The Ultimate Threshold: A Collection of the Finest in Soviet Science Fiction

by Mirra Ginsburg (Editor)

English, Russian (translation)

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Anthologies, Short Stories, Russia, Short Story Collection, Science Fiction Fantasy

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Mirra Ginsburg was a Jewish Russian-American translator of Russian literature, a collector of folk tales and a children's writer. Born in Bobruisk (then part of the Russian Empire, now part of modern-day Belarus) in 1909, she moved with her family to Latvia, then to Canada, before they settled in the United States. Although she won praise for her translations of adult literature, including the Master and Margarita (1967) by Mikhail Bulgakov and We (1972) by Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin, she is perhaps most celebrated for her contributions to children's literature. She collected and translated a vast array of folktales from the Russian tradition, as well as Siberian and Central Asian traditions. Ginsburg died in 2000.

Reviews

[Rebecca Russavage · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was not written by people with either extensive exposure to or much training in “literature,” so obviously there is a necessary adjustment, but my stars do I adore it. I think every single one of these was written by a technical expert in some field, and it’s a collection of their thoughts and dreams. It is so refreshing in an era defined by cynicism to read so many short stories that end in hope or happiness. Cynicism, grotesque extremes, and sad endings have been in vogue in dystopian or science fiction novels for some time, and it feels as though every good thing has several dozen caveats not just listing but expostulating its flaws.

Here, people succeed. People choose hope and happiness, people emerge victorious on the part of the common good, the horrific machine is vanquished without damage, or it turns out to be harmless. For sheer quality, “The Useless Planet” stands head and shoulders above the rest, but I enjoyed this as a whole.

The democracy promotion organization I work for recently funded a series of short stories about the future of technology and democracy, and I love how creative writing—and science fiction specifically—is perfectly tailored to imagining worlds designed to address the questions we wrestle with. Soviet science fiction was an outlet to explore thoughts perhaps forbidden in a “real” story, so the stories were made fantastic instead. This captures something precious and simple and human that I really treasure.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Soviet SF - it is a unique and special sub genre. Mirra Ginsburg seems to have translated as much of it as anyone could be expected to and does a very good job. I have read a couple texts translated by Ginsburg abd others so that I can speak by experience - I prefer Ginsburg's every time.

This book is a collection of short stories. Not all of them will change your life but most will make you think. All are good in their own right and a good way to sample a wide variety of authors. For some of them, this may be the only chance you have to read them unless you can read Russian. There are many things I'd like to read in Soviet (and Russian) SF but can't because of my limited Russian skills. Unfortunately, the Soviet era stuff is starting to be forgotten it seems which is a real shame. Worst yet, it means there probably won't be more added to English translations.

If you want to see what Soviet SF beyond the Strugatsky brothers was like, this is a good place to find out.

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started pretty badly with a few short, uninvolving and unimpressive stories, but then suddenly in the middle of the collection comes Olga Larionova's beautiful "The Useless Planet". "The Ultimate Threshold" and "When You Return" similarly manage to combine ideas, emotional resonance and quality writing.
Unfortunately the quality drops off again towards the end, and the final story "He Who Leaves No Trace" throws out a couple of potentially interesting ideas but drowns them in page after page of dry pseudo-science info dumps rather than properly dramatising them.

[Michael Tildsley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted this short story collection to be better than it was. Up front, I am willing to admit I'd probably have much more enjoyed the stories in their native Russian, rather than these translations. Some of this was pretty thick trekking.

That said, I did find a few 5 star stories in the set worth reading in any language:

"Icarus and Daedalus," by Henrik Altov

"Erem," by Gleb Anfilov

"Invasion," by Roman Podolny

"One Less," by Igor Rosokhovatsky

[Courtland Bethune · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite good!

Most of the stories had a beautiful human v.s. robots element.

[Karlito · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, was an amalgamation of several stories involving humanity, advances in technologies arcane, obscure, so close to reality it's almost foreboding, and the depth of humanity found in the technology, runs identical to the lack of humanity often found in the humans, which is far too often the issue. Topics of philosophy & psychology frequently come up, making the reader sometimes revile, and other times sympathise with the human maker, or the situation. A marvellous read, though the stories are worlds apart (literally in many aspects) they all have the Dream. Of a humanity who has achieved and seek to do more. Whether they are lauded, hated or go without recognition. As a scientist this book was one which showed me myself, in past, present, possible futures.
Fabulous read, also a great introduction to those not versed in fiction from Russia/Soviet-era.