On Tue, 16 Sep 1997, patricia johnston wrote:
> Have just picked up "Prisoners of Power" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.
> Will read it soon. Has anyone read any of the other books in the series?
> They are,,,,,World Soul, Definitely Maybe, Half a Life, Noon: 22nd Century,
> and The Uncertainty Principle.
Patricia,
I've read "A Snail on the Slope of the Mountain" (at least that was the
Russian title), and three other books by Strugatsky Brothers, which
titles I don't remember, unfortunately. I was always wondering if their
books would not lose their meaning in translation. Most of them
are very culture-dependent, involving a lot of Russian and even Soviet
mythology, that is hard to explain unless you've learned it
in pre-kindergarten. Strugatskys often employ traditional fairy-tale
characters, interpreting their magical abilities in a "scientific" and often
humorous manner (the only thing close to that I can think of is Robert
Shekley's "Goblin's Refuge"). They also made fun of "mainstream" Soviet
sf ( with bright-eyed builders of Communism who enthusiastically recited
poems while saving the world from capitalism, and stuff like that).
My personal opinion is that Strugatskys' novels were the best of Soviet
science fiction. What do you think about them?
Marina
"Femininity is code for femaleness plus whatever society
happens to be selling at the time."
Naomi Wolf
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:43 PDT