employs Einstein’s twin paradox: the protagonist’s journey lasted 10 years, but 127 years passed on Earth. Hal Bregg, who represents stereotypical masculinity, is confronted with a decadent and egalitarian society, which may be interpreted as a reunion between masculinity and femininity. Such a storyline enables the author to present the concept of corporeality in multiple dimensions, with the body itself being an epistemological metaphor of modernism and postmodernism. In addition, the body is depicted in 𝑅𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑠 as a mask, a disguise. In this context, the notion of aestheticisation and old age is touched upon. The body in Lem’s novel can also be interpreted as part of the Universe, the boundary between what the temporary and the infinite and transcendent. The human body also stands in opposition to the robotic body.

Keywords:

Stanisław Lem, 𝑅𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑠, the body and the universe

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