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Questions tagged [strugatsky-brothers]

Questions about the works of the Soviet writers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky or their lives as writers. Their most famous works include "Hard to Be a God", "Roadside Picnic", "Monday Begins on Saturday", and the Noon Universe cycle. Questions about their works should also be tagged with [russian-language] along with the work in question.

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17 votes
3 answers
826 views

What is the significance of the anisotropic highway and the skeleton of a fascist chained to a machine gun?

In the beginning of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's novel Hard to Be a God, the protagonist, Anton, goes down a country road, disobeying a "wrong way" sign, and finds a skeleton of a fascist chained to ...
Gallifreyan's user avatar
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10 votes
1 answer
283 views

What word was used for "anisotropic" in the original Russian text of "Hard to Be a God"?

In the beginning of Hard to Be a God, there is the matter of the skeleton chained to a machine gun. "An anisotropic road," Anton explained. Anka stood with her back to him. "Traffic can move only ...
Shokhet's user avatar
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10 votes
1 answer
226 views

Are any of the countries in Hard to Be a God based specifically on particular real-life countries?

Arkanar, Irukan, Soan, ... there are several countries mentioned and given at least some description and fleshing out in the book. Are any of these intended to be direct parallels of specific real-...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
305 views

What parallels can be drawn between Don Reba and Beria?

From the afterword of Hard to be a God: On the advice of I. A. Efremov, we renamed the Minister of the Defense of the Crown Don Reba (he had previously been Don Rebia—an overly simple anagram, in the ...
Rand al'Thor's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
286 views

Does the text support the theory that Arata the Hunchback killed this character?

The obvious implication from the text of Hard to Be a God is that at the very least, Anton blames Don Reba and that triggers his meltdown. (this gets more obvious in the play based on the book). ...
DVK's user avatar
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