Joined: Apr 2010 Gender: Male Posts: 1,995 Karma: 43
Classic Russian Post-Apocalyptic Fiction? « Thread Started on Mar 6, 2012, 10:03pm »
I'm hoping Boblak or Attagirl will see this and reply.
I've always been curious about foreign (from a US perspective) post-apocalyptic fiction, and in particular how those kinds of stories were portrayed in Russia. And also if the US was generally the enemy in them.
In the US, the first major nuclear war apocalypse novel was probably Alas, Babylon from 1959, and already the Russians were the bad guys who were doing the bombing.
Then over the next 30 years there were tons of books and movies about the Russians blowing up the United States and the Americans having to fight to survive.
So in Russia, what was the earliest nuclear war apocalypse story? And was that a common theme before the end of the Cold War (mid-1980s), or was it politically unacceptable to write stories where Russia is attacked even if they weren't completely defeated?
Or were there apocalypse stories that didn't involve nuclear war?
And I'd be curious to know of any Russian post-apocalypse stories that have been translated to English, the older the better.
May the road gangs never meet you. May the wind be fallout-free. May the sun shine through the ashes, hot rain not fall on thee. And until we meet again, may no one hold your flesh in the palm of their hand.
Joined: Apr 2010 Gender: Male Posts: 1,995 Karma: 43
Re: Classic Russian Post-Apocalyptic Fiction? « Reply #2 on Mar 10, 2012, 1:59pm »
Ah, I had heard of that one, but I didn't realize it was written so long ago. I guess I assumed it was written around the time it was translated. Now I'll have to go check it out.
Edit: Yeah, I think it was written in 2000. Tolstoya was born in 1951.
May the road gangs never meet you. May the wind be fallout-free. May the sun shine through the ashes, hot rain not fall on thee. And until we meet again, may no one hold your flesh in the palm of their hand.
May the road gangs never meet you. May the wind be fallout-free. May the sun shine through the ashes, hot rain not fall on thee. And until we meet again, may no one hold your flesh in the palm of their hand.
Probably, the first Russian PA novel is WE by Eugene Zamyatin. It is probably most well-known for the fact that it was the major inspiration behind George Orwell's 1984 who felt artistically challenged by the book so he decided to write his answer to it. But the two are dramatically different: 1984 is a very realistic piece of fiction while WE is written from a very futuristic point of view. There's no nuclear threat as the book was written in 1921, but there is some major world war/catastrophe implied that had divided the world into two camps: a responsible and well-organized One State behind a crystal wall and the rest of the planet
The book was published in Europe in 1924, but at first it didn't create problems in Russia for Zamyatin as the first years after the revolution were very tolerant to all philosophies, even anti-communist. It was only when Stalin started gaining the upper hand in the late 1920s that he initiated massive attacks at creative artists, so in 1929 the novel was heavily criticized and Zamyatin had to leave Russia in 1931. He was in fact the first who suffered from Stalin's new approach, and it was the criticism of WE that triggered the whole book-banning hysteria in the Soviet Union.
It exists in three English translations, all available at Amazon, but I'm at a loss recommending any in particular. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. The novel itself is quite graphic in places: definitely not a comfort read. Here're the links:I suggest you have a look at all three samples of the book and decide which one you like best.
May the road gangs never meet you. May the wind be fallout-free. May the sun shine through the ashes, hot rain not fall on thee. And until we meet again, may no one hold your flesh in the palm of their hand.
Not in Russia, no. The only (and the earliest) novel that could marginally qualify as PA is the Roadside Picnic by Strugatsky Brothers, published in 1972. It's not really PA as the book deals with the consequences of an alien landing site in a poorly and deteriorating Europe But in 2007, the story served as a base for a PA game series S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and after that, the novel too sort of qualifies as PA
There's nothing prior to that, for two reasons: in the USSR, the main philosophy was that humanity would progress from one achievement to the next, and this official philosophy viewed any negative scenarios as unnatural and defeatist. The Soviet people believed that, first, they were all heading to a bright and happy future, and second, that people in the West were smart enough to prevent any PA-like scenarios in the Western world from happening. Don't forget that common Russian people didn't know any of the inner workings of the Soviet government and sincerely believed that the world would one day unite in peace and harmony, and the Russian authorities were only too happy to support this belief by making sure no PA tendencies made it into print.
If there were any books written clandestinely, there is no knowledge of them, so the sad answer would be: no, there wasn't any PA fiction in Russia between 1924 ("WE") and 1972 (Roadside picnic). More accurately, Russian PA fiction starts with The Slynx in 2000 and Metro 2033 in 2007, closely followed by the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. novel series in 2008 based on the game. Alex Bobl (boblak) is one of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. authors.
In the US, the first major nuclear war apocalypse novel was probably Alas, Babylon from 1959, and already the Russians were the bad guys who were doing the bombing.
Then over the next 30 years there were tons of books and movies about the Russians blowing up the United States and the Americans having to fight to survive.
Does anyone else find it funny that of all the countries it is the US that seems to be the one the most preoccupied by nuclear attack, when they are the only country to have used nuclear bombs against an enemy in war? I wonder why that is.
I find it quite interesting which countries are attracted to which PA scenarios, it seems to me that the UK focuses much more on outbreaks of disease, which I think is probably down to being such a small island and being cut off from the mainland, so we are able to get rid of diseases like rabies, but in a PA situation the island becomes a prison as there is nowhere to run.
Thanks for the interesting post, attagirl - it's interesting to read about Russia's attitudes towards PA fiction.
I find it quite interesting which countries are attracted to which PA scenarios, it seems to me that the UK focuses much more on outbreaks of disease, which I think is probably down to being such a small island and being cut off from the mainland, so we are able to get rid of diseases like rabies, but in a PA situation the island becomes a prison as there is nowhere to run.
This is a very interesting notion! The recent British PA (sort of) novel Blind Faith by Ben Elton seems to address a similar idea. There, on the contrary, UK's new religion forbids vaccinations so children die like flies
Ah, I saw someone reading that recently and wondered what it was about. Vaccinations have made a lot of headlines over the past few years as a lot of parents don't trust them - I think a lot of the best PA fiction takes a lot from reality.
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