Soviet Science Fiction Cinema and the Space Age
Soviet Science Fiction Cinema and the Space Age

Author: Natalija Majsova

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-04-28

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1793609322

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This book interrogates the relations between nostalgias of today and past utopias in the context of the space age of the 20th century and its cinematic representations in the USSR and in post-Soviet Russia. Once an enthusiastic projection, then a promising and uncanny present, and eventually an assemblage of nostalgic signifiers, in the history of world cinema, this space age has been linked primarily to the genre of science fiction. Here, aspects of the space age such as humanity’s imminent expansion to space, interplanetary travel, contact with extraterrestrial intelligence, and intergalactic governance and economy were both celebrated and critically interrogated as cosmopolitan ideals and nation-branding strategies. This book presents the contemporary relevance of this genre as heritage and legacy, archive and canon, and a nest of forgotten ideals and warnings, as well as nostalgic anchoring points. The author analyzes over 30 Soviet science fiction films, foregrounding their structures of utopia and their evolution over time, in order to trace both their transnational positionalities, transmedial resonance, and impact on post-Soviet Russian films about the space age. Concepts, crucial to the understanding of space futures of the past, such as utopianism, otherness, liminality, and no(w)stalgia are activated to draw out the fictional tenants of the memory of the Soviet space age, and to establish the limits and potentialities of Soviet (exra)terraformative ambitions.

Red Star
Red Star

Author: Alexander Bogdanov

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 1984-06-22

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 025301350X

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“An Earth-man’s journey to the planet Mars, where he is treated to a wondrous vision of a communist future, complete with flying cars and 3D color movies.” —Wonders & Marvels A communist society on Mars, the Russian revolution, and class struggle on two planets is the subject of this arresting science fiction novel by Alexander Bogdanov (1873–1928), one of the early organizers and prophets of the Russian Bolshevik party. The red star is Mars, but it is also the dream set to paper of the society that could emerge on earth after the dual victory of the socialist and scientific-technical revolutions. While portraying a harmonious and rational socialist society, Bogdanov sketches out the problems that will face industrialized nations, whether socialist or capitalist. “[A] surprisingly moving story.” —The New Yorker “The contemporary reader will marvel at [Bogdanov’s] foresight: nuclear fusion and propulsion, atomic weaponry and fallout, computers, blood transfusions, and (almost) unisexuality.” —Choice “Bogdanov’s novels reveal a great deal about their fascinating author, about his time and, ironically, ours, and about the genre of utopia as well as his contribution to it.” —Slavic Review

The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s
The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s

Author: Natalia Voinova

Publisher: Anchor Academic Publishing (aap_verlag)

Published: 2013-06-01

Total Pages: 42

ISBN-13: 3954895587

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This study will compare the USSR and the United States according to their cinematic use of science fiction in the late 1950s and 1960s in order to coincide with the period of de-Stalinisation and thaw in the USSR, and late McCarthyism in the United States. The genre provides an opportunity to express the two powers' scientific stand-off through fiction, and serves as a vehicle for the dissemination of ideas and propaganda. Post-1956 marks the time when the period of de-Stalinisation officially began and science fiction saw a carefully crafted rebirth for it served as a tool that could reflect the socialist ideal and quasi-religious faith in science that was promoted by the party. Science fiction uniquely demands for an imaginative view of the future, and therefore, corresponds with the Marxist- Leninist future-oriented ideology. For this period, the themes for American science fiction are hyperbolised monsters and invasion, and reflect the fear of the otherness of the Soviet Union, and its threat on domestic ideals. These themes are reflected in movies as 'Angry Red Planet', and 'Them!'. On the other hand, Soviet science fiction movies focus on the heroic Soviet man who frequently receives calls for help from outer space, and overcomes great trials to save those not living in utopia. This storyline is represented in 'Towards a Dream', and 'The Sky is calling'. The author gives special attention to the Soviet movie 'The Sky is calling' and the subsequent redubbed American version 'Battle beyond the Sun'. Further, she addresses alterations or plot, and subtle propaganda messages in the Soviet movies 'Planet of Storms', and the Hollywood remake 'Journey to the Prehistoric Planet'.

Soviet Fiction Since Stalin
Soviet Fiction Since Stalin

Author: Rosalind J. Marsh

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 1986

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 9780389206095

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No one with an interest in Soviet writing of the last thirty years will want to ignore this book.

Definitely Maybe
Definitely Maybe

Author: Arkady Strugatsky

Publisher: Melville House

Published: 2014-02-04

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 1612192823

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In its first-ever unexpurgated edition, a sci-fi landmark that's a comic and suspenseful tour-de-force, and puts distraction in a whole new light: It's not you, it's the universe! Boris and Arkady Strugatsky were the greatest science fiction writers of the Soviet era: their books were intellectually provocative and riotously funny, full of boldly imagined scenarios and veiled—but clear—social criticism. Which may be why Definitely Maybe has never before been available in an uncensored edition, let alone in English. It tells the story of astrophysicist Dmitri Malianov, who has sent his wife and son off to her mother’s house in Odessa so that he can work, free from distractions, on the project he’s sure will win him the Nobel Prize. But he’d have an easier time making progress if he wasn’t being interrupted all the time: First, it’s the unexpected delivery of a crate of vodka and caviar. Then a beautiful young woman in an unnervingly short skirt shows up at his door. Then several of his friends—also scientists—drop by, saying they all felt they were on the verge of a major discovery when they got . . . distracted . . . Is there an ominous force that doesn’t want knowledge to progress? Or could it be something more . . . natural? In this nail-bitingly suspenseful book, the Strugatsky brothers bravely and brilliantly question authority: an authority that starts with crates of vodka, but has lightning bolts in store for humans who refuse to be cowed.

Russian Science Fiction Literature and Cinema
Russian Science Fiction Literature and Cinema

Author: Anindita Banerjee

Publisher:

Published: 2018-01-31

Total Pages: 520

ISBN-13: 9781618117229

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The first collection of essays devoted to the rich tradition of Russian science fiction on the page and the screen from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. A resource for classroom instruction as well as research, it provides a comprehensive overview of science fiction's important role in Russian society, politics, technology, and culture.

We Modern People
We Modern People

Author: Anindita Banerjee

Publisher: Wesleyan University Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 0819573345

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How science fiction forged a unique Russian vision of modernity distinct from Western models

Professor Dowell's Head
Professor Dowell's Head

Author: Alexander Belyaev

Publisher:

Published: 2021-11

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13:

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It is Paris in the 1920s, that frothy heyday between the World Wars. Hidden among the opulent cabarets, cafes, and theaters, a mad scientist toils away in his own private hospital, illegally performing grotesque experimental head transplants and reanimations on bodies stolen from the morgue. Under the tutelage of the disembodied head of a former colleague, the madman is well on his way to presenting the first-ever human head transplant to the scientific community, thereby achieving professional glory and securing his legacy as the greatest scientific mind of his generation. However, when one of his test subjects escapes, he risks being exposed to the authorities as a deranged criminal, before he has a chance to prove that he is exceptional and above the law. Can he find her before she alerts the police? Can he replicate the experiment before his illegal laboratory of living heads is discovered? Will his staff remain loyal as the pressure to save themselves builds? For nearly a century, the answers to these questions have captured the imaginations of countless readers in author Alexander Belyaev's native Russia, where this bestselling novel has sold millions of copies, it has been adapted into films and other media, and it has influenced a generation of science-fiction writers. They are now brought to Anglophone readers in this smart new translation of Professor Dowell's Head from writer Carl Engel.