Andrei Strugatsky is the son of Boris. Boris Strugatsky's son Andrei: "In some way, my father foresaw the current situation." – You and your friends are interested in politics

Interview with Boris Strugatsky's son, Andrey, about the future creative heritage great Russian science fiction writers, the upcoming collected works, political views and a small family business.

- What is the future fate of projects, including literary ones, associated with the name of the Strugatskys?

There is a series “Time of Students”, in which various authors wrote continuations of the works of the Strugatsky brothers. The “Inhabited Island” series is published using the same principle. The “Stalker” project is in full swing, based on, albeit very distantly, “Roadside Picnic.” More than a hundred books have already been published in this series. As for the magazine “Noon XXI Century”, its existence is probably finally over. We contacted the publishing house “Around the World”, but nothing worked there. The ABS fund continues to function; Sergei Arno is in charge of its organizational affairs. Now the foundation is making every effort to ensure that the ABS Award takes place this year. The selection of works is led by Nikolai Romanetsky. We plan to present the prize on June 21 at the Pulkovo Observatory.

- Are there any plans to reissue the Strugatsky works, which ones and in what form?

In the fall, the Astrel publishing house plans to release the first two volumes of the most ambitious thirty-volume collection of works, which includes, in addition to the works themselves, all documents related to the work of the Strugatsky brothers - correspondence, articles, interviews, etc. Enormous credit for the compilation of this collection belongs to the group “Ludens” (an international network group whose main goal is to study and promote the work of the Strugatskys, its members include science fiction writers and famous literary scholars - editor's note). In addition, no one has canceled the republication of the books of the Strugatsky brothers in the usual format. I also hope that the release of essays in electronic form will be further developed.

- Who now owns the rights to the Strugatskys’ literary heritage?

- Maria Arkadyevna Strugatskaya - daughter of Arkady Natanovich, my mother Adelaide Andreevna Strugatskaya and me.

- Are there any unfinished works left after Boris Natanovich, are you going to sell any manuscripts?

- Most likely, there are no unfinished things. At least I don't know anything about it. We do not intend to sell anything from the archive.

How do you feel about “fan fiction” projects based on the Strugatskys? Who do you consider the most outstanding science fiction writers today?

I have a positive attitude towards the project. I like Stolyarov, Lazarchuk, Izmailov, Uspensky, Lukin, Lukyanenko, Divov, Dyachenko, Bykov. The list can be continued, it’s impossible to remember them all. I believe that the best works of our science fiction are the cutting edge of Russian literature.

- How do you feel about the upcoming filming of the series based on the book “Monday Begins on Saturday”?

I have a positive attitude towards any film adaptations.

- Have you seen the latest film by Alexei German Sr. based on the novel “It’s Hard to Be a God”?

I haven’t seen this film, few people have seen it at all, since work on it is not finished yet, as far as I know.

What other applications have been received for film adaptations of the Strugatskys’ works? Do you often get asked this question?

It is planned to shoot a film based on the story “The Kid”. Other proposals have not yet been finalized.

Do you plan to become a writer like Frank Herbert's son, Brian, who is actively continuing the Dune series? How do you feel about this practice on the part of your descendants?

I have a good attitude towards such practice, but myself... “Nature rests on the children of geniuses.”

What plots from your father's books do you like best? Do you prefer the individual creativity of your father or the joint work of the Strugatsky brothers?

I like almost all of their works by the Strugatsky brothers, together or separately - it doesn’t matter. Based on the depth of the plots, I single out “Inhabited Island”, “Roadside Picnic”, and based on the depth of thought – “Snail on the Slope” and “Doomed City”. In terms of emotional impact - “It’s Hard to Be a God”, “An Attempt to Escape” and “Lame Fate” (including “Ugly Swans”).

Do you think you became the prototype of certain heroes in the works of the Strugatskys? Do you have such prototype friends?

The main character of the teenage “Tale of Friendship and Unfriendship” has some of my traits. As for other prototypes, friends of parents quite often recognized themselves in some of the characters.

- Boris Natanovich was a prominent opposition figure. Do you share his views?

My views are “cooler” than my father’s. I belong to those whom our noted patriots call with negative connotations liberal fundamentalists, and the Western political tradition defines as a libertarian. Less state, more private initiative, “what goes around comes around.” Of course, complete freedom and a minimum of prohibitions. As for our current government, it deserves nothing but deep contempt.

