The Snail on the Slope

by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky (Afterword), Olena Bormashenko (Translator)

The Snail on the Slope takes place in two worlds. One is the Administration, an institution run by a surreal, Kafkaesque bureaucracy whose aim is to govern the forest below. The other is the Forest, a place of fear, weird creatures, primitive people and violence. Peretz, who works at the Administration, wants to visit the Forest. Candide crashed in the Forest years ago and wants to return to the Administration. Their journeys are surprising and strange, and readers are left to puzzle out the mysteries of these foreign environments. The Strugatskys themselves called The Snail on the Slope "the most perfect and the most valuable of our works."

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Russia, Fantasy, Dystopia, Russian Literature, Classics

250 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

The brothers Arkady Strugatsky [Russian: Аркадий Стругацкий] and Boris Strugatsky [Russian: Борис Стругацкий] were Soviet-Russian science fiction authors who collaborated through most of their careers.

Arkady Strugatsky was born 25 August 1925 in Batumi; the family later moved to Leningrad. In January 1942, Arkady and his father were evacuated from the Siege of Leningrad, but Arkady was the only survivor in his train car; his father died upon reaching Vologda. Arkady was drafted into the Soviet army in 1943. He trained first at the artillery school in Aktyubinsk and later at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow, from which he graduated in 1949 as an interpreter of English and Japanese. He worked as a teacher and interpreter for the military until 1955. In 1955, he began working as an editor and writer.

In 1958, he began collaborating with his brother Boris, a collaboration that lasted until Arkady's death on 12 October 1991. Arkady Strugatsky became a member of the Union of Soviet Writers in 1964. In addition to his own writing, he translated Japanese language short stories and novels, as well as some English works with his brother.

Source: Wikipedia

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

In spite of all its fantastic twists The Snail on the Slope is a philosophical novel.
There are two worlds:
The world of the order and progress…

Progress may turn out to be completely indifferent to the notions of kindness and honesty, just like it has been indifferent to them thus far. The Administration, for example, needs neither honesty nor kindness to function properly. These things are nice, they are preferable, but they are by no means necessary.

And the world of the chaos and fear…

“…and it turned out,” Nava was saying, “that the deadlings were taking us somewhere at night, but at night they don’t see well, they’re almost blind, and anyone will tell you so, Humpy, say, would tell you, but then he’s not from these parts, he’s from the village that was next to our village, not the one we live in now, but the one I lived in without you, with my mom. So you couldn’t know Humpy, his village got overgrown with mushrooms, the mushrooms took over, and it’s not everyone who likes that, Humpy, now, he left the village immediately. There was a Surpassment, he said, and now the village isn’t fit for people… Yeah. And there was no moon at the time, and they probably got lost, everyone got crowded together, and there we were, stuck in the middle, and it got so hot, I could barely breathe…”

But the order turns out to be fake and absurdity rules the world of progress…

“…The Administration can realistically only manage an insignificant portion of the territory in the ocean of forest that envelops the continent. There is no meaning of life, nor is there any meaning to our acts. We can do a great many things, but we still haven’t figured out which of these things we actually ought to do. It doesn’t even resist, it simply doesn’t notice. If an act has brought you pleasure, it was good; if it didn’t – it was meaningless. We resist with millions of horsepower, with dozens of ATVs, airships, and helicopters, with medical science and with the best theory of logistics in the world. The Administration has revealed itself to have at least two serious flaws. Currently, deeds of this sort can have far-reaching encrypted messages in the name of Herostratus, so that he remains our most beloved friend. It is completely incapable of creating without undermining authority or showing ingratitude.”

And chaos obeys its own preposterous laws…

The cloaca was having a litter. Blobs of rippling, quivering white dough were being extruded onto its flat banks with impatient jerks; they rolled blindly and helplessly along the ground, then they paused, flattened out, extended a number of cautious pseudopods, and began to move in a deliberate manner – they continued to wiggle and root, but they were now all heading the same direction, one particular direction, wandering off then bumping into one another, but continuing to go the same way, following the same ray away from the womb, streaming into the thickets in a single white column, looking like giant, pouchy, slug-like ants…

And every man is a tiny snail crawling between these worlds while progress, chaos, fears and absurdity are at work trying to destroy him.

[S̶e̶a̶n̶ · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like a 3.5. Good world-building and I loved the forest but the book feels disjointed and full of half-formed plot points, more than I'm comfortable with, which is typically a lot. The afterword from Boris Strugatsky explains a lot about why the book is the way it is, and how it came to be. This was interesting to read but didn't really change my opinion of the book. Still, this one might merit a re-read in light of information revealed in the afterword.

[Tzeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Покъртителна!

Не бих посмял да твърдя, че разбрах всичко в нея. Мисля, че ще се наложи препрочитане. Прекрасни метафори има - да. И още по-прекрасното е как те са представени в полуокултна и митично-мистична форма в началото и постепенно и плавно придобиват реални и обясними очертания. Поне тези в Гората. Там всъщност нещата ми станаха по-ясни. В Управлението някои неща ми избягаха и в момента трескаво разсъждавам върху тях. Специално последната глава (може би и предната) от раздела на Перец никак не си я обяснявам (по-скоро сюжетно-логически, бюрократската идея я схванах). Имам се за що-годе интелигентен читател с някакъв опит, но сега се чувствам леко неловко...

Както и да е. Няколко думи и за художествените достойнства на творбата, които аз съзрях.
Изключително увлекателен стил на повествование от братята Стругаци - само затвърдих впечатлението си от "Пикник карй пътя" в това отношение. Макар и сюжетът да е по-скоро фон тук - егати сюжета! Такива фонови сюжети само да има! Бих направил незибежния паралел с Вонегът, но дори и той да е неоспорим факт по това направление, двата подхода за изтласкване на сюжета на задна линия са коренно различни и уникални сами за себе си, затова ще оставя тази част само като задължителна вметка. Приятно се изненадах и от наличието на свеж хумор тук-там, макар като цяло той да не подхождаше на атмосферата. Като казах атмосферта, позволете ми да възкликна - егати атмосфетара! Поглъщаща. Изграждането на образите и света, който обитават, пък изглежда като детска игра, въпреки не особено големия обем. Начинът на изразяване и словесният "омагьосан кръг", в който се въртят всички жители на Гората в опитите си да общуват, ме впечатли много, косми на носа!

[Віталій (Книжкаріум) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Цікавий ефект в собі помітив - часом пам'ятаю прочитані книжки в більш м'якому та позитивному ключі, ніж сприймав їх під час читання. От зараз перечитав Равлика і вона місцями трохи жорсткіша, а місцями трохи нудніша, ніж я про неї пам'ятав.
Дуже кафкіанська і дещо карнавально-психоделічна річ. Якщо читали "Процес" Кафки, то тут можна буде відчути багато алюзій. Метод ведення оповіді то від одного, то від іншого протагоніста, працює цілком симпатично і не дозволяє заскучати на якомусь моменті. Концепція незрозумілого і чужого "жіночого лісу" теж класна, але, як часто у АБС, без детального пояснення і з відкритим закінченням. В цілому ж загальна ідея протиставлення абсурдно-упорядкованого людського світу "Управління" і чужого, дикого і хаотичного, але також по-своєму впорядкованого світу Лісу мені зайшла добре, але часом трохи бракувало деталей і пояснень.

