Organizational studies in space: Stanislaw Lem and the writing of social science fiction

This paper seeks to introduce the oeuvre of the Polish science fiction auth or, Stanislaw Lem, whose work is argued to carry significance for students of organizational conduct. Singling out his most famous novel, Solaris, for particular attention, a critical interpretation is offered that selectivel y highlights Lem's epistemological and ontological preoccupations concernin g scientific inquiry and the human condition. These concerns are seen to re sonate with contemporary issues in the field of organization studies. In pa rticular, the rhetorical role of mimesis, viewed as a synthesis of rational and non-rational human motives, within Solaris is taken to inform a wide r ange of human conduct. The paper concludes by calling for a realist mode of organizational discourse that explores the dialectical relationship betwee n what it characterizes as 'solar' and 'lunar' dimensions of human behaviou r. A new challenge to organization studies will be not simply to learn from the substantive concerns of literary genres such as science fiction, but a lso to aspire after the narrative skills of their leading exponents.