Ilya Varshavsky
Ilya Varshavsky (1909) was a short-story writer recognized for his contributions to dystopian literature, particularly through his tales set in an imaginary country called Donomaga. His works gained prominence during the period of the Soviet Union, with many stories published in English across several collections from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. Notable compilations featuring Varshavsky’s stories include "Russian Science Fiction" and "Journey Across Three Worlds." He is also included in the anthology "Aliens, Travelers, and Other Strangers," curated by the influential Strugatsky brothers, who were key figures in Russian science fiction during the 1960s. Varshavsky's narratives stand out for their exploration of dystopian themes, a contrast to many Soviet-era writers who often depicted more optimistic near-future societies aligned with government ideals. His unique voice adds to the diversity of Russian science fiction, illustrating that the genre encompassed a variety of perspectives beyond the more widely recognized authors. Varshavsky's work invites readers to consider alternate realities and the implications of societal constructs.
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Ilya Varshavsky
Writer
- Born: 1909
- Died: 1973
Biography
Ilya Varshavsky, born in 1909, was a short-story writer best known for his dystopian tales about an imaginary country called Donomaga.
Varshavsky published most of his stories while Russia was still part of the Soviet Union. They appeared in English in such collections as Russian Science Fiction (1968), Last Door to Aiya (1968), Path into the Unknown (1968), Russian Science Fiction (1969), The Ultimate Threshold (1970), Other Worlds, Other Seas (1970), Journey Across Three Worlds (1973), New Soviet Science Fiction (1979), and World’s Spring (1981).
Varshavsky was published in Aliens, Travelers, and Other Strangers (1984), with two stories, “No Alarming Symptoms” and “The Secrets of the Genre.” The anthology was put together by Boris Strugatsky and Arkady Strugatsky, brothers in the Soviet Union who dominated science fiction (SF) in Russia in the 1960’s and have had much of their work translated into English.
While the Sturgatskys became the most highly visible Russian SF authors abroad, they were far from the only Russian writers working in the genre. Renowned author Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), who was born in Russia and brought to the United States by his parents in 1923, became one of America’s most famous SF writers as well as proving to be a prolific and popular writer in science and a variety of other fields.
Asimov made the point that SF was seen as an American institution mainly because Hugo Gernsback named the genre and created its first magazine, Amazing Stories, in 1926. As Asimov also noted, SF had its practitioners in other countries long before it had a name. He cited Jules Verne in France and H. G. Wells in England. Gernsback, in fact, reprinted many of their stories until he could find sufficient stories from American writers.
As Asimov noted at the time, most Soviet SF writers stuck to the near-future and depicted societies not unlike that promoted by their government. Varshavsky may be one of the few who depicted a dystopia in his fictional future state.