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Exploring The World Of Russian Science Fiction Online
jimharris writes: "There is a vast heritage of science fiction in Russian that is as large and diverse as SF in English. This Russian site has several complete science fiction novels in English. If you go to their home page you will feel the language barrier. Most of these are out of print in the English speaking world, but many were translated and published in the seventies, and can be found through AddAll.Com. I have found one Russian Science Fiction club that tries to help the English speaking world understand Russian SF, and also gives their view on Heinlein and Philip K. Dick. Only Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky appear on the Classics of Science Fiction list. I have to wonder what far-out concepts I might be missing because I only understand English -- maybe the Internet will help break down this barrier."
check out: Sovlit
300 words for snow? Yup, if you are from the north
Its an urban myth that eskimoes have 100+ words for Snow and the color white.
Help fight continental drift.
this mirror should be faster for all living outside of russia.
Monday Begins on Saturday great and funny book, kinda douglas adams style
Hard to be a god same writers, much darker sf
The Master and Margarita kinda Faust in USSR, funny
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
Here is one piece of advice from somebody who speaks Russian -
Master & Margarita is one of the best books I've ever read, and trust me, I've read quite a few...
I am really glad to see the unlikely break of microsoft-flaming and transmeta-worshipping programming schedule on slashdot - especially since it has to do with good books from Eastern-bloc countries. I wil second all recommendations already given for the Strugatsky brothers. Hwever, when I think of Russian sci-fi, the first name that actually comes to mind is Polish.
Stanilsaw Lem, a Polish author who is immensely popular in Russia and many European countries (but, alas, poorly known in the states) is, in my opinion, the most incredible sci-fi author I've ever had the privielege of reading. His books are above and beyond what is commonly referred to as "science fiction" by the people I meet. Lem's prevailing notion is that a laser gun on a spaceship does not make a rehashed soap opera plot into something that may be classified into the science fiction genre.
Lem's books go a full range from hillarious to serious to outright bizarre. His "Memoirs found in a bathtub" was Terry Gilliam's inspiration while the latter was shooting Brazil. Lem's "Solaris" has been made into an amazing movie by Russia's cinematography great Andrei Tarkovsky - and more likely than not, it is available in your local blockbuster or library. I can go on and on, but I figured that if you (the reader) have made it this far down this post, I might as well provide the links and let you figure out if that sounds like something you'd like to read for yourself. So,
Planet Solaris - The Official Lem site
A brief biography and overview of books
If you can read Russian, this contains the translations of the bulk of his work into Russian.
A really good fan site, with overviews of all major works
A short passage from The Cyberiad - one of Lem's most famous collections of short stories
List of Stanislaw Lem's books, sorted by average customer review rating, at amazon
Take care!
PsychoOne
actually there is an english version of rusf.ru.
Go on site (http://rusf.ru) and then select 'english' on a top right corner.
From ,
...aka "Guest from the Future" (1984) (mini)
...aka "Failure of Engineer Garin" (1973) (mini)
...aka Abdulladzhan, or Dedicated To Steven Spielberg (1991)
...aka Revolt of the Robots (1924)
...aka Aelita: Queen of Mars (1924)
...aka Magicians (1982) (TV)
...aka Invisible Man, The (1984)
...aka Per Aspera Ad Astra (1981)
...aka To the Stars By Hard Ways (1982) (US title)
...aka Humanoid Woman (1981)
...aka Trudno Byt Bogom (1989)
...aka Hard to Be a God (1989) [from the novel by the Strugatski brothers]
...aka Extraterrestrial Women, The (1984)
...aka Temptation of B. (1990)
...aka Curse of Snakes Valley (1988)
...aka Zaklyatie doliny zmei (1988) (Russian title)
...aka Madude oru needus (1988)
...aka Cry of a Dolphin (1986)
...aka Moscow - Cassiopea (1973)
...aka Battle Beyond the Sun (1962) (US title)
...aka Sky Calls, The (1959)
...aka Heavens Call, The (1959)
...aka Sky Is Calling, The (1959)
...aka Charming Aliens (1991)
...aka Teenagers in Space (1974)
...aka Boys In the Universe (1974)
...aka Planet of Storms (1962)
...aka Planet of Tempests (1962)
...aka Storm Planet (1962)
...aka Cosmonauts on Venus (1962)
...aka Kidnapping of a Wizard (1989)
...aka Adventures of the Electronic, The (1979) (TV)
...aka Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The (1985)
...aka Secret of the Iron Door, The (1970)
...aka Phenomenon (1983)
...aka We Called Him Robert (1967)
...aka Testament of Professor Dowell (1984)
click on "Science Fiction", click on "Countries":
RUSSIA
A strong case can be made that Russian science fiction is second only to English-language science fiction in quality and quantity, and in many cases science fiction books sell in more copies in Russia than anywhere else. Whether or not the authors get paid is another story.
Of course, the American intelligence forces, with time-scanners, saw the impact of young Isaac Asimov, and covertly paid his family's way over to Brooklyn, New York, to keep Russia from taking over the SF world.
Russia beat America into space with Sputnik, the definitive event that showed the world that science fiction dreams of spaceflight were now
reality, and hammered home the point with the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin. Russian authors had created the fictions that led to this
reality.
1892 Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), the Father of Space Rocketry, publishes his first science fiction story "On the Moon" in a Moscow magazine
1895 Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), the Father of Space Rocketry, publishes his second science fiction story "Dreams of the Earth and the Sky and the Effects of Universal Gravitation" and describes in fiction an artificial satellite -- the predecessor of Sputnik, as it were
1895 A. N. Goncharov also publishes a satellite story "Fantasies of Earth and Sky" in Moscow
An important reference work on Russian SF is "Russian Science Fiction Novel" by Anatolij Britikov (Moscow: Nauka and the Soviet Academy of
Sciences, 1970).
