In lieu of an introduction, a survey of Russian Fantasy, including new translations of the Phantom of Phantasy, The Forest King, and Svetlana by V. A. Zhukovsky, “Tatiana’s Dream” from Eugene Onegin by A. S. Pushkin, and The Murza’s Vision by G. R. Derzhavin.
PART I
RUSSIAN EARLY-MODERN FANTASY AND UTOPIAN THOUGHT
SECTION A. From Folk Myth to the Fantastic in Early Modern Russian Literature
A1. Foregrounding Travel in Space: Fantastic and Utopian Scapes of Bygone Years
Selections from Medieval Rusian Literature, Folk Tales and Epos, including The Lay of Prince Igor’s Campaign, Orison on the Downfall of Rus, Vasilisa The Beautiful, Marya Morevna, Svyatogor, and Iliya of Murom. Also included are new translations of three “Dreams” from The Life of the Archpriest Avvakum, Written by Himself by Archpriest Avvakum, and Evening and Morning Meditations on the Majesty of God by Mikhailo Vasil’evich Lomonosov.
A2. The Fantastic in Early-Modern Russian Poetry and Prose
Derzhavin, Gavrila Romanovich (1743-1816)
Pushkin, Alexander Sergeevich (1799-1837)
The Queen of Spades. (Transl. by Gillon R. Aitken)
Lermontov, Mikhail Iurievich (1814-1841)
<Shtoss > (Transl. by David Lowe)
Turgenev, Ivan Sergeevich (1818-1883)
Two Poems in Prose from Senilia
A3. Arabesque and Bizzare Universes of Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol [-Yanovsky] (1809-1852)
Vyi [abridged] (Transl. by Carl Proffer)
Nevsky Prospekt (Transl. by Alexander Tulloch)
The Diary of a Madman (Transl. by Alexander Tulloch)
SECTION B. Early-modern Utopias and Dostoevsky’s responses to Utopian thought
B1. Three Early-Modern Russian Utopias
Bulgarin, Faddei Venediktovich (1789-1859)
From The Plausible Fantasies. (Transl. by Leland Fetzer)
Odoevsky, Vladimir Fyodorovich (1803-1869)
From The Year 4338. Letters from St. Petersburg. (Transl. by Leland Fetzer)
Chernyshevsky, Nikolai Gavrilovich (1828-1889)
From What is to be Done: “Vera Pavlovna’s Fourth Dream.” (Transl. by Leland Fetzer)
B2. Three Responses to Utopian Thought by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881)
The Little Boy at the Savior’s Christmas Tree
PART II
MODERN RUSSIAN FANTASY, UTOPIA AND SCIENCE FICTION
SECTION C. Russia’s Silver Age and the Fantastic of the Twenties and Thirties
C1. Sampling Russian Symbolist Enigmas
Blok, Alexander Alexandrovich (1880-1921)
Briusov, Valery Iakovlevich (1873-1924)
The Republic of the Southern Cross (Transl. by Leland Fetzer)
Sologub [Teternikov], Fyodor Kuzmich (1863-1927)
A Little Man (Transl. by Maurice Friedberg)
Bely, Andrei [Bugaev, Boris Nicholaievich] (1880-1934)
From St. Petersburg
(Transl. by Robert A. Maguire and John E. Malmstad)
C2. Russia’s Modernist and Post-Symbolist Prose.
Kuprin, Alexander Ivanovich (1870-1938)
A Toast (Transl. by Leland Fetzer)
Liquid Sunshine (Transl. by Leland Fetzer)
Remizov, Alexei Mikhailovich (1877-1957)
From the novels Russia in a Whirlwind and In a Rosy Light
Zamiatin, Evgeny Ivanovich (1884-1937)
The Cave (Transl. by Gleb Struve)
From We [Records 1-4] (Transl. by Samuel Cioran)
Pilniak, Boris Andreevich (1894-1937)
From The Naked Year
[Chapter VII and The Last Triptych]
C3. The Waning of Modernism in Post-revolutionary Years.
Zabolotsky, Nikolai Alekseevich (1903-1958)
Kharms, Daniel [Yuvachev] (1905-1942)
The Young Man who Surprized the Watchman.
Yuri Olesha, Yuri Karlovich (1899-1960)
Bulgakov, Mikhail Afanasievich (1891-1940)
The Fatal Eggs. (Translated by Carl Proffer)
From Master and Margarita [Chapters 20 and 21]
SECTION D: Pre-Soviet & Soviet Visions of Outer Space
Bogdanov [Malinovsky], Alexander Alexandrovich (1873-1928)
From The Red Star. (Transl. by Leland Fetzer)
Tolstoy, Alexei Nikolaevich (1883-1945)
From Aelita. (Transl. by Leland Fetzer)
Platonov [Klimentov], Andrei Platonovich (1899-1951)
From The Sun, the Moon, and the Ether Channel Transl. by Elliott Urday and A. L.)
Efremov, Ivan Antonovich (1907-1972)
SECTION E: On Contemporary Russian Fantasy and Science Fiction. A Postcript by Sofya Khagi