“One billion years before the end of the world” is a fantastic tale of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky , first published in 1976 .
For a billion years to the end of the world | |
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Author | A. Strugatsky, B. Strugatsky |
Genre | science fiction |
Original language | Russian |
Original issued | 1976 |
ISBN | 5-699-18877-0 |
Content
History of creation and publication
The first entry about the plot of the story appeared in the Strugatsky work diary on April 23, 1973. They began writing a draft in June 1974, and finished in November. First published in the journal " Knowledge is Power " in 1976-1977 [1] .
Story
The action takes place in the USSR , in Leningrad [2] , in the summer of 1972.
The main character, Dmitry Alekseevich Malyanov, an astrophysicist , while on vacation, continues to carry out his scientific work. Malyanov unexpectedly and deeply advanced in the development of the theme "Interaction of stars with diffuse matter in the Galaxy ". As soon as he begins to realize that this is a revolutionary discovery and a breakthrough in science, inexplicable events begin to occur in his life: suddenly an attractive classmate of his wife appears in Malyanova’s apartment; Malyanov’s neighbor, Colonel Snegovoy dies, but Malyanov himself is accused of his death; under the apartment windows, an explosion ejects a tree. In a word, it is worth Malyanov to sit down at work, and something happens immediately, because of which there is no way to go back to work. Malyanov understands that all these events are not without reason. His scientific research is clearly interfering with someone or something. At the same time, a whole group of acquaintances and friends who, despite all the difference in the characters and views on life, are in a similar stalemate, are leaving for Malyanova. Some mysterious, but powerful and very selective force stops them in development in various fields of science from biology to mathematical linguistics .
They are all scientists, accustomed to analyzing the facts, even the most incredible. By combining their efforts, comrades in misfortune quickly highlight the main point in what is happening. Events occur according to a single pattern. Once they do a certain scientific work, weirdness immediately begins. Distracting events can act according to the “carrot” principle - without any efforts, the financial situation improves, the opportunity for career growth appears, and so on. But if a person is not stopped by temptations, miracles “with the opposite sign” begin: natural disasters, domestic troubles, misunderstandings with the police, accidents. It seems that the neighbor Malyanova was under the same impact, which led to his death.
Assumptions about the involvement in the events of unknown scientific competitors, criminals, even aliens from space , obviously, poorly explain what is happening: the range of methods of influence is too wide, the possibilities of the opposing side should be too large. An unexpected solution to the problem is suggested by a neighbor and friend of Malyanova, the mathematician Vecherovsky. He assumes that such a reaction is the response of the Universe, its defensive reaction to the scientific research of mankind, which can eventually reach the very nature of things :
... If only the law of non-decreasing entropy existed, chaos would reign. But, on the other hand, if only a continuously improving and omnipotent mind existed or at least prevailed, the structure of the universe would also be disrupted. This, of course, would not mean that the universe would become worse or better, it would simply become different, for a continuously developing mind can have only one goal: the change of the nature of Nature. Therefore, the very essence of the “Vecherovsky law” consists in maintaining a balance between the increase in entropy and the development of reason. Therefore, there can not be supercivilizations , because by supercivilization we mean precisely the mind, which has developed to such an extent that it already overcomes the law of non-decreasing entropy on cosmic scales. And what is happening now with us is nothing else than the first reactions of the Universe to the threat of turning humanity into super-civilization. The universe is protected.
It remains for the heroes to decide what to do next - to quit "undesirable" theories in exchange for well-being or to enter into confrontation with the strongest adversary (perhaps with Nature herself). The conclusion of Vecherovsky is quite logical - if he is right and the events are the reaction of Nature to their actions, then this reaction is also a certain phenomenon in the sphere of natural science that can be studied, predicted and further subordinated to one's will. Vecherovsky is fanatically devoted to science and is going to continue research, offering to those colleagues who do not feel strong enough to fight, to hand over materials to him. That the study of this phenomenon can prove dangerous cannot stop the true scientist. The rest, having considered the situation for a more or less long time, give up. Malyanov has the longest hold, but he also has to retreat: he receives an unequivocal last warning that his son and wife will pay for his stubbornness.
Artistic features
The narration of a manuscript found under strange circumstances (this is the subtitle) is divided into chapters that begin and end with a half-word. To the question of how this technique was born, Boris Strugatsky answered: “Such ideas are born spontaneously, by enumerating a certain number of options. Moreover, with which variant this search began, no one of the authors is able to establish — he, this variant, has long been reliably forgotten ” [3] . The narration is conducted in some chapters from the first person by the main character, in others from the third person. Boris Strugatsky explained it this way: “the manuscript is written by Malyanov (where? When? In what situation? —A mystery!). He starts as if detached - about himself, but from the third person, then breaks down somewhere, forgets about his detachment, goes to the first, then - again to the third and, finally, - finally to the first [3] .
Problems
The theme of impersonal force threatening man is one of the main ones in the work of the Strugatsky ( “Distant Rainbow” , “Snail on the Slope” and others). In this sense, the story can be understood in two ways.
The writers raise the question of what are the long-term consequences of a reasonable human influence on Nature. Is it possible that Nature (the Universe) will resist or at least react to its research. Here you can draw parallels with the novel Stanislav Lem "Solaris" , where researchers are confronted with the mysterious reaction of the alien mind. Here, the response itself to the study is answered by Nature herself, who happened to be encountered directly on Earth.
