This is an interesting book to translate to English. Glebsky is trying to determine the gender of Brune for the half of the book and this involves trying to make him/her to talk about oneself in the past. In Russian verbs are inflected with gender only in the past tense so somebody speaking about oneself in the past will have to inflect verbs with one's own gender but there is no gender specific grammar for the present and future.
Did they do something clever in the translation or just dropped this plot line?
I just finished reading the book. Although it does appear, the linguistic subtlety you mention is lost in translation and I'd have found that particular passage confusing if I hadn't read your comment first. In short, at one point Glebsky figures he can definitively discover Brun's gender by asking him/her a question such that the answer would be something like "I had a nibble" or "I wolfed down two sandwiches". In the text, it's left unclear how one could infer gender from such answers.
I'm wondering about the translator too. Name: Josh Billings, who is a famous (sort of ) American jokester. Is this a real translation? Or someone pretending to be a pair of Russian brother writers?
The only Russian Sci-Fi I have read was Roadside Picnic. I REALLY enjoyed it in multiple of different layers. Was nice to read a book fromt he cold war on the "other side" from where I grew up. I need toadd this title to my list.
Definitely check out the Andrei Tarkovsky film adaptation of "Roadside Picnic", called "Stalker." He also adapted Stanislaw Lem's "Solaris," which was mentioned below.
Roadside Picnic was really chilling. I'll definitely add this to my list as well. Do you know of any recommended reading lists for Soviet/Eastern Bloc scifi?
The actual name of the book is 'The Dead Mountaineer's Inn.' What is it with American journalists that they feel it's OK to just change the titles of things to make a snappy headline? I've never seen this behavior in any other country's media. I find it incredibly disrespectful.
It's like a nickname, you refer to a long title with the most descriptive word in it. However, when a book is obscure, this practice does it a disservice.
The definitive collection of Soviet SF was Macmillan's 'Best of Soviet Science Fiction', published in the early 1980s.
It comprised a mix of novels (by the Strugatskys, among others), and short story collections. I count a significant number of these as being among the finest SF I've yet come across. Many envelope the reader in an air of melancholy; very Bradburyesque.
Here's a description of one of the notable authors, from "World's Spring", edited by Vladimir Gakov:
"Genrikh Altov is one of the most interesting portraits in the gallery of Soviet science fiction writers. An engineer and inventor who holds several dozen patents; the creator of a new science on which special courses are now being given in educational institutions in the USSR, 'The Theory of Invention,' and the author of several monographs in this field; an SF fan and the author of the unparalleled (I vote for a special Hugo Award!) Altov's Register - a catalog of themes, plots, hypotheses, ideas, situations, etc., containing hundreds of thousands of processed bits of information. (The dream of the SF writer: an idea comes to you, so you check it out in the Register to see if it has been used before; if the idea has been 'copyrighted' by another writer, it's no great problem, because the Register contains open cells, the descriptions of still-unused sf ideas and situations.) A theoretician of the sf genre; the author of profound articles tracing the sf predictions of Wells, Verne, Alexander Beliaev... A teacher at a scientific research institute teaching young inventors to develop their imaginations, their ability not to be afraid of 'crazy' ideas..."
There's also a stunning novel in the series: "Self Discovery", by Vladimir Savchenko. It has a completely convincing description of a biological computer AI. And then, this: "I would like to study the question of the untapped resources of man's organism. For example, the obsolescent functions, like our common ancestor's ability to leap from tree to tree or to sleep in the branches. Now that is no longer necessary, but the cells are still there. Or take the 'goosebump' phenomenon - it happens on skin that has almost no hair now. It is created by a vast nervous network. Perhaps these old reflexes can be restructured, re-programmed to meet new needs?" (In Theodore Sturgeon's words: "What an astonishing, what an exciting concept!")
From the post-Soviet selection, Labyrinth of Reflections is a superb cyberpunk novel. Not sure if there's an official English translation though (but there is a German one).
They basically all had to do this. In a bunch of my German Strugatzki books there are a few snippets about the history of the works where they talk about how they worked around it (and sometimes rather didn't publish stuff than to kill it).
The techniques are the same as "always" (you find exactly the same if you look at old movies in the US): Don't say the important things explicitly and provide explicit decoys for the censors to latch onto. And have good editors that are willing to fight for you.
Tangentially related, soviet-era sci-fi illustrations (mostly of the space race and the era the brothers departed from) is really great! There are lots of articles at http://www.darkroastedblend.com
Most of their novels are good read. Especially "Hard to Be a God", "Snail on the Slope", "The Ugly Swans", "The Inhabited Island", and, of course, "The Roadside Picnic".
Actually, it was very interesting phenomena, how in age of strict Soviet censure these seemingly Sci Fi books were filled with philosophical, humanitarian and political ideas. Lots of Soviet people grew up on these texts, within these imaginary worlds, which are so much better than harsh Soviet reality.
Nowadays, btw, authors of the next generation implant big ideas into what seems to be stories about vampires.)
I also really like the Maxim Kammerer books about the Wanderers, the mysterious, incomprehensibly intelligent alien race that seems to be manipulating the human race from some unseen vantage point. The first novel in this sequence is "Beetle in the Anthill", and continues with "The Time Wanderers". A connection to Roadside Picnic is never made, but it's certainly possible to speculate.
(One of the novels you mention, "The Inhabited Islans", is also about Max, and was also published in English as "Prisoners of Power". There is a recent Russian movie adaptation of it that's apparently not bad -- anyone seen it?)
