======================================================================
= Andromeda:_A_Space-Age_Tale =
======================================================================
Introduction
======================================================================
'Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale' (), is a science fiction novel by the
Soviet writer and paleontologist Ivan Yefremov, written in 1955-1956
and published in 1957. It was translated into English as 'Andromeda: A
Space-Age Tale' by George Hanna. The novel predicted some future
inventions (borazon, space probe, powered exoskeleton and ion
thruster). The German translation of the novel which was highly
censored was serialized in the East German popular science magazine
'Jugend und Technik' in 1958. It was made into a film in 1967, 'The
Andromeda Nebula'.
Yefremov's 1958 short story "The Heart of the Serpent" and the 1968
novel 'The Bull's Hour', which are set in the same universe some 200
years later, are considered its sequels.
Plot summary
======================================================================
The book portrays Yefremov's conception of a classic communist utopia
set in a distant future. Throughout the novel, the author's attention
is focused on the social and cultural aspects of the society, and the
struggle to conquer vast cosmic distances. There are several principal
heroes, including a starship captain, two scientists, a historian, and
an archeologist. Though the world described in the novel is intended
to be ideal, there is an attempt to show a conflict and its resolution
with a voluntary self-punishment of a scientist whose reckless
experiment caused damage. There's also a fair amount of action in the
episodes where the crew of the starship fight alien predators.
In the novel, several civilizations across our galaxy, including
Earth, are united in the 'Great Circle', whose members exchange and
relay scientific and cultural information. Notably, faster-than-light
travel or communication does not exist in the time portrayed in the
book, and one of the minor plot lines examines a failed attempt to
overcome this limitation. The radio transmissions around the Great
Circle are pictured as requiring a tremendous amount of energy, and
are thus infrequent.
One of the main plot lines follows the crew of the spacecraft 'Tantra'
led by Captain Erg Noor, dispatched to investigate the sudden radio
silence of one of the nearby Great Circle planets. The crew travels to
the planet, and discovers that most life on it has been destroyed by
unsafe experimentation with radioactivity. On their return journey,
the 'Tantra' is scheduled to meet a carrier spacecraft to refuel, but
the second ship does not make the rendezvous. The crew attempts the
return voyage with meager fuel, but is trapped by the gravitational
field of an "iron star" (some form of compact star in modern terms).
The crew lands on one of its planets, where they discover the wreck of
a previous expedition, as well as a mysterious alien spacecraft. After
fighting off the native life-form, the crew retrieve the remaining
fuel supplies from the wreck and succeed in returning to earth.
The second major plot line follows Darr Veter, the director of the
global space agency as he makes way for a successor and then attempt
to find a new job for himself. When his successor voluntarily steps
down as punishment for a daring experiment that goes wrong, Veter
returns to the position. The book closes with the launch of a new
expedition, once again led by Noor, to a pair of new planets that
offer the possibility of human colonisation. It is a bittersweet
ending, as the cosmonauts themselves will not live long enough to
return.
Literary significance and criticism
======================================================================
Critics have accused the heroes of the novel being more of
philosophical ideas than live people. Nevertheless, the novel was a
major milestone in Soviet science-fiction literature, which, in
Stalin's era, had been much more short-sighted (never venturing more
than a few decades into the future) and primarily focusing on
technical inventions rather than social issues (the so-called "").
Boris Strugatsky wrote:
Yefremov was an ice breaker of a man. He has broken the seemingly
unbreakable ice of the "close range theory". He has shown how one can
and should write modern SF, and thus has ushered a new era of Soviet
SF. Of course those times were already different, the Stalin Ice Age
was nearing its end, and I think that even without 'Andromeda', Soviet
SF would soon start a new course. But the publication of 'Andromeda'
has become a symbol of the new era, its banner, in some sense. Without
it, the new growth would have been an order of magnitude more
difficult, and a thaw in our SF wouldn't have come until later.
The novel has been credited with popularizing science fiction in the
Soviet bloc, as the Communist Party of the Soviet Union decided that
this genre could be used to promote the idea of communism's inevitable
victory in the future.
Crew of the first class spaceship ''Tantra''
==============================================
(37th Space Expedition)
* Erg Noor, chief of the expedition, spaceship commander
* Nisa Creet, astronavigator
* Pour Hyss, astronomer
* Louma Lasvy, ship's physician
* Eon Thal, biologist
* Ingrid Dietra, astronomer
* Pel Lynn, astronavigator
* Beena Ledd, geologist
* Taron, mechanical engineer
* Ione Marr, teacher of gymnastics, dietary supervisor, storekeeper
* Kay Bear, electronic engineer
Men
=====
* Grom Orme, President of the Astronautical Council
* Diss Ken, his son
* Zieg Zohr, music composer
* Thor Ann, son of Zieg Zohr, Diss Ken's friend
* Mir Ohm, Secretary of the Astronautical Council
* Darr Veter, retiring Director of the Outer Stations
* Mwen Mass, successor to Darr Veter
* Junius Antus, Director of the Electronic Memory Machines
* Kam Amat, Indian scientist (In a former age)
* Liao Lang, palaeontologist
* Renn Bose, physicist
* Cart Sann, painter
* Frith Don, Director of the Maritime Archaeological Expedition
* Sherliss, mechanic to the expedition
* Ahf Noot, prominent surgeon
* Grimm Schar, biologist of the Institute of Nerve Currents
* Zann Senn, poet, historian
* Heb Uhr, soil scientist
* Beth Lohn, mathematician, criminal in exile
* Embe Ong, candidate for Director of the Outer Stations
* Cadd Lite, engineer on Satellite 57
Women
=======
* Evda Nahl, psychiatrist
* Rhea, her daughter
* Veda Kong, historian
* Miyiko Eigoro, historian, Veda's assistant
* Chara Nandi, biologist, dancer, artist's model
* Onar, girl of the Island of Oblivion
* Eva Djann, astronomer
* Liuda Pheer, psychologist (in a former age)
Extraterrestrial characters
=============================
* Goor Hahn, observer on the diurnal satellite
* Zaph Phthet, Director of External Relations of the planet of 61
Cygni
Bibliography
======================================================================
# Jameson, Fredric. "Progress Versus Utopia; or, Can We Imagine the
Future?" 'Science Fiction Studies' 9.2 (1982): 147-158.
# Suvin, Darko. "Three World Paradigms for SF: Asimov, Yefremov, Lem."
'Pacific Quarterly (Moana): An International Review of Arts and Ideas'
4.(1979): 271-283.
# Yefremov, Ivan. 'Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale' translated by George
Hanna. Moscow: Foreign Language Publishing House, 1959, 444 pp. LCCN:
95207661.
# Yefremov, Ivan. 'Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale' translated by George
Hanna. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1980, 397 pp. . LCCN: 82206351.
# Yefremov, Ivan. 'Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale'. NL: Fredonia Books,
August 30, 2004, 384 pp. .
External links
======================================================================
*
[
https://ofantyphayes.wordpress.com/2015/01/28/review-of-andromeda-a-space-age-tale/
Review of 'Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale']
License
=========
All content on Gopherpedia comes from Wikipedia, and is licensed under CC-BY-SA
License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda:_A_Space-Age_Tale
