The brothers Arkady Natanovich Strugatsky (russian: Аркадий Натанович Стругацкий; 28 August 1925 – 12 October 1991) and Boris Natanovich Strugatsky ( ru , Борис Натанович Стругацкий; 14 April 1933 – 19 November 2012) were
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
-
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
science-fiction authors who collaborated through most of their careers.
Life and work
![Amazing science fiction stories 195905](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Amazing_science_fiction_stories_195905.jpg)
The Strugatsky brothers ( or simply ) were born to Natan Strugatsky, an art critic, and his wife, a teacher. Their father was
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
and their mother was
Russian Orthodox
Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...
. Their early work was influenced by
Ivan Yefremov
Ivan Antonovich (real patronymic Antipovich) Yefremov ( ru , Ива́н Анто́нович (Анти́пович) Ефре́мов; April 23, 1908 – October 5, 1972; last name sometimes transliterated as Efremov) was a Soviet paleonto ...
and
Stanisław Lem
Stanisław Herman Lem (; 12 September 1921 – 27 March 2006) was a Polish writer of science fiction and essays on various subjects, including philosophy, futurology, and literary criticism. Many of his science fiction stories are of satirical ...
. 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
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia and its émigrés and to Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were composed. By the Ag ...
and evolved into novels interpreted as works of
social criticism
Social criticism is a form of academic or journalistic criticism focusing on social issues in contemporary society, in particular with respect to perceived injustices and power relations in general.
Social criticism of the Enlightenment
The or ...
.
Their best-known novel, ''Piknik na obochine'', has been translated into English as ''
Roadside Picnic
''Roadside Picnic'' (Russian: , ''Piknik na obochine'', ) is a philosophical science fiction novel by Soviet-Russian authors Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, written in 1971 and published in 1972. It is the brothers' most popular and most widely tran ...
''.
Andrei Tarkovsky adapted the novel for the screen as ''
Stalker'' (1979).
Algis Budrys
Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome (in collaboration with Jerome Bixby), Jo ...
compared their "An Emergency Case" and Arkady's "Wanderers and Travellers" to the work of
Eando Binder
Eando Binder is a pen name used by two mid-20th-century science fiction authors, Earl Andrew Binder (1904–1965) and his brother Otto Binder (1911–1974). The name is derived from their first initials ''(E and O Binder).''
Under the Eando nam ...
.
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
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
,
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
,
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
, the former republics of
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
, and Germany, where most of their works were available in both East and West Germany. They are well-known
Russian science fiction
Science fiction and fantasy have been part of mainstream Russian literature since the 18th century. Russian fantasy developed from the centuries-old traditions of Slavic mythology and folklore. Russian science fiction emerged in the mid-19th c ...
writers with a well-developed fan base.
The Strugatsky brothers were Guests of Honour at
Conspiracy '87
The 45th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as Conspiracy '87, was held on 27 August–1 September 1987 at the Metropole Hotel and The Brighton Centre in Brighton, United Kingdom.
The initial chairman was Malcolm Edwards, ...
, the 1987
World Science Fiction Convention
Worldcon, or more formally the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during ...
, held in
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
, England.
In 1991,
Text Publishers
Text Publishers (russian: link=no, Издательство Текст) is one of the main Russian independent publishing houses.
Founded by a group of Russian science-fiction writers in 1988 as a small independent publishing company, they gradua ...
brought out the collected works by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.
Arkady
Arkady Strugatsky was born 25 August 1925 in
Batumi
Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of th ...
; the family later moved to
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. In January 1942, Arkady and his father were evacuated from the
Siege of Leningrad
The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of L ...
, but Arkady was the only survivor in his train car; his father died upon reaching
Vologda
Vologda ( rus, Вологда, p=ˈvoləɡdə) is a city and the administrative center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the river Vologda within the watershed of the Northern Dvina. Population:
The city serves as a major transport hu ...
. Arkady was drafted into the Soviet army in 1943. He trained first at the artillery school in
Aktyubinsk
Aktobe ( kz, Ақтөбе, Aqtöbe; russian: Актобе, Aktobe) is a city on the Ilek River in Kazakhstan. It is the administrative center of Aktobe Region. In 2020, it had a population of 500,757 people.
Aktobe is located in the west of Ka ...
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 . Arkady Strugatsky became a member of the
Union of Soviet Writers
The Union of Soviet Writers, USSR Union of Writers, or Soviet Union of Writers (russian: Союз писателей СССР, translit=Soyuz Sovetstikh Pisatelei) was a creative union of professional writers in the Soviet Union. It was founded ...
in 1964. In addition to his own writing, he translated Japanese short stories and novels, as well as some English works with his brother.