Резюмуючи, загальне враження хороше, але подекуди, як на мій погляд, трохи провисає в абсурдних і "психоделічних" ділянках і часом трохи бракує загального розуміння. Видання ж хороше, переклад теж норм.

[Wombat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh... I don't know what to really say about this one.
I get that it's trying to make an analogy of insane bureaucracy in soviet Russia, but I just don't find the story or writing that compelling.

The two main characters, Pepper and Kandid, are on the two sides of this eternal struggle - one in the insanely bureaucratic Forest Directorate which seems to have something to do with the nearby alien forest (clearing, studying, destroying, keeping guard of, invading, all of the above?) and the other one of the human inhabitants of the alien forest, and it's mysterious fungus, swamp and deadings.

In both cases they are outsiders, not really familiar with what is going on, and struggling to little effect against the nightmarish and illogical rules of their environments. What is worse, is that when their efforts seem successful, the outcome is nothing that could be expected, and even worse for the poor fellows.

The other characters are really horrible, and for the most part just won't shut the hell up, and rant on repeatedly about the same useless stuff. Again, this may "be the point" of the book, but it's neither entertaining nor enlightening - just really frustrating. I generally like a story which has some character growth and change - and in this one the character do not change, and the situation seems to be eternally doomed to mindless repetition.

That being said, there were some funny scenes, but the whole thing seemed like a weird cross between a movie by Lars von Trier, and Monty Python, with a bit of incomprehensible Alejandro Jodorowsky added for good measure.

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't do it. I read two chapters of this and can't take the nonsense dialogue and repetition any more. You might say that two chapters isn't enough but it was almost fifty pages and it really was that bad. Maybe if I hadn't been struggling with books lately I would have tried harder. Maybe. Probably not.

[David Merrill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just read the new translation of The Snail On The Slope. I'll keep my old review and add this new one. It's been so long since I read the old one I really can't compare them. The new translation had a nice flow to the writing. I enjoyed it once again. The new edition has a wonderful afterword from Boris Strugatsky. I discovered my interpretations weren't even close to what the authors intended. I also found out I am not alone in that. I very much liked finding out their intentions and a more detailed history of its publication and the barriers they fadein getting it to readers. This is a great book. Someday I want to reread this and read the afterword first. This is definitely one of those books that has more to give on each rereading.

This review will be a bit fun. I wrote it for a Soviet Russia history class in August 1983. I'm happy to say my writing has improved a great deal since then. I transposed it to my laptop computer from the original manual typewritten pages. There were a lot of errors in it, but I've left it mostly uncorrected. There are spoilers, so you may want to skip it. Join me and step into my time machine...

The Snail on the Slope is the best novel I have read in years, possibly ever. I didn’t come to that conclusion immediately upon finishing it. I made the discovery only after I tried to break it down into manageable pieces for my essay. Unfortunately for my essay, I couldn’t do this. The events, people and symbols in this novel are so well linked that to break them up into singular happenings is almost impossible. I found that when I tried to make quotations from the novel I had to use three or four pages at a time. It became obvious, to start at the beginning, as I wanted, would be to rewrite all 222 pages of The Snail on the Slope. So, instead, I must start at the end where all the symbols have developed and all the characters’ decisions have been made.

Before I begin, though, it is important to understand who the authors, Boris and Arkady Strugatsky are and why this novel is important. The Strugatsky brothers are known as the most skilled and most popular science fiction writers in the Soviet Union. Together, they have been weaving tales since the late 1950s. Hidden by a veil created with science fiction, they have the opportunity to criticize the Soviet government and express ideas more freely than they would be able to otherwise. Unfortunately, the veil was not opaque enough to hide the bold ideas and outspokenness found in The Snail on the Slope. Though its two parts, the story of Pepper and the tale of Kandid, were published separately and in two different magazines, their impact was still strong enough to earn the Strugatskys the disfavor of the Soviet government. The two parts are artfully woven together in the English edition and should never have been separated. 1

The Snail on the Slope tells of many things at once, symbolically. Pepper has always been fascinated by the forest, which dominates his world. The forest symbolizes Pepper’s search for true knowledge and understanding. Kandid also searches for knowledge. His search is similar, but he wants to see the city. This is also a search for his past, though, at the time, he doesn’t know it. Kandid had originally lived in the city, but has no memory of his early life. The knowledge they search for is not just for themselves, but also for the world in which they live. In Pepper’s case it is the city, with its insane, overcomplicated government. For Kandid, it is the rural village of simple superstitious farmers, who fear the city as well as the forest that comes between them. Both characters’ destinations take them take them to the forest from opposite directions and it seems that if they went far enough, they should meet somewhere in the middle. This possible meeting, which is barely given a chance, is symbolic of the possible compromise between refusing to give in to a societal norm which seems wrong, as with Kandid, and resigning oneself to becoming apart of the societal mechanism as Pepper does. The novel deals with how government can be blind to the needs of people like Pepper and Kandid and sometimes forces them to bend to its needs. Here the forest symbolizes the possibility of another compromise, of a nonexistent government that would meet the needs of the individual, as well as the majority. As that symbol, the forest is never completely described or understood, nor is its relationship to the city or the rural village completely defined.

The Snail on the Slope is a tale of the search for self, an understanding of the world in which one lives and how the two are related.

The world which Pepper must learn to understand is complex and confusing. Most of what occurs is nonsense, so Pepper’s task is that much harder. The propaganda is spread by telephone. Everyone has his own phone except Pepper. When the announcement goes on and it is time to listen, Pepper engages in a frantic search for a free line. He finds one only to find that he can’t understand what the director is trying to say. Citizens are meant to determine the meaning themselves and his friend Kim explains many methods of deciphering the jumbled words. This can be compared to Soviet newspapers, which upon close examination can often seem nonsensical. 2

Pepper’s next encounter with the nebulous director is the description he gets of the man. He is to see the director, and so asks his friends what the director looks like. He gets many conflicting answers. The director is then symbolic of a faceless, mindless government which no one understands completely. Its workings are a mystery, yet everyone thinks he has a clear understanding, that everyone else is confused. 3

Pepper’s third and final encounter with the director is just as confusing as the first two. This time he is to meet the man, and so waits with many others to see him. Finally the receptionist calls his name and he is led into another room. A man greets him there and quizzes him on his name and background. They speak to each other, Pepper politely agreeing with everything the man says. The conversation turns to art, specifically the painting, a copy, on the wall. Here is an excerpt of the conversation which explains the government policy concerning art.

“Where exactly is the original?” asked Pepper politely.
The director smiled.
“The original, naturally has been destroyed as a work of art, not permitting ambiguous interpretation. The first and second copies were also destroyed as a precautionary measure.”4

The destruction of the original and the two copies takes all individuality and originality out of the painting, leaving it meaningless. And it turns out the man Pepper speaks to is a stand-in also, not the director, but his personnel officer. Pepper never actually meets the director, leaving him as nebulous and meaningless as the painting.

