Early works of the Strugatsky brothers: the search for an individual style of writing

The early works of the Strugatsky brothers like most of the Soviet science fiction works have a utopian character that depends on the authors’ communist convictions. The above-mentioned utopism depends on the conception of historical optimism that existed within the framework of socialist realism. As a result, the confrontation of the human and hostile nature of unexplored planets is typical for the early Strugatskys’ works. The key theme of the writings is the theme of scientists’ and cosmonauts’ work. These features of the works under consideration allow us to correlate them with the genre of the production novel. At the same time, the Strugatskys follow the tradition of the ‘firm science fiction’, which implies a science fiction work construction on the basis of a scientific hypothesis developing with the action. The result is the plentiful substantiations of the described technical achievements. In search of their own style, the Strugatskys change the habitual language of the Soviet science fiction, introduce a novice hero that adds authenticity to scientific descriptions and explanations and emphasize social and ethical problems, which will be their identifying mark in future. In the very immature period of their creative life the famous Soviet science fiction writers formulate their credo they will follow henceforth ‘miracle - mystery - authenticity’.