There is also a great short story, "Wanderers and Travellers", set within this same continuum. It can be found in the anthology "Paths Into the Unknown". It's a wonderful little gem for anyone who loves Roadside Picnic or the Wanderer novels, or just scifi in general.
The final scene in 1989 movie is clearly influenced by Dune (1984).
Likeiwse it's clear that this movie influenced modern American/Canadian Sci-Fi series like Stargate Atlantis [1] and Defiance [2]. I.e. both Wraith and Votan look like noblemen from "It's hard to be a God" (1989).
You (and others) might enjoy Alex Andreev's work - very clearly inspired by the Kin Dza Dza aesthetic. He also has a lot of stuff that's pretty clearly inspired by Picnic/Stalker.
[+] [-] pandaman|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] peterdn|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JoeAltmaier|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] baldfat|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] amk_|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joshuapants|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anigbrowl|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] StavrosK|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] PerfectDlite|11 years ago|reply
Since Russia was already mentioned here, you can take a look at Russian media, it's a common practice there.
[+] [-] fractallyte|11 years ago|reply
It comprised a mix of novels (by the Strugatskys, among others), and short story collections. I count a significant number of these as being among the finest SF I've yet come across. Many envelope the reader in an air of melancholy; very Bradburyesque.
Here's a description of one of the notable authors, from "World's Spring", edited by Vladimir Gakov:
"Genrikh Altov is one of the most interesting portraits in the gallery of Soviet science fiction writers. An engineer and inventor who holds several dozen patents; the creator of a new science on which special courses are now being given in educational institutions in the USSR, 'The Theory of Invention,' and the author of several monographs in this field; an SF fan and the author of the unparalleled (I vote for a special Hugo Award!) Altov's Register - a catalog of themes, plots, hypotheses, ideas, situations, etc., containing hundreds of thousands of processed bits of information. (The dream of the SF writer: an idea comes to you, so you check it out in the Register to see if it has been used before; if the idea has been 'copyrighted' by another writer, it's no great problem, because the Register contains open cells, the descriptions of still-unused sf ideas and situations.) A theoretician of the sf genre; the author of profound articles tracing the sf predictions of Wells, Verne, Alexander Beliaev... A teacher at a scientific research institute teaching young inventors to develop their imaginations, their ability not to be afraid of 'crazy' ideas..."
There's also a stunning novel in the series: "Self Discovery", by Vladimir Savchenko. It has a completely convincing description of a biological computer AI. And then, this: "I would like to study the question of the untapped resources of man's organism. For example, the obsolescent functions, like our common ancestor's ability to leap from tree to tree or to sleep in the branches. Now that is no longer necessary, but the cells are still there. Or take the 'goosebump' phenomenon - it happens on skin that has almost no hair now. It is created by a vast nervous network. Perhaps these old reflexes can be restructured, re-programmed to meet new needs?" (In Theodore Sturgeon's words: "What an astonishing, what an exciting concept!")
Best of all, that book is freely available online: http://www.lib.ru/RUFANT/SAWCHENKO/savchenko_selfdiscovery_o...
[+] [-] ableal|11 years ago|reply
P.S.: also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Mountaineer's_Hotel
[+] [-] avmich|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] huhtenberg|11 years ago|reply
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinth_of_Reflections
[+] [-] Gravityloss|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JoeAltmaier|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] detaro|11 years ago|reply
The techniques are the same as "always" (you find exactly the same if you look at old movies in the US): Don't say the important things explicitly and provide explicit decoys for the censors to latch onto. And have good editors that are willing to fight for you.
[+] [-] willvarfar|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dschiptsov|11 years ago|reply
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkady_and_Boris_Strugatsky
Actually, it was very interesting phenomena, how in age of strict Soviet censure these seemingly Sci Fi books were filled with philosophical, humanitarian and political ideas. Lots of Soviet people grew up on these texts, within these imaginary worlds, which are so much better than harsh Soviet reality.
Nowadays, btw, authors of the next generation implant big ideas into what seems to be stories about vampires.)
[+] [-] atombender|11 years ago|reply
(One of the novels you mention, "The Inhabited Islans", is also about Max, and was also published in English as "Prisoners of Power". There is a recent Russian movie adaptation of it that's apparently not bad -- anyone seen it?)
There is also a great short story, "Wanderers and Travellers", set within this same continuum. It can be found in the anthology "Paths Into the Unknown". It's a wonderful little gem for anyone who loves Roadside Picnic or the Wanderer novels, or just scifi in general.
[+] [-] senko|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] starrychloe|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] talideon|11 years ago|reply
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I47CNxwlt9U
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eti9Qn4bZDg
[+] [-] nivertech|11 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ_D_eI6KMQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBoyjleXFz0
The final scene in 1989 movie is clearly influenced by Dune (1984).
Likeiwse it's clear that this movie influenced modern American/Canadian Sci-Fi series like Stargate Atlantis [1] and Defiance [2]. I.e. both Wraith and Votan look like noblemen from "It's hard to be a God" (1989).
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wraith_%28Stargate%29
[2] http://en.defiance-wiki.com/wiki/Votan
[+] [-] pavel_lishin|11 years ago|reply
http://www.alexandreev.com/
[+] [-] ciupicri|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] genericuser|11 years ago|reply
Is A Must-Read Of
[+] [-] sctb|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] FlailFast|11 years ago|reply