After he speaks with the personnel officer, Pepper is taken to a transport which is supposed to take him home. Instead, it takes him to where he really wants to go, the forest. Seeing something sought after for so long can only be an anticlimax, and so it is for Pepper. His first glimpse of the forest makes him realize that he has been searching for the wrong thing. He doesn’t understand the forest or what makes it so important. He realizes,

“To see and not understand, the same as making it up. I’m living in a world that someone has thought up without bothering to tell me or maybe even himself. A yearning for understanding—that is my sickness.” 5

Pepper takes this realization and uses it later, becoming the director. Then he is the one making it up, possibly not even understanding it himself.

As I stated before, Kandid never truly understands or accepts his world. He begins his quest believing he wishes to visit the city only out of boredom with his own people, who are simple farmers. They tell him he should forget his ideas of seeing the city and just go to a neighboring village. He decides to go; his wife, Nava, tagging along. Both Nava and Kandid were originally strangers to the farmland, and seem a little strange to the farmers. They are tolerated, sometimes even liked, but no one minds too much that they are leaving.6

In the forest Nava and Kandid meet dangers like bandits 7 and the elusive deadlings, nonliving machine-like people that rob the farm villages of women. It turns out that the deadlings are actually in rapport with women and have been stealing them so they have masters to serve. Nava was one of those women before she lost her memory and appeared in the village. She stays with her people and the deadlings, leaving Kandid to return home sorrowfully alone.8

Kandid never reaches the city. Instead he finds his past before he gets there. The discovery of a scalpel triggers his memory of his early life in the city. He’d worked for the director studying the forest. Realizing he no longer belongs in the city, he returns home to the small farming village near the woods.9

The scalpel becomes important, not just because it is a sample of advanced city technology, but als because it can be used as a weapon. It serrves Kandid as a killing device against the deadlings. Thus Kandid becomes the protector of the village, saving the women from abduction and the unknown harm that might befall them in the forest. Kandid becomes nether and outcast nor a welcome member of his community. He is feared for the technology he brings that no farmer can understand and revered for the service he renders with that technology.10

Unknown to the simple-folk, Kandid, is also fighting against the accession, a plot by the women and deadlings to spread the forest over the entire world. Kandid does not accept the new way.

Kandid, forced to live with the simple-folk and to fight the accession never really accepts the reality of the world around him as Pepper does. He never compromises himself to the government. Thus we see the two sides of the coin, “accommodation and refusal.”11

The forest is obviously a major symbol throughout the novel. It is never completely defined as one thing, though. For Kandid, it seems to symbolize a government like that of the Soviet Union trying to spread as far as possible. For Pepper it symbolizes his search for understanding and assumes a nebulous answer, that reality is only as you see it in your head. If you are the director, the reality may encompass the entire city. Whether you understand it makes little difference. Its combined symbol is that of a government which not only serves the majority, but also serves the individual. This could be the utopian dream sought after by Marx. Yet, like the Marxist utopia, it is never defined or described completely.


NOTES
1. Suvin, Darko, Introduction: The Snail on the Slope (New York, N.Y.: Bantam 1980) p. 1-19
2. Strugatsky, Boris and Arkady, : The Snail on the Slope (New York, N.Y.: Bantam 1980) p. 80-84
3. Ibid p. 87-88
4. Ibid p. 111
5. Ibid p. 134
6. Ibid p. 90-96
7. Ibid p. 97-104
8. Ibid p. 175-182
9. Ibid p. 183-187
10. Ibid p. 234-243
11. Suvin, p. 13

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Strugatsky, Boris and Arkady. : The Snail on the Slope (New York, N.Y.; Bantam 1980)

[Tristram Shandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

“‘A man sits b a precipice,’ he said, ‘a pair of sandals by his side. The question inevitably arises: Whose sandals are they, and where is their owner?’”

There are quite some passages like this in Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s novel The Snail on the Slope, passages that are deviously funny, but nevertheless, I simply had to give up reading when I was about a quarter into the novel. The truth is that the story of Peretz, who wants to leave the Administration and to explore the mysterious Forest, and of Candide, who got stranded in the Forest and tries to find a way back to the Administration, was simply to much like reading Kafka or watching an absurd play and that I had never felt comfortable with Kafka or been able to muster up enough patience for sitting through a play by the likes of Ionesco, Apollinaire or Pinter. I sense that there is a lot to discover but the style and the lack of any coherent logic go against my grain too much. Probably, in this respect, I am one to whom these words from the novel apply,

“’[…] They are only missing one thing: the capacity to understand. They’ve always found substitutes for understanding: faith, atheism, indifference, contempt. For some reason, it has always been easiest. It is easier to believe than to understand. It is easier to be disillusioned than to understand. It is easier to give up in disgust than to understand. […]’”

Still, all the contrived grotesqueness, the repetitive dialogues, which quickly go all over the place, the introduction of allegorical characters put me off a lot and made me quit rather early despite the appearance of beautiful and thoughtful passages now and then, like the one in which Peretz, having been forced to give up his hotel room in the middle of the night, imagines talking to books in a nocturnal empty library. Had there been more such passages and less constrained nonsense, I would have gone on but this was simply not my cup of tea.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having just come from Hard to Be a God, which I've completely fallen in love with, I did perhaps elevate my expectations for this one a bit too enthusiastically. It's a marvelous book, but I'm almost unsure as to what I took away from it (mostly from the Forest narrative; The Administration was a bit more overt). One thing that kept me at arm's length was that the two plots never seemed to join in the way I'd expected, and there was a sliver of disappointment in that. Even putting that aside, however, this may be a case of me needing to marinate in the memory of the book for a while before things click properly.

I did very much enjoy my time, however, and I still contend that this is easily and effortlessly a 4/5 book, and perhaps a 5/5 after a revisit (we'll see). The contrast between the dreadful, bizarre droning of The Administration and the limitless, Fantastic Planet-level wildness of The Forest, always brought on a moment of contemplative pause between chapters. My biggest gripe is that there are so many profound lessons to take away from this book, and I lack the confidence to say I've settled on the right ones. Perhaps the ponderous nature of my experience with The Snail on the Slope was the intent all along.

I could probably keep going and never really get anywhere, which hopefully isn't a sign that the book was wasted on me.

[Ivan Lutz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pročitao sam gotovo sve prevedeno od braće Strugacky i još ponešto prevedeno na engleski kao Final circle... No, najviše sam zbunjen ostao nakon Puža na padini ili strmini ( Srp. prij. Puž golać na urvini). Stvarno pažljivo čitam i mislim za sebe da imam nešto u glavi, ali ja ovo nisam kurca, ponavljam, kurca razumio! Da stvar bude još luđa, prvo sam čitao Kentaurovo izdanje gdje nedostaje cijeli jedan dio knjige !!??? Onda sam dobio od tate onaj komplet od Narodne knjige i ponovno pročitao Puža i skužio da je knjiga duplo veća i da ima jedan sasvim novi dio unutra...majko mila(Kentaur, palac gore!). No, ipak, ništa nisam razumio. MIslim, shvatio sam da je šuma koliko-toliko živa, da su stanovnici šume ogrezli u atavizam i poistovjetili se s prirodom (čak su neki govorili da je Avatar pokupio neke ideje iz ove knjige, ali su onda pročitali Noon universe serijal i skontali da ima više veze s tim nego ovim...) Uglavnom, probat ću ponovno za koju godinu, možda sam previše očekivao, ali ova knjiga me, nakon pročitane zadnje stranice, ostavila 45 minuta da zurim u strop i opasno razmišljam o svojoj inteligenciji.

