Trudno bytʹ bogom.

Truly a phenomenal novel that really delves into the morality of non-interference, the conflict between utopian and scientific socialism, the responsibility that an individual has in society, and whether one person can do much in the face of social forces.

Not to get too into the plot, but mainly its about an Experimental Historian from a Soviet future Earth tasked with observing the development of a medieval planet by living as a nobleman as it goes through the stages of Marx's Historical Materialism, when almost impossibly it appears that Fascism might be rapidly developing.

The historian, going by Don Rumata, has a certain amount of political sway and the technology of Earth at his disposal, but the novel really digs into the questions of 'Is it okay for a God to come in and solve all of these problems for the people?" and even more "Could even a God alone change the course of an entire society?"

The novel, and it's main character, notes at several points that a single person can't really change fight social forces, and that Don Rumata's personal connections to the people he's been living among for so long might be affecting his judgement.

There's several points where the intellectual side of Rumata, knowing the social forces that are at work and are responsible for the worst that he deals with and sees, comes into to conflict with his emotional side, who can't get past the deep hate that he feels towards the anti-intellectual Fascists that are threatening to rise up and drag the whole world down with them.

But that aside, the novel also asks, can a person really stand aside and watch terrible things occur? Is it wrong for a God to see the worst that the world has to offer and try to step in?

There are no easy answers in the book, and it really goes out of its way to weigh all these different opinions and arguments against each other fairly. At the heart of it the book has a deep sense of humanity that I found a connection with. The whole work is permeated with a sympathy and care towards those caught up in the wake of history, and I feel that it really makes the work stand out.

I've read so much more science-fiction these past few years and it's been a real pleasure to both jump around culturally and in time with the genre. I really need to go back to Asimov now, I think it's time--I digress.

Arkady's Russian science-fiction from the 60's is a culture and technology timepiece. Another Earth (like?), earlier in time, going through its own rise and fall--revolution--ignorance--religion--budding sciences. With these may be meddlesome future Earthlings that have come to observe, but as we know its hard to be an observer if you are in the experiment.

The technology Arkady brings to this dimensional, shuttle, traveled to (?--I'm still not fully clear on how they got here..) but they have a helicopter they exfil people, they want to save. A machine for gold from sawdust--what an alchemist! Pills that revitalize.

It's kind of comical when compared to some quantum-filled-dreams of the day--which as another digression I wonder how well they will hold up in another 60 years.

It's an interesting tale. Something like the Musketeers, but not quite, definitely during some renaissance movement. It reminds me of an early Culture novel on some backwater world with people trying to watch and do-no-harm but inevitably has to get involved or lost themselves trying.

Born in an era when Stalin & Khruschev struggled, it's not hard to imagine what was rolling around these future intellectualists.

“And no matter how much the gray people in power despise knowledge, they can’t do anything about historical objectivity; they can slow it down, but they can’t stop it. Despising and fearing knowledge, they will nonetheless inevitably decide to promote it in order to survive. Sooner or later they will be forced to allow universities and scientific societies, to create research centers, observatories, and laboratories, and thus to create a cadre of people of thought and knowledge: people who are completely beyond their control, people with a completely different psychology and with completely different needs. And these people cannot exist and certainly cannot function in the former atmosphere of low self-interest, banal preoccupations, dull self-satisfaction, and purely carnal needs. They need a new atmosphere— an atmosphere of comprehensive and inclusive learning, permeated with creative tension; they need writers, artists, composers— and the gray people in power are forced to make this concession too. The obstinate ones will be swept aside by their more cunning opponents in the struggle for power, but those who make this concession are, inevitably and paradoxically, digging their own graves against their will. For fatal to the ignorant egoists and fanatics is the growth of a full range of culture in the people— from research in the natural sciences to the ability to marvel at great music. And then comes the associated process of the broad intellectualization of society: an era in which grayness fights its last battles with a brutality that takes humanity back to the
middle ages, loses these battles, and forever disappears as an actual force.” ― Arkady Strugatsky

Pretty light, a bit whimsical, a bit dark, and some drama. Nothing tricky and a quick moment between here and there. Enjoy it and ponder.