@article{slovo 625, author = {Thomas McLenachan}, title = {Truth is Stranger than Science Fiction: The Quest for Knowledge in Andrei Tarkovskii’s Solaris and Stalker}, volume = {26}, year = {2014}, url = {https://student-journals.ucl.ac.uk/slovo/article/id/625/}, issue = {2}, abstract = {<p>This article explores Andrei Tarkovskii’s conception of truth in Solaris (1972) and Stalker (1979) as part of his wider philosophical project concerning knowledge. The director’s epistemological views form a core dimension of his life and aesthetic as he strives towards what he considers a higher, spiritual ‘idea of knowing’. In his search for this idealised notion of truth, Tarkovskii uses the medium of film to address what he perceives as a profound imbalance in modern civilization between scientific rationalism and spiritual/aesthetic ‘truth’. This is nowhere more prominent than in his two science fiction films, Solaris and Stalker, as he uses the genre as a battleground to discuss key debates in epistemology. Comparisons will be made with the Russian author and thinker Tarkovskii most revered, Fyodor Dostoevskii, and the Soviet-period science fiction authors whose works he adapted, Stanisław Lem and the Strugatskii brothers, in order to elucidate how the director came to cinematically represent his philosophy.</p><p> </p><p>Click <a href="http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1451647/1/3_Truth_is_Stranger_than_Science_Fiction_%2826.2%29.pdf" target="_blank">here</a> to read article</p>}, month = {10}, issn = {2753-4928}, publisher={University College London (UCL)}, journal = {Slovo} }