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Reading Soviet Sci-Fi at the End of the World

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Re: Reading Soviet Sci-Fi at the End of the World

#31

Post by omega3 »

thriftwy wrote: post #25
przefur wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it felt so wrong to see Lem up there. The fact that he was renowned in Soviet Union does not make him any Soviet. From what I've read of his works + his biography, he reminds me more of early US science-fiction writers than any of soviet ones.

This is only if you discount his early works such as The Magellanic Cloud, where he is a world communism adept wearing rose-coloured glasses, through which many of his readers, including ones in core Soviet Union, would perceive reality and future prospects. Eastern European writers did contribute a sizeable bookshelf of writings about bright space communist future, until it began to turn sour. One lesser-known one w…

Even if he was a communist it still wouldn't make him soviet.

Re: Reading Soviet Sci-Fi at the End of the World

#32

Post by z3c0 »

omega3 wrote: post #26
myth_drannon wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But wasn't Poland occupying the city from 1918-1939? It was Austro-Hungarian city beforehand? Also I wouldn't characterize Soviet occupation as bad luck and Polish as a heaven on earth. Yes, he was born in 1921, 3 years after Polish army invaded the city and terrorized it. I don't know enough history about the period until 1939, but just extrapolating 1918 events to the whole period of Polish occupation.

> I don't know enough history Clearly.

Weird to see you accuse someone of intellectual dishonesty, and then turn around and take a quote out of context to throw a dig at somebody else, purely because you don't agree. Very shameful behavior, honestly.

Re: Reading Soviet Sci-Fi at the End of the World

#33

Post by unity1001 »

BrainVirus wrote: post #28
omega3 wrote: post #2

Lem wasn't Soviet, he was Polish. It's strange he also considers Victor Pelevin to be a Soviet writer as all his novels were released after 1991.

This is a great comment to illustrate how ideology (especially various brands of nationalism) destroys genuine dialog. Instead of talking about the writers and their works people are now talking about which pigeonhole each writer belongs to. Not because those pigeonholes improve anyone's understanding of the books, mind you. It's a matter of taking credit for their works and applying those credits to the current meta…

> which pigeonhole each writer belongs to

That strongly influences, actually directly shapes, what works does the writer or the artist produces.

Re: Reading Soviet Sci-Fi at the End of the World

#34

Post by p_l »

myth_drannon wrote: post #18
saiya-jin wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a mighty stretch you try to construct. Born in Poland, lived in Poland, just had the bad luck for being there during times when soviets cough cough russians were taking whatever want, and terrorizing the rest. For most Polish people this would be quite an insult even disregarding current war waged by russia just next to them, which is pretty much impossible to ignore if you live there.

But wasn't Poland occupying the city from 1918-1939? It was Austro-Hungarian city beforehand? Also I wouldn't characterize Soviet occupation as bad luck and Polish as a heaven on earth. Yes, he was born in 1921, 3 years after Polish army invaded the city and terrorized it. I don't know enough history about the period until 1939, but just extrapolating 1918 events to the whole period of Polish occupation.

Lwów was probably most Polish city in the region, and generally what's now Western Ukraine had skewed towards polish in cities and ukrainian in rural areas.

In reality, for as late as 1939 the main differences were language and religion, and considerable chunk of rural population considered themselves "locals" not linking with nation-state idea.

This reflects on Commonwealth being rather multi-ethnic and Austro-Hungarian occupation and repression changing little on the areas they took.

Re: Reading Soviet Sci-Fi at the End of the World

#35

Post by omega3 »

z3c0 wrote: post #32
omega3 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't know enough history Clearly.

Weird to see you accuse someone of intellectual dishonesty, and then turn around and take a quote out of context to throw a dig at somebody else, purely because you don't agree. Very shameful behavior, honestly.

I'm sorry if the response was blunt, nevertheless people really have to take a responsibility for their education and not make inflammatory comments about history of the parts of the world they don't understand or are unwilling to understand.

There is plenty of information regarding history of Lviv and this region in general. It's long and sad, tragic and sometimes beautiful but never simple.

Besides, I found that most people who feign ignorance know history very well and use it for their own agenda. If you know what to search in someone post history it becomes more or less obvious.

Re: Reading Soviet Sci-Fi at the End of the World

#36

Post by Tade0 »

BrainVirus wrote: post #28
omega3 wrote: post #2

Lem wasn't Soviet, he was Polish. It's strange he also considers Victor Pelevin to be a Soviet writer as all his novels were released after 1991.

