A neglected masterpiece by Russian science fiction greats Arkady and
Boris Strugatsky, who thought of it as their "most complete and
important work," The Snail on the Slope disappeared almost immediately
after it was first published in a small mass-market edition in the
United States in 1980. In the meantime, however, it went through
twenty-seven editions in fifteen other countries, making it one of the
Strugatsky brothers' most popular works worldwide, along with Roadside
Picnic and Hard to Be a God. Now, in a stunning new translation, this
tour de force is ready to be introduced to a new generation of American
readers.
The novel takes place in two worlds. One is the Administration, an
institution run by a surreal, Kafkaesque bureaucracy whose aim is to
govern the forest below. The other is the forest, a place of fear, weird
creatures, primitive but garrulous people, and violence. Peretz, who
works at the Administration, wants to visit the forest. Candide crashed
in the forest years ago and wants to return to the Administration. Their
journeys are surprising and bizarre, and readers are left to puzzle out
the mysteries of these foreign environments. Brilliant, enigmatic,
evocative, and revelatory, The Snail on the Slope is one of the
greatest literary works to come out of Soviet Russia.
