“Martian” Novels in Russian Science Fiction in the Early 20th Century

Abstract

This article presents an attempt to consider the formation of the “Martian” text in Russian literature during the Silver Age. The author studies three novels about trips to Mars (On Another Planet by P. Infantiev, On a Neighboring Planet by V. Kryzhanovskaya, Red Star by A. Bogdanov) published in Russia from 1901 to 1908. The aim of the study is to identify the main stable elements of the structure that appeared in all the three novels. The author employs methods of comparative historical analysis. All the three novels are compared with each other and placed into the context of the mystical, utopian, and scientific searches of the epoch. The author identifies common elements of the structure of the narrative in the three texts (the composition consists of three parts: description of life on Earth — flight to Mars — return) and plot (interaction between earthlings and Martians, the idea of Martians as older comrades, a love story of a Martian and an earthling). It was also possible to trace the correlation of the three novels with the utopias of place and time and find out the influence of life-creating strategies that were popular in the Silver Age. The article examines the influence of the “Martian” text which emerged at the beginning of the century on Soviet science fiction starting with A. Tolstoy’s Aelita and ending with the novels of 1960s–1980s. As a result, the author concludes that the “Martian” text of the early twentieth century laid down the main questions about interaction with the inhabitants of other planets, the possibility of colonization, and the price that one must pay for the contact with other worlds. Soviet science fiction searched for answers to them.