Burdened by Evil, or Forty Years Later

According to the memoirs of B. N. Strugatsky , the idea of ​​the novel appeared in October 1981, when the Strugatsky brothers gathered to create a joint detective novel with the Weiner brothers . The plot was based on the idea of ​​buying up human souls in an ordinary Soviet district center, the novel was to consist of two parts: fantastic and detective-realistic, in which the events of the first part received a purely legal explanation. Then a chronotope appeared - the city of Tashlinsk , as well as Agasfer Lukich - a soul buyer, and astronomer Sergey Manokhin. For various reasons, this idea has not been implemented. The Strugatsky storylines were four typewritten pages.

Agasfer Lukic has reappeared in the Strugatsky’s work diary since 1985. However, the preparation of a new novel was carried out gradually, work only began on January 25, 1986 in Leningrad. The plot was dedicated to the second coming of Christ .

Our Jesus Demiurge is not at all like the one who accepted death on the cross in ancient Jerusalem - two thousand years have passed, many hundreds of worlds have been passed by Him, hundreds of thousands of good deeds have been completed, and millions of events have occurred, leaving - each - its own scar. He had to endure all things; incidents happened to Him and more terribly primitive crucifixion - He became terrible and ugly. He became unrecognizable. (A circumstance misleading a lot of readers: some are indignant at taking our Demiurge for an unsuccessful copy of Bulgakov’s Woland, others - simply and without fancy - blame the authors for preaching Satanism, while our Demiurge is really just Jesus Christ two thousands of years later. That's really true: "He came to his own, and his own did not accept him.") ^[1]

The story of the teacher George Anatolyevich Nosov was first mentioned in the Strugatsky work diary on February 27, 1987. By March, the authors decided that the history of the Demiurge is Manohin’s manuscript. Work on the novel was slow, the clean-up was completed on March 18, 1988.

This was the last ABS novel, the most complicated, even perhaps overcomplicated, the most unusual and probably the most unpopular of all. The authors themselves, however, considered him to be among the best - too much spiritual strength, thought, debate and the most favorite ideas were invested in him to treat him differently. Here is the teacher’s favorite, cherished idea for years with a capital letter - for the first time we made an attempt to write this person, so to speak, “live” and were satisfied with this attempt. Here is an old, cherished dream for years to write a historical novel - in the manner of Lyon Feuchtwanger and from the perspective of a person who does not want to believe in the existence of objective and reliable historical truth (“it was not like that, it’s not at all”). Here, there’s even an attempt to make a cautious forecast for the next forty years, even if it is doomed initially to failure, because there is nothing more complicated than predicting what will happen to us over the course of one human life (whether it’s a matter of making forecasts five hundred years ahead, or even better - per thousand) ... ^[1]

The novel has three storylines, alternating from chapter to chapter. The composition is similar to “a novel in a novel” (“ Snail on a Slope ”, “ Lame Fate ”), but three-level instead of a two-level.

First plot (manuscript OZ)

Venue: Soviet Union of the 1980s , the city of Tashlinsk . The exact time of the action is indefinite, most often referred to as “the eternal November”, although it can immediately be replaced by the height of summer. Although there is not much left before the collapse of the USSR and Yugoslavia , all the attributes of Soviet realities are present, such as the Komsomol city ​​committee , the Tashlinskaya Pravda newspaper, police , combatants , lines , Yugoslav soup, etc.

The narration is conducted on behalf of Sergei Korneevich Manokhin ( astronomer , doctor of physical and mathematical sciences , a long time employee of the Steppe Observatory, developer of the theory of "star cemeteries").

A superhuman creature called the Demiurge (also referred to as Ptah , Yahweh , Ilmarinen , etc.) settles on Truda Avenue in a three-room apartment No. 527 in the house of one of the completed but not yet populated new buildings. The demiurge is helped by a certain Agasfer Lukich, who, despite his comical appearance (a short plump little man similar to Yevgeny Leonov ), is also an ancient superhuman being. He acts under the guise of an agent of Gosstrakh and soon begins to enjoy great popularity in this role in the city. Both are not necessarily anthropomorphic and exist outside of time and space; questions regarding temporal and spatial localization are not applicable to them, which does not allow the KGB major to take them into operational development.