[iambehindu · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most consistent surface level theme in the Strugatskys' work is their criticism of the Soviet government. At times, this is expressed through moral confrontation, but more often through satire. The Soviets were obsessed with efficiency, aligning all human activity with productive labor. In the mid-20th century, they attempted to calculate entropy out of the workday. Bourgeois activity was dismissed as bohemian noise: a waste of personal motive that should be spent exemplifying the government. Pastimes that failed to contribute to the empire’s forward motion were punished, if not outright, then in abstract forms. Stalin’s Article 58 stands as a defining document of this bureaucratic ethos.

The Snail On The Slope is divided into two landscapes: The Directorate and The Forest. The novel is not driven by plot, but by environment and psychological entrapment, an allegorical world split between two unresolvable spheres.

Pepper lives in the Kafkaesque Directorate, conceptually akin to The Castle. He describes himself as an “emotional materialist”. For him, places and things are not simply occupying a material plane without meaning. His worldview is that of someone whose feelings are inseparable from the actual phenomena of the physical world. Here we have a man that looks for meaning in all things and simply cannot quite touch it. Like the rest of us, Pepper lives in a world where individuals must perpetually involve themselves in the “doing” of things, action as a mode of survival, even when that action feels alien to the self. The Directorate is a machine of process: full of policies, clocks, deadlines, forms, and artistic void. Its people are collapsed into a kind of Orwellian group-think. They no longer relate to each other emotionally or spiritually. All effort is aligned with the state, with a mechanized rhythm of work that continues without clear direction.

A powerful symbolic analogy emerges in the myth of Tannhäuser and Venus. Tannhäuser discovers Venusberg, a subterranean realm where Venus, the pagan goddess of love, holds court. Venusberg is Pepper’s ideation of the Forest, which he longs for in a dream state. In Venusberg, Tannhäuser indulges in earthly and sensual pleasures, remaining with Venus for an extended period, enchanted or willingly seduced. Eventually, he grows weary of hedonism and longs for redemption. He leaves and makes a pilgrimage to Rome, seeking absolution from the Pope. The Pope, aghast, declares his sin unforgivable, saying forgiveness would be as impossible as a “staff bursting into bloom.” Crushed, Tannhäuser returns to Venusberg. In a tragic turn, after he departs, the Pope's staff miraculously blooms, signifying that divine forgiveness had been possible after all, but it’s too late. He is already lost.

Pepper, like Tannhäuser, must wrestle with Venusberg, in a continual state of dissonance. The Strugatskys' relate the Directorate to Herostratus, the arsonist who destroyed the Temple of Artemis. It is a clever symbol: Pepper’s world is the eater of potential harmonious divinity.

This is the condition for Pepper: he cannot find meaningful order or forgiveness in the world of the Directorate, an inescapable condition. Therefore, he must reside in Venus, in a state of perpetually delayed grace, no absolution, and locked in eternal conflict between the unknown sacred and the unknown profane.

Now to the Forest. Here lives Kandid, clearly a reflection of Voltaire’s Candide, though transformed. Where Candide stumbles through chaos clinging to naïve optimism, Kandid is stranger, more passive, and more entangled in the absurd. He is not an idealist. He is a man stripped of agency and knowledge, dropped into a world without origin, purpose, or coherence.

To call the Forest a metaphor for chaos doesn’t go far enough. The Strugatskys' are wrestling here with the nature of emergent consciousness, something that resists interpretation, cannot be governed, and refuses to be known. Attempts to understand it dissolve into riddles. This is not a pastoral opposite to the Directorate. It is a post-civilizational zone of dislocation: memory and time break down, language collapses into nonsense, and meaning flickers between hallucination and revelation. Kandid, unlike Pepper, does not try to interpret. He simply persists. He is a figure adrift in a recursive myth whose rules are undefined and likely unknowable.

The Forest may be a vision of true reality, one in which human perception holds no dominion. In such a place, man’s interpretations dissolve. Meaning itself becomes suspect. What governs here is beyond us, and perhaps always will be.

What ultimately sets the Strugatskys apart is their approach. The colors they paint with are uniquely their own, no one else in the genre writes like this. This novel cannot be fully unpacked; it has to be experienced. It is a myth of the highest order, a magnum opus of speculative literature by two authors who, to this day, have not been surpassed.

[Richard Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The characters in this book live in absurd worlds where nothing makes sense and from which there is no escape. No one is in charge. Attempts to impose order are fruitless. Time has no meaning. Everything is planned for the "day after tomorrow," but that day either never arrives or the plan is forgotten in the meantime.

There are two separate and distinct absurd worlds here with all of the same characteristics - there is the world of the Directorate where Peretz lives, wishing that he could escape to the forest (or maybe to the town which seems not to exist), and there is the world of the forest where Candide lives, wishing that he could escape to the Directorate. But of course if either of them could somehow manage to realize their wishes, it would just be more of the same.

It's all very Kafkaesque, not just in the absurd but threatening bureaucracy of the Directorate, but also in the sense of distorted time and space, and familial relationships that are not what they seem to be and take on threatening aspects.

I interpreted Directorate and forest in a somewhat literal way as representing the contrast between city and country in Russia, both crazy and impossible, different but the same and endlessly fascinating, always dangling just enough hope to keep going in the face of absurdity. In the afterword the Strugatskys explain that they intended the Directorate and the forest to have a different symbolic significance which few of their readers seem to get, though it becomes obvious once they explain it. But as they also say, a good book is subject to multiple interpretations that don't necessarily have to match the author's intent to be valid.

[Kayıp Rıhtım]

1965 yılında kaleme alınan eser, bir süre sonra en baştan yazılıyor ve 1966 yılında Candide’in ormanda geçen hikâyesi basılıyor. Ardından 1968 yılında, Biber’in İdare’de geçen hikâyesi Baykal dergisinde yayımlanıyor. Ancak kısa bir zaman sonra eser, kütüphanelerden kaldırılıp yalnızca özel izinle erişilen yasaklı yayınlar arasına konuluyor. 1972 yılında ise bu iki hikâye yazarlar tarafından birtakım değişikliklerle bir araya getiriliyor ve Yokuştaki Salyangoz Almanya’daki raflarda yerini alıyor. Özellikle kitapta Biber’in gözünden İdare’de yaşadıklarının anlatıldığı kısım, kusursuz bir absürtlükle dönemin Sovyet bürokrasinin kaotik yapısını ortaya koyduğundan, anavatanlarında kitap ancak 1988 yılında yayınlanabiliyor.

