Science Fiction of the 'Thaw' under Censorship: Practices and Tactics of Resistance

• In Event: Soviet Science Fiction of the 1950s and 1960s in the Context of Domestic and International Politics and Influences

Abstract

In the literary life of the “Thaw” period, science fiction provided a space for Soviet writers to discuss the alternative models of society, the ethical problems of the technological revolution, and the traumatic memories of World War II and the Holocaust. Although science fiction remained a relatively less censored literary genre in the Soviet cultural system, the works of “social” science fiction writers (Arkadii and Boris Strugatskii, Ariadna Gromova, Mikhail Emtsev, Eremei Parnov) often faced considerable censorship pressure and intervention. Based on the archival collection of the publishing house “Molodaia gvardiia” (Young Guard) and the correspondence between science fiction writers, my paper focuses on the practices of Soviet censorship at the level of book publishing. It analyzes the role of editors, reviewers, and administrators at “Molodaia gvardiia” in implementing and resisting censorship of science fiction. It also examines the tactics used by science fiction writers to cope with the increasing censorship pressure after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, providing a new perspective on late Soviet cultural history.