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Introduction
Although the USSR witnessed a remarkable efflorescence of science fiction in the 1920s, this early period has received little attention beyond Russia's borders. Dividing the genre into six broad categories, this essay examines the literary characteristics of 1920s Soviet sf and links these to the wider social and political context. Many of the texts discussed are only available in Russian, although English translations are referenced when possible.
Sf was present in Russian literature before the 1917 revolution, although it had yet to achieve a firm foothold. According to Suvin, only around 25 original Russian sf works were published in the twenty years before 1917,1 the most significant of which was Alexander Bogdanov's Red Star, a novel inspired by the failed 1905 revolution.2 After the 1917 revolution, radical creative experiments reflected the rupture experienced in all areas of life. In literature, groups of writers united by artistic and ideological attitudes engaged in a fierce conflict to be recognised as the true cultural representatives of the Soviet Union. On this battlefield, where innovation was regarded as a necessity rather than an advantage, sf held an unusual position. Although sf did acquire its own dedicated champions, the genre was dispersed across a spectrum of journals and publishing houses and adopted by a wide range of authors who had already made their names in the literary mainstream.
The popularity of sf during this period can only be understood by considering the strong elements of scientific and technological utopianism that were so integral to contemporary revolutionary ideology. Marsh writes that 'Science and technology have always figured prominently in Soviet literature as a direct consequence of the dominant position which they occupy in Soviet society',3 and the elevation of science was evident from the first moments of the USSR. In the post-revolutionary period, the social transformation of mankind could not be imagined without comparative scientific progress: 'The Bolshevik envisaged that the creation of a radically new society would entail the transformation not simply of people's minds, but of the natural landscape'.4 Leon Trotsky's Literature and Revolution (translated 1991) demonstrates the level to which this faith in science had permeated all the way to the top echelons of the Communist Party. In what Stites describes...