A Visitor from Outer Space

by Alexander Belyaev

Book by Belayev, Alexander, Savchenko, Vladimir Ivanovich, Gurevich, Gerogy

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Russia, Science Fiction Fantasy, Anthologies

204 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Alexander Romanovich Belyaev (Russian: Александр Беляев); born 16 March 1884 in Smolensk, Russian Empire; died 6 January 1942 in Pushkin, USSR]
Born in Smolensk, at the age of 30 Alexander became ill with tuberculosis. Treatment was unsuccessful; the infection spread to his spine and resulted in paralysis of the legs. Belyayev suffered constant pain and was paralysed for six years. In search for the right treatment he moved to Yalta together with his mother and old nanny. During his convalescence, he read the work of Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, and began to write poetry in his hospital bed.
By 1922 he had overcome the disease and in 1923 returned to Moscow where he began his serious literary activity as writer of science fiction novels. In 1925 his first novel, Professor Dowell's Head (Голова Профессора Доуэля) was published. From 1931 he lived in Leningrad with his wife and oldest daughter; his youngest daughter died of meningitis in 1930, aged six. In Leningrad he met H. G. Wells, who visited the USSR in 1934.
In the last years of his life Belyaev lived in the Leningrad suburb of Pushkin (formerly Tsarskoye Selo). At the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union during Second World War he refused to evacuate because he was recovering after an operation that he had undergone a few months earlier.
Belyayev died of hunger in the Soviet town of Pushkin in 1942 while it was occupied by the Nazis. His wife and daughter, who managed to survive, were taken away to Poland by the Nazis. The exact location of his grave is unknown. A memorial stone at the Kazanskoe cemetery in the town of Pushkin is placed on the mass grave where his body is assumed to be buried.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an anthology of six stories originally written and published in Russian. Asimov's is the only name to appear on the spine and front cover, and no editor is credited though the copyright page lists Violet L. Dutt as the translator. Of the authors, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky are the only ones likely to be familiar to readers of this English edition. The book originally appeared in 1962, but it would be interesting to see when the stories themselves were first published. Most are them are big idea, sense of wonder tales like the American pulps were printing prior to the John W. Campbell "Golden Age" era. It's an interesting curiosity, but I don't think any of them were especially memorable. They were okay; perhaps they lost something in translation and context. I believe my favorite was Professor Bern's Awakening.

[Miramira Endevall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed 5/6 of these stories, they were utterly delightful. I also particularly enjoyed Asimov's thoughtful introduction. I confess it was strange to see a character remark, "The world has enough Hitlers, Trumans and Roosevelts; we need no more tyrants." It was also strange to read just how much farther advanced the Soviet writers believed American technology to be.

[Aathavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story that made the book worthwhile for me is 'Professor Bern's awakening'. It is an unsophisticated yet thrilling look at a professor who freezes himself to survive past the nuclear winter and the next ice age - insights at many levels.

[Michaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

These were really fun! I think my favorite was Infra Draconis and then Professor Bern’s Awakening. That was a good one to end the collection on as well

[SciFi Pinay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soviet Science Fiction includes an informative mini-historical literary development as an intro by Asimov with comparisons to American/Western counterparts, as well as distinct cultural bifurcations like pro- and anti-intellectualist themes. Highly recommended even though there's only 6 stories in this collection, including one I don't like so much, because overall the concepts and storytelling are so memorable and compelling:

Hoity-Toity (Alexander Belyaev): exhilirating origin story of a famous circus elephant that's too smart, almost humanlike; not sure if I should laugh or what because... "But will the elephants drink the vodka? ...After all, bears like vodka; in fact they've been known to become regular drunkards." aka "elephant vodka"

Spontaneous Reflex (Arkady and Boris Strugatsky): a half-ton robot escapes from a lab as it becomes boredly curious... sentient?

A Visitor from Outer Space (Alexander Kazantsev): just meh and haven't enjoyed this because of erroneous/obsolete data as scientists desperately try to prove life on Mars, with no real action in the plot

The Martian (Alexander Kazantsev): while also somewhat outdated, this is more imaginative than his other short story here, which is its prequel

Infra Draconis (Georgy Gurevich): "dark black suns" (not black holes) visible only under infrared, possibly with infrared planets, are discovered along with other surprises; "Life is measured in deeds, not in years."

Professor Bern's Awakening (Vladimir Savchenko): ironic and cautionary tale of a scientist's attempt to escape mankind's global self-destruction from nuclear annihilation in a possible third world war by hibernating thousands of years into the future

[Brandon Manley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of short stories is an interesting time capsule that gives one glimpses into Soviet life. Of course the stories themselves are not completely original (most of science fiction isn’t), but the stories do convey a sense of wonder the Soviets had for technology, science, and the frontiers of human exploration. Despite the flavor being distinctly Russian, these stories prove that science and technology live in the hearts of the curious and do not see political lines. Just the like Cold War, we are entering a time in which political boundaries play an increasingly invasive role in everyday life; these stories are a helpful reminder that, at heart, we are all the same: we love, we explore, and we love to explore.