- What do you do, what is your profession?

My speciality - economical geography, but I didn’t work on it for a single second, although I’m still interested in this issue. I graduated from the Faculty of Geography of Leningrad State University in 1989, and then new times began. Since I have been interested in rock music all my life, I decided to combine business with pleasure and sold discs for a long time. At the end of the 2000s, for reasons beyond my control, I had to change the subject of trade. Started selling books. Apparently, I'm a little late, business is not going well. I have a modest department called "Books for Big and Small", located in the same house where I live. It is very comfortable. My wife and I work together, and sometimes our daughter helps us. This is such a family business.

Exactly 45 years ago, the Strugatsky brothers’ story “The Inhabited Island” was published, which many call prophetic. What is described in the book is very reminiscent of the events currently taking place in our country.

Among the Russian intellectuals who have openly declared their disagreement with Putin's policies towards Ukraine is the son of the famous Soviet science fiction writer Boris Strugatsky, Andrei. A descendant of a famous family is not involved literary creativity, however, carefully preserves the legacy of his legendary father and uncle Arkady. Even during their lifetime, the books of the Strugatsky brothers became classics of modern science and social fiction. The writers themselves called their work realistic and amazingly predicted much of what became reality. Including the events that are currently taking place between Ukraine and Russia. The Strugatsky brothers were credited with anti-Soviet sentiments 45 years ago after the release of their famous story “The Inhabited Island.” Both never hid their critical attitude towards Soviet power. Andrei Strugatsky says that if his father were alive today, he would not keep silent...

*Boris Strugatsky never hid his critical attitude towards Soviet power

As for his attitude towards power, how to put it mildly, he criticized it. The exceptions were the early perestroika years, and the early 90s. My father has always been a staunch Gaidarite, just like me, however.

— Do you remember your father’s first book, which was given to you?

- Of course, this is an “Inhabited Island”. I was 11 years old then. Dad made a dedicatory inscription. Unfortunately, it was this copy that my friends read to the gills, and then the book disappeared completely... The impressions from “The Island” were the most lethal and jaw-dropping. I re-read it twenty times, even at school I wrote an essay on the topic “Your favorite book” based on “The Inhabited Island.” What my father said then about this story is now difficult to remember, because more than 40 years have passed, but he definitely tried to convince me that this was nothing more than an adventure story. Apparently, he didn’t want me to blurt out anything at school about anti-Soviet hints.

- But they really were there.

— Now many people say that the Strugatskys foresaw the events taking place in the world. But my father was always modest, declaring that “he is a lousy prophet.” Naturally, it is almost impossible to foresee specific situations, but something comprehensive is quite possible. Here are the emitters from the “Inhabited Island”. Or the story “Predatory Things of the Century,” which very accurately predicts the current consumer society. My dad and I often talked about political topics. Both were very interested in history and politics, only I was usually an optimist in these conversations, and he was the opposite, arguing that “a pessimist is a well-informed optimist.”

*The film “Inhabited Island,” based on the book by the Strugatskys, was released in 2008

— As a child, did you often visit your grandparents in Kyiv?

- These are my mother's parents. Grandmother Antonina Nikolaevna Karpelyuk was a teacher in her youth, and then connected her life with a military man - my grandfather Andrei Iosifovich. During the war, he reached the Elbe with the rank of colonel, received the rank of major general and was appointed military commandant of Thuringia. In 1949, my grandparents returned to the Soviet Union, my grandfather became the head of the Cherepovets Military School, and their daughter (my mother) entered Leningrad University, where my future father Boris Strugatsky also studied. When my grandfather retired in 1958, he and his grandmother moved to Kyiv. We lived on Vasilkovskaya Street, and every summer my parents sent me to them for the holidays. I remember I climbed all over the surrounding area, walked in Goloseevsky Park, at VDNH and loved watching the planes that took off from the Zhulyany airport, which was located nearby.

— Exactly 35 years ago, Andrei Tarkovsky shot one of his most famous films, “Stalker,” based on the Strugatskys’ novel “Roadside Picnic.” Did Boris Natanovich like the picture?

