Stanislaw Lem (1921-2006) is the most famous writer in Poland in the second half of the 20th century and the first science fiction writer east of Germany, who became famous throughout the world. However, Lem’s personality, like his work, remains not fully understood: there are too many contradictions in the writer’s biography. Why did Lem hate and love Russia at the same time? Why did you work in the genre of science fiction if you couldn’t stand it as a reader? How did he survive the Nazi occupation and how did this experience affect his worldview? Vadim Volobuev seeks answers to these questions in his book, tracing the fate of Lem as the story of an intellectual who became not only a witness, but in many ways a victim of the ruthless 20th century. The author fits the fate of the science fiction writer into the context of Polish history, which is so important for understanding his personality and artistic method. Vadim Volobuev is a historian and political scientist, senior researcher at the Department of Contemporary History of Central and South-Eastern Europe at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.