Merve Akartuna

İncelemenin tamamı: https://kayiprihtim.com/inceleme/yoku...

[Glenn Neiman · Rating 1 out of 5]

I kept reading. It wasn't easy. Indeed, it was a test of my dedication and perseverance. Never did 240 pages seem like such a slog. And I finished. Unfortunately, I had kept reading mostly in hopes this would get better. Alas, it did not. I am not even sure how to relay what I read. The dialogue was odd and jarring, though perhaps that is a function of the translation. The story, such as it was, made very little sense to me. The authors seemed so desperate to be sharply satirical that it came off as nothing more than shallow silliness. Given the high ratings from other readers, it is clear that I just didn't get this book. Personally, I would not recommend it to anyone.

[Insener Garin · Rating 5 out of 5]

See oli tõesti tore üllatus, et Tigu täismahus maakeelsena ilmus. Olin kogu aeg kahelnud, et kas keegi võtab selle väljaandmise ette, kui pool raamatut on meil juba olemas. Huvitav oli kõrvutada vana ja uut tõlget Valitsuse osale, minu meelest väga head tõlked mõlemad.
Valitsuse ja Metsa põimik moodustas tõesti täiesti uue sünergia, mida poolikut Tigu lugedes ei tekkinud. Lausa ekstraklassi lugemisvara...mis oli aktuaaalne N.Liidus, on aktuaalne meie E.Liidus ning kindlasti saab olema aktuaalne ka kauges tulevikus kuskil Gal.Liidus või Keskpäeva Maailmas.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

In wilderness of vast unconquered wood, where nature still prevails
Out of reach, and not controlled by techno style civilization
Lies land with strange, mysterious society of powerful females
Who do not need the help of men and use Parthenogenesis for sexless procreation


1. Memorable 5
2. Social Relevance 5
3. Informative 1
4. Originality 5
5. Thought Provoking 5
6. Expressiveness 5
7. Entertaining 5
8. Visualization 4
9. Sparks Emotion 5
10. Life Changing (Pivotal, crucial, determining, defining, momentous, fateful, consequential, climacteric, transformational) 1

5,5,1,5,5,5,5,4,5,1 ======>> 41/10 = 4.1

http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/51...

This book cleverly satirizes the extremes of two popular Western movements:
a) Feminism
b) Protection of the Nature and Environment

General Soviet audience was not familiar at the times with any of those two social phenomena.

Also, as in other Strugatsky brothers's books (especially in "Hard to Be a God"), they used here (in this book) the quasi science fiction camouflage format in order to hide the real meaning of the book (harsh criticism of the Soviet Russia/USSR regime reality) and, thus, to pass through the censorship in order for the book to get published.
That is the ONLY type of book (intended to criticize Soviet Russia/USSR regime) they COULD write at that time without jeopardizing their own privileged professional positions in the Soviet Russia society of that time ...
The whole idea was to make the real social content of the books be understandable just by the elite audience (to which the majority of Russian people did not belong ...)
They (Strugatsky brothers) were of course thrilled by the challenge they were facing - to manage to "sneak" that inner hidden sense into the book without doing harm to themselves.
The authors should be truly praised that they masterfully and even I must say brilliantly accomplished their above described goal.
In general it was "fashionable" way in the latest stages of USSR, which started in 1960th and lasted until the "Perestroika" period, in all areas of the "intellectual art" to hide the critical view against the Soviet regime by bringing other "unrelated ;-) " topics ...

For example the play (see below link)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Enemy...
was staged in one of the most "classy" Moscow theater (in 1977 as I recall it ? - I have seen it myself) and all viewers were perceiving this as the current critical voice against the Soviet regime (and not like what was happening in Norway) - under the 'An Enemy of the People"
the play was hinting to what was happening at that time with Andrei Sakharov
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_S...

I should also add that in "Понедельник начинается в субботу" ("The Monday starts on Saturday") and in
"Hard to Be a God" the authors contrasted uneven social *progress* with the steady progress of gaining knowledge through scientific discoveries and technological achievements.

The authors tried to show that unstoppable HUMAN HUNGER FOR KNOWLEDGE survives all persecutions and goes forward no matter how horrible human life conditions are (thus going along with my own theory that gaining knowledge is the real driving force and the end goal of the evolution).

Strugatsky brothers's books should not be considered as belonging to Science Fiction & Fantasy genre (instead those books really belong to Social Historical genre) and should not be mistakenly comparatively identified even with the best western science fiction books (Tolkien, Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, etc.).

[Mark Vayngrib · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the Strugatsky brothers. They have a way with words, a way with characters, and their stories are never remakes of the Marvel universe. They're just brilliant all over (yes, their butts too). But this particular nut was just a little too hard for this particular skull, at this particular meeting of skull and nut. No. I'm misunderstanding myself. It's rather that the squirrel of motivation is already too sated to spend its twilight years honing the sledgehammer of hunger into the nano probe of zen necessary to finesse this nut, even if there is a delicious baby squirrel inside, just a lifetime of honing and a moment's finesse away.

Nonsense? I'm just getting you in the mood. Because this book is epically full of nonsense, though evidently on purpose. It paints a picture of contact between completely alien species, one of which is ours (so it could have actually made even less sense than it did). Nothing about the aliens makes sense to the humans, and eventually nothing about the humans makes sense to the reader. In that sense, it's a more realistic estimate of first contact than your "humans in alien clothing" type encounters you get with most sci-fi, though I had to mentally distance myself a few billion light years from this book before risking to use the word "realistic" in its direction. The reality painted here is endlessly absurd, and that absurdity eventually makes you skip sentences, paragraphs, and pages, when the neurons responsible for generating the feeling of confusion commit suicide en masse, and the neurons responsible for telling your bladder it's full all rush to fill the void. Then you're at the end, and you don't feel at all bad about the words skipped because all you want to do is make the nonsense stop. Luckily it does. Oh yes, I promise you, this book does end. I'd be relieved if I wasn't so exhausted.

That said, I'm still excited to read their other stuff. I think I have one or two left.

[Володимир Демченко · Rating 2 out of 5]

Якщо ви проглянете відгуки на «Равлика» то ледь не кожен другий, якщо взагалі не кожен, відсилатиме вас до Кафки. І не дарма, АБС не заперечували що намагалися розмістити персонажів в Кафкіанський світ і самі визнали невдачу такої спроби - світ Кафки виявився органічним, а спроба інших письменників у цей світ проникнути приречена на невдачу. Мало того, в «Равлику» є пряме запозичення із замку - це сцена із виселенням Переця із готелю. Але Кафка при цьому створює цілком повне відчуття сну, нереальності і абсурдності, а АБС в равлику викликають лише нудьгу і бажання скоріше продертися крізь потоки маячні створеної заради самої маячні. При цьому філософський бекграунд (ну і само собою соціально-політичний) ніби як потужний: протистояння системи і антисистеми, прогресу і регресу, маскулінного Управління і жіночого Лісу.