— My father considered “Stalker” a brilliant film. As you know, Tarkovsky took on “Stalker”, rejecting eight versions of the script written by the Strugatsky brothers! He only agreed to the ninth, he really liked the stalker-blessed, and not at all superman. The Strugatskys patiently endured all this, because they had immense respect for Tarkovsky and considered him a genius. However, my father was calm about any film adaptations. He could scold them, but he believed that everything had a right to exist. I think about the same thing and am now looking forward with interest to the series based on the story “Monday Begins on Saturday” and the film based on “The Kid,” which will soon begin filming.

— Have you followed the events that began to unfold in our country a year ago?

- Very carefully. I was rooting for you, the Yanukovych regime was painfully disgusting. I liked the popular protest, but towards the end I felt uneasy when blood was shed. To this day, however, I don’t really understand why the hell Yanukovych ran away after signing the agreements. This had an effect on our president like a red rag on a bull, and then certain events happened. I wanted to come to Ukraine, but various circumstances did not allow it, and I’m too lazy: I’m slow to get up. Now, thank God, there is somewhere to get truthful information from. Tea, we don’t live in the USSR! The most important and convenient source for me is Echo of Moscow. They have a very prompt and objective presentation and, as they say in their self-promotion, “multiplicity of vision.” In addition, there is also the Dozhd TV channel, although it has been completely hunted down. And, of course, there are a huge number of independent online publications.

— And yet Ukraine is losing the information war.

- Excuse me, but in what place? In Russia, anyway, no one, except specialists and interested comrades like me, read the Ukrainian media, and they could hardly influence the mentality of the people. And the Ukrainians had no influence on the fact that our TV-shit machine was running at full capacity. By the way, you also have a lot of overlap, the only radical difference is that Russian television programs today are built on conscious lies, and the Ukrainian media, despite very strong bias in places, still tell the truth, at least the conscious lies you have I didn't notice. And most importantly, you have a lot of these same media, and they belong to different owners, but in our country almost everything is under state control. The only thing I would like to wish is: do not go too far in your reaction to well-known events, less loud screams, and more objectivity. Don’t give trump cards to Russian state propaganda, so that it doesn’t have reasons to shout about “damned Ukrainian fascists.” Remember - not all Russians are “vatniks” and not all Russian political figures are like Putin, Zhirinovsky and Zyuganov.

— Do you think Putin has been developing a plan to seize Ukraine for a long time?

- I do not think so. I'm not even sure he had such a plan. They are unable to develop anything there for a long time, in best case scenario, some tactical things. It’s just that our government took advantage of the situation and dealt a rather vile blow. As the St. Petersburg rock band “Television” sings: “Brother is sick - finish off brother!”

“It seems that this situation really pleased a certain part of Russians who were delighted with the phrase “Crimea is ours.”

— As far as I know, pro-Russian sentiments in Crimea have always been quite strong. This is understandable, because a large percentage of the population there were military personnel - both active and retired. They were nostalgic, of course, for the Soviet Union, and not for modern Russia, and when they were offered a referendum (absolutely illegitimate, of course), they joyfully ran to vote. But the results raise huge doubts, because according to polls in February, only 40 percent wanted to join Russia... I think the percentage for joining Russia was indeed high, but only among those who came to the polling stations. But the turnout, obviously, was brutally rigged. Almost all Tatars did not go to the referendum, and there are quite a lot of Ukrainians in Crimea. I don’t think they paid attention to this “holiday of democracy.”

And not all Russians, I think, were so eager to escape from Ukraine. The aforementioned Russian television also played a role. Well, the terrible “Jew-Benderites” will come galloping in and kill everyone. I believe that it is the influence of television that largely explains this monstrous surge of chauvinism, the quintessence of which was the slogan “Crimea is ours!” It’s like the Strugatskys in “The Inhabited Island”: the radiation from the towers always affected the brain, but twice a day it was turned on at full power, and then people completely ceased to be people. Here we are in full force this “radiation” started working somewhere from the beginning of this year. Thinking over this whole situation, I realized that I was happy, because most of my family and friends share my beliefs. My relatives hold liberal views, and among my friends there are no rabid imperialists.

— So, the ghost of imperialism still haunts Russia?

- Naturally! But the ambitions of the Russians are not even imperial, but some kind of cave-medieval ones; people have completely forgotten “what a millennium is in the yard.” I think it should be clear to anyone to a normal person that both Russia and Ukraine have the only path to Europe. That the enemy, if we have one, is not evil America at all, but rather Islamic radicalism. Humanity has not come up with anything better than liberal democracy; this is clearly evident from the results achieved by countries that have taken this path. But no, we need to shout about some peculiarity of the Russian path. So, are Japan or South Korea less “special” in relation to the West than Russia?!

