Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
The brothers Arkady Natanovich Strugatsky and Boris Natanovich Strugatsky were Soviet-Russian science fiction authors who collaborated through most of their careers.
Life and work
The Strugatsky brothers were born to Natan Strugatsky, an art critic, and his wife, a teacher. Their father was Jewish and their mother was Russian Orthodox. Their early work was influenced by Ivan Yefremov and Stanisław Lem. Later they went on to develop their own, unique style of science fiction writing that emerged from the period of Soviet rationalism in Soviet literature and evolved into novels interpreted as works of social criticism.Their best-known novel, Piknik na obochine, has been translated into English as Roadside Picnic. Andrei Tarkovsky adapted the novel for the screen as Stalker.
Algis Budrys compared their "An Emergency Case" and Arkady's "Wanderers and Travellers" to that of Eando Binder. Several other of their fiction works were translated into English, German, French, and Italian, but did not receive the same magnitude of critical acclaim as that granted by their Russian audiences. The Strugatsky brothers, however, were and still are popular in many countries, including Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, the former republics of Yugoslavia, and Germany, where most of their works were available in both East and West Germany. They are well-known Russian science fiction writers with a well-developed fan base.
The Strugatsky brothers were Guests of Honour at Conspiracy '87, the 1987 World Science Fiction Convention, held in Brighton, England.
In 1991, Text Publishers brought out the collected works by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.
Arkady
Arkady Strugatsky was born 25 August 1925 in Batumi; the family later moved to Leningrad. In January 1942, Arkady and his father were evacuated from the Siege of Leningrad, but Arkady was the only survivor in his train car; his father died upon reaching Vologda. Arkady was drafted into the Soviet army in 1943. He trained first at the artillery school in Aktyubinsk and later at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow, from which he graduated in 1949 as an interpreter of English and Japanese. He worked as a teacher and interpreter for the military until 1955. In 1955, he began working as an editor and writer. In 1958, he began collaborating with his brother Boris, a collaboration that lasted until Arkady's death on 12 October 1991. Arkady Strugatsky became a member of the Union of Soviet Writers in 1964. In addition to his own writing, he translated Japanese language short stories and novels, as well as some English works with his brother.Boris
Born 14 April 1933, Boris Strugatsky remained in Leningrad with his mother during the siege of the city during World War II. He graduated from high school in 1950 and applied to the physics department at Leningrad State University, but studied astronomy instead. After graduating in 1955, he worked as an astronomer and computer engineer at the Pulkovo observatory. In 1960 he participated in a geodetic and astronomical expedition in the Caucasus. Boris Strugatsky became a member of the writers' union of the USSR in 1964. In 1966, he became a full-time writer. From 1972 he acted as the head of the Leningrad seminar of young speculative fiction writers, which subsequently became known as the "Boris Strugatsky Seminar." He established the "Bronze Snail" literary prize. He was an agnostic atheist. After the death of his brother, he published two more novels under a pseudonym. Boris Strugatsky died in Saint Petersburg on 19 November 2012.Noon Universe
Several of the Strugatsky brothers' books take place in the World of Noon, also known unofficially as the Wanderers Universe. The name is derived from the title of one of their texts, .The main characteristics of the Noon Universe are: a very high level of social, scientific, and technological development; the creativity of the general population; and the very significant level of societal maturity compared to the modern world. For instance, this world knows no monetary stimulation, and every person is engaged in a profession that interests him or her. The Earth of the Noon Universe is governed by a global meritocratic council composed of the world's leading scientists and philosophers. That Noon World has been clearly named as "World of Communism" in their novels, which was handy for publishing their novels in the USSR, where the Communist Party decided whether a book would be printed and approved for mass circulation.
The Noon Universe was described by the authors as the world in which they would like to live and work. It became highly influential for at least a generation of Soviet people, e.g., a person could quote the Strugatsky books and be sure of being understood. At first the authors thought the Noon Universe would become reality "by itself", but then they realized that the only way to achieve it was by inventing the High Theory of Upbringing, making the upbringing of each person a unique deed.
One of the important story arcs of those books addresses how the advanced human civilization covertly steers the development of those considered less advanced. Agents of humans are known as Progressors. At the same time, some humans suspect that a very advanced spacefaring race called Wanderers exists and is "progressing" humanity itself.
