Hard to Be a God

Premise and themes

The novel follows Anton (alias Don Rumata throughout the book), an undercover operative from the future planet Earth, in his mission on an alien planet that is populated by human beings whose society has not advanced beyond the Middle Ages. The novel's core idea is that human progress throughout the centuries is often cruel and bloody, and that religion and blind faith can be effective tools of oppression, working to destroy the emerging scientific disciplines and enlightenment. The title refers to Anton's perception of his precarious role as an observer on the planet, for while he has far more advanced knowledge than the people around him, he is forbidden to assist too actively as his assistance would interfere with the natural progress of history. (See "Zoo hypothesis"). The narrative delves into the subjectivity of the main character, showing his own Character arc from an emotionally uninvolved 'observer' to the person who rejects his blind belief in theory when confronted with the cruelty of real events.

Plot summary

The prologue depicts a scene from before the main events of the novel, in which the protagonist Anton goes on an adventure with his friends Pashka (Paul) and Anka (Anna), and they engage in imaginative play that they are on an unnamed medieval planet. They find an abandoned road with a sign reading "Wrong Way". Anton decides to follow the road and returns to tell his friends that he found remnants from World War II – a skeleton of a German gunner chained to his machine gun.

The main events of the novel take place on an unnamed medieval planet, with Anton and Pashka taking the roles of observers of its people. Anton adopts the name "Don Rumata" and is based in the Arkanar Kingdom and Pashka adopts the name "Don Gug" (or "Don Hug", depending on translation) in the Irukan Duchy. Rumata visits the Drunken Den, a meeting place for observers. He is investigating the disappearance of a famed scientist, Doctor Budach, who may have been kidnapped by Don Reba, the Prime Minister of Arkanar. Don Reba has been leading a campaign against all educated people in the kingdom, blaming them for all the calamities and misfortunes of the kingdom. Rumata feels alarmed, as the kingdom is changing into a fascist police state, which would not have happened in similar medieval societies on Earth. Rumata has been working to save the most talented poets, writers, doctors and scientists, smuggling them abroad into neighboring countries.

Rumata tries to convince his colleagues that a more active intervention must take place. However, Don Gug and Don Kondor (an elder and more experienced observer who often travels by helicopter) feel that he has become too involved in local affairs and cannot look at the situation with a broader historical perspective. Rumata agrees to continue his work.

Back in the city, Rumata tries pumping multiple people for information, including Waga Kolesol, a local head of organized crime. He also attends a soirée organized by Don Reba's lover, Doña Ocana, who is also rumored to be Don Reba's confidante. Rumata tries to seduce her and pump her for information, but he's disgusted with himself and retreats. Rumata's love interest, a young commoner named Kira, who can't stand the brutality and horrors of fascist Arkanar any longer, asks to stay in Rumata's house. Rumata gladly agrees and promises to take her with him back to Earth.

His other plans take a bad turn. Life in Arkanar becomes less and less tolerable