RUSSIA

   Russian sf can trace its ancestry back to the 18th century, most of the earliest examples being UTOPIAS. Prince Mikhail Shcherbatov's Puteshestvie v zemlyu Ofirskuyu ("Journey to the Land of Ophir") (written c1785; 1896) embodies the political and social reforms espoused by the liberal and progressive elements of Catherine the Great's aristocracy. The technological prophecies of "4338 i-god" (1840; trans as "The Year 4338" in Pre-Revolutionary Russian Science Fiction anth 1982 ed Leland Fetzer), an unfinished fragment by Prince Vladimir Odoyevsky, an educationist, make him a pioneer of Russian PROTO SCIENCE FICTION. In contrast to the liberalism of this work is the Fourierist vision of utopian socialism to be found in the celebrated "Fourth Dream of Vera Pavlovna", part of the radical novel Chto delat? (1863 in Sovremennik; 1864; trans B.R. Tucker as What's to be Done? 1883 US; rev and cut 1961 US; new trans Nathan H. Doleand S.S. Sidelsky as A Vital Question, or What is to be Done? 1886 US) by Nikolai Chernyshevsky (1828-1889).As in most national literary traditions,Russian utopia had a twin sister, DYSTOPIA. In the 19th century there are several famous examples in the satirical fantasies of Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852). The merciless novel Istoriya odnogo goroda ("Chronicles of aCity") (1869-70) by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin still remains an unsurpassed classic of Russian dystopia in embryo. Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) may also be considered a founding father of the dystopia withZapiski iz podpolya (1864; trans by C.J. Hogarth as Letters from Underground 1913; vt Notes from Underground in coll trans Constance Garnett 1918), "Son smeshnogo cheloveka" (1877; trans S. Koteliansky and J. Middleton Murry as "The Dream of a Queer Fellow" 1915; vt "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man") and Besy (1871-2; trans Constance Garnett as The Possessed in Complete Works, 12 vols, 1912-20; new trans David Magarshackas The Devils 1953).Russian literature also has an impressive history of HARD SF, beginning with the first native interplanetary novel Noveisheyeputeshestviye ("The Newest Voyage") (1784) by Vassily Lyovshin and notably featuring the works of the astronautics pioneer Konstantin TSIOLKOVSKY. As Russian society slowly came to terms with technological progress towardsthe end of the 19th century, its sf inevitably fell in love with "marvellous inventions".On the other hand, the influence of impendingsocial change was also evident in the works of those leading MAINSTREAM WRITERS who turned to sf themes, sometimes with mixed feelings. AlexanderKuprin praised the coming revolution in "Tost" (1906; trans as "A Toast" in Pre-Revolutionary Russian Science Fiction ed Fetzer) but feared it in "Korolevskii park" ("King's Park") (1911); his main sf work is "Zhidkoesolntse" (1913; trans as "Liquid Sunshine" in Pre-Revolutionary Russian Science Fiction ed Fetzer), a parody of Russian PULP-MAGAZINE sf completewith a mad SCIENTIST and super- WEAPONS. The prominent poet Valery Bryussov (1873-1924) anticipated giant domed computerized CITIES,ecological catastrophe and a totalitarian state in Zemlya ("Earth") (1904), "Respublika Iuzhnogo Kresta" (1907; trans in The Republic of theSouthern Cross and Other Stories, coll 1918 as by Valery Brussof) and "Posledniye mucheniki" (1907; trans as "The Last Martyrs" in Pre-Revolutionary Russian Science Fiction ed Fetzer). The 3 stories appear in Bryussov's collection Zemnaia os' ("Earth's Axis") (coll 1907). The popularity and influence of H.G. WELLS, whose works were translated into Russian from 1899 onwards, led to Alexander BOGDANOV's socialist utopia onMARS, Krasnaya zvezda (1908; trans Fetzer as "Red Star" in Pre-Revolutionary Russian Science Fiction ed Fetzer) and its sequel Inzhener Menni ("Engineer Menni") (1913), in which CYBERNETICS and the management sciences are