Lame Fate | Ugly Swans

Lame Fate | Ugly Swans PDF Author: Arkady Strugatsky
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1641600691
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
Today, Russian authors Arkady and Boris Strugatsky are counted among the best science fiction writers of the twentieth century, but their relationship with the late-Soviet literary establishment was often fraught. By the late 1960s, publishers had become increasingly reluctant to release their works, but their novels and short stories, retyped by hand, circulated widely through unofficial channels within the Soviet Union and occasionally turned up abroad in unauthorized translation. The nested novels Ugly Swans and Lame Fate offer insight into this period of enforced silence. Never before translated into English, Lame Fate tells the story of middle-aged author Felix Sorokin, who is asked by the Soviet Writers' Union to submit a writing sample to a new computer program that will scientifically evaluate its "objective value" as a literary work. Sorokin must choose whether to present something establishment- approved or risk sharing his unpublished masterpiece. Sorokin's masterwork is Ugly Swans, previously published in English as a standalone work but presented here in an authoritative new translation. Its hero, disgraced literary celebrity Victor Banev, returns to his hometown to find it haunted by the mysterious "clammies"—black-masked outcasts with supernatural talents who terrify the town's adult population but enthrall its teenagers, including Banev's own daughter. Together, Lame Fate and Ugly Swans illuminate some of the Strugatskys' favorite themes—the (im)possibility of political progress, the role of the individual in society, the nature of honor and courage, and the enduring value of art—in consummately entertaining fashion. By turns chilling, uproarious, and moving, these intertwining stories are sure to delight readers from all walks of life.

Lame Fate | Ugly Swans

Lame Fate | Ugly Swans PDF Author: Arkady Strugatsky
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1641600691
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 342

Get Book Here

Book Description
Today, Russian authors Arkady and Boris Strugatsky are counted among the best science fiction writers of the twentieth century, but their relationship with the late-Soviet literary establishment was often fraught. By the late 1960s, publishers had become increasingly reluctant to release their works, but their novels and short stories, retyped by hand, circulated widely through unofficial channels within the Soviet Union and occasionally turned up abroad in unauthorized translation. The nested novels Ugly Swans and Lame Fate offer insight into this period of enforced silence. Never before translated into English, Lame Fate tells the story of middle-aged author Felix Sorokin, who is asked by the Soviet Writers' Union to submit a writing sample to a new computer program that will scientifically evaluate its "objective value" as a literary work. Sorokin must choose whether to present something establishment- approved or risk sharing his unpublished masterpiece. Sorokin's masterwork is Ugly Swans, previously published in English as a standalone work but presented here in an authoritative new translation. Its hero, disgraced literary celebrity Victor Banev, returns to his hometown to find it haunted by the mysterious "clammies"—black-masked outcasts with supernatural talents who terrify the town's adult population but enthrall its teenagers, including Banev's own daughter. Together, Lame Fate and Ugly Swans illuminate some of the Strugatskys' favorite themes—the (im)possibility of political progress, the role of the individual in society, the nature of honor and courage, and the enduring value of art—in consummately entertaining fashion. By turns chilling, uproarious, and moving, these intertwining stories are sure to delight readers from all walks of life.

The Ugly Swans

The Ugly Swans PDF Author: Аркадий Стругацкий
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science fiction, Russian
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description


The Inhabited Island

The Inhabited Island PDF Author: Arkady Strugatsky
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1613736002
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
When Maxim Kammerer, a young space explorer from twenty-second-century Earth, crash-lands on an uncharted world, he thinks of himself as a latter-day Robinson Crusoe. Eager to establish first contact with the planet's humanlike inhabitants, he finds himself increasingly entangled in their primitive way of life. After his experiences in their nightmarish military, criminal justice, and mental health systems, Maxim begins to realize that his sojourn on this radioactive and war-scarred world will not be a walk in the park. The Inhabited Island is one of the Strugatsky brothers' most popular and acclaimed novels, yet the only previous English-language edition (Prisoners of Power) was based on a version heavily censored by Soviet authorities. Now, in a sparkling new edition by award-winning translator Andrew Bromfield, this land-mark novel can be newly appreciated by both longtime Strugatsky fans and new explorers of the Russian science fiction masters' astonishingly rich body of work.

Hard to Be a God

Hard to Be a God PDF Author: Arkady Strugatsky
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1613748310
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky are widely known as the greatest Russian writers of science fiction, and their 1964 novel Hard to Be a God is considered one of the greatest of their works. It tells the story of Don Rumata, who is sent from Earth to the medieval kingdom of Arkanar with instructions to observe and to influence, but never to directly interfere. Masquerading as an arrogant nobleman, a dueler and a brawler, Don Rumata is never defeated but can never kill. With his doubt and compassion, and his deep love for a local girl named Kira, Rumata wants to save the kingdom from the machinations of Don Reba, the First Minister to the king. But given his orders, what role can he play? Hard to Be a God has inspired a computer role-playing game and two movies, including Aleksei German's long-awaited swan song. Yet until now the only English version (out of print for over thirty years) was based on a German translation, and was full of errors, infelicities, and misunderstandings. This new edition—translated by Olena Bormashenko, whose translation of the authors' Roadside Picnic has received widespread acclaim, and supplemented with a new foreword by Hari Kunzru and an afterword by Boris Strugatsky, both of which supply much-needed context—reintroduces one of the most profound Soviet-era novels to an eager audience.