Boris
![Boris Strugatsky Seminar 20060109 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Boris_Strugatsky_Seminar_20060109_02.jpg)
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
The Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory (russian: Пулковская астрономическая обсерватория, Pulkovskaya astronomicheskaya observatoriya), officially named the Central Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academ ...
. 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. After the death of his brother, he published two more novels under a pseudonym. Boris Strugatsky died in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
on .
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, ''
Noon: 22nd Century''.
The main characteristics of the Noon Universe are: a very high level of social, scientific, and technological development; 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 (indeed, money does not exist), 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
Meritocracy (''merit'', from Latin , and ''-cracy'', from Ancient Greek 'strength, power') is the notion of a political system in which economic goods and/or political power are vested in individual people based on talent, effort, and achi ...
council composed of the world's leading scientists and philosophers. That Noon World had been clearly named as "World of Communism" in their novels 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
Short stories
Short story collections
Short stories originally published in ''
Six Matches'':
Short stories originally published as part of the novel ''
Noon: 22nd Century'':
Plays
Solo works
The following titles were published by Arkady Strugatsky under the pseudonym S. Yaroslavtsev (C. Ярославцев):
The following titles were published by Boris Strugatsky under the pseudonym S. Vititsky (С. Витицкий):
Adaptations
The Strugatsky's 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 the Brothers themselves, like ''The Sorcerers''.
* ''
Stalker'' (1979) by
Andrey Tarkovsky, based on the Strugatsky's script, inspired by ''
The Roadside Picnic
''Roadside Picnic'' (Russian: , ''Piknik na obochine'', ) is a philosophical science fiction novel by Soviet-Russian authors Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, written in 1971 and published in 1972. It is the brothers' most popular and most widely tran ...
''
* ''
Dead Mountaineer's Hotel'' (1979) by
Grigori Kromanov
Grigori Kromanov (8 March 1926 in Tallinn – 18 July 1984 in Lahe, Lääne-Viru County, Lahe, Lääne-Virumaa) was an Estonian Theatre director, theatre and film director. He directed some of the best known Estonian movies, including ''Viimne rel ...
, based on the novel of the same name
* ''
The Sorcerers
''The Sorcerers'' is a 1967 British science fiction/horror film directed by Michael Reeves, starring Boris Karloff, Catherine Lacey, Ian Ogilvy, and Susan George. The original story and screenplay was conceived and written by John Burke. ...
'' (1982), by Konstantin Bromberg, based on the Strugatsky's script inspired by ''
Monday Begins on Saturday
''Monday Begins on Saturday'' (russian: Понедельник начинается в субботу) is a 1965 science fantasy novel by Soviet writers Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, with illustrations by Yevgeniy Migunov. Set in a fictional to ...
''
* ''
Days of Eclipse'' (1988) by
Alexander Sokurov, inspired by ''
One billion years before the end of the world''
* ''
Hard to be a God
''Hard to Be a God'' (russian: Трудно быть богом, translit=''Trudno byt' bogom'') is a 1964 science-fiction novel by the Soviet writers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, set in the Noon Universe.
Premise and themes
The novel follow ...
'' (1989) by
Peter Fleischmann
Peter Fleischmann (26 July 1937 – 11 August 2021) was a German film director, screenwriter and producer. He worked also as an actor, cutter, sound engineer, interviewer and speaker. Fleischmann belonged to the New German Cinema of the 1960s a ...
, based on the novel of the same name
* ''Искушение Б.'' (''Iskushenie B.'') (1991) by Arkadi Sirenko, based on the play
Five Spoons of Elixir
5 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
5, five or number 5 may also refer to:
* AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era
* 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era
Literature
* ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram
* ''5'' (comics), an awa ...
( ru)
* ''Nesmluvená setkání'' (1995 Czech TV movie, English: ''
Unexpected Encounters
Unexpected may refer to:
Film and television
*Unexpected (2005 film), ''Unexpected'' (2005 film), an Italian documentary directed by Domenico Distilo
*Unexpected (2015 film), ''Unexpected'' (2015 film), an American film directed by Kris Swanber ...
'') by
Irena Pavlásková, based on the novel ''
Space Mowgli
''Space Mowgli'', also known as ''The Kid'' (russian: Малыш, translit=''Malysh''), is a 1971 science fiction novel by Russian writers Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, set in the Noon Universe.
Plot summary
The novel describes the " Ark Projec ...
''
* ''
The Ugly Swans
''The Ugly Swans'' (russian: Гадкие лебеди) is a science fiction novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. In the USSR, it was published in 1987, in the Latvian magazine ''Daugava'', with the title "The Time of Rains" (russian: Время ...