Works
Novels
| English title | Russian title | Published in Russian | Published in English | Type of work |
| From Beyond | Извне | 1958 | 1982 | novella |
| The Land of Crimson Clouds | Страна багровых туч | 1959 | N/A | novel |
| The Way to Amalthea | Путь на Амальтею | 1960 | 1963 | novella |
| ' | Полдень, XXII век | 1962 | 1978 | novel / collection of linked stories |
| Space Apprentice | Стажеры | 1962 | 1981 | novel |
| Escape Attempt | Попытка к бегству | 1962 | 1982 | novella |
| Far Rainbow | Далёкая Радуга | 1963 | 1979 | novella |
| Hard to Be a God | Трудно быть богом | 1964 | 1973; 2014 | novel |
| Monday Begins on Saturday | Понедельник начинается в субботу | 1965 | 1977 | novel |
| The Final Circle of Paradise | Хищные вещи века | 1965 | 1976 | novel |
| Disquiet | Беспокойство | 1990 ' | N/A | novella |
| Snail on the Slope | Улитка на склоне | 1966–68 ' | 1980 | novel |
| The Ugly Swans | Гадкие лебеди | 1972 ' | 1972 | novel |
| The Second Invasion from Mars | Второе нашествие марсиан | 1967 | 1970 | novella |
| Tale of the Troika | Сказка о Тройке | 1968 | 1977 | novella |
| Prisoners of Power | Обитаемый остров | 1969 | 1977 | novel |
| Dead Mountaineer's Hotel | Отель «У Погибшего Альпиниста» | 1970 | 1982 | novel |
| Space Mowgli | Малыш | 1971 | 1982 | novel |
| Roadside Picnic | Пикник на обочине | 1972 | 1977 | novel |
| The Kid from Hell | Парень из преисподней | 1974 | 1982 | novella |
| Definitely Maybe | За миллиард лет до конца света | 1977 | 1978 | novella |
| The Doomed City | Град обреченный | 1988–89 | 2016 | novel |
| Tale of Friendship and Non-friendship | Повесть о дружбе и недружбе | 1980 | 1988 | novelette |
| Beetle in the Anthill | Жук в муравейнике | 1980 | 1980 | novel |
| Limping Fate | Хромая судьба | 1986 | N/A | novel |
| The Time Wanderers | Волны гасят ветер | 1986 | 1987 | novel |
| Overburdened with Evil | Отягощённые злом | 1988 | N/A | novel |
Short stories
Short story collections
Short stories originally published in Six Matches:| English title | Russian title | Published in Russian | Published in English |
| Six Matches | Шесть спичек | 1958 | 1961 |
| Spontaneous Reflex | Спонтанный рефлекс | 1958 | 1959 |
| Forgotten Experiment | Забытый эксперимент | 1959 | N/A |
| The Examination of SCYBER | Испытание СКИБР | 1959 | N/A |
| Special Assumptions | Частные предположения | 1959 | N/A |
| An Emergency Case | Чрезвычайное происшествие | 1960 | 1966 |
Short stories originally published as part of the novel :
| English title | Russian title | Published in Russian | Published in English |
| Night on Mars | Ночь в пустыне | 1960 | 1978 |
| Almost the Same | Почти такие же | 1960 | 1978 |
| Old-timer | Перестарок | 1961 | 1978 |
| The Conspirators | Злоумышленники | 1962 | 1978 |
| Chronicle | Хроника | 1961 | 1978 |
| Two from the Taimyr | Двое с «Таймыра» | 1961 | 1978 |
| The Moving Roads | Самодвижущиеся дороги | 1961 | 1978 |
| Cornucopia | Скатерть-самобранка | 1961 | 1978 |
| Homecoming | Возвращение | 1962 | 1978 |
| Langour of the Spirit | Томление духа | 1962 | 1978 |
| The Assaultmen | Десантники | 1961 | 1978 |
| Deep Search | Глубокий поиск | 1960 | 1978 |
| Pilgrims and Wayfarers | О странствующих и путешествующих | 1963 | 1978 |
| The Planet with all the Conveniences | Благоустроенная планета | 1961 | 1978 |
| The Mystery of the Hind Leg | Загадка задней ноги | 1961 | 1978 |
| Natural Science in the Spirit World | Естествознание в мире духов | 1962 | 1978 |
| Candles Before the Control Board | Свечи перед пультом | 1961 | 1978 |
| The Meeting | Свидание | 1961 | 1978 |
| What You Will Be Like | Какими вы будете | 1961 | 1978 |
Plays
| English title | Russian title | Published in Russian | Published in English |
| Five Spoonfuls of Elixir: A Film Script | :ru:Пять ложек эликсира|Пять ложек эликсира | 1983 | 1986 |
| Without Weapons | :ru:Без оружия|Без оружия | 1989 | N/A |
| The Yids of Peter’s City, or Melancholy Talks by Candlelight | :ru:Жиды города Питера, или Невесёлые беседы при свечах|Жиды города Питера, или Невесёлые беседы при свечах | 1990 | N/A |
