A revolution of subjects. On two publications of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s novella

Abstract

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s works never stop fascinating their readers — general audiences and scholars alike. The latter tend to consider fction, including sci-f, a form of society’s social self-awareness. Among Strugatskys’ oeuvre, the novella Noon, 22nd Century [Polden, dvadtsat vtoroy vek] especially stands out. Published in the 1960s, it became a symbol of an intellectual utopia. The Noon Universe [Mir Poludnya] has since been used as a general term for a place where the authors and their readers would love to live. However, the novella took extra work before its canonical version crystallised. Its second edition, printed fve years afer the frst, had been revised and extended. This paper analyses the authors’ changes to the text and traces their connection with the social processes unfolding in that turbulent period. The era was marked by a burgeoning consumer society and the growth of an opposing movement that promoted personal development. The second trend was referred to as a revolution of subjects by the Polish psychologist K. Obuchowski.