“This melding of bureaucracy and the numinous is highly enjoyable and impossible to compare to any other work.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Description
Sasha, a young computer programmer from Leningrad, is driving north to meet some friends for a nature vacation. He picks up a couple of hitchhikers, who persuade him to take a job at the National Institute for the Technology of Witchcraft and Thaumaturgy.
The adventures Sasha has in the largely dysfunctional institute involve all sorts of magical beings—a wish-granting fish, a tree mermaid, a cat who can remember only the beginnings of stories, a dream-interpreting sofa, a motorcycle that can zoom into the imagined future, a lazy dog-sized mosquito—along with a variety of wizards (including Merlin), vampires, and officers.
First published in Russia in 1965, Monday Starts on Saturday has become the most popular Strugatsky novel in their homeland. Like the works of Gogol and Kafka, it tackles the nature of institutions—here focusing on one devoted to discovering and perfecting human happiness. By turns wildly imaginative, hilarious, and disturbing, Monday Starts on Saturday is a comic masterpiece by two of the world’s greatest science fiction writers.
Praise
“This melding of bureaucracy and the numinous is highly enjoyable and impossible to compare to any other work.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“The best Soviet SF writers.” Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
Details
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Release Day | Sep 30, 2017 |
| Release Date | October 1, 2017 |
| Release Date Machine | 1506816000 |
| Imprint | Blackstone Publishing |
| Provider | Blackstone Publishing |
| Categories | Literature & Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Fiction - All, Fiction - Adult |
Author Bio
Arkady and Boris Strugatsky were famous and popular Russian writers of science fiction, authors of more twenty-five novels and novellas, including Roadside Picnic, Hard to Be a God, The Doomed City, The Inhabited Island, The Snail on the Slope, The Dead Mountaineer’s Inn, and Definitely Maybe. Their books have been widely translated and made into a number of films.
Boris Strugatsky (1933–2012) worked as an astronomer and computer engineer until 1966, when he became a full-time writer. Along with his brother, Arkady, he is one of the most famous and popular Russian writers of science fiction. Together they wrote twenty-five novels and novellas, and their books have been widely translated and made into a number of films.
Narrator Bio
Ramiz Monsef has spent several seasons as a member of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s acting company, and he is the playwright of OSF’s 2013 production The Unfortunates. He has also appeared onstage in New York and in numerous regional productions.
Overview
Sasha, a young computer programmer from Leningrad, is driving north to meet some friends for a nature vacation. He picks up a couple of hitchhikers, who persuade him to take a job at the National Institute for the Technology of Witchcraft and Thaumaturgy.
The adventures Sasha has in the largely dysfunctional institute involve all sorts of magical beings—a wish-granting fish, a tree mermaid, a cat who can remember only the beginnings of stories, a dream-interpreting sofa, a motorcycle that can zoom into the imagined future, a lazy dog-sized mosquito—along with a variety of wizards (including Merlin), vampires, and officers.
First published in Russia in 1965, Monday Starts on Saturday has become the most popular Strugatsky novel in their homeland. Like the works of Gogol and Kafka, it tackles the nature of institutions—here focusing on one devoted to discovering and perfecting human happiness. By turns wildly imaginative, hilarious, and disturbing, Monday Starts on Saturday is a comic masterpiece by two of the world’s greatest science fiction writers.
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