—Aren’t you afraid to openly express your opinion now?

— Somehow I’m not particularly afraid. What can the authorities do to me, after all? Close my dead shop? I won’t die from this, I’ll do something else. In any case, I will decide to leave the country if only they start stupidly killing here. And why should I even think about leaving - let these ancephalics get out of here themselves. Russia is more my country than theirs.

The news about the “free downloading” of texts by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky “blew up” social networks. Fontanka talked to the son of Boris Strugatsky, Andrei Strugatsky, about the demand for the legacy of the great science fiction writers, upcoming film adaptations, the future museum and monetization of rights.

At the end of March 2017, the son of Boris Strugatsky, tired of fighting pirates, posted the works of the famous brothers on the official website of writers. Chairman of the Strugatsky Brothers Foundation, one of the leaders of the international literary prize in the field of fiction named after Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (“ABS Prize”), Andrei Strugatsky told the Internet channel [Fontanka.Office] about the reasons for this decision, digital reality, bookselling and interest in the legacy of science fiction writers.

The news that the books of the Strugatsky brothers were made publicly available blew up a certain part of the Runet. Does this surprise you? How do you explain this?

– To be honest, I was somewhat surprised by this excitement. We just opened access on the official ABS website, and nothing more. This decision does not affect other resources.

- Yes, we tried to fight. When we closed access, it was a good call to fight piracy. They hoped that other resources would also close access. Unfortunately, it was not possible to oust the pirates completely. It turned out to be useless to fight the pirates; all the tentacles cannot be cut off. They jump out like frogs. It is very difficult to tame them. So let it be better people download the Strugatskys on their official website. Or, if they so choose, they buy from legal platforms.

It turns out that the digital world defeats even those who described the “future of humanity” and does not bring any funds to the copyright holder? Can you estimate how much you managed to earn using the Internet?

– You can’t earn much on the Internet. It’s quite difficult to estimate, I can only say that compared to revenues from paper books, royalties for electronic ones can not only be neglected, money is always money, but it is very small.

You are the owner of a bookstore. Is this “material” bastion still coping with the coming “digital”? How are book sales changing in general (in stores, through online platforms)? Will online shopping kill traditional bookstores sooner or later?

- They won’t completely destroy it. Yes, the trade in paper books is certainly declining. Large stores are still holding on somehow, but small stores like our store are gradually dying. However, I think another reason is that people in general have begun to read less... And we keep our shop, rather, as a kind of hobby - it brings in very little income.

- Are you able to pay off?

- Yes. But not much. I do this mainly for fun. So as not to lie on the couch. Retirement is coming soon, but I also want to do something.

What then allows a bookstore to survive today? What amounts of income are we talking about? Is it tens of thousands of rubles or less?

– The store’s income is not great. “Tens of thousands” can only be accumulated in a year. In general, as for monthly income, I’m sorry, I won’t disclose the details, it’s a “trade secret.” I will only say that if you divide the income from e-books according to months, then you can’t live on it even for five days in this very month!

What kind of fiction are they buying today? What is in greatest demand? How do consumer tastes change in general?

– I don’t have statistics for one simple reason – they don’t buy science fiction in our shop at all, except maybe the Strugatskys, and then very few.

- What is your best-selling literature today?

– We sell children’s picture books and all sorts of copybooks, coloring books, and stickers more or less well. With “adult” books, the situation is much worse: they mainly take only new books, and then from the most famous authors and in rather limited quantities. Well, calendars also save a few things in winter... A good seasonal product. Book publishing houses are not important to us. We take everything that is interesting from the wholesale base. The share of books by the Strugatskys themselves is not large. But everything that was written by them, we have everything, of course.

- Portrait of a modern reader of the Strugatskys? More like a student or a mature person?

– Mostly, of course, these are people of more mature age. I rarely encounter young people in stores. And this is not about the Strugatskys. This is rather about the fact that young people read quite a bit, or they read electronically.

About cinema. After Konstantin Lopushansky’s “Ugly Swans” and Fyodor Bondarchuk’s “Inhabited Island,” there were several more film adaptations. In 2012, the film “6”, based on “Five Spoons of Elixir”, the Finnish “Zone”, “It’s Hard to Be a God” by Alexei German Sr. in 2013. How “successful” were they (artistically, financially)? Do such projects bring any funds to the copyright holder years later?

