What do you think?
Rate this book
Worlds Apart: An Anthology of Russian Science Fiction and Fantasy
A constant thread woven throughout the history of Russian literature is that of an escape from the bounds of realism. Worlds Apart is the first single-volume anthology that explores this fascinating and dominant theme of Russian literature-from its origins in the provincial folk tale, through its emergence in the Romantic period in the tales of Pushkin, Lermontov, and Turgenev, to its contemporary incarnation under the clouds of authoritarianism, revolution, mechanization, and modernization-with translations of the key literary masterpieces that reveal the depth and ingenuity of the Russian imagination as it evolved over a period of tumultuous political, social, and technological upheaval.
Alexander Levitsky, perhaps the world's foremost expert on this genre, has provided engaging and informative introductions to the selections that simultaneously represent the works of Russia's best authors and reveal the dominant themes of her history: Myth and the Fairy Tale, Utopianism and Dystopianism, Mechanization and Modernization, Space Flight, and more. The authors range from familiar figures-Gogol, Dostoevsky, Bulgakov, and Bely-to writers practically unknown outside the Slavic world such as Derzhavin, Bulgarin, Kuprin and Pilniak.
Worlds Apart is an awe-provoking anthology with a compelling appeal both to the fantasy enthusiast and anyone with an abiding interest in Russian history and culture.
655 pages, Hardcover
First published August 16, 2007
19 people are currently reading
177 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 28, 2021
This book has 650 pages according to the official information but it seems like more when you try to get through it. They’re pretty big pages and most of them are very full up with words. Paragraph breaks are few. You are confronted with solid blocks of text much of which is quite hard to read. I did my best.
From an anthology of Russian fantasy and science fiction, I expected short stories, and indeed there are some. But there is also an awful lot of literary chat by the editor about the writers and the cultural background and the movements they were part of and so on, and on and on and on. Clearly, Alexander Levitsky is very learned in the field of Russian literature and for anyone seeking to learn about it this is a great book. For someone who just wants to put his feet up and enjoy a story, it's not so great. The book is split into sections such as ‘Early-modern Utopias and Dostoevsky’s response to Utopian thought’ or ‘The waning of modernism in Post-revolutionary Years.’ Reading these is about as much fun as reading a Five Year Plan. The stories are quite hard to find among the learned essays, the fragments of novels and the poems.
To be fair, when found some of them are pretty good. Pushkin’s ‘The Queen of Spades’ is a nice little tale about playing cards that wink. ‘Shtoss’ by Lermontov is another story which proves that gambling is a bad thing. Both of these are fantasies from the 19th century.
The science-fiction from the early twentieth century is not all brilliant but it is interesting. ’The Republic of the Southern Cross’ by Briusov tells of a psychiatric disease called Contradiction which causes the sufferer to do the opposite of what he wants. Lovers curse their loved ones, ticket collectors give money instead of taking it and nannies slit the throats of children. Quite a disease! This calamity strikes in a thoroughly modern hi-tech domed city in the Antarctic circle. It's written as a retrospective journalistic report but that works well.
Fyodor Kuzmich Sologub beat Richard Matheson to the punch by about forty years with ’A Little Man’ which is about the incredible shrinking Russian. His diminution is caused by a potion not a radioactive cloud but the effect is the same. His circumstances are very different, however. His wife, for whom the potion was intended, is a large lady who treats him with contempt. His unsympathetic civil service bosses order him to stop shrinking and sack him when he won’t. The ending is a sort of tragicomedy. I doubt Matheson ever heard of the story but it shows how two different minds handle the same science-fiction idea.
My favourite story was ’Liquid Sunshine’ by Kuprin, a tale of dedicated scientists trying to bottle sunlight and turn it into a gas. The heroes, Henry Dibble and Lord Charlesbury are splendidly British and noble. The caddish villain is a foreign dandy called De Mon Rique. The editor calls it ‘Wellsian’ but to me, it read more like one of Conan Doyle’s stories.
There is interesting stuff buried here but it's buried too deeply. If Russian literature in an academic sense interests you then this is the perfect book, it really is and you should buy it. However, if you simply want to read some Russian science-fiction, as I did, then it is probably available elsewhere in a more accessible format. I certainly hope so.
