He would not be out of place in a story by Solzhenitsyn. In a memorable climax, Red is unable to articulate what he wants, having lost much of his own humanity. The days of lessening tensions between East and West under Reagan and Gorbachev were still some years away. The authorities’ interest in turning the alien matter into weapons is a reminder of the Cold War-era nuclear arms race. Nevertheless, the restrictions on every day life and the reality of living in a police state are obviously inspired by the reality of the world in which they were writing. The brothers bypass this in ‘Roadside Picnic’ by setting their story outside of the USSR. It was not possible in those days to be critical of the state. The version of the text that The Folio Society has published is based on the authors’ preferred manuscript. An intriguing afterword by Boris Strugatsky (written in 2012, the year that he died) provides a glimpse into the Soviet censorship of publishing and the iterations that the book had to go through in order to be released. They are playing a dangerous game though, because everyone who lives in an around the Zones experiences unsettling phenomena, such as dead relatives returning in placid zombie form, or children who grow up with oddly simian features.Īs with all good science-fiction, ‘Roadside Picnic’ is both full of interesting ideas and concepts whilst also offering readers a commentary on the real world. Into this vacuum of elicit opportunity step the Stalkers, down-on-their-luck men who risk their lives breaking into the Zones to smuggle out alien matter for profit. The authorities close them off to the public. Not only that, but the usual physical laws no longer apply in the Zones even once the aliens have left. To humans, these relics are baffling and often lethal. Tantalising waste remnants of a vastly more civilised species are left in its wake. An unnoticed alien species disappeared as quickly and as mysteriously as it arrived. The events of ‘Roadside Picnic’ take place in a small town close to a Zone, which is the name given to areas affected by the Visit. That’s the concept of the Strugatsky brothers’ 1972 classic science-fiction novel.
You leave behind reminders of your fleeting visit: cigarette butts, sweet wrappers, a tin opener… Now imagine that you’re like the ant in this scenario, baffled and bewildered by what was left behind following an alien visitation. You don’t notice the ants beneath the blanket, the butterflies fluttering by or the birds in the trees.
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