– Such projects do not bring anything after the fact. In our country, income is generated only by the sale of rights. Any royalties are hopeless. They don't exist and never have existed. But it’s hard for me to talk about the “artistic side” of these films. To my shame, I never got around to watching these films. I have rather vague ideas about the films “6” and “Zone”. I really want to watch “Hard to Be a God,” but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. I still prefer a good book even to a good movie. The reviews there were very different. There were a lot of negative ones. But there were also praises. In any case, I'll take a look. The main thing is that your hands get around to it.

The fate of the film “Monday Begins on Saturday” (producer Yu. Bakhshiev, script S. Lukyanenko)? When should he come out?

- He should be out by now. But no one reports to us what’s going on with the project. Strong suspicion that not a damn thing is happening there. There, in a year and a half, their license will run out, and the impression is that the horse is not lying around...

- What then might your future relationship look like? Prolongation? Termination of an agreement?

- Such things are rare. In general, not many films have been made based on the Strugatskys. I am for the extension. Termination of the relationship only if they themselves say that they are “not able to.” We ourselves will not refuse. Suddenly they'll take it off.

- Yes. Thank you.

Nikolay Nelyubin, especially for Fontanka.ru.

Some writers, directors and musicians have proven themselves thanks to the creative tandem. These include the Coen brothers, who directed the action-packed thriller “Fargo,” the Wachowski sisters, and also, who delighted bookstore regulars with works featuring.

It is also worth highlighting the Strugatsky brothers, whom both adults and children know. Writers became leaders in the world of fantastic Soviet literature. Surely lovers of books that talk about technology, the universe and scientific progress know such works as “It’s Hard to Be a God”, “Inhabited Island”, “Monday Begins on Saturday”, “Roadside Picnic”, etc.

It is noteworthy that after the death of his brother Boris Strugatsky, whose biography is replete interesting facts, continued to “cut a thick log of literature with a two-handed saw, but without a partner.”

Childhood and youth

The writer was born in the spring, April 15, 1933. This event took place in Leningrad. The future of Boris Strugatsky was predetermined because the writer was brought up in an intelligent and educated family. His father Nathan Zalmalovich Strugatsky served as an art critic, bibliographer and iconographer. At the time of the birth of his son, the man was appointed as a museum researcher.

Boris Natanovich and his brother absorbed their love of literature with their mother’s milk: Alexandra Ivanovna, nee Litvincheva, taught Russian literature at school. For her efforts, this woman was awarded the title of “Honored Teacher of the RSFSR” and awarded the “Badge of Honor”.

The Strugatsky family was considered exemplary, and the brothers Arkady and Boris had a happy childhood. However, in the blink of an eye, the usual existence changed beyond recognition: with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War The bright colors of life faded, and joy was replaced by tears, depression and grief.

The Strugatskys found themselves in besieged Leningrad, and in 1942 Natan Zalmanovich and Arkady went to evacuation together, as Boris was ill. Unfortunately, a tragedy occurred in the Strugatsky family: the head of the family died of hunger on the road, in Vologda.

In 1943, thanks to Arkady, Boris and his mother moved to the Chkalov region. After the end of the war, in 1945, the single-parent family returned to Leningrad, where the future writer graduated from school with a silver medal.

It is noteworthy that the man who delighted book lovers with his works connected his life with a non-creative path. Boris was going to become a student at the Faculty of Physics, but was not enrolled. Next, the choice fell on the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics. In 1955, the young man received a diploma, which included the specialty “astronomer”.

After receiving higher education Strugatsky continued his “non-writerly path.” He entered graduate school at the Pulkovo Observatory, and also worked as an engineer and was a member of an astroclimatic expedition in the Caucasus.

Literature

While some believe that all writers wrote stories in childhood and knew their future calling from a young age, the biography of the Strugatsky brothers proves the opposite.

Two literary geniuses were born in a moment over a bottle of champagne. This alcoholic drink was the prize that was at stake in the dispute: young scientists told Arkady’s wife, Elena Ilyinichna, that they would be able to show their literary talent. The subject of discussion that evening was the weakness of modern fiction.

Thus, in 1959, the Strugatsky brothers published their first book entitled “The Country of Crimson Clouds”: the draft was ready already in 1957, and the book itself was included in the “World of Noon” series.