foreseen in depth. Both these works are available in Red Star: The First Bolshevik Utopia (coll trans Charles Rougle 1984) ed Loren R. Graham and Richard Stites.Although Krasnaya zvezda is often considered the earliest book of authentically Soviet sf, the first post-revolutionary work was Vivian Itin's utopia Strana Gonguri ("Gonguri Land") (1922). This went almost unnoticed, overshadowed by the success thesame year of the interplanetary romance Aelita (1922; trans 1957) by Alexei TOLSTOY. This landmark of early Soviet sf, inspired by Edgar RiceBURROUGHS, tells of a Russian engineer and a Martian beauty involved in a Marxist revolution. Tolstoy also wrote Giperboloid inzhenera Garina (1925-6; 1933; rev 1939; trans 1936 as The Death Box; rev edn trans 1955 as The Garin Death Ray), in whose dictatorial mad scientist, inventor of a laser-like weapon, a proto-Hitler may be discerned. It is a good example of the subgenre known as the "krasnyi detektiv" ("Red Detective Story"): stories of adventures abroad often involving assistance to world revolutionary movements, and often with a fantastic element such as a new WEAPON. Examples still in print are Marietta Shaginian's Mess-Mend (1924)and Lori L'en, metallist ("Laurie Lane, Metalworker") (1925), Valentin Katayev's Povelitel' zheleza ("Iron Master") (1924; 1925) and IlyaEhrenburg's Istoriya neobychainykh pokhozhdenii Khulio Khurenito i ego druzei ("The Fantastic Adventures of Julio Jurenito and his Friends") (1922), which depicts a future WAR conducted with ultimate "atomic"weapons.A theme born of revolutionary euphoria was the outward spread of communist humanity through the Universe, as in the works of the poetical movement known as the "cosmists", of which Bryussov (see above) was a member. Closer to home was the creation of various Earth-bound utopias, as in the works of the important Soviet writer Andrei PLATONOV, though he had an insight that prevented overoptimism; his mature novels were finally published in Russia only quite recently. Other authors' more naive socialist utopias, quite common in the 1920s, tend to be dull and overloaded with technological marvels, although Vadim Nikolsky's Cherez tysyachu let ("Thousand Years Hence") (1927) depicts also a full-scale nuclear holocaust. Yan Larri's not entirely cheerful Strana shchastlivykh("Land of the Happy") (1930) was the last communist utopia until Ivan YEFREMOV's Tumannost Andromedy (1957; 1958; trans 1959 as Andromeda).Amore caustic approach to utopia can be seen in Vladimir MAYAKOVSKY's brilliant play Klop (1928; trans Guy Daniels as The Bedbug 1960), in which this leading Soviet poet satirizes a dull, virtuous, overclean future without condoning the energetic, alcoholic prole who represents the present generation: Mayakovsky sees both extremes as undesirable. But even more radical was the attitude of Yevgeny ZAMIATIN's My (written 1920 and circulated in manuscript; 1st book publication in Czech trans 1922; 1st English trans Gregory Zilboorg as We 1924; 1st publication in Russian 1927Czechoslovakia), which until the late 1980s was proscribed in the USSR. In this literary masterpiece, which anticipates the classic anti-utopias of Aldous HUXLEY and George ORWELL, the One State, after achieving its goalson Earth, plans to export its soulless doctrine across the Universe.The subjects of early Soviet sf vary from the classical "geographical fantasies" of academician Vladimir OBRUCHEV to the imaginary worlds of the novels of Alexander Grin (1880-1932). Obruchev wrote in the manner of Jules VERNE. His Plutoniya (1915; 1924; trans B. Pearce as Plutonia 1957)and Zemlya Sannikova (1926; trans Y. Krasny as Sannikov Land 1955 USSR) are scientifically credible HOLLOW-EARTH and LOST-WORLD novels, respectively. Grin began his writing career after his imprisonment and exile after the 1905 Revolution, having previously been largely an outdoorsman: lumberjack, fisherman, etc. His romances set in an ALTERNATE WORLD