[Elija Soskolne · Rating 4 out of 5]

trumanin ja hitlerin vertailu oli kyl semi jännää. aika hyvä

[Michael Burnam-Fink · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up at a used bookstore based on the cover alone, and for the chance of a glimpse into the Soviet mindset. From a literary perspective, there's not much to recommend these stories. They're fairly standard Golden Age scifi, with all the clumsiness that that entails, plus the added awkwardness of being a work in translation. Sadly, of the six stories only two are of any interest; a pair of linked stories theorizing that the Tunguska explosion was a spacecraft from Mars. The theory that the Martians must be advanced Socialists come to peacefully trade for Greenland's icecap is a rather nice antidote to the standard alien invasion story, but aside from the names, there's little that's particularly "Soviet" about these stories. The only recognizable name in collection are the Strugatsky brothers, and they're wasted with a bog standard 'robot gains self-awareness/goes berserk' golem fable.

On the other hand, as a historical artifact this collection is quite neat. Released in 1962, at the height of the Cold War, and with a decent introduction by Isaac Asimov, it serves a reminder of an attempt to build international bridges at a time of immense paranoia.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of short stories is an interesting artifact of another time. Written in the 50s and 60s, these stories were written in a society somewhat isolated from the rest of the world. When other countries were contentedly reading American science fiction, writers in the USSR were independently developing their own science fiction as they were making great strides in actual applied science. The result was science fiction that, though similar in some ways, had distinct differences in style and content from American works in the same genre. One notable characteristic is that all six of these stories included long passages of characters explaining and discussing the scientific basis and theories that feed the plot and drive the story. It is worth noting that fantastic plots and storylines that often manifest in American literature are absent here. The science, though somewhat dated at this point, was plausible at the time these stories were written. Even the story of a brain transplant into an elephant's body may seem fantastic on the surface, the science explained is sound biology and human physiology. Occasionally, the social and ideological perspective of Soviet culture is displayed, however such political antagonism and subtle proaganda only presents itself in two of the stories, and then only briefly and in passing. No worse than a Captain America comic. The short introduction by Asimov is well worth the read. The stories kept my interest, for the most part. They were well written and clever, with unexpected humor and cleverness, and did not suffer too much in translation. It was an interesting read that left me wishing more collaboration was possible between the US and Russia, in both the sciences and literature. What a shame ruthless dictators, much like the current president of Russia, made (and continue to make) this impossible.

[Danny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting selection of science fiction from the Soviet Union!

[Erik Graff · Rating 2 out of 5]

While visiting the family in Norway in 1962, aged ten, I had a lot of time on my hands. We were constantly visiting relatives and friends of Mother. There were lots of parties. The grownups drank and smoked every night, chatting among themselves--in Norwegian.

Although I'd grown up in a bilingual household, Mother being from Oslo and Father knowing the language from his studies there after the war, and had gone to Norwegian pre-school, first grade in the States had caused me to forsake further use of the language. The problem was the accent, my inability to pronounce the "th" or the hard "j", the administration's decision that this was a speech impediment and their placement of me in a special class for the disabled. That only lasted until they met Mom, but it was humiliating. By age ten, the refusal to speak or respond to Norwegian had led to my loss of all fluency.

Thus, during the summer of sixty-two, in such diverse places as aboard the HMS Milora with its foreign crew, in Montreal, in Germany, Denmark, Iceland and Norway I was the typical, monolingual American. In all the various circumstances where I was the only kid, I had to find something to do. Often, that was reading, most persons not having televisions, and reading what was available, which wasn't all that much.

At the time my interests were science, technology, science fiction and, furtively, sex. The space race being in full swing, there was a lot of material available about the Soviet Vostok program and I saw one of their launches on a family friend's television while there. Meanwhile, while scanning the shortwave frequencies for English language programming, I was also exposed to the jamming of U.S. propaganda. Russia wasn't far, sharing a border with Norway to the north.

Thus, the finding of Soviet Science Fiction was a happy event. I certainly knew Asimov, having read a bunch of his stuff, and I was beginning to get interested in the Soviets who were amassing space firsts, one after the other.

Unfortunately, I found the short stories contained in this collection to be boring, focussing as they did on near-future technologies with very little interesting in terms of plot or characterization. A typical story would be about the breakdown of some vital equipment and an engineer-cosmonaut's desperately clever efforts to effect repair.

With only a few exceptions, such as Stanislaw Lem, I avoided most Eastern European science fiction afterwards.

[Andrew Zissou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting but largely uncaptivating for the most part. Worth it though for the final story: Professor Bern's Awakening.

[Keith B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't know why this is listed with Violet L. Dutt as author, she has nothing to do with the book. Read this many years ago. I have the original 1962 edition, not the cover shown here.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice selection if a little dry