Roadside Picnic - Arkady & Boris Strugatsky
rating - 5 / 5
As a fan of the 1979 Soviet film Stalker directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, I knew or rather expected to read the source material for this film. Not only has this petit novel inspired a cinema classic, but it has also spawned a game series also named S.T.A.L.K.E.R. The authors of Roadside Picnic introduced the term “stalker” into the Russian language. When writing their novel, they felt this English word best encapsulated the work and function of the occupation of stalker, and clearly the significance of this word continues to prove impactful for the legacy of this text.
The story focuses on the character Redrick “Red” Schuhart and his life and work as a stalker. The occupation of stalker is the most rewarding in this society, but also the most dangerous. Years prior, multiple Zones appeared all over the planet. No one is clear why or how this occurred, but the widely accepted theory argues that a form of intelligent life contacted the Earth and humanity. Zones are often forbidden territories as government agencies work to extract artifacts left by aliens in a direct effort to curb stalker activity. Despite the Zones being prohibited areas, the stalkers continue to work, tirelessly, to extract artifacts to sell on the black market. Throughout the novel, Red often reflects on his work as a stalker and its impact on his wife, child, and life-trajectory.
The film by Tarkovsky is quite different from the novel in terms of characters and plot. However, my theory is that Tarkovsky’s Stalker exists in the same universe as the novel, but the film takes place in Russia/Soviet Union and the other in the fictional North American town of Harmont. In the novel, the description of the Russian Zone matches the depiction of the Zone in Tarkovsky’s film.
This book is a notable example of successful science fiction. The authors do not over explain elements of the world to the audience for our sake, instead the reader is thrusted into the world and learns its nuances through exposure. My biggest pet peeve with science fiction in general is the need to over explain for the audience’s benefit. One of the core tenets of writing is: “show, don’t tell,” and the Strugatsky brothers do this exceptionally well.
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Tarkovsky’s Stalker, Soviet literature, science fictions, or is looking for a quick read. Also, if you do purchase a copy, try to find an unedited edition. Since this was originally published in pre-Glasnost Soviet Union, the initial release was highly censored. Copies printed now should include all redacted information, but make sure to double-check!
The Book of the City of Ladies - Christine de Pizan
rating - 3 / 5
Christine de Pizan was the first professional female writer and arguably one of the first feminist literary voices. While she was Italian by birth, de Pizan operated primarily in French culture and social circles, especially those of the nobility. Her father was a member of Charles VI’s court, exposing Christine to a world of learning and culture unavailable to most women. Women of a higher social caste were expected to be aware of current events, but reading and writing was often a foreign skill to them. Christine was fortunate enough to be raised by a father that wanted her to be well educated in all curricula. This education came in handy when Christine was left widowed with three children and a mother to take care of. Needing to earn money, Christine used her skill or rhetoric to build a fruitful career that engendered her into the luxurious company of French kings, like her father.
The Book of the City of Ladies is written from the first-person perspective of Christine. It begins with her reading the work of her male contemporaries, who often lambasted women as inherently evil and deviant, owing to the original sin committed by Eve. While Christine is aware these men speak falsely, the abundance and widely accepted opinion of women causes her to question herself and her sex. However, divine intervention prevails when God sends his three daughters, the virtues Lady Reason, Rectitude, and Justice. The virtues begin to assist Christine construct her titular city of Ladies, that will welcome all virtuous and pious women.
The book at times is quite dense and owing to Renaissance syntax can be challenging to comprehend. At times, Christine over explains and despite acknowledging brevity, it’s clear at times she did not always care for it. If you don’t like overt religiosity, this book is not for you, especially the latter half. While this text may seem “backwards” regarding feminism, for the time this was considered taboo or progressive thinking. The fact that Christine was able to make a living in a traditionally male-dominated field is also a testament to her role in proto-Feminism.
The Cheese and the Worms - Carlo Ginzburg
rating - 4 / 5
Quick and straight forward. This text is known for stimulating interest in microhistories in the United States, and for good reason. Often when history is taught, the overarching themes and stories are macro in scale. For example, the history of the Roman Empire. While confined geographically and within a set time, this is a very broad field of study. Microhistories are appealing because they enhance the stories, themes, and historical experiences of individuals instead of ignoring them in favor of the Neros and Justinians of their time. Microhistories attempt to extract lessons, cultural and social values in their brief time to periods of history and social groups. Ginzburg does an exceptional job at looking to the court records featuring the out-spoken Menocchio, a sixteenth-century Italian miller. As with many microhistories from the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period, the life of these eccentric characters is charted through their involvement in the courts. A majority of these come from Italy because after the fall of the Roman Empire, Italy clung to any vestige of Roman culture and society they could, and this is especially true of the robust and detailed Roman court system. Once the Church gained power in the region, they began to oversee the courts, leading to a nonsecular judicial system.
The Church did not tolerate theological concepts that contradicted doctrine, especially concerning the Holy Trinity; enter Menocchio. Menocchio was not wealthy nor educated, but he still learned how to crudely read and write. As a miller, his fellow peasant neighbors, some members of the city, and even travelers would stop to use his mill. Here, he was exposed to new people and new ideas, leading him to befriend individuals that exposed him to differing opinions on the origin of the universe, the soul, and the roles of Jesus and God. Once exposed to a world of knowledge, Menocchio began to espouse his own conclusions, one of the most fantastical being his claim before there was Earth, there was chaos – all elements in disarray, no order, so on. But then, “just as cheese is made out of milk” a solid mass formed, and “worms appeared in it,” but these worms were the angels. To the Church, this was blasphemy, but Ginzburg analyzes Menocchio’s claims coupled with the texts he read, one of them being a vernacular Bible and possibly the Quran.
Through Menocchio’s testimony, which occurred on two separate occasions in front of Church officials, Ginzburg attempts to reconstruct peasant culture and ideology of sixteenth-century Italy. He argues that based on similar men around the same time as Menocchio, who also claimed to read the same books as him and developed similar conclusions, that this reveals a shared culture predating the Bible and Church influence. Since many Italian peasants could not read or write beyond bookkeeping, their culture passed down via oral tradition. Menocchio’s testimony and the testimony of other peasant heretics make this evident. How else could men, separated by miles, engage with the same texts and reach similar theological and philosophical conclusions? Also, what incongruities reveal about regional peasant culture, i.e. Northwestern Italian peasant culture versus Southern Italian peasant culture.
The Cheese and the Worms is a great text for those interested in history, but trepidatious about reading traditional historical texts that can be too wordy and appear unapproachable to casual readers. It’s entertaining and offers insight into the lengths the Church went to in order to suppress challenging opinions during the Reformation.