fed a strong appetite in Russia, especially after the 1917Revolution when high fantasy was taboo, and they were printed in millions of copies. Containing many fantastic elements they include the stories in Shapka-nevidimka ("The Hat of Invisibility") (coll 1908), the novels Alyieparusa ("Scarlet Sails") (1923), Blistaiushchii mir ("The Shining World") (1923), Doroga nikuda ("Road Nowhere") (1930) and others.But the mostprominent writer of pre-WWII sf was Alexander BELYAEV, the author of more than 60 books and certainly a good storyteller. His Chelovek-amphibiya (1928; trans L. Kolesnikov as The Amphibian 1959), Golova professoraDouela ("Professor Dowell's Head") (1925; exp 1938) and Ariel (1941) are known to all Soviet schoolchildren, being constantly reprinted. Perhaps because of his life as a bedridden invalid, his work focuses on heroes with superior abilities. Most of his novels are set in capitalist countries whose social and scientific mores are fiercely criticized. The "Red Detective Story" theme of world revolution virtually disappears inBelyaev, doubtless as a consequence of Trotsky's disgrace and exile in 1927.Magazines, particularly Vokrug sveta ("Round the World") and Mir priklyuchenii ("Adventure World"), went on publishing sf throughout the 1920s, usually mad-scientist tales of adventures in the laboratory, orspy/adventure yarns about new weapons or exotic explosives. Such magazines were very popular: the circulation of Vsemirnyi sledopyt ("World Pathfinder") rose 1926-9 from 15,000 to 100,000. But soon, in the 1930s,tighter Communist Party control of literature compelled sf writers to become more ideologically correct than hitherto. They were encouraged to direct their readers' attention to tasks close at hand (the "close-target" theory), to stress collective over individual effort, and to set their plots within the USSR. Georgy Adamov typifies the attitudes of the new cultural climate in Taina dvukh okeanov ("Secret of Two Oceans") (1938), where scientific information is combined with a patriotic plot involving the thwarting of Japanese spies. The official belief that speculative fiction was an undesirable escape from reality lasted at least until Stalin's death in 1953, and thus books such as Vadim Okhotnikov'scharacteristically titled Na grani vozmozhnogo ("Frontiers of the Possible") (1947), which focuses on new road-laying techniques and a newcombine harvester, characterize the deeply unimaginative sf of the period. A striking exception to the ideological correctness of most Sovietspeculative fiction was the borderline-sf satirical work of playwright and novelist Mikhail BULGAKOV. His work was suppressed in the mid-1920s, and a number of manuscripts written in the late 1920s and after were not published until much later, in the 1960s. His masterpiece is the fantasy Master i Margarita (written in the 1930s, unfinished at his death in 1940;1966-7 cut magazine publication; 1973; trans Michael Glenny as The Master and Margarita 1967), a dark, vigorous philosophical parable about a visit to Moscow by Satan, with an interesting reinterpretation of the conflict between Christ and Pontius Pilate.The fading of Soviet sf in the late 1930s and the 1940s, partly due to the pressures of WWII and the hardshipsof the postwar years, was for some time hardly interrupted, despite the arrival on the scene of new authors, Viktor Saparin and Georgy Gurevich among them. Sf in the USSR was reborn only with the publication (virtually coinciding with the launch of Sputnik 1) of Ivan Yefremov's Tumannost Andromedy (1957 in the magazine Tekhhnika-molodezhi ("Technology forYouth"); 1958; trans George Hanna as Andromeda 1959). This ambitious full-scale utopia, with its philosophical concept of a "Great Ring" of extraterrestrial civilizations in space, not only made its author a leader of Soviet sf but launched the decade of its Golden Age, giving inspiration to scores of gifted young authors. Others of Yefremov's