On one level The Invincible falls within the often mined category of "contact with the alien." But Lem's novel is unique among science fiction which develops this theme along the lines of a "war of the worlds." Instead of presenting a conquer-or-be-conquered scenario, the writer reaches further afield to one of the forgotten sources of science fiction—the contephilosophique. Lem dramatizes problems of science by directing the same questions at his own narrative, thus using the novel not only as a model for inquiry, but also as a model of inquiry. Very early in The Invincible it becomes clear that the methodology employed by the scientists on board the ship is mirrored by the narrative structure. The novel passes from the description of basic research and gradual accumulation of data, through the hypothesis stage, to the point where a dominant theory emerges as a coherent picture of...