 Science fiction genre, with its outer-worldly, clearly fictional, and often allegorical setting and invented jargon was able to debate fundamentals of such systems with frankness that more mainstream literature would not be allowed to.Zajdel has been described as the second science fiction writer in popularity in Poland after Stanisław Lem.He has also been described as the writer who replaced Lem as the "top Polish SF writer", after "Lem vacated [this position] earlier of his own volition".