The best and bestselling in Russian science fiction - great books you haven't yet read!
58 books ·
40 voters ·
list created July 12th, 2012
by Smilla's Sister (votes) .
Smilla's Sister
866 books
91 friends
91 friends
Pinkgreen
865 books
18 friends
18 friends
Teresa
805 books
7 friends
7 friends
Vilius
540 books
126 friends
126 friends
Tamhas
6213 books
35 friends
35 friends
D.M.
1048 books
58 friends
58 friends
Tatu
371 books
16 friends
16 friends
Nate
273 books
77 friends
77 friends
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message 1:
by
Limey
(new)
Jan 27, 2013 11:16AM
Solaris is not Russian, it was written by Stanisław Lem, who was Polish and wrote in Polish. The film by Andrei Tarkovsky was Russian, of course, which causes this misunderstanding, but Lem was Polish. I have the book in Russian, it says inside, "Translation by D.Bruskina".
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oooouch!! that's a pretty BAD misstake to do!! @admin you shoudl quickly change this. its not flattering for a polish to be called russian!!
Stanislaw Lem is polish and wrote in polish.
Yeah, I downvoted them after I checked his Wiki. When Lem wrote though, was Poland under USSR territory? Not that this makes him Russian (not defending the mistake), but I wouldn't mind seeing maybe a list of writers from that era of occupation to see if there were any themes or shared attitudes (possibly against occupation, or speculation on USSR controlled future dystopias). That might be a delicate list to make though.Sorry about that. New Lem fan here (I had seen Solaris years ago though).
Lots of writers I haven't read before here, I'll pick one book up soon to recompense for my mistake. I'm really curious about Heart of the Dog based on the cover.
Terrence wrote: "Yeah, I downvoted them after I checked his Wiki. When Lem wrote though, was Poland under USSR territory? Not that this makes him Russian (not defending the mistake), but I wouldn't mind seeing mayb..."Poland was never a part of the USSR, though in the 'Eastern Bloc' and a member of the Warsaw Pact, and under de facto Russian occupation post-WW2, etc. There are some 'Eastern Bloc', 'Eastern European', 'Slavic', etc. lists on Goodreads, though nothing specifically for Science Fiction that I can find.
Also, for the wishes you express, there'd have to be some kind of time limitation too. The simplest thing would be a 'Science Fiction from Warsaw Pact Countries' list. Though whether you'd limit the writing to the actual existence of that pact (1955-1991) is debateable. 1945 would maybe make more sense as a starting time, plus clear influences on the writing would continue to later times, even sometimes up until now, and stuff that was critical of the regime would often have not been published or even written until after it collapsed. Plus the Soviet Union started 1922 (and again, that's an official date of proper formation, like 1955 for the Warsaw Pact) but 1917 is arguably a real start date.
Perhaps 'Science Fiction of (Former) Warsaw Pact Countries in the 20th Century' or 'Science Fiction of (Former) Warsaw Pact Countries 1920-2000' or something. 'Eastern Bloc' instead of 'Warsaw Pact' maybe, so as to include Yugoslavia, but then Yugoslavia was a comparatively more open country, not as 'hardcore' as the rest, plus the Eastern Bloc includes also China, Mongolia, Vietnam, Kampuchea, even Cuba, Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan, etc.
People are free to make new lists. Maybe I'll consider making one like this even. I've made two Russian National Bestseller Shortlist &
Russian Booker Finalists and have been planning to get around to making one for the Russian 'Big Book' award too, so maybe I'll try and create a list like this if I ever have time. Others are free to do so too, though.
Poland was never a part of the USSR, though in the 'Eastern Bloc' and a member of the Warsaw Pact, and under de facto Russian occupation post-WW2, etc. There are some 'Eastern Bloc', 'Eastern European', 'Slavic', etc. lists on Goodreads, though nothing specifically for Science Fiction that I can find. Soo... Polish City of Lwow (Lviv, Lemberg) where Lem was born is currently a part of Ukraine, 2 years prior to his birth Lwow was a capital of Western Ukraine and prior to that it was a part of Galicia, a part of Austrian Empire. Lwow became a part of USSR in 1939, before ww2 in fact, 1941-44 Lwow was occupied by Nazi's and Lem survived holocaust because of falsified documents. although at the time of Lem's birth it was Polish,
Lem's family had Jewish roots, so even though he was born in Poland, grew up in Nazi occupied USSR city prior to Lwow being annexed to become a part of Ukraine, Lem was jewish (not religious) despite all of the city transitions, and is a great writer!
My husband was also born in same city Lwow in 1971 and writes and speaks Russian, English and Ukrainian. However he is neither soviet, russian english or ukrainian because he is Jewish although not religious at all.
You have Bulgakov on the list, he was born in ukrain, but is russian by nationality =)
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