The creative activities of the Strugatsky brothers fell mainly during the years of Soviet power. But even in conditions of total communist ideology and strict censorship, they, dissenters, became the most famous science fiction writers in the USSR. Many of the works of the Strugatsky were published abroad much earlier than at home, most of the works were not published in full, in parts or with changes. But the stories and novels of writers diverged in the country from hand to hand, in the form of read books and typewritten reprints.
Since 1986, fiction co-authors began to be mass-produced and made available to all lovers of the genre, and films shot based on the works of the Strugatsky replenished the list of films created in the Soviet years. Their books have become classics of the domestic literature genre, but even today, in many respects they have not lost their relevance.
“Monday starts on Saturday”
Of all the works of the Strugatsky Brothers, this story is considered the most popular. Since 1986, it has been reprinted annually by central and regional publishers. “Monday” captivates not only with an entertaining plot and vivid characters, the narrative is riddled with clever intelligent humor and subtle satire.
The Leningrad programmer Sasha Privalov, who is the main character and storyteller, near the city of Solovets takes two fellow travelers by car. In gratitude, they offer Alexander an overnight stay and leave it in a bizarre place with peculiarities of folklore color - a hut on chicken legs. Almost immediately, strange events begin to occur that go beyond the rational explanation.
It turned out that fellow travelers are scientists at the local research institute NIICHAVO, which employs highly skilled sorcerers, magicians, and supernatural beings. The hut is an institute museum where all objects turned out to be exhibits possessing magical properties: a self-assembled tablecloth, a magic mirror, a pike fulfilling the wishes, a talking cat, an irreplaceable nickel and others. And the sofa on which Privalov slept is a magical translator of reality. After a series of unusual incidents, the main character is offered the job of a computer programmer at the Research Institute of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There Privalov joins a wonderful team of wizards, faced with many secrets and adventures.
Reflecting the Soviet administrative-command system, the Strugatsky described social phenomena that are relevant today: bureaucracy, careerism, ignorance of decision makers, profanity in science, as well as the desire for freedom of creative and scientific search, the eternal dream of romantics - occupation of your favorite job, for which you are paid . Many phrases from "Monday" have become common sayings and aphorisms. Based on the work in 1982, the musical film “Wizards” directed by K. Bromberg was released on television.
"Midday World"
In a series of novels and short stories written from 1962 to 1986, the Strugatsky’s imagination created an ideal world of happy people that could come in 100-150 years. The contents of the works are not connected by a single storyline, but in most of them appear common characters and some events that occurred on Earth and space.
The list of works by the Strugatsky relating to this cycle begins with the novel Noon, XXII Century, which consists of 20 short stories. They described in detail and fascinatingly the near future of earthlings (2119), who reached a new moral, ethical and technological level. This is an exciting story about what the earth of the future looks like, how its social society works, about space research, interstellar flights, courage, friendship, selfless courage of people. From the series “Noon”, the most popular are the novel “Snail on the slope” and the novel “Beetle in the Anthill” written in the form of a detective. However, the other works of the Strugatsky from this series are no less interesting and rich in adventure, they complement and explain each other in some ways.
"Evidence on the slope"
A novel with a complex publishing fate, which was most criticized and always understood ambiguously. Its original and more detailed version is the story Anxiety. The work was completed by the science fiction brothers in 1966, fully released in 1972, and even then, abroad in Germany. Only 16 years later, at the beginning of perestroika, the novel was first fully published in the USSR. The Strugatsky considered Ulica on the Slope the most significant and perfect of their works.
The action takes place on the planet Pandora with its incomprehensible and hostile nature to earthlings. On a high cliff overlooking a forest full of dangers, people built the "Office", which is engaged in the study, organization of expeditions, and the collection and statistics of data on local flora and fauna.
The work contains two weakly interconnected storylines. One of them tells about the researcher Candide, lost in the Forest, who lost his memory, lived among the Aboriginal people for several years and tried to return to the biostation. The action of another part of the plot takes place in "Management", where the second protagonist Peretz arrives with his research program. In his attempts to obtain permission and visit the Forest, he is faced with sloppiness and bureaucratic absurdity, thriving in the "Management" system.
"Beetle in the Anthill"
This fantastic detective story reveals the most intriguing theme of the Wanderers civilization, which is casually covered in some previous works of the Strugatsky from “Midday World”.
The action takes place on Earth in 2178. One of the main characters, the progressor Lev Abalkin, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, arbitrarily interrupted the mission on the planet Sarkash and fled to Earth. Its action may be a threat to the home planet. In search of a fugitive and clarification of the alleged danger, Maxim Kammerer, an employee of the organization COMCON-2, goes.
A fascinating story about an expedition to the planet Nadezhda, carried out several years earlier by Abalkin and Puppy, a representative of the dog-like race of Sarkash, is interwoven into the plot.
"Roadside Picnic"
Among all the works of the Strugatsky this story has the largest number of foreign translations and is the most popular abroad. By the beginning of 2000, Picnic was published in 22 countries by 55 publications.
The duration of the story is the 1970s. In Harmont, a provincial town of a certain English-speaking state, there is a Zone. This is one of the six points on Earth where 13 years ago unexplained phenomena (anomalies) arose that were not subject to the physical laws known to mankind. People in the Zone are exposed to unpredictable, often deadly effects. The population from the abnormal areas has been evacuated, the territories are carefully guarded, and scientists are trying to carefully study them. There are several hypotheses regarding the origin of anomalous territories, one of which is extraterrestrial intervention.
The town of Harmont after the emergence of the Zone is in decline, many houses are empty. The only activity that generates a decent income is the sale of artifacts, strange objects that possess either dangerous, useful, or incomprehensible properties. Artifacts from the Zone with great risk to life are carried out by stalkers, people who can recognize and circumvent anomalies. Their activities gave rise to many legends, true and fictional stories. Stalkers are outlawed, but no one knows the Zone better. Therefore, some of them become official guides accompanying scientists in abnormal territories. Among these daredevils there are heroes and losers, some died or remained crippled. But none of the stalkers can abandon the sorties into the Zone, which attracts them with its magnetic attraction, changes consciousness and affects fate.
In 1979, the director A. Tarkovsky, based on the work, made the feature film "Stalker", which won the prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1980.
Other works
The Strugatsky’s best works include the story “The Ugly Swans”, a cult thing of the 70-80s of the last century, which, without censorship, dispersed throughout the country in samizdat reprints. And also the story “Inhabited Island”, published by 24 publishing houses in 13 foreign countries, has become one of the classic examples of world science fiction. The last novel of the Strugatsky brothers “The City of Doom” is the most philosophical and ambiguous work. It was the result of the work of writers, which, in a changing social reality, affirmed the constancy of eternal universal values.