From an anthology of Russian fantasy and science fiction, I expected short stories, and indeed there are some. But there is also an awful lot of literary chat by the editor about the writers and the cultural background and the movements they were part of and so on, and on and on and on. Clearly, Alexander Levitsky is very learned in the field of Russian literature and for anyone seeking to learn about it this is a great book. For someone who just wants to put his feet up and enjoy a story, it's not so great. The book is split into sections such as ‘Early-modern Utopias and Dostoevsky’s response to Utopian thought’ or ‘The waning of modernism in Post-revolutionary Years.’ Reading these is about as much fun as reading a Five Year Plan. The stories are quite hard to find among the learned essays, the fragments of novels and the poems.
To be fair, when found some of them are pretty good. Pushkin’s ‘The Queen of Spades’ is a nice little tale about playing cards that wink. ‘Shtoss’ by Lermontov is another story which proves that gambling is a bad thing. Both of these are fantasies from the 19th century.
The science-fiction from the early twentieth century is not all brilliant but it is interesting. ’The Republic of the Southern Cross’ by Briusov tells of a psychiatric disease called Contradiction which causes the sufferer to do the opposite of what he wants. Lovers curse their loved ones, ticket collectors give money instead of taking it and nannies slit the throats of children. Quite a disease! This calamity strikes in a thoroughly modern hi-tech domed city in the Antarctic circle. It's written as a retrospective journalistic report but that works well.
Fyodor Kuzmich Sologub beat Richard Matheson to the punch by about forty years with ’A Little Man’ which is about the incredible shrinking Russian. His diminution is caused by a potion not a radioactive cloud but the effect is the same. His circumstances are very different, however. His wife, for whom the potion was intended, is a large lady who treats him with contempt. His unsympathetic civil service bosses order him to stop shrinking and sack him when he won’t. The ending is a sort of tragicomedy. I doubt Matheson ever heard of the story but it shows how two different minds handle the same science-fiction idea.
My favourite story was ’Liquid Sunshine’ by Kuprin, a tale of dedicated scientists trying to bottle sunlight and turn it into a gas. The heroes, Henry Dibble and Lord Charlesbury are splendidly British and noble. The caddish villain is a foreign dandy called De Mon Rique. The editor calls it ‘Wellsian’ but to me, it read more like one of Conan Doyle’s stories.
There is interesting stuff buried here but it's buried too deeply. If Russian literature in an academic sense interests you then this is the perfect book, it really is and you should buy it. However, if you simply want to read some Russian science-fiction, as I did, then it is probably available elsewhere in a more accessible format. I certainly hope so.
February 17, 2024
A thick and in-depth examination of Russian fantastic fiction, starting with an examination of folk tales and fiction from the 18th century, and ending with utopian space opera of the Soviet era. There's a vast array of material presented here, some of which fascinated and some of which failed to catch my interest, but I appreciated the examination of a different tradition and it gave me many authors to research further. I wish there'd been more of an accent on work which fits the modern conception of 'science fiction and fantasy' (e.g. from the 20th century), but much of that has been reserved for a proposed second volume. Certainly worth exploring.
February 11, 2025
I have mixed feelings about this. The depth of the literature up to the last section is fantastic. However, if you are looking for pure science fiction that resembles what you read today, this isn't it (the latest story in here is 1957). It is more of an attempt to show a continuum of fantastic thought. Pushkin, Gogol, and Dostoyevsky are in here. The Strugatskys are not.
There are still some pieces that will change your mind about Russia, such as early 19th century pieces that discuss climate change.
And Bulgakov and Platonov are in here.
The last section, on space travel, does fall flat. Those stories do have the feel of someone looking over the authors' shoulders.
There are still some pieces that will change your mind about Russia, such as early 19th century pieces that discuss climate change.
And Bulgakov and Platonov are in here.
The last section, on space travel, does fall flat. Those stories do have the feel of someone looking over the authors' shoulders.
Read
March 9, 2013I'm finally done reading this! WHAT a heavy read. Most of the time, it felt like reading a textbook, a dense tome of archaic literary translations. The story collections are arranged chronologically, and some are translated by the editor, some are simply edited (by the editor). It took a lot of effort to get through this book, since I was expecting the stories to be Science Fiction and Fantasy types. Spoiler alert: they're not; at least, not in the traditional or Western sense of the genres. Still and all, if you approach this book with the desire to simply read a wide cross-section of Russian authors, you'll probably enjoy seeing how Russian thought has changed over the course of centuries.
March 8, 2015
Read some excerpts for Russian Literature in Translation, Fall 2013 (taught by the author, Professor Levitsky!).
I loved "The Queen of Spades," but the other parts we read didn't make as much of an impression on me.
I loved "The Queen of Spades," but the other parts we read didn't make as much of an impression on me.
March 22, 2012
This is an excellent reference book for those interested in unusual fantasy and sci fi.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews