Roadside Picnic

Last Wednesday I read Roadside Picnic, Arkady and Boris Strugatsy, translated Olena Bormashenko, 2023, Gollancz, London. Here are my thoughts.

In many Medieval manuscripts  all that was considered good (often religious imagery) was positioned in the middle of the page and all that was imaginary  was relegated to the margins. This border created a kind of no go zone and a reminder to viewers of the danger of others.

Not so in Arkady & Boris Strugatsy's 1972 science fiction novel 'Roadside Picnic' where imaginary visitations by unseen aliens were said to have contributed to polluted, dangerous zones within the city. Easy to lay the blame on aliens for the rubbish left and to wonder at their motives for doing so, when humans create all kinds of waste that sullies air, land and water and impacts on all species.  Inside, not outside, these Zones contain various discarded artefacts presumably left by the aliens. They become desirable objects sold on the black market by Stalkers because of their innate qualities or potential use value in the future. 'Everyone makes a buck on the side, while the learned men pompously hold forth'. (p.110)

Typical of anthropocentrism a division is created between the inside and outside of the Zone. A division also between the stalker who courts danger in order to eke out a living and cleaner, safer players in this narrative. It is revealing that the Zone occupies an inside space reflecting a coalescence;  a self searching not only for unique objects but a search for self amongst the detritus.

The zone was described as a 'bitch, a murderess' (p.144) a place 'put there by Satan to tempt us'(145). It was clearly delineated by a fence of thick black brambles. Its infrastructure was intact but overgrown. A filthy, uninhabited region that Redrick the hero of this story crawled through in order to secure his valuable bounty.

Written in 1972 the authors expose an interest in 1960s Russia, which was concerned with invention, experimentation and futurology; exemplified by their space program and the curious, tiny pieces of space junk that fell to earth after the four Sputnik (satellites) disintegrated. I was ten when Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human in space. Newspaper articles about him were pasted on my classroom wall and I'm absolutely positive that my interest in science fiction/began at this time.

So,considering all of this I propose a different scenario to Roadside Picnic.

Humans not aliens are responsible for the trash, the dumping of it, its use and the consequences to themselves and others of their actions.

I suppose my short reading assumes the position of eco-feminist since I link the narrative with consumerism and Capitalism and its ongoing affect on the environment and by association, all of the natural world.

Imagine a large corporation funded by the government to experiment with new biological and technological  materials and machines. Their behavioural Science Department decides to create an experiment to observe human behaviour when exposed to and confronted by strange things. Their motive also included secret rubbish dumping with no concern for the environment or government reprisals.

Under the veil of night they scattered unsuccessful experiments over five Zones and accompany their 'visitation' with sudden, bright lights to fuel the idea that an alien presence has occurred. The corporation is solely interested in what the humans will do and whether they devise novel uses of the discarded items.One man's trash is another man's treasure.

So, what do Stalkers and others do? Above all they make several assumptions: that Aliens, like them, have no compunction in leaving unwanted trash around without regards to the impact on human or not so human species. That the artefacts have fallen from space or been brought from space so must be the products of aliens. They enter and steal items, some die, some are maimed, but the primary protagonist Redrick lives. Although they don't understand why objects perform as they do they invent uses for them. They are revealed as opportunistic and intelligent.  I don't know how electricity works but I know to flick a switch and make all my appliances work. The Stalkers enter the Zone to retrieve objects to sell and they invent notions of a superior alien, more technically advanced than themselves who hovers just out of sight but is occasionally seen as a dark figure within the Zone. They believe that these artefacts will create a better future for humanity. Although these discarded items are imbued with uncanny energies and are for all purposes alive they are perceived purely as objects of desire, their use value palpable in the shadowy arena of the Zone.

It was midway down paragraph two on page 83 when Redrick experienced a daylight dream. In his words 'the air turned hard, it appeared to have surfaces, corners, edges, as if space had been filled with huge course spheres, polished pyramids and gigantic, prickly crystals. It was as though he had walked into a  Malevich painting. I began to think that his vision of a geometric language system associated with magic and science, pre-empted the myriad, diverse nature of the refuse in the Zone as well as their mystical values. Take for instance the Golden Sphere that may grant wishes.

From my point of view the best thing about this narrative is the fact that the objects are recycled but even this doesn't stop them from having unwanted affects on the population. Corpses continue to arrive and children are born mutated. Witnesses to the original event at Harmont move away from the Zone but they themselves become vectors of death.