This is a great comment to illustrate how ideology (especially various brands of nationalism) destroys genuine dialog. Instead of talking about the writers and their works people are now talking about which pigeonhole each writer belongs to. Not because those pigeonholes improve anyone's understanding of the books, mind you. It's a matter of taking credit for their works and applying those credits to the current meta…

Tends to happen when you apply the eastern European equivalent of an N-word to someone.

It's a touchy subject, and the recent Russian invasion explains why.

Re: Reading Soviet Sci-Fi at the End of the World

#37

Post by yamtaddle »

metadaemon wrote: post #12
yaky wrote: post #9

I originally read Roadside Picnic as a teen, which, at the time, impressed me as an exciting sci-fi adventure. When I re-read it as a young adult, i saw it as a rather depressing tale asking the questions of sacrifice and duty. My other favorite by Strugatskys is A Billion Years Before The End Of The World (translated as Definitely Maybe), which you can read as a somewhat humorous story involving paranormal events, o…

You've got to love Roadside Picnic as it can be seen as the predecessor to other stories and games, like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Escape from Tarkov. It's core trope is unique enough to have spawned an entire generation of content. I'd say the same about Blindsight, but it hasn't spawned much. Although, it's core trope is arguably the most unique I've ever read before.

> I'd say the same about Blindsight, but it hasn't spawned much. Although, it's core trope is arguably the most unique I've ever read before.

I don't want to go into too much for fear of spoilers, but the video game Prey is at least playing in the same ballpark as Blindsight.

Re: Reading Soviet Sci-Fi at the End of the World

#38

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

yaky wrote: post #9

I originally read Roadside Picnic as a teen, which, at the time, impressed me as an exciting sci-fi adventure. When I re-read it as a young adult, i saw it as a rather depressing tale asking the questions of sacrifice and duty. My other favorite by Strugatskys is A Billion Years Before The End Of The World (translated as Definitely Maybe), which you can read as a somewhat humorous story involving paranormal events, o…

FYI, another of their works, _The Doomed City_ was finally translated into English a few years ago. It is now my favourite, among their works.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35133627-the-doomed-city

https://www.chicagoreviewpress.com/doomed-city--the-products...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doomed_City

Re: Reading Soviet Sci-Fi at the End of the World

#39

Post by protomolecule »

yaky wrote: post #9

I originally read Roadside Picnic as a teen, which, at the time, impressed me as an exciting sci-fi adventure. When I re-read it as a young adult, i saw it as a rather depressing tale asking the questions of sacrifice and duty. My other favorite by Strugatskys is A Billion Years Before The End Of The World (translated as Definitely Maybe), which you can read as a somewhat humorous story involving paranormal events, o…

Interesting, I read 'A Billion Years Before The End Of The World' as a book about facing hard choices in life.

Re: Reading Soviet Sci-Fi at the End of the World

#40

Post by grufkork »

ThaDood wrote: post #15
yaky wrote: post #9

I originally read Roadside Picnic as a teen, which, at the time, impressed me as an exciting sci-fi adventure. When I re-read it as a young adult, i saw it as a rather depressing tale asking the questions of sacrifice and duty. My other favorite by Strugatskys is A Billion Years Before The End Of The World (translated as Definitely Maybe), which you can read as a somewhat humorous story involving paranormal events, o…

I agree. I enjoyed Roadside Picnic as its such a unique take on the ET visitation genre but my god is it depressing. I still think it could have the potential be a really interesting TV show. Personally I think the slow nature of the book lends itself towards the show format. Further, IIRC I believe that soviet authors/translators were able to skirt censorship for the LoTR books by wrapping them in a Sci-Fi setting.…

Some of the RP editions have an afterword about publishing in Soviet and evading censorship thorough Sci-fi, pretty interesting. Soviet was a strange place.

Roadside Picnic is a lovely perspective on the genre, in that it isn't at all about the zone or any supposed aliens. The zone makes for a fascinating backdrop for the story, but in the end it is about the people just trying to carve out a life while exposed to an extraordinary, incomprehensible situation grown mundane. The zone could be swapped out for a disaster area or a hostile jungle or whatever, but by being the zone it becomes very alien to the reader as well. It contributes to what I really like about the book, simply being very atmospheric and immersive. It's all show-don't-tell, the reader experiences everything through what the characters see or hear, and the reader's picture of the world is as clouded and uncertain as those living in it. I found a bit of the same feeling in Metro 2033, where anything happening outside of a couple kilometers range is just rumours. Nobody really knows anything for sure and neither does the reader!

Also there was actually a RP TV-series in production with a really cool trailer, but I think the pilot didn't take off so it shut down.

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