«Равлик на схилі» часто трактується як антирадянський твір письменників, які всю зорю своєї карʼєри оспівували ідеальний світ «Полудня» в якому ідеальні герої керують ідеальними машинами щоб відкривати ідеальні нові світи. Ну типу чуваки поступово прозріли і навалили антисовєтщину. І справді, лише сліпий може не помітити що Управління це цілком списаний із совєтів брєд. Але. Письменники також виводять що протистоїть цьому таки�� само, нічим не кращий, а може і гірший світ дикості і смерті. Цікавий, живий, але дискомфортний і небезпечний. Світ в який прагнеш потрапити, але потрапивши прагнеш тут же звалити назад в комфорт теплої директорської ванни і безглуздих наказів які існують лише аби всі були «при ділі». Тобто виходить і Совок у них не дуже, АЛЕ дикий захід для наших «упорядкованих» громадян ще гірше. Ніякої антирадяншини я в цьому не вбачаю. Конформізм вищої проби загорнутий в псевдоінтелектуальну, нудну , вторинну обгортку яка стала популярна ВИКЛЮЧНО під вивіскою антирадянского сміливого твору, яким «Равлик» не є. Dixi

[Raffaello · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boh. Cose a caso. Simbolismi? Io non li ho capiti. Quantomeno non ho compreso altro a parte alcuni classici temi sovietici - quello della burocrazia insensata, surreale, asfissiante e impenetrabile; dell'impossibilità di avere risposte mentre si è circondati da gente che sta al suo posto eseguendo senza porsi domande; dell'incapacità di trovare una via d'uscita in un labirinto creato ad hoc per non farti capire il tuo ruolo e il senso del tuo lavoro. Ma servivano 250 pagine di roba insensata per esprimere questi concetti? Un raccontino di 45 pag. no?
Poi il concetto della Foresta che dovrebbe essere il futuro...meno male che lo dice nella postfazione uno degli autori, sennò sfido a comprenderlo.
Parliamo dunque della postfazione di Boris Strugackij - non meno surreale del Direttorato nel romanzo - il suo apice è raggiunto nelle seguenti frasi:

"È curioso che questa felice (?) idea, che ci aveva permesso di creare la storia del Direttorato e che aveva illuminato, nel suo complesso, tutto il nostro romanzo sia però rimasta completamente inaccessibile al lettore comune.
Ed ecco che nasce una domanda: noi autori dovremmo considerare come una sconfitta il fatto che quell'idea che ci ha aiutato a rendere il romanzo denso di significato e pluridimensionale sia rimasta sostanzialmente incompresa dal lettore? Non lo so."

Neanche io so che valutazione dare al libro, caro Boris. Di sicuro non la sufficienza!

[Evgen Novakovskyi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ожидание: научная фантастика, совковый ретрофутуризм, кристальная ясность.

Реальность: антиутопия, сатира, кафкианский абсурд и густейшая атмосфера обаятельной хтони, уютная как мох.

Завораживающая и обескураживающая книга. Поверх трудноразличимого сюжета о неизбежности прогресса здесь от души насыпано смыслов и идей, нормально так расшатывающих воображение. Но, имхо, перебор с метафоричностью: после “Улитки на склоне” очень хочется почитать что-нибудь понятнее и проще.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure whether The Snail on the Slope, a mysterious and incomprehensible novel, was appropriate or not for the circumstances under which I read it. It occupied me during part of an exhausting ten hour odyssey to visit my parents for Christmas by train. Due to storm Pia, the railways were in chaos and I ended up taking five trains rather than the intended three. Perhaps I would have gleaned more meaning from the Strugatsky's dystopian fable had I not been distracted by planning for missed connections and cancelled trains. I found it more oblique than The Doomed City (which lets the title set up the scenario), Roadside Picnic (where aliens are more explicitly involved), and Hard to Be a God (again, with a setup that is clearly explained). In The Snail on the Slope, it seems like humans are colonising an alien planet with a strange and dangerous forest. But are they?

There are two protagonists, one of whom is trying to get into the forest and one of whom is trying to escape it. Both are foiled by bureaucracy and the strange psychic effects of their alien (?) surroundings. I did wonder about it as an allegory for nuclear power and the Chernobyl disaster, before remembering that it was written in 1965 so the latter is impossible. The combination of environmental weirdness and bureaucratic stonewalling makes the reading experience rather like a combination of Annihilation (which might well have taken inspiration from it) and Memoirs Found in a Bathtub (or Kafka). The weird details are certainly vivid and unsettling, notably the deadlings and the pups birthed from the forest's cloaca:

Peretz stroked his swelling finger and watched the pups. The children of the forest. Or maybe the servants of the forest. Or maybe the excrement of the forest... They moved slowly and tirelessly in single file, seeming to flow along the ground, streaming over rotten tree trunks, over the ditches, across the stagnant puddles, through the tall grass, and through the thornbushes. The trail would disappear, plunging into the fragrant mud or hiding beneath the layers of hard grey mushrooms that crunched under their wheels, then it would reappear again, and the pups kept to the trail and managed to remain clean, white, smooth - no dust clung to them, no thorn left a mark on them, and they didn't get covered in the sticky black mud. They flowed forward with dull, unreflecting confidence, as if following a familiar road, one they knew well. There were forty-three of them.
[...]
"I've noticed one thing," said Quentin. "The size of the litter is always a prime: thirteen, forty-three, forty-seven..."
"Nonsense," objected Stoyan. "I've met groups of six or twelve in the forest."
"That's in the forest," said Quentin. "After a while, they split off in different directions. But the number of pups in a litter is always prime - you can check the logbook, I recorded every number..."
"And one time," said Randy, "me and my pals caught one of the local girls - that was a hoot!"
"Well, then, write a paper," said Stoyan.
"I've already written it," said Quentin. "It'll be my fifteenth."
"I've published seventeen," said Stoyan, "and I have another one due to appear. Who's going to be your coauthor?"
"I don't know yet," said Quentin. "Kim recommends the garage foreman - he says that transportation is essential nowadays - and Rita suggests the hotel manager."

Nothing is truly explained, but at the end a political allegory becomes more visible. There are some great moments of satire, as well as vividly bizarre interludes, but I don't think the whole coheres as well as the other novels by the Strutagatskys that I've read. The afterword offers some explanation for this: The Snail on the Slope was essentially written in two parts, with one of the protagonists added later. It had a somewhat confusing birth and is tackling a lot of themes. I can also see why it wasn't published until perestroika, given the mockery of bureaucracy in the depiction of the Administration. Perhaps I would have got more out of it had I not been reading in the midst of rail chaos. For train delays, you really need fast-paced and undemanding books that can be easily put aside and picked up again.

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible -- one of the most enigmatic books I've ever read yet one of the most compelling. A thoroughly unique, symbolism-heavy, mystifying page-turner. I've never read anything quite like it, even from these brilliant authors.

[A. Raca · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Şu dünyada sevgiden, yemekten ve gururdan başka bir şey olmadığının nesini anlamıyorsun?"

