Eschatological motifs in the short novel “Definitely maybe” by A. and B. Strugatsky

The article presents an analysis of eschatological motifs in Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s short novel “Definitely Maybe” (“One Billion Years to the End of the World”) (1976), in particular, it describes the development of the motifs of the Last Judgment, the end of the world and the fate of the universe in the original idea of the story as reflected in the author’s sketches and in the final text. The motif of the Last Judgment underwent a strong change in the text of the story and was realized in the form of self-judgment of the scientists, who are the heroes of the story. They condemn themselves to a future in which their scientific potential will not be fully realized. The motif of the end of the world is stated in the title and the main conflict of the story, which entails the heroes’ confrontation with the force that prevents scientific discoveries that could lead to the end of the world. Most scientists try to make sense of what is happening by appealing to folklore, religious experience, or ideas about extraterrestrial civilization. The fate of the universe is closely connected with the phenomenon of the Homeostatic Universe, which influences the lives of the characters in the story not directly, but implicitly, through everyday phenomena, which by the story’s finale add up to an insurmountable obstacle for most scientists. The eschatological motifs of the Strugatsky brothers were formed under the influence of Holy Scripture, folklore, Russian cosmism and the philosophy of N. F. Fyodorov.