books, such as Lezvie britvy ("The Razor's Edge") (1963) and Chas byka ("The Hour of theBull") (1968; exp 1970), were also influential.The late 1950s saw a dramatic upsurge in Soviet sf publishing. For example, where the popular-science magazine Znaniye-sila ("Knowledge is Power") printed only 1 sf story in 1953, in 1961 it printed 19, including 2 by Ray BRADBURY andpart of SOLARIS (1961) by Stanislaw LEM. Writers demanded the freedom to speculate much more widely, to write "far" rather than "near" fantasy, as they put it. Encouraged by a more liberal literary climate and the example of Western work, now being translated in quantity, new and talented authors emerged and themes formerly TABOO began to appear in print: ALIENS, CYBERNETICS, ESP, ROBOTS and TIME TRAVEL, for example.Level-headed critics like Evgeny Brandis and Vladimir Dmitrievsky kept readers informed about developments abroad, and the names of Lem, Bradbury, Isaac ASIMOV, Robert SHECKLEY, Arthur C. CLARKE and dozens ofothers soon became familiar to Soviet sf fans.The spiritual leaders of Soviet sf during the following three decades were undoubtedly theSTRUGATSKI brothers, Arkady and Boris. They stand out as the major talents among the writers who made their mark in the 1960s, and wrote far and away the most interesting and readable sf ever produced in the USSR (now almost all translated into English). Temporarily subdued during the 1970s, after clashes with the authorities, they were nonetheless permitted, as restrictions were relaxed in the late 1980s, to travel abroad for the first time as guests of honour to a World SF CONVENTION in the UK in 1987. Soviet sf is by no means confined to the Strugatskis' work, however, norto that of their contemporaries like Genrikh ALTOV, Dmitri BILENKIN, Kir BULYCHEV, Mikhail EMTSEV and Eremey PARNOV, Sever GANSOVSKY, ViktorKOLUPAYEV, Vladimir SAVCHENKO, Vadim SHEFNER, and Evgeny VOISKUNSKY and Isai LUKODIANOV. In his collections Formula bessmertiya ("The Immortality Formula") (coll 1963), Pupurnaya mumiya ("The Purple Mummy") (coll 1965) and others, the former scientist Anatoly Dneprov imagines the social impact of technological breakthroughs, particularly in cybernetics and BIOLOGY. Ilya Varshavsky, a talented short-story writer, is famous for hissombre dystopian cycle about the imaginary state of Donomaga, Solntse zakhodit v Donomage ("The Sun Sets in Donomaga") (coll of linked stories 1966), while the veteran writer Sergei Snegov made his name in sf with hisphilosophical SPACE OPERA, a trilogy on a Stapledonian scale; the trilogy's first novel has the Wellsian title "Lyudi kak bogi" ("Men like Gods") (in Ellinskii sekret ("Hellenic Secret") anth 1966); the secondnovel is "Vtorzheniye v Persei" ("Invasion into Perseus") (in Vtorzheniye v Persei anth 1968); the third is "Kol'tso obratnogo vremeni" ("The Ring of Reversed Time") (in Kol'tso obratnogo vremeni anth 1977). The first 2 were published together as Lyudi kak bogi (omni 1971), and all 3 in a separate omnibus, also entitled Lyudi kak bogi (omni 1982).The above are mostly known as writers of HARD SF, but most Russian sf of recent years has been SOFT SF. At the soft end of the scale is, for example, the otherwise mainstream author Gennady Gor, who turned to philosophical fantasies in collections like Glinyanyi papuas ("The Clay Papuan") (coll 1966) and in the novel Pamiatnik ("The Statue") (1972). Olga Larionovamade a promising debut with the novella "Leopard s vershiny Kilimandzharo"("The Leopard from Kilimanjaro's Summit") (1965; reprinted in Ostrov muzhestva ("Courage Island") coll 1971), which describes the problems caused through learning the date of one's own death. Vladimir Mikhailov demonstrated a mastery of the grand philosophical Bildungsroman in Dver's drugoi storony ("The Other Side Door") (1974), Storozh bratu moemu ("My Brother's Keeper") (1976) and its sequel Togda pridite, i rassudim ("ComeNow and Let us Reason Together") (1983). The