Roadside Picnic Revisited: Seven Articles on the Soviet Novel That Inspired the Film "Stalker"

by Michael Andre-Driussi

Articles on and around the Soviet novel "Roadside Picnic" (1971) by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, a work made into the motion picture "Stalker" (1979) by Andrei Tarkovsky. Topics include: variations in different translations; the encrypted politics of the novel; the deep influence of a lesser-known Victorian novel; and the failed anthology that the novel was supposed to be in.

Genres: Essays, Science Fiction, Fiction

56 pages, Paperback

Published August 22, 2017

Reviews

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this in an hour after finishing Roadside Picnic, and it doesn't add much. There's an essay on the idea that the Strugatsky brothers were pro-Soviet, and that the book is pro-Soviet/anti-capitalist as well, which is an interesting idea that then sort of gets beaten to death in the essay itself. Using the idea as a 'magic key' to the story, it amounts to sucking the magic out of the story.

There's a lot about mistakes in previous translations, which again is more interesting as an idea, and less so when you get down to the nitty gritty, comparing bits of text with eachother..

Turns out I read the most recent, corrected translation, so I win at reading Roadside Picnic.

[Dayna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I've always been interested in Tarkovsky's films (despite his overt misogyny), I was glad to have received a Kindle edition from a Goodreads giveaway. It clarifies translation issues of the original text.