The demiurge claims to be a great power, almost omnipotence , in the matter of fulfilling the desires of people. But he is not omnipotent, and besides, everything that he does is “burdened with evil”: a literal fulfillment by a demiurge of a person’s wishes leads to a complete set of possible consequences - both positive and negative, which usually indicates that the wishes of the asker were thoughtless.

Agasfer Lukic also fulfills “simple” desires in exchange for “ special intangible substance ”. So, the great astronomer addressed to Agasfer Lukich - the director of the Steppe Observatory, where Manokhin works, a recognized authority in his science, but with pathologies of the musculoskeletal system. Agasfer gave him absolute bodily health and the opportunity to play sports, but at the cost of this is the disappearance of scientific talent. The man turned into a "paper signing machine" and as a result, as Manokhin suggests, he drank too much.

The protagonist of the novel, astronomer Manokhin, enters the service of the secretary to the Demiurge in exchange for small changes in cosmogonic forces that made his erroneous scientific theory consistent with reality and confirmed by leading observers. The only petitioner who managed to "puzzle" Agasfer Lukic: "He ran in with me, fussed, swept over. He admitted that he could not do it, but promised to inquire in the near future. "

In addition to Manokhin, neo-Nazi Marek (Mark Markovich) Parasyukhin, the phlegmatic Peter Petrovich Kolpakov and the caricature Jew Matvey Matveevich Gershkovich (Mordechai Mordechevich Gershenzon), "capable of causing an acute attack of anti-Semitism even by Mejor Herodzion or" by Mejel Herodzion or "Theodor Gerodsion", also come to the service. Occasionally, the police officer Alcohol-Vodkin and the “indescribable Selena Blagaya” are mentioned, who later also settle in the apartment of the Demiurge. Apparently, these characters are subordinate to Manokhin and rarely communicate directly with the Demiurge.

The goal of the Demiurge, which he proclaims, is to search for the Man with a capital letter, the therapist of human souls, able to cure the world of Evil. He regularly receives visitors with projects to improve the world and does not recognize any of them as perfect; once, even by example, it demonstrates how terribly the world will change if a person is endowed with the ability to defeat offenders with a lightning bolt.

In the final, G. A. Nosov, the hero of the second storyline, is brought to the apartment of the Demiurge. The manuscript breaks off on this, it is reported that its end was probably destroyed by G. A. himself “out of modesty”.

Second story (Mytarin's diary)

In form - the diary of Igor Mytarin ^[2] , a student of the 21st century pedagogical lyceum. The action is transferred to the future of the early 2030s, where the democratized USSR was preserved, in the city of Tashlinsk, in a lyceum organized by the famous teacher G. A. Nosov ^[3] , hereinafter referred to simply as G. A. Lyceum - an elite educational institution, where accept only children who have a great chance to discover pedagogical talent.

Nosov gave the OZ manuscript to his pupil Mytarin (on behalf of whom, after many years, the narrative is being conducted) for independent study.

A community of escapists called Flora arose and exists not far from the city, its members are called “followers”. The community is in many ways similar to hippies , it obeys the “nosi” teacher , who is the spiritual authority of the community (in the end it turns out that “nosi” is the son of G. A. Nosov, which all the teacher’s enemies know about and hint at in the newspaper controversy) .

The philosophy of "nosy" is simple - a person does not need much from the world. Everyone has the right to do what he wants, if he does not interfere with others. You should not want too much, but what the world really needs will want to give. The only purpose of man is spiritual merging with the universe and peace.

Flovers are described as slow, pathologically lazy people with desocialization and incipient personality decay . The community has taken drug use and free love ; a distinctive feature of the flowers is the identification of themselves with forest plants.

In the city there is a growing desire to eliminate this youth movement at any cost, to force everyone who has joined this association to submit to the generally accepted ethical principles, right up to the most radical actions. Mytarin, like his teacher, does not accept the manifestations of radicalism that are characteristic of most of his fellow citizens.