The writers' debut work immerses the reader in the era of the Union of Soviet Communist Republics. The main character, a specialist in transport vehicles Alexey Bykov, receives an offer to participate in an expedition to Venus.

The writers endowed their work with a detective element: the plot of the book contains the mystery of the death of the geologist Takhmasib, who, along with his team, died on a previous expedition. The novel examines not only technological progress, but also the relationship between the public good and individual human desires.

Boris Natanovich worked only on the final part of the novel, which is called “On Venus”. “The Country of Crimson Clouds” became the first work in the Strugatsky brothers’ career that was written in parts. Subsequently, the writers agreed on the plot of the novel or story and drew up a specific plot plan. The men were accustomed to working in tandem, but they composed small works separately from each other.

Book lovers believe that most of the brothers’ works are written in the genre of science fiction, but Boris preferred to talk about “realistic fiction.” The writer tried to make the main characters not computers, robots and other technological innovations, but a person, revealing his character and destiny: space, planets and technology of the future served as decoration.

After the death of his brother, Boris Natanovich continued to study literature, taking the pseudonym S. Vititsky. From the pen of Strugatsky two full-fledged novels were published. The first, “The Search for Purpose, or the Twenty-Seventh Theorem of Ethics” (1994-1995), tells the story of software engineer Stanislav Krasnogorov, who believes that fate protects him from imminent death and saves him in various situations.

Another work by Boris is called “The Powerless of This World” (2003), which S. Bondarenko called the most difficult in the Strugatsky bibliography. The book has three storylines, which intersect with each other, and the names and nicknames of the main characters are mixed deliberately. All the events of the novel fit into one week of the winter month.

In addition, Strugatsky was involved in translating foreign literature, introducing Russian readers to Andre Norton, Hal Clement and John Wyndham.

Personal life

Boris Natanovich Strugatsky was a monogamous man. The writer spent most of his time with a woman whom he met as a student. Adelaide Karpelyuk became the love of his life. In 1959, the happy couple had a son, Andrei.

Outside of literary activities, Boris Strugatsky was interested in politics and had a clearly expressed civic position: he voted for and wanted to give his vote to the Yabloko party, and in 2010 he spoke out about the ten-year rule, calling Russia an “authoritarian country.”

In addition, contemporaries recalled that Boris Strugatsky under no circumstances said what he was working on, guided by the rule “never say - I’m doing it, always say - I’ve done it.” Otherwise, according to the writer, all the work goes down the drain.

Death

The writer died in November 2012 from lymphoma. According to Boris Strugatsky's will, his body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered from a helicopter over the Pulkovo Heights. The writer's wife survived her husband by one year, one month and one day. Adelaide Karpelyuk died from cancer.

Bibliography

• 1959 - “Land of Crimson Clouds”
• 1960 - “From Outside”
• 1960 - “The Path to Amalthea”
• 1962- “Trainees”
• 1962 - “Attempt to Escape”
• 1963 - “Distant Rainbow”
• 1964 - “It’s Hard to Be a God”
• 1965 - “Monday Begins on Saturday”
• 1969 - “Inhabited Island”
• 1970 - “Hotel “At the Dead Mountaineer””
• 1972 - “Roadside Picnic”
• 1974 - “The Guy from the Underworld”

Independent works:

• 1994-1995 – “Search for purpose, or the Twenty-seventh Theorem of Ethics”
• 2003 – “The Powerless of This World”

The grandson of Boris Strugatsky was detained at a rally in St. Petersburg.

18-year-old Boris Strugatsky, grandson of the writer Boris Strugatsky, was detained, convicted and fined at a summer unauthorized protest on the Champ de Mars in St. Petersburg.

We asked Boris’s father and himself about the reasons that forced the young man to go outside.

The son did not hit anyone or shout anything

“He went to the Field of Mars rather out of curiosity, because Borya is quite apolitical,” says Andrei Strugatsky. “I wanted to take pictures there and just see how everything was happening.” Well, I got caught like chickens in the plucking. I stood there taking pictures. Tall riot police came up from behind and dragged me into the bus. Of course, he didn’t hit anyone or shout anything. Actually, he behaved like a photo reporter, although formally he was not one.

– How did you find out about the arrest?