I am going to add, soon, some notes on these particularly important Russian science fiction authors:
* A. Belayev
* M. A. Bulgakov
* Anatoly Dneprov
* Mikhail Emtsov
* I. Lukodianov
* Georgui Martinov
* V. A. Obruchev
* E. Parnov
* Victor Saparin, "The Trial of Tantalus"
* The Brothers Strugatsky (Arkadi and Boris)
* A. Tertz (A. D. Siniavskii)
* A. Tolstoi
* Konstantin Tsiolkovski (father of the Spaceship AND Rusian space fiction)
* Ilya Varshavsky
* I. A. Yefremov
* Evgeni Zamiatin
Filip Schils Abidjan, Ivory Coast, icq : 6951680 e-mailed on 2 June 1998 to say:
"I am familiar with the "Russian classics" re: Zamyatin, Jevgeni & Arkadi Strugatski. I think you could add Vassilli Akhsionov to your essay as he often uses "SF" settings and styles in his books. If I am not mistaken he has also a scientific education (doctor ?), his style is very experimental using poetry, song texts. He is a scion of the Thaw period and should surely have been mentioned by Yevtuchenko....I am very much interested in other links on Russian SF..."
Eugene Zamiatin (1884-Mar 1937) [Evgeni Ivanovich Zamiatin] Russian dystopian novelist, banned in the USSR, of the influential "We" (New York: Dutton, 1924, tr. by Gregory Zilboorg) which surely influenced George Orwell's "1984" -- a global state where people are denied names and love.
Important SF figures born in Russia who emigrated include:
* Boris Artzybasheff (25 May 1899-?) American artist born in Kharkov (Russia) and trained in St.Petersburg (1909-1918);
* Isaac Asimov
* Reginald Bretnor
* George Gamow (scientist/science writer)
* Ayn Rand
* many who recently emigrated to Israel (see entry on Israel)
Charles Angoff (1902-?), Russian-born American newpaperman, English professor, editor, author of fantasy anthology "Adventures in Heaven" (New York: Ackerman, 1945), nothing on the Web?
One Russian member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America:
* Alexander Korzhenevski
Russian SF book publishers include:
* Detgiz
* Mir
* Molodaja Gvardija
* Mysl
* Znanije
Important magazines include:
* Junost (circulation hit over 2,000,000)
* Nauka i zjisn
* Teknika-molodezji
* Sveta
* Vokrug Sveta (circulation almost 3,000,000)
* Znanije-Sila
32 Russian Science Fiction films/TV series include:
* The Amphibian Man (1962)
* "Gostya iz buduschego" (1984) (mini)TV Series
* "Krakh inzhenera Garina" (1973)(mini)TV Series
* Abdulladzhan, ili posvyaschayestya Stivenu Spilbergu (1991)
* Aelita (1924) a classic!
* Charodei (1982) (TV) very popular
* Chelovek-nevidimka (1984)
* Cherez ternii k zvezdam (1981)
* The Death Ray (1925)
* Es ist nicht leicht ein Gott zu sein (1989)
* I Was a Sputnik of the Sun (1958)
* Inoplanetyanka (1984)
* Iskusheniye B. (1990)
* Kin-Dza-Dza (1986) very popular
* Klatwa doliny wezy (1988)
* Krik delfina (1986)
* Moon Rainbow (1985)
* Moskva-Kassiopeya (1973)
* Nebo Zovet (1959)
* Ocharovatelnye prisheltsy (1991)
* Otroki vo Vselennoy (1974)
* Planeta Burg (1962)
* Pokhischeniye charodeya (1989)
* Priklyucheniya Elektronika (1979) (TV)
* Solaris (1972) classic, based on Staislaw Lem novel
* Stalker (1979)
* Strannaya istoriya doktora Dzhekila i mistera Haida (1985)
* Taina zheleznoi dveri (1970)
* Tretya planeta (1991)
* Unikum (1983)
* Yevo zvali Robert (1967)
* Zaveschaniye professora Dowelya (1984)
The story "The Blind Pilot" by Nathalie-Charles Henneberg, translated by
Damon Knight, appears (pp.250-265) in "The World Treasury of Science Fiction", edited by David G.
Hartwell, Boston: Little Brown, 1989 (and released by Book of the Month
Club).
Hartwell comments "Nathalie-Charles Henneberg, who is RUSSIAN, met her Alsatian-German husband in Syria when he was in the French Foreign Legion. They began writing SF in French in the 1950s, and until his death in 1959 they signed their collaborations with his name.... Nathalie went on to become a prolific novelist, the 'most read' French SF writer in France in the 1960s, according to [Damon] Knight. This story bears an
uncanny resemblance in atmosphere to the early works of the American writer Roger Zelazny, which it predates."
The story "I was the First to Find You" by Kirill Bulychev, translated by Helen Saltz Jacobson, appears (pp.690-700) in "The World Treasury of Science Fiction", edited by David G. Hartwell, Boston: Little Brown, 1989 (and released
by Book of the Month Club).
Hartwell comments "Among the most versatile and popular SF writers in the Soviet Union, Kirill Bulychev is one of a group of younger Soviet writers to emerge in the 1960s. Above all, his talent for storytelling and his interest in human characters interacting with SF problems make him a particularly effective representative of recent Soviet SF. The strain of utopianism remains strong in Eastern European SF and sinks many stories with didacticism, but Bulychev is able to sustain his delight in the wonders of the technological future, as in the days of [American
editor/author] John W. Campbell. And, of course, the influence of Campbell-style SF itself, in this case [A. E.] Van Vogt's 'Far Centaurus'
is clearly present."
btw, I never considered Master+Margarita SF (?)