Contemporary Russian Science Fiction

Contemporary Russian Science Fiction

Though Russian Science fiction again faced stagnation in the 70s and 80s it blossomed again in the late decades of 20^th century. Fantasy and Science fiction are still among the best selling literature in Russia. Late 2000s and early 2010s saw a rise of Russian steam punk, with such books as Alexy pekhov’s Mockingbird (2009), Gray Green’s  Cetopolis (2012) etc. Contemporary Russian literary field is dominated by science fiction authors.

         

Contemporary Russian Writer Vladimir Sorokin is famous for his Science fiction works. His The Ice Trilogy: Bro(2004), Ice (2002)and 23,000 (2005) are science fictions. The plot is set in a brutal Russia of the near future, where a meteor has provided a mysterious cult with a material which can make people’s heart speak. Sorokin’s Day of the Oprichnik (2006) describes dystopian Russia in 2028. His Blue Lard (1999) combines Science fiction fantasy and some distorted realistic detail. The narrative is set in two distinct time frames, the last years of Stalin’s rule and distant future, in the 2^nd half of the 21th century.

Dmitry Glukhovsky is specially known for his Science fiction works. His first novel Metro 2033 (2005) was a trendsetter. It is post- apocalyptic Science fiction set in the Moscow metro where the last survivors hide after a global nuclear holocaust. Metro 2034 (2009), an indirect sequel to the novel Metro 2033, has sold some 300,000 copies in just six months.

         

Another living Russian writer of Science fiction is Victor Palevin. In his Helmet of Horror (2006), the action takes place in cyberspace. The book’s eight characters each find themselves mysteriously locked in a room with only a screen and a keypad for company. His recent novel is  S.N.U.F.F (2011). Its setting is a post- apocalyptic world where the majority of people live either in a poor technologically backward Ukraine with about 300 million Slavic speaking inhabitants or in  a technologically advanced English Speaking artificial flying city “Big Byz”, which is locked in the sky above Ukraine and has population of about 30 million.

         

The great period of Soviet Science fiction, from 1956 to1972, produced the finest literature of the thaw and worthy continuation of Russian social and philosophical thinking as represented by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Fyodorov etc. Among recent literature published in Russia, only Science fiction has been able to raise fundamental questions and construct philosophical systems counter to obsolete Marxist dogma and Science fiction still remains the most favorite area of Russian literature.