The Soviet Jewish Bookshelf

The Soviet Jewish Bookshelf PDF Author: Marat Grinberg
Publisher: Brandeis University Press
ISBN: 1684581311
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
"In an environment where a public Jewish presence was routinely delegitimized, reading uniquely provided for many Soviet Jews an entry to communal memory and identity. This project decodes the complex reading strategies and the specifically Jewish uses to which the books on the Soviet Jewish bookshelf were put"--

Reference Guide to Russian Literature

Reference Guide to Russian Literature PDF Author: Neil Cornwell
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134260776
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 1020

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Book Description
First Published in 1998. This volume will surely be regarded as the standard guide to Russian literature for some considerable time to come... It is therefore confidently recommended for addition to reference libraries, be they academic or public.

The Road to Avalon

The Road to Avalon PDF Author: Joan Wolf
Publisher: Untreed Reads
ISBN: 1953601936
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Shimmering with pageantry, emotion and the court’s passionate intrigues, here is the epic story of Arthur—the conqueror, the once and future king, who vanquished the Saxons and loved but one woman, the beautiful Morgan of Avalon. She was the lover his country forbade him to wed but could never keep him from desiring. Held captive by deep feelings, the two dream of one future together…until fate sweeps them into a world where love is balanced on the knife’s edge of danger. Never before has the telling of the story of Arthur made the drama of this charismatic king more real or more moving. Here, a legend and a tale so vigorous with heroic deed and conflict, so glowing with wondrous love, are brought close enough for us to experience all the unforgettable emotions of Avalon…and all the magical moments of Camelot…

Pelevin and Unfreedom

Pelevin and Unfreedom PDF Author: Sofya Khagi
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
ISBN: 0810143046
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 454

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Book Description
Sofya Khagi’s Pelevin and Unfreedom: Poetics, Politics, Metaphysics is the first book-length English-language study of Victor Pelevin, one of the most significant and popular Russian authors of the post-Soviet era. The text explores Pelevin’s sustained Dostoevskian reflections on the philosophical question of freedom and his complex oeuvre and worldview, shaped by the idea that contemporary social conditions pervert that very notion. Khagi shows that Pelevin uses provocative and imaginative prose to model different systems of unfreedom, vividly illustrating how the present world deploys hyper-commodification and technological manipulation to promote human degradation and social deadlock. Rather than rehearse Cold War–era platitudes about totalitarianism, Pelevin holds up a mirror to show how social control (now covert, yet far more efficient) masquerades as freedom and how eagerly we accept, even welcome, control under the techno-consumer system. He reflects on how commonplace discursive markers of freedom (like the free market) are in fact misleading and disempowering. Under this comfortably self-occluding bondage, the subject loses all power of self-determination, free will, and ethical judgment. In his work, Pelevin highlights the unprecedented subversion of human society by the techno-consumer machine. Yet, Khagi argues, however circumscribed and ironically qualified, he holds onto the emancipatory potential of ethics and even an emancipatory humanism.

Days of Defeat and Victory

Days of Defeat and Victory PDF Author: Yegor Gaidar
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295801220
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 375

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Book Description
Yegor Gaidar, the first post-Soviet prime minister of Russia and one of the principal architects of its historic transformation to a market economy, here presents his lively account of governing in the tumultuous early 1990s. Though still in his forties, Gaidar has already played a pivotal role in contemporary Russian political history, championing the cause of dramatic economic reform, aggressive privatization of state enterprises, and painful fiscal discipline in the face of widespread popular resistance. Gaidar’s youthfulness, energy, and daring are symbolic of a new phenomenon in Russian politics - the emergence of a younger generation of politicians with a distinctly technocratic bent, looking firmly to the United States and Europe for inspiration and sharing little of the old generation’s nostalgia for Communist stability. It was largely the implementation of Gaidar’s policies that drove the Russian parliament to rebel against Boris Yeltsin in 1993, leading to the bloody tank assault on the parliament itself. Though Yeltsin prevailed, it was clear that the political and social costs of “shock therapy” were too great for Russia’s fragile democracy to bear, and Gaidar himself was ousted to appease the conservatives. His unfinished agenda was put on hold, though he later returned when Yeltsin needed to placate international financial forces. Gaidar remains active in Russian politics, having formed his own political party, Russia’s Democratic Choice. In this book, he brings his story through Yeltsin’s cliffhanger re-election in 1996, and assesses the still-precarious state of the market reforms and democratic politics.

Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy of the 1960s and 70s

Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy of the 1960s and 70s PDF Author: Valerie Estelle Frankel
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1666941859
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
Following the Holocaust, American literature experienced a resurgence of Jewish themes, characters, and contributions. This book focuses on the genres of science fiction and fantasy of the post-Holocaust period and argues that while the era was colored by grief, it also offered a renaissance of Jewish creative expression. The author provides an overview of texts beginning with the rise of Jewish speculative fiction anthologies in science fiction and fantasy and delving into emerging subgenres such as alternate history, post-apocalyptic, cold war, second-wave feminism, counterculture parodies, new wave, postmodernism, and cyberpunk to illustrate how Jewish culture made its mark on popular culture. The book also covers the Silver Age and Bronze Age of comics which saw Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Julius Schwartz, and Marv Wolfman form new superhero teams to battle prejudice and draws parallels with some of the most impactful shows made by Jewish creators, including Star Trek, Twilight Zone, and Doctor Who. The analysis also looks beyond the American context to include texts from Germany, the Soviet Union, Brazil, and Israel.