“The Many-armed God of Dalayn ” is the first major work (novel) of the Russian science fiction writer Svyatoslav Loginov , written in 1991-1992 and published in 1995 (the publication is dated 1994). The book was awarded 4 prizes in the field of science fiction: Interpresscon ( 1995 ), Belyaev Prize (1995), Fancon (1995) [1] , Zolotoy Duke [2] . Was nominated for the prize "Wanderer" in 1996 [1] .
| The many-armed god of dalayn | |
|---|---|
 Cover 2 editions (1996, art. S. Bordyug ) | |
| Genre | fantasy |
| Author | Svyatoslav Loginov |
| Original language | Russian |
| Date of writing | 1991 - 1992 |
| Date of first publication | ( 1995 ) [1] |
| Publishing house | Phlox (1995), ABC-Terra (1996, 1997), Exmo-Press (2001), Exmo (2004), Acta Diurna (2018) |
| Electronic version | |
The action of the novel takes place in a fictional world - Dalein, which is a quadrangular pool that can be circumvented around the perimeter in just four days. Inside the dalayn there are square sections of land of a fixed size - oroykhony. According to the author, his child’s fun served as a prototype of such a “universe”: on a sheet of a notebook in a cell, he created cards consisting of square elements. Despite the initial schematics and conventions of such a "world order", its fragments are worked out in great detail, creating as a result a harmonious and harmonious picture of the world. The vocabulary of the novel is also peculiar - the names and names were taken by the author from the Mongolian language , and he focused not on the meaning of words, but on their phonetic sound.
At the request of both readers and publishers, Svyatoslav Loginov began to write a sequel to the novel “Sitting on the Edge”, but the idea was not further developed and the author refused to create a dilogy.
Content
Story
The novel describes a fictional world that consists of a giant rectangular pool - dalayn [3] , the size of hundreds of square kilometers , which is filled with poisonous mucus. In this mucus lives almost immortal monster , Yorool-Gui [4] . People live in square land areas, oroykhons (with a side length of 1728 steps), which are created by ilbachs [5] - the creators of new land that occasionally appear in the world. When creating a new Orojhon, the living space of the Yorol-Guya is reduced, so the ilbechi are his sworn enemies. The size of the dalayne is 45 oroykhons from east to west and 36 from north to south. Dalayn is also called the space not occupied by the Oroichons, that is, the ocean itself. The borders of the world are fenced by impassable red-hot areas.
Yorool-Gui is periodically thrown ashore, devouring all living things, but he is unable to move deeper, his attack is always limited to the limits of one oroykhon bordering the dalayn. Thus, the coastal zone is the most dangerous place to live. There live people who did not find a place in the best conditions. Dry orojhons separated from the ocean by at least one orojhon represent a rather comfortable place to live.
The economy in the book is built mainly on the disposal of heavy-duty bones and shells of animals, the use of their skins. Animals living in the ocean are inedible, but cereals , mushrooms are grown on dry oroykhons, and edible animals live. An important area for the Dalayn economy is the 5 original oroykhons (which make up the “Tengar Cross” [6] ), which appeared during the creation of the world, and were not raised by ilbeks — only in these so-called siliceous oroykhons , in mines, it is possible to extract sufficiently hard stone. There is a firearm, the creation of which (as well as gunpowder for which) is fraught with great danger.
The social structure resembles an early feudal system. The world is divided between several states, with different systems, but equally cruel to the common man. All of them are interested in expanding their territory, so they are trying to create the conditions under which ilbech will create land within their borders. They mainly consist in blocking the borders and creating a conspiracy of silence (because according to legend, the ilbech revealed by people lives no more than a day).
The main theme of the novel, which is characterized by a heavy, gloomy atmosphere, is the competition between people and Yorool-Guy. People are slowly but surely taking away his living space. It also touches on issues of the existence of the individual in an authoritarian state that suppresses will, restricts and enslaves consciousness, questions of the attitude of the mass of ordinary people to the white crow , which can change the status quo for a common good or for common grief.
Frontiers of the World
At the end of the story, it becomes clear that dalayn is built in a world very similar to ours. In it, the inhabitants of Dalayne have to learn to live after the destruction of their usual picture of the world. However, their dalayn is not the only one. There is at least one more of the same, perhaps even more. The main character, an ilbach , who devoted his whole life to the fight against Yorool-Guy , takes his place in this new dalayn, filling the inner void after the death of his only, most important enemy.
Criticism
According to Oleg Divov , the novel is one of the peaks of Russian fiction prose. Being extremely loaded with meanings and metaphorical, the novel is the quintessential attitude of the Soviet intellectual, suffocating in physical and metaphysical limitations [7] .
Editions
The novel was published several times in Russia: Phlox (1995), ABC-Terra (1996, 1997), Exmo-Press (2001), Exmo (2004). Reprinted in 2018 by the publishing house Acta Diurna with the author's afterword about the fate of the unwritten second book of the novel. It was also published in Bulgaria in 2001 in the translation of Ivan Totomanov [8] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 The many-armed god of dalayne on the site Laboratory of fiction
- ↑ Balabukha A. EYES ON THE NAP, or WHAT AHEAD? (Review of the novel "The Many-armed God of Dalayn")
- ↑ From the Mong. dalayn - oceanic.
- ↑ From the Mong. ёёололүүй - bottomless.
- ↑ From the Mong. Ilbekin - sorcerer, magician.
- ↑ From the Mong. Tengar - heaven.
- ↑ Oleg Divov . Raise the Oroyhon! “The Many-armed God of Dalayne” by Svyatoslav Loginov (Russian) , Year of Literature 2018 . Date of treatment February 4, 2018.
- ↑ Loginov S. Mnogorkiyat god na dalayna / Translation from Russian: Ivan Totomanov, 2001. IK “Bard” OOD, 2001. - ISBN 954-585-203-8