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| Author | Arkady and Boris Strugatsky |
|---|---|
| Original title | За миллиард лет до конца света |
| Language | Russian |
| Genre | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Macmillan |
| Publication date | 1977 |
| Publication place | Soviet Union |
| Published in English | 1978 |
| Pages | 143 |
| ISBN | 0026151808 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: checksum |
Definitely Maybe (Template:Lang-ru, literal translation: A Billion Years Before the End of the World, sometimes called Definitely Maybe: A Manuscript Discovered Under Unusual Circumstances) is a sci fi novel written in 1974 by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.
Plot summary
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Action takes place in the Leningrad, USSR, apparently in the 1970s.
The protagonist, Dmitry Aleskeevich Malyanov (Дмитрий Алексеевич Малянов) is an astrophysicist who, while officially on leave, continues work on his thesis "Interaction of Stars with Diffused Galactic Matter". Just as he begins to realize that he is on the verge of a revolutionary discovery, his life becomes plagued by strange events.
Malyanov's neighbor dies, possibly as a suicide, and he comes under suspicion of the police for murder. Unexpectedly, he is visited by an attractive woman claiming to be his wife's classmate. An apparent explosion fells a large tree just outside his window. These events seem to conspire to prevent Malyanov from returning to his work.
Approaching the problem with a scientific mindset, Malyanov suspects the potential discovery is in the way of someone (or something) intent on preventing the completion of his work. The same idea occurs to his friends and acquaintances, who find themselves in a similar impasse -- some powerful, mysterious, and very selective force impedes their work in fields ranging from biology to mathematical linguistics.
A solution is proposed by Malyanov's friend and neighbor, the mathematician Vecherovsky (Вечеровский). He posits that the mysterious force is the Universe's reaction to the Mankind's scientific pursuit which threatens to discover the very essence of the Universe. This reaction is what prevents development of "super-civilizations", ones that would be able to counteract the Second law of thermodynamics on a cosmic scale.
Paradoxically, Vecherovsky proposes to treat this Universal resistance to scientific progress as a natural phenomenon which can and should be investigated and even harnessed by Science.
Aleksandr Sokurov's movie "Dni Zatmenija" or "The Days of the Eclipse" is loosely based upon the novel.
External links
- Text of the novel at Maksim Moshkow's Library (Russian)
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