In a newspaper controversy arising on this occasion, and reminiscent of bullying , G. A. speaks with a balanced article, in which he does not protect Flora, but does not call for its destruction and considers the power option to be completely unacceptable, as a result of which he becomes a target for indignation and condemnations from the whole society, including their own students. It is the power version that is being implemented. In the direction of Flora's camp (prudently evacuated due to G.A.'s perseverance), an angry crowd of thousands moves from the city. And at that moment the hero of the first storyline appears - although the name is not called, it is clear that it is Agasfer Lukic, who “speaks short and inaudibly” with G. A.

On this, the text of the Diary breaks off, however, there is an indication that in the future the name of A. A. Nosov becomes popularly revered and surrounded by legends, probably in connection with the acceptance of his ideas by the society. The narrative itself ends with a hint that it is G. A. Nosov that is the Man whom the Demiurge is looking for (and his disappearance is framed as martyrdom).

Plugin (third) plot

A kind of revised Gospel , set forth in separate chapters in the manuscript of OZ, the stylistics of which differs from the rest of the text. According to this story, the apostle John , a former robber, kills Agasfera , the Eternal Jew, several years after Christ 's death on the Cross. The curse of Agasfera goes to the apostle himself, who becomes immortal, but loses the ability to settled life.

Sentenced for robbery to the death penalty, but John, who survived (all attempts to execute the immortal are unsuccessful), is sent to exile on the island of Patmos , where Rome sent politically unreliable citizens. Together with him, the young man Prokhor leaves, struck by the supernatural abilities of the apostle. Having become a pupil and junior comrade of John, Prokhor, from his words, writes down the Apocalypse and distributes it.

Over time, over-knowledge developed in John: he knew about everything that existed in the Universe from the beginning of the world to its end. However, this knowledge was not correlated with his own life experience. John, with his robber past, did not have sufficiently developed spoken language to correctly present the truths known to him. Therefore, the presentation was confused and poorly connected.

Time passes. Having become a deep old man, Prokhor falls into insanity and begins to impersonate John, that is, the author of the Apocalypse, resembling a wise theologian much more than the ageless former robber John. He is also spoken of as the author of the Gospel of John .

Later, John finds himself in the Arab countries of the time of the Prophet Muhammad and the first caliphs , and participates in religious wars and wars with Byzantium from the time of the formation of Islam . Contemporaries consider John a superhuman being ( Rahhal ). Even after fifteen hundred years, John remembers his beloved of those times - the prophetess Sajah of Mesopotamia .

Intersection of plots: a direct identification of John with Agasfer Lukich and Christ (" Rabbi ") with the Demiurge is made. Thus, the events of the first plot are the second coming of Christ.

The most important moral and ethical problem of the novel is questions about Flora. Does society have the right to use force to destroy an informal community that does not have a direct harmful effect on society? Does society have the right to use force in order to protect people from personal degradation that occurs in some informal cultures? Do people with similar life principles have the right to live their own private circle without the threat of force pressure from a “large” society, even if their life principles are disgusting to most ordinary people? Thus, the topic of informal youth movements , relevant in the second half of the 1980s , is addressed.

In parts of the novel, the action of which takes place in the distant past, the question of distorting historical truth is sharply raised. This is illustrated by the story of the creation of the Apocalypse : John spoke Aramaic , which Prokhor did not know well, in addition, John constantly lacked words to describe his visions, and Prokhor actually created the text on his own - in Koin . John, when he was told the contents, laughed for a long time, and compared this text with a thieves' tale. The story of John is preceded by a joke in which Comrade Stalin , after watching the film “ Unforgettable 1919 ”, said only: “It was not like that. Not at all! ” This phrase is often repeated by Agasfer Lukic, talking about Judas , who also became a guest of the apartment of the Demiurge.

• Polish - W. Trzcińska (Niedoskonali)

• “ The Devil Among People ” ( A. Strugatsky , 1990-1991)

• The text of the novel in the complete works of the Strugatsky
• “Burdened by Evil, or Forty Years Later” on the Fantasy Lab website

• Bound by a single chain Sergei Pereslegin's introduction to the novel.