Arkady Strugatsky. Biography and creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Arkady Strugatsky is a classic of modern science fiction. But few people think, reading exciting adventures, that this is social literature.

Strugatsky Arkady Natanovich. Biography of the writer

The capital of Adjara is rightfully proud of its talented son. In Batumi in 1925, a boy was born to Natan Strugatsky and Natalia Litvincheva, who was named Arkady. His father worked as an editor of a large newspaper, and his mother is an honored teacher of the Russian language.

Almost until 1932, the family lived in Batumi, then Natan Zalmanovich was sent for distribution to Leningrad. In 1933 the second son Boris was born. The birthday of Arkady Strugatsky was not celebrated on August 25, 1942. At this time, the city was already under blockade. Since the father had useful connections by virtue of his profession, the Strugatsky family was decided to be one of the first to bring the "dear life" to the Urals.

But little Boris was very ill, and the mother and her youngest son remained in the besieged city. The 17th birthday of Arkady Strugatsky found in the village of Tashla, where he worked as the head of the purchase of products. By that time, he had buried his father and dreamed of taking his mother and brother out of Leningrad, which he succeeded only a year later. In 1943, when the young man turned 18, he was drafted into the Red Army. Army.

Service and personal life

His service consisted of studying at the Berdichev School, then at the Institute of Foreign Languages. By profession, a great writer - translator from Japanese and English. Until his retirement, he worked by profession and lived in cities such as Kansk, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Moscow. In Kansk, he married Inna Shershova, the second marriage with Elena Oshanina gave birth to a daughter, Maria, who married Yegor Gaidar.

Writing career

Arkady Strugatsky started writing in Leningrad. But all the first works were lost during the evacuation. The first published story is "Bikini Ashes" in 1956, co-authored with Lev Petrov. In 1964, the author was admitted to the Writers' Union. Almost all books were written together with his brother Boris in the genre of fantasy and utopia.

There are novels without co-authors. Under the pseudonym S. Yaroslavtsev published "Expedition to the Underworld" (3 parts, 1974-1984), a story about Nikita Vorontsov (1984), "The Devil Among People" (1993) and an unfinished story of only 10 parts " Days of the Kraken (1963).

In 1975 he wrote the script for "Tajikfilm". In the working version, the name sounds like "The Gayurov Family". Since the writer was fluent in English and Japanese, in his spare time he was engaged in translations of classics and contemporary foreign authors. His translations are highly regarded for their artistic realism.

Hellboy

The story "The Boy from the Underworld" Arkady Strugatsky considered his favorite brainchild. It is part of the World of Noon cycle and was co-authored with brother Boris in 1973. The history of the story is not easy. The script was commissioned by Mosfilm and was chosen by the writers from five options. The Odessa film studio also claimed to be filming. But the film was banned for being poignant and untimely.

The plot for 1973 and the Soviet system was indeed non-trivial. On Earth, people of the future live in a social utopia. Justice and compassion above all else. With this mission, they oversee the progress of a foreign civilization that is at the level of the 20th century. Wars, bloodshed, disease and cruelty reign on the planet of the Giant. For especially dangerous tasks, "fighting cats" are trained.

Korney, one of the observers from Russia, rescues a young cadet of the "cats" Gaga, wounded in battle, and brings him home for rehabilitation. A fighter, who was taught only to kill, has his worldview turned upside down. Gag tries to fight the obsession, clings to the familiar slogans about patriotism, runs away home. But the seed of peace and pity has already sprouted in his soul.

Gag is a "guy from the underworld". Arkady Strugatsky became interested in the very fact of an external view of the utopia of a "bright future". For the 20th century in the Soviet Union, this was an unaffordable luxury.

Best Bibliography

Arkady Strugatsky, whose books are incredibly popular, with his brother Boris created 27 novels and short stories, 3 plays,21 stories. The best works are:

• "Roadside Picnic" is a story about stalkers who secretly visit the place where the aliens flew in, in an abandoned toy factory.
• "It's hard to be a god" - the story tells about the earthling Anton, who is sent by the historical society to observe the planet Arkanar.
• "Monday Starts Saturday" is a humorous trilogy about an institution dedicated to human happiness.
• "Doomed City" - the story of an experiment where people from different eras are placed in the closed space of one city.
• "Inhabited Island" - a novel about the people of the future Earth, who, by the will of the cosmos, end up on another planet and try not only to survive, but also to help representatives in solving pressing problems.
• "Hotel "At the Dead Climber"" - a detective with an unpredictable denouement.
• "Baby" - a story-story about the "space Mowgli".

Between lines

Arkady Strugatsky, whose books have been sold in millions of copies all over the world for decades, is not just a science fiction writer. During the heyday of his work, the Soviet system did not allow freethinking. Especially if it was expressed against the established order in the country.

It was the period when a joke in the kitchen was sent to camps and prisons. But writers whose pen was driven by real talent could not remain silent. The protest against the system ruined a whole layer of gifted authors. The Strugatsky brothers found an original outlet for their rebelliousness:fiction. The censors did not read the meaning and did not take the "fairy tales" of the Strugatskys seriously. Thus, the writers had access to the thinking reader, who saw between the lines the true meaning of the works.