latter two novels are ambitious space operas, raising serious metaphysical and religious questions unusual in Russian sf.There are dozens of promising names in the most recent generation of Soviet sf writers. Among them are the "brainstorming" author and scientist Pavel Amnuel - he emigrated to Israelin 1990 - whose collection Segodnia, zavtra i vsegda ("Today, Tomorrow and Forever") (coll 1984), along with his near-future SUPERMAN novel , so faronly in magazine form, "Vzryv" ("Explosion") (1990), has appealed both to readers and to critics. Vyacheslav Rybakov, also a scientist, has written interesting sf seriously concerned with social issues; his two books are Oshna na bashne ("Fire on the Tower") (1990), a novel, and Svoyooruzhiye("His Own Weapon") (coll 1990); he has also worked in the cinema (see below). Other strong writers in the most recent generation includeAndrei Lazarchuk, Andrei Stolyarov, Boris Shtern, Mikhail Uspensky; Eduard Gevorkyan, Vladimir Pokrovsky and Yevgeny and Lubov Lukin. Two other major features of Russian sf in recent decades have been the unexpected rise in the quality and amount of sf criticism and the growing interest (as in the West) shown by MAINSTREAM WRITERS in using sf themes. Among the betterknown works of criticism are the contributions of V. Bugrov, T. Chernyshova, Vladimir GAKOV, Julius KAGARLITSKI, R. Nudelman (since 1974resident in Israel) and V. Revich. Sf by mainstream writers includes the powerful post- HOLOCAUST novella "Poslednyaya pastoral" (1987; trans 1987 as "The Last Pastorale" in Soviet Literature \#8) by Ales Adamovich as well as works by C. AITMATOV, V. AKSENOV and V. VOINOVICH.The most prestigious Soviet sf award, the Aelita, was founded in 1981 by the Russian FederationWriters' Union and Ural'skii sledopyt ("Urals Pathfinder") magazine. The latter is published from the city of Ekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk until 1991), so the ceremony is held there, annually. The winner is chosen by a panel of judges. Although instituted as an award for the best single sf work published in the previous year, it appears to have become a sort of "Life Achievement" trophy. Winners have been:1981: Alexander Kazantsev and theStrugatski brothers (tie)1982: Zinovii Yuriev1983: Vladislav Krapivin1984: Sergei Snegov 1985: Sergei Pavlov 1986: No award 1987: Olga Larionova 1988: Victor Kolupayev 1989:Sever Gansovsky 1990: Oleg Korabelnikov 1991: Vladimir Mikhailov 1992: Sergei DrugalAnother award, voted on by Soviet fandom generally, is the Velikoye Koltso (The Great Ring Award) also first given in 1981, and annually since, except while it was suspended in 1983, 1984 and 1985. Other awards are: Yefremov Award for life achievement in the field, presented since 1987; Start Award, presented since 1989 for the best first book of a new author; Bronzovaya Ulitka (The Bronze Snail Award) presented by Boris Strugatski for the best sf or fantasy of theprevious year since 1992.There is a long history of sf CINEMA in the USSR, going back at least to AELITA (1924), the film version of Alexei Tolstoy's novel. There were quite a few sf films in the 1960s, nearly all of them strong on special effects and production design, but with conventionally socialist plotlines; the best known is TUMANNOST ANDROMEDY (1968; vt The Andromeda Nebula), based on Yefremov's novel but de-emphasizing its moreradical speculations. Several Russian films of this period, including the well made PLANETA BUR (1962; vt Planet of Storms), were cannibalized and recut in the USA (Roger CORMAN). More recently the outstanding director of Russian sf cinema was Andrei TARKOVSKY, whose sf films are SOLARIS (1971), STALKER (1979) and, marginally, Zhertvoprinoshenie (1986; vtOffret; vt The Sacrifice). Stalker is based on a novel by the Strugatskis, and the film Otel U pogibshchego alpinista (1979; vt Dead Mountaineer Hotel), made by the Estonian director Grigori Kromanov, is based on one