[Serkan · Rating 2 out of 5]

İthaki Bilimkurgu Klasikleri Dizisi'nin 58. kitabı Arkady ve Boris Strugatski'nin Yokuştaki Salyangoz (Улитка на склоне - Ulitka na sklone) adlı kitabı oldu. Bu kitapla birlikte Strugatski kardeşler dizi içerisinde 5. kez kendilerine yer buldular. Daha Önce "Kıyamete Bir Milyar Yıl", "Pazartesi Cumartesiden Başlar", "Tanrı Olmak Zor İş" ve "Uzayda Piknik" kitapları ile seriye dahil olmuşlardı.

Kıyamete Bir Milyar Yıl ve Uzayda Piknik'i ne kadar seviyorsam Pazartesi Cumartesiden Başlar ve Yokuştaki Salyangoz'a ise bir o kadar mesafeliyim diyebilirim. İkisi de benim için okuması güç ve yer yer keyifsiz oldu ne yazık ki. Zaman zaman yüzümü güldüren ve çok iyi olduğunu düşündüğüm yerler olsa da bu kitapların genel havası bana pek hitap edemedi. (Tanrı Olmak Zor İş için de benzer şeyler düşünüyorum aslında ama bu kitap "Noon Universe Series"e dahil olduğundan ve serinin 4. kitabı olduğundan ayrıca değerlendirilmesi gerek diye düşünüyorum. Belki de seri tamamen okununca bu kitap daha anlaşılır ve okunması daha zevkli bir hali gelebilir.)

Yokuştaki Salyangoz iki farklı bölüm üzerinden ve iki ana karakter üzerinden kurgulanmış. Bu iki kısımdan birini Biber'in bakış açısıyla izlediğimiz "İdare" kısmı oluşturuyor. Diğer kısmı ise Candide'nin gözünden gördüğümüz "Orman" kısmı. Biber bir dilmbilimci ve İdare'nin bürokratik karmaşası içinde tıkılıp kalmış ve bir şekilde "Orman"a gidip onu daha iyi anlamak istiyor fakat bu çabası sürekli olarak engelleniyor. Bu süreç zarfında bir takım acayip ve absürd olayların içerisinde kalıyor. Candide ise bir helikopter kazasından kurtulmuş ve "Orman"a düşmüş eski bir "İdare" memuru. Kaza sonrasında hafızasını kaybetmiş ve bazen bir şeyler hatırlayıp daha önce çalışmış olduğu biyoteknoloji istasyonuna dönmeye karar veriyor. Bu yüzden Orman'daki karakterlerin her birinden İdare'nin bulunduğu yere nasıl gidebileceğine dair ipuçları almaya çalışıyor. Yalnız bu Orman sakinleri fazlasıyla acayip tipler, sadece onlar değil içinde bulundukları Orman da fazlasıyla acayip. Öyle ki bu Orman sürekli bir dönüşüm/değişim içerisinde, içinde oldukça garip şeyler yaşıyor. Orman sakinleri bulundukları çevreden pek dışarı çıkmıyorlar ve çıkmaya da korkuyorlar. Çıkmaya çalışanlara deli gözüyle bakıyorlar ve ormanın acayipliklerini bilmelerine rağmen orada gördükleri tuhaf şeyleri anlatanlara karşı bir inanmamazlık içerisinde yaşamlarını sürüp gidiyorlar. Bunun yanı sıra sürekli olarak bir şeyler geveliyorlar ve benzer şeyleri tekrar edip duruyorlar. İdare'dekine benzer şekilde anlamsız olaylar bütünü burada da sürüp gidiyor.

Şu haliyle okuyunca kitap süper bir konuya sahip görünüyor fakat bunun işleniş şekli pek de öyle iyi kotarılamamış gibi geldi bana. Kitabı okurken bunları çözümlemek, olayların içine girmek, okuduğundan zevk almak benim için pek mümkün olmadı. Yer yer süper, sorgumalamalara sebep olan, felsefik cümleler sayesinde okuma zevki had safhaya ulaşırken, yer yer anlamsız tekrarlar ve sanki başarısız bir yapay zekanın kaleminden çıkmışçasına yazılmış cümleler yüzünden okuma zevki fena halde baltalanıyor. Bunların ne kadarı çeviri kaynaklı kestirmek güç. Bilmeden çevirmene kabahat bulmayı anlamsız buluyorum fakat ortada Strugatski'lerin kitabın ingilizce çevirisini korkunç derecede kötü bulduklarına dair söylemler de var. Kitap ingilizce üzerinden, tercümenin tercümesi şeklinde dilimize kazandırıldıysa ondan kaynaklanmış da olabilir. Belki de Strugatski kardeşler bu anlamsızca ve tekrara düşen cümleler bütününü kitaba istedikleri havayı vermek için bilinçli bir şekilde koymuş olabilirler. Eğer bunu hedefledilerse, zaman zaman Monty Python absürdlüğünde sunulsa da kitabın bütünü ele alındığında bana hiç hitap etmedi bu yöntem.

Kitabın sonuna Boris Strugatski'nin bir yazısı da eklenmiş ve bu yazıda kitabın yazım sürecinden bahsedilmiş. Orada, kitaptaki "İdare" ve "Orman"ın aslında sırasıyla "günümüz gerçekliği" ve "gelecek"in bir yansıması olduğu ifade edilmiş. Yani kitap İdare ve Orman üzerinden bir günümüz (bugün) ve gelecek alegorisi, bilimkurgusal bir yazından çok sembolik anlatımlar bütünü. Bana ise "İdare" ile ilgili kısımlar Stalin sonrası Sovyet Rusya'daki bürokratik yapının bir hivci gibi gelmişti fakat Boris Strugatski ilgili yazıda bunu kesin bir dille reddetmiş hatta bu yönde bir yazı yazılıp kitabın yasaklanmasına sebep olan bir eleştirmeni de eleştirmiş. Günümüz ve gelecek hakkında yazılmış sembolik bir kitap olduğuna ve bu sembolizmin şifresinin çözümüne dair ipuçlarının özenle yerleştirildiğini, bunun çok açık olduğunu ifade etmiş. Fakat bana hiç de bu şekilde açık gelmediğini itiraf etmeliyim. Belki de kitabı bu yazın doğrultusunda tekrar okumanın yararı vardır.

Bu yazıdan hareketle yaptığım incelemelerde, kitabın çok daha farklı bir versiyonunun, farklı karakterlerle "Беспокойство-Bespokoystvo" (Disquiet) ismiyle 1990 yılında piyasaya sürüldüğünü ve "Noon Universe" serisi içerisine (serinin 5. kitabı olarak) dahil edildiğini de gördüm. Aslında bu 6-20 Mart 1965 yılında yazılan ilk taslak imiş. Daha sonra bu taslak elden geçiriliyor ve yeniden yazılıyor, böylelikle Yokuştaki Salyangoz ortaya çıkıyor. Yeniden yazılmış hali, İdare ve Orman bölümleri olarak 1966-1968 arasında çeşitli dergilerde yayınlansa da Yokuştaki Salyangoz'un kitaplaştırılması çok daha sonraları bulmuş. Tam versiyon ilk kez 1972 yılında Batı Almanya'da kitap olarak basılmış. Sovyet Rusya'da ise daha önce dergide yayınlanan parçalardan bir kısmının yasaklanmasından ötürü ancak 1988 yılında kitap olarak basılabilmiş.

