S. Lem as a literary theorist: an existentialist underneath the mask of a structuralist

Abstract

The article examines the concept of the literary work essence, theoretically developed by S. Lem in his book The Philosophy of Chance. It shows the principles of his criticism of the structuralism approach, and also it compares S. Lems theory of the work with the concepts of R. Barthes and U. Eco. The fundamental characteristic of S. Lems approach here is that his understanding of the work polysemy and its multiple interpretations does not contradict the existence of best interpretation. According to S. Lem, the basic principle of the work understanding is the investigation of its deep ontological model, that is bringing chaos to the order structure. At the same time, the order is of procedural and intersubjective nature. S. Lem adopts the classical principle of searching the work best interpretation so that it should be the result of the selection and synthesis of several variants. Furthermore, S. Lem employs the archetype of the Word creating the world, that builds up the reality. Thereby, S. Lems thinking continues to be determined by biblical archetypes, despite all his external scientism. Such way of thinking is still a valuable pattern for us, since it allows us to combine the analysis of the latest phenomena and situations in culture with understanding of its deep archetypical foundations.