oftheir novellas. A recent and widely publicized film (shown on US tv) is Pisma myortvovo cheloveka (1986; vt Letters from a Dead Man) dirKonstantin Lopushansky, who wrote the script with Vyacheslav Rybakov and Boris Strugatski, about retreat into a bunker after a nuclear DISASTER while orphaned children remain above ground. There is also a 1989 film based on a Strugatski novel, TRUDNO BYT' BOGOM ("Hard to be a God"). There are two Soviet film versions of Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" (1950): Golosa pamyati ("Voices of Memory") (1980), with NikolaiGrinko good as the ROBOT, and a cartoon version, Budet laskovyi dozhd("There Will Come Soft Rains") (1984). A more recent Bradbury adaptation is VEL'D (1987).A joint Soviet-Polish coproduction was a successful adaptation from Stanislaw Lem, Doznaniie pilota Pirksa ("The Investigation of Pirx the Pilot") (1979), dir Marek Pestrak, with rather sophisticated design and special effects. Also notable is a 2-part feature film for young adults by an enthusiastic director of sf, the late Richard Viktorov, comprising Moskva-Kassiopeya ("Moscow-Cassiopeia") (1973) and its sequel Otroki vo Vselennoi ("Teenagers in the Universe") (1974), which comesacross like a combination of Robert A. HEINLEIN's juvenile novels and Joe DANTE's EXPLORERS (1985). An earlier film by Viktorov was CHEREZ TERNII -K ZVYOZDAM (1980; vt Per Aspera ad Astra), about ecological catastrophe. The most recent Soviet film in the sf/fantasy genre has become something of a cult movie, the HEROIC-FANTASY Podzemelie ved'm ("Witches' Dungeon") (1990), dir Sergei Morozov, and based on a novel by Kir Bulychev, who alsowrote the screenplay.

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   Further reading: Several anthologies of Russian sf stories have been published in English translation, including the Moscow Foreign Language Publishing House anthologies A Visitor from Outer Space (anth 1961; vt Soviet Science Fiction US), The Heart of theSerpent (anth 1961; vt More Soviet Science Fiction US) and Destination: Amaltheia (anth 1962), and the 3 Mir anthologies Everything but Love (anth 1973), Journey across Three Worlds (anth 1973) and The Molecular Cafe (anth 1968). Anthologies published in the UK and USA include: Vortex (anth 1970) ed C.G. Bearne; Last Door to Aiya (anth 1968) and The Ultimate Threshold (anth 1970) ed Mirra GINSBURG; Russian Science Fiction (anth 1964), Vol II (anth 1967) and Vol III (anth 1969) ed R. MAGIDOFF; Path into the Unknown (anth 1966) ed anon; New Soviet Science Fiction (anth 1979) ed anon; World's Spring (anth 1981) ed Vladimir GAKOV;Pre-Revolutionary Russian Science Fiction: An Anthology (Seven Utopias and a Dream) (anth 1982) ed and trans Leland Fetzer; Aliens, Travelers, and Other Strangers (anth 1984) ed and trans (uncredited) Roger De Garis. Viewfrom Another Shore (anth 1973) ed Franz ROTTENSTEINER and Other Worlds, Other Seas (anth 1970) ed Darko SUVIN both contain stories by Soviet sfwriters. For further scholarly and critical overviews see: Suvin's Russian Science Fiction 1956-1974: A Bibliography (1976) and "Russian SF and itsUtopian Tradition" in his Metamorphoses of Science Fiction (1979); Three Tomorrows: American, British and Soviet Science Fiction (1980) by John GRIFFITHS; Red Stars: Political Aspects of Soviet Science Fiction (1985) by Patrick MCGUIRE, which to a degree is updated and summarized by McGuire in his introduction to "Chapter 6: Russian SF" in Anatomy of Wonder (3rd edn 1987) ed Neil BARRON; Soviet Fiction since Stalin: Science, Politics and Literature (1986) by Rosalind J. Marsh. 2 interesting magazine articles are "Some Developments in Soviet SF since 1966" by Alan Myers (Foundation \#19, 1980) and "Soviet Science Fiction and the Ideology ofSoviet Society" by Rafail Nudelman (Science-Fiction Studies \#47, 1989).

   See also: ABRAMOV, Alexander and ABRAMOV, Sergei; AMOSOV, N, DANIEL, Yuli, DUDINTSEV, Vladimir; TERTZ, Abram.