'' (2006) by
Konstantin Lopushansky
Konstantin Sergeyevich Lopushansky (russian: Константин Сергеевич Лопушанский; born June 12, 1947) is a Soviet and Russian film director, film theorist and author. He is best known for directing the apocalyptic and p ...
, based on the novel of the same name
* ''
Обитаемый остров'' (2008) is a two-part Russian science fiction film directed by
Fyodor Bondarchuk
Fyodor Sergeyevich Bondarchuk (russian: link=no, Фёдор Сергеевич Бондарчук ; born 9 May 1967) is a Russian film director, actor, TV and film producer, clipmaker, TV host, founder of production company Art Pictures Studio. ...
, based on the 1969 novel published in English as ''
Prisoners of Power
''Prisoners of Power'', also known as ''Inhabited Island'' (russian: Обитаемый остров, translit=''Obitaemyy ostrov'', ), is a science fiction novel written by Soviet authors Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. It was written in 1969 and or ...
''
* ''
Hard to be a God
''Hard to Be a God'' (russian: Трудно быть богом, translit=''Trudno byt' bogom'') is a 1964 science-fiction novel by the Soviet writers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, set in the Noon Universe.
Premise and themes
The novel follow ...
'' (2013) by
Alexei German, based on the novel of the same name
Legacy
Several writers have to a varying degree paid their tribute to the works of Strugatsky brothers:
*
Sergey Lukyanenko
Sergei Vasilyevich Lukyanenko (russian: Серге́й Васи́льевич Лукья́ненко, ; born 11 April 1968) is a Russian science fiction and fantasy author, writing in Russian. His works often feature intense action-packed plots, ...
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
Kir Bulychev (russian: Кир Булычёв ''Kir Bulychyov 18 October 1934 – 5 September 2003) is a pen name of Igor Vsevolodovich Mozheiko (И́горь Все́володович Може́йко), a Soviet Russian science fiction writer, c ...
's novella from the
Alisa Selezneva
Alisa Selezneva or Seleznyova (Russian: Алиса Селезнёва) is the main character of the series of children's science fiction books by Russian writer Kir Bulychev. The first book with Alisa Selezneva was published in 1965, and the ser ...
series, ''Vacations in Space, or the Planet Five-Four'', is based on finding a secret base of mysterious "Wanderers" (Странники), 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
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' (Время учеников), 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
Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appeara ...
'' by James Cameron contains some similarities with the
Noon Universe The Noon Universe (Russian term: "Мир Полудня" or "Мир Полдня" – "World of Noon"; also known as the “Wanderers’ Universe”) is a fictional future setting for a number of hard science fiction novels written by Arkady and Bo ...
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" (as compared with "Na'vi" as the name of the humanoid race in the film). However, Boris Strugatsky rejected the idea that his works had been plagiarized, despite the similarities.
[OFF-LINE интервью с Борисом Стругацким Январь 2010](_blank)
18 January 2010.
* 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''.
* The Polish video game developer Acid Wizard Studio cited the Strugatskys as an influence on their 2017 game ''
Darkwood''.
* The designers of the 2019 video game ''
Disco Elysium
''Disco Elysium'' is a 2019 role-playing video game developed and published by ZA/UM. Inspired by Infinity Engine–era games, particularly '' Planescape: Torment'', the game was written and designed by Estonian novelist Robert Kurvitz and featur ...
'' cited the Strugatskys' writing as an influence on the game's design and writing.
* The video game series
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'' is a first-person-shooter survival horror video game series developed by GSC Game World. The series is set in an alternate version of the present-day Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine, where, according to the series' backs ...
owes much of its background to the mix of the Strugatsky's writing and the Chernobyl disasters' zone of exclusion.
See also
*
List of heroic fictional scientists
*
Planets in science fiction
Planets in science fiction are fictional planets that appear in various media of the science fiction genre as story-settings or depicted locations.
Planet lists
For planets from specific fictional milieux, use the following lists:
Literature ...
References
External links
*
*
Includes the complete works in Russian and selected translations*
*
Stalkers of Russian Science Fiction – the Strugatsky Brothers*
at BVI
*
Strugatsky Brothers UniverseRussian fan site
Boris Strugatsky on Avatar– English translation by a fan
at Russian Sci-Fi (rusf.ru) – includes free library, bibliography of works in translation, much more
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strugatsky, Boris And Arkady
20th-century Russian translators
20th-century male writers
Russian male novelists
Russian people of Jewish descent
Russian science fiction writers
Russian speculative fiction critics
Russian speculative fiction translators
Sibling duos
Soviet male writers
Soviet novelists
Soviet science fiction writers
Writing duos