At the same time, there is a socio-political undercurrent in the story. In the spring of 1974, Boris Strugatsky was interrogated as a witness in the Heifetz case [4] . As he writes, “this collision ... left impressions in the soul of BN that were indelible and colored (at least personally for him) the entire atmosphere of the Billion in a very specific way and in quite specific tones” [5] .
Character Prototypes
It is known that the Strugatskys liked to “write off” characters from real people, although they avoided disclosing names. Nevertheless, Boris Strugatsky in his “big online interview” reported certain information about correspondences [6] .
- Dmitry Malyanov - Boris Strugatsky himself: “The hero of the story of the Malyans was written off (if possible) from me.”
- Philip Vecherovsky - Yuri Manin (appearance and profession) [7] . There is also a second real person who served as the prototype, and his name is debated.
B. Strugatsky:
Vecherovsky even has two prototypes. One gave Vecherovsky an appearance, the other - a manner of behavior. Both are great scientists, by the way.
The “united” prototype of Vecherovsky was two of our acquaintances, major scientists (one is a mathematician, the other seems to be a radio physicist) [8] .
- Investigator - the real investigator who interrogated Boris Strugatsky became his prototype.
Quotes in the story
The story is full of quotations and allusions [9] .
- "They told me that this road would lead me to the ocean of death,
- and I turned back halfway.
- Since then, all the blind deaf devious trails stretch before me ”-
- and I turned back halfway.
- "They told me that this road would lead me to the ocean of death,
this is not quite an exact reproduction of the poem [10] “The Cowardice” by Japanese poetess Akiko Yosano (1878–1942), translated by Vera Markova:
- They told me that this road
- Will lead me to the ocean of death
- And I turned back halfway.
- Since then, all stretch before me
- Curved, deaf roundabout paths ...
- Will lead me to the ocean of death
- They told me that this road
Quote from a poem by Bulat Okudzhava "Lucky Man":
- He knew how to dirty paper under the crackle of a candle!
- He had something to die at the Black River.
- He knew how to dirty paper under the crackle of a candle!
- "Because our age is all black,
- He wears a top hat high,
- And yet we continue to run,
- And then when it hits the clock
- Inactivity hour and hour detachment
- From daily affairs,
- Then comes our split
- And we don't dream about anything. ”
- He wears a top hat high,
- "Because our age is all black,
Guillaume Apollinaire , Early Poems (1896–1910)
Screenshots
In 1988, the film " Days of Eclipse " was shot by director Alexander Sokurov . The Strugatsky brothers, together with Peter Kadochnikov, prepared their own Eclipse Day script (the name of the film was changed later) , but the final version of Yuri Arabov’s script, which arranged for Sokurov, was far from the Strugatsky variant and even more distant from the book, and the material shot on the film was far from even from the script Arabova. From the story of the Strugatsky brothers in the film, there remained in fact only the names of the main characters, and the film version is a completely independent work of art. However, the Strugatsky brothers did not object to such a film adaptation and did not insist on removing their names from the titles. In 2000, the film "Eclipse Days" was included in the list of the hundred best films in the history of Russian cinema (according to the Russian film critics' guild). [eleven]
The Hungarian production was filmed in 1983 ( Hungarian Egymilliárd évvel a világvége előgi , dir. Laszlo Felix), and in 1996 the novel “Before the End of the World” was written ( Greek Πριν το τέλος του μσμου, Pana pt á pt τέλος του όμμο, the Panaus Пριν το τέλος του όσμου film by the Director of the End of the World
There is also a Finnish film adaptation of "Miljardi vuotta ennen maailmanloppua", shot by Tapio Suominen in 1986 [12] .
Proceedings written by other authors
In 1996, in the framework of the project “The Time of Students, ” Vyacheslav Rybakov wrote a continuation of the novel - “It’s hard to become God.” In it, the Malyans, having surrendered in due time, still continue to think about the problem of resistance of the Universe and, finally, meeting with Vecherovsky, makes the final conclusion: their research was opposed not by an abstract Universe, not by the laws of nature as such, but by a supreme being, God who decided that the results of the work of scientists can disrupt the picture of the world that pleases him.
The story “To God - Bogovo ...” by Vladimir Vasilyev (Tashkent), using the characters of the Strugatsky, is a continuation of Rybakov's story. Published in the collection "Time pupils-2."
Notes
- ↑ Fantasy brothers Strugatsky brothers: Strugatsky bibliography
- ↑ Boris Strugatsky: “The story takes place in the very house where I have been living since 1964. Victory and Warsaw corner ”( http://rusf.ru/abs/int0021.htm ).
- ↑ 1 2 OFF-LINE interview with Boris Strugatsky. June 2000
- Read more about the Heifetz case
- ↑ Fantasy brothers Strugatsky: Books: Comments on the past
- ↑ Boris Strugatsky. Great interview. "One billion years before the end of the world"
- ↑ Scientist, teacher, poet
- ↑ [Boris Strugatsky. Great interview. http://www.rusf.ru/abs/int0073.htm ]
- ↑ Fantasy brothers Strugatsky: Comments: A billion years to the end of the world
- ↑ This poem is often inaccurately called “ tanka ”, whereas in reality it belongs to the genre of syntaysi (verses of the new form), that is, in fact, it is free-will .
- ↑ List of the best films of the national cinema . Guild of film critics of Russia. The appeal date is April 25, 2012. Archived June 5, 2012.
- ↑ Miljardi vuotta ennen maailmanloppua . The appeal date is February 17, 2019.