Solo works
The following titles were published by Arkady Strugatsky under the pseudonym S. Yaroslavtsev :| English title | Russian title | Published in Russian | Published in English | Type of work |
| The Expedition into Inferno | Экспедиция в преисподнюю | 1974 | N/A | novel |
| The Details of Nikita Vorontsov's Life | Подробности жизни Никиты Воронцова | 1984 | 1989 | short story |
| Devil Amongst People | Дьявол среди людей | 1991 | N/A | novella |
The following titles were published by Boris Strugatsky under the pseudonym S. Vititsky :
| English title | Russian title | Published in Russian | Published in English | Type of work |
| Search for Destiny or the Twenty Seventh Theorem of Ethics | Поиск предназначения, или Двадцать седьмая теорема этики | 1994 | N/A | novel |
| The Powerless that be | Бессильные мира сего | 2003 | N/A | novel |
Adaptations
The Strugatskys' books were often adapted for screen, stage, comics and video games. Some of the adaptations are very loose, like Tarkovsky's Stalker, some are not adaptations but rather new scripts written by Brothers themselves, like The Sorcerers.- Stalker by Andrey Tarkovsky, based on the Strugatskys' script, inspired by The Roadside Picnic
- Dead Mountaineer's Hotel by Grigori Kromanov, based on the novel of the same name
- The Sorcerers, by Konstantin Bromberg, based on the Strugatskys' script inspired by Monday Begins on Saturday
- Days of Eclipse by Alexander Sokurov, inspired by One billion years before the end of the world
- Hard to be a God by Peter Fleischmann, based on the novel of the same name
- Искушение Б. by Arkadi Sirenko, based on the play Five Spoons of Elixir
- Nesmluvená setkání by Irena Pavlásková, based on the novel Space Mowgli
- The Ugly Swans by Konstantin Lopushansky, based on the novel of the same name
- Обитаемый остров is a two-part Russian science fiction film directed by Fyodor Bondarchuk from the 1969 novel published in English as Prisoners of Power
- Hard to be a God by Alexei German, based on the novel of the same name
- A 2019 Role Playing Video Game, Disco Elysium, it's creators cite the Strugatsky's works as one of the major inspirations for the Lynchian themes within the game.
Legacy
- Sergey Lukyanenko in his duology The Stars Are Cold Toys has the main character visit a world that is in many aspects strikingly similar to Earth from the Noon Universe but in truth is revealed to be fundamentally different and oppressive. On his website, Lukyanenko commented that he disagreed with the Strugatskys' views on education and upbringing and conceived his duology partly as a polemic criticism of it.
- The plot of Kir Bulychov's novella from the Alisa Selezneva series, Vacations in Space, or the Planet Five-Four, is based on finding a secret base of mysterious "Wanderers", an extinct highly advanced civilization. He also depicted his own Zone in the story Save Galya!
- In late 1990s, a three-volume collection of fiction by notable contemporary Russian science fiction authors, titled The Time of the Apprentices, was published with the endorsement of Boris Strugatsky. Each piece in the collection was a sequel to one of the Strugatskys' books.
- The asteroid 3054 Strugatskia, discovered by Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh in 1977, was named after the Strugatsky brothers.
- The fictional moon Pandora depicted in the movie Avatar by James Cameron contains some similarities with the Noon Universe series, where a planet is also called Pandora. Both are filled with jungle, where weird animals and a humanoid race live. Also, the girlfriend of the biologist Sidorov in the Strugatskys' novel is called "Nava". However, Boris Strugatsky rejected the idea that his works had been plagiarized, despite the similarities.
- In 2014 a square in Saint Petersburg was named after the Strugatsky brothers. A memorial museum is being opened in the same city.
- The brothers are credited with saving humanity from mysterious "visitors" through technology retrieved from a "visitation zone" in the 2016 game The Final Station.