The Doomed City

"The Doomed City" ( _ru. Град обреченный) is a 1975 science fiction novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, which is widely considered among the most philosophical of their novels. The name originates from a work by Nicholas Roerich which "astonished [the authors] a while ago with its gloomy beauty and the feeling of hopelessness radiating from it." [http://www.rusf.ru/abs/books/bns-07.htm Boris Strugatsky "Commentary to the Gone"] ru icon] . This novel does not belong to the Noon Universe, and does not reference, nor is referenced by, any other of their works.

Plot Summary

The novel is set in a mysterious world where enigmatic "Mentors" run a sociological experiment. The mentors gathered volunteers from Earth from various places and times: from Germany of 1940-ies, the USA of 60-ies, Sweden of the 70-ies, etc. The volunteers do not know the goals or conditions of the experiment. In spite of different native languages the people can effortlessly communicate with each other. Most of the people live in the City that is skirted by a swamp on one side and a desert on the other. Apparently, the experiment runs out of control, the City is shaken by a social unrest and an egalitarian system of job assignments is replaced by a dictatorship.

The main character - Andrei Voronin is a physics student from Leningrade of 1950-ies. He struggles to find his identity and his place in the strange City. Eventually, he joins an expedition to explore the desert. The expedition proves difficult in the extreme. One by one, the members turn back or perish. Eventually, only Andrei and Izia (Israel Katzman) forge ahead. They encounter deserted cities and ruins of Earth cultures that show that the mysterious world is very old and the humans inhabited it for a long time. As Andrey and Izia proceed, they ponder the strange world and the meaning of human existence. They run out of supplies and are dying of thirst. Izia gets lost. Andrei dies, leaves the nightmarish world of the Experiment and goes back to the Leningrade of 1950-ies.

History of Creation and Publication

The authors got the first idea of the "The Doomed City" in March 1969. At first, the novel was conceived as an autobiography. The authors say that they never worked longer or more diligently on any other of their works than on this novel. The draft of the novel was finished in 1972. After completion the authors shelved the draft as they did not hope to ever see the novel published. The political allusions, the spirit of despondency and its ideological vacuum made the novel unacceptable for the Soviet regime. The attempted publication would have been stopped by the censors. However, the authors hoped that by submitting the draft to the publishing houses the people who read it may make copies and the novel might find its reader through samizdat. The novel was finally published in 1989 after the controls on publishing were eased during Glastnost and Perestroika.

References

* [http://lib.ru/STRUGACKIE/grad_obr.txt Text of the Novel] (Russian) in Библиотека Максима Мошкова