- From him himself. After all, the phones of the detainees, thank God, were not taken away, and they had the opportunity to virtually broadcast online. They treated the guys in the department quite correctly, but they kept them there for more than a day. Apparently they were waiting for commands from above.

We contacted a lawyer, and he accompanied Borya until the trial. Also, possible assistance was provided by the deputy of the St. Petersburg Legislature Boris Vishnevsky, activist Grigory Mikhnov-Vaitenko and many lesser-known volunteers.

The son of a famous writer inherited a love of books and a dislike for the regime / from personal archive

– What happened then?

– The next day (late in the evening) the trial took place. Borya was sentenced to two days of arrest and a fine of fifteen thousand rubles. However, thanks to the efforts of the lawyer, two days were actually reduced to one and a half days, and the fine was reduced to ten thousand.

– I think many parents in this situation would scold their child.

- I talked to my son. But there was no talk of him “not doing that again.” He is already a grown guy and should figure out what’s what. Another thing, I, of course, explained to him that reasonable caution should be observed and not get into trouble unnecessarily.

Youth protests were to be expected

– Andrey, why do you think Lately Are more young people starting to take part in such events?

– I think youth protests were to be expected. After all, that wild cocktail of the late “Sovk” and aggressive medieval religious obscurantism, which our kind government is diligently pushing into the population, is not at all for the young! They absolutely do not understand this and perceive it as some kind of evil fantasy like Mordor. Today's youth are immersed in modern technologies, open to the world, curious and knowledgeable. Role-playing games in the bright past are completely uninteresting to them. It seems to me that young people are tired of watching this panopticon - so they came out to protests.

– I wonder if Boris Strugatsky were alive, how he would have perceived the fact that his grandson went to a protest? By the way, how did the Strugatsky brothers feel about politics?

– The Strugatsky brothers, as they say, were political. That is, they were very interested in her. Their attitude towards Soviet power was very negative, in any case, it became clearly so after the invasion of Soviet soldiers in Czechoslovakia in 1968. Actually, this can be clearly seen in the tonality of their works starting from the mid-60s.

The brothers perceived Gorbachev's changes with great hope and optimism. Unfortunately, Arkady Natanovich died in 1991 and did not see further reforms. And my father supported Gaidar’s reforms and, even more so, was extremely happy about the freedom of speech that blossomed in our country in the 90s. He accepted the further turn of our history without any enthusiasm: Boris Natanovich could not stand statism, pochvenism and other imperial things. And when, somewhere in 2006, journalists asked him what question he would like to ask President Putin, Strugatsky snapped: “I have nothing to talk about with this president.” So I think Boris Natanovich would fully support his namesake grandson in this situation!

– My views on the current state of affairs in the country have been formed for a long time and are unlikely to change. Do they bother me? No, they don’t interfere. After all, I have no common affairs with this state, I don’t need anything from it, I haven’t received a penny from the state budget since 1991 (although I pay taxes regularly). In general, if the “comrades” do not use obvious criminality, then they simply have nothing to blackmail me with. And be afraid of them? Yes, somehow being afraid of those whom you openly and deeply despise is not comme il faut at all.

Boris Strugatsky: I was just taking pictures

Boris Strugatsky Jr. / from personal archive

Boris Strugatsky studies at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (“advertising and public relations”). The young man doesn’t really want publicity, but he agreed to answer the S-interlocutor’s questions.

- Boris, your father said that you went to this action out of curiosity. Is this your first time at such an event?

– I was also at the March protest. I just came to photograph what was happening, I love taking photographs.

– Are you and your friends interested in politics?

– We are not indifferent to the current situation in the country. About thirty of my acquaintances then came to the Field of Mars. I know that a couple of them were also detained. True, they were taken to another department.

How did the police treat you?

- More or less normal. Physical force was used only at the moment of arrest.

-Are you scared?

– Only because I could have missed a couple of exams if I had been imprisoned for ten days. And so... What is there to be afraid of?!

-What were you tried for?

– For disobedience and for participation in an unauthorized action.

– Were you invited to voluntarily go into the paddy wagon, but you refused?

- No, they twisted it right away. With disobedience everything is more cunning. There was a tent there with a policeman inside. He announced through a microphone into the speakers (very quietly, by the way) that people were at an unauthorized rally and that everyone should leave. Since no one listened to him, the riot police began to act.

– After what happened, will you participate in new protests or will you no longer go to rallies?

– To be honest, I haven’t thought about it yet.