Bana kalırsa ilk taslak çok daha güzel kurgulanmış gibi görünüyor. Açıkçası o kitabı da (Disquiet) okumayı hatta tüm Noon Universe Serisi'ni de okumayı isterdim. Bu versiyonda, "Orman" kısmı neredeyse Yokuştaki Salyangoz'daki ile aynıymış. İdare kısmı ise farklılıklar gösteriyormuş ve buradakiler daha ütopik bir topluma ait bireylerden oluşuyormuş. Kitaptaki ana karakterler de farklılar. Candide ve Biber yerine Athos ve Gorbovsky isimli başka karakterler var ki bu karakterlerden Athos, Noon Universe Serisi içindeki başka kitaplarda da yer alan bir karaktermiş.

Ayrıca bu versiyonda ormana ev sahipliği yapan gezegenin adı Pandora olarak geçiyor. Bu isim benzerliği, orman ile ilgili kısımların bazı yanlarının James Cameron için bir esin kaynağı olduğunu ve "Avatar" filminin bu şekilde ortaya çıktığını söyleyenler de vardır. Bir çok kişiyse, işi ileri götürüp Camaron'ı intihalle suçlamış ve hatta Boris Strugatsky'nin de Cameron'ı intihalle suçladığını iddia etmişlerdi. Boris Strugatsky ise bu iddiayı yalanlamış ve benzerlikleri çok da umursamadığını ifade etmişti. Cameron da 80 sayfalık bir senaryo üzerinden filmi yaptığını ve ilham kaynağı olmadığını belirtmişti. Bana kalırsa da bazı benzerlikler görünüyor fakat ben bu tarz şeyleri yeni şeyler yaratmanın doğal bir süreci olarak görüyorum.

[Chris Browning · Rating 5 out of 5]

In many ways it’s a deeply frustrating novel - two sections that work as polar opposites to each other (man in civilisation wants to get into forest to try and work out what it is; man in forest wants to get back to civilisation to try and work out what it was to him), that are marked by not so much dense prose and dialogue as deliberately confusing and baffling pages of nothing much happening and lots of things happening but in a way that feels slightly opaque at all times

And then you read the afterword and everything snaps into focus so brilliantly and clearly you’re amazed at the trick the brothers have pulled on you. I won’t lie, there were sections of this where I just felt the will to go on sapping away from me. I was frustrated, annoyed, confused, bored.. and then suddenly amused, fascinated and even a little scared. Some of the sections remind me very strongly of the really disquieting and disturbing bits of the Third Policeman - something that starts off absurd and off kilter but becomes a little oppressive and troubling, and you can’t quite work out how and why it does that. And thusly as a reader you are entirely in the position of Peretz and Candide

Which is a bold approach to a book quite frankly, but a brilliant one if you’re willing to trust the Strugatskys design. It’s closest to The Doomed City, in terms of the books I’ve read by them, although that is in many ways the accessible variation to what is going on here (which is saying quite a lot for how disorienting this can be). But it’s also a thing very much on its own, that plays with satire and science fiction and kafkaesque nightmare but is only and forever its very own thing. Hard work but my god it’s worth it

[Іван Синєпалов · Rating 3 out of 5]

Грузький наркоманський гімн бюрократії. Мені сподобалось.

[Unai]

Como voy a puntuar si no me he enterado de casi nada y de lo que sí me he enterado seguramente lo he entendido al revés.

[Ed Erwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much weirder than I expected! I expected fairly conventional Science Fiction. Instead, this is really weird. The closest references are Kafka and Annihilation by Vandemeer.

The novel contains two parallel stories in alternating chapters. One part is about the offices of an administration near a strange forest. The main character there is Peretz who wants to go into the forest. The main action involves Kafka-like bureaucracy, but also some descriptions of the strange creatures and phenomena in the forest. The other part is about Candide, who lives in the forest and wants to go visit the city. This has even more of the bizarre forest phenomena. The things that happen in the forest defy logical explanations.

I like weird stuff, so this was up my alley. But at the same time, it is a slog to read. I felt I was forcing myself at times.

I read the 2018 translation by Olena Bormashenko, which seemed excellent. It includes an afterword from Boris Strugatsky describing the process of creating this novel. I wish I'd read that "afterword" first. It didn't contain real spoilers (because there is little plot to spoil) but does give a good indication of what to expect. He explains that the Administration part is "a parody of every government agency in existence." And: "It shouldn't be science fiction, it should instead be symbolic."

I, as usual, didn't get the symbolism that the forest equals the unknowable future. But neither did many people. He says: "Should we, the authors, consider it a failure that an idea that helped us make the novel multifaceted and deep was never really understood by the reader? I don't know. ... maybe the more interpretations there are, the more reason there is to consider the work successful?"

He says that the brothers always intended for the two-part structure. However they were not satisfied with their first attempt at the "administration" part. So they re-wrote that. (The original version was later published as "Disquiet" (Беспокойство).) The two parts were also separated out and published individually, which I think would work just fine.

[Jaan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absurd mulle üldiselt meeldib ja selle teose lugemisel oli iga järgneva peatükiga üha rohkem tunne, et jälgin kellegi (õudus)unenägu. Nii et see pani pidevalt raamatu järele haarama, et taas uus peatükk või paar läbi lugeda. Samuti sai iga peatükiga üha selgemaks, et samas vaimus lasevad Strugatskid lõpuni välja ja ilmselt tuleb ka lõpplahendus veidi ebtavaline ja mitte just must-valge. Nii ka läks ja tervikule pani see sobivama punkti, kui ükski "ja nad elasid elu lõpuni päikesepaistes ja sõid lilli" või "deemon nülgis nad ära ja kasutas nende nahka WC-paberina" tüüpi lõpp. Mis puudutab satiiri NLi bürokraatia ja töökorralduse pihta, siis oleks see ehk rohkem mõju avaldanud, kui mul endal oleks mingeid vahetuid kogemusi. Aastal 1982 sündinuna koosnes minu nõukogude-aja põhikogemus siiski külavahel põlvede katkikukkumisest ja puude otsas turnimisest ning suure masinavärgi väikestele detailidele ma ilmselgelt tähelepanu ei pööranud. Tubli teos, kuid maksimumhindest jääb see oluline miski puudu, ilmselt just eelmises lauses toodud põhjusel.

[Artem · Rating 3 out of 5]

After finishing the book it becomes clear why authors considered this story their most perfect and accomplished on. The story is literally pierced with allegories and referenced to the various topics: those are Soviet Union and its bureaucracy, ecology, living against the nature, human will etc.
I believe, and it is pity, that some of the ideas and references were omitted by me due to the lack of clarification and maybe lack of some life experience, the book after all was written in 1968.
Despite that the book catches you and brings you in the world of the Forest right from the first pages and you greedily read page by page just to figure out what is going on, and when the main question is answered some dozen of other questions are left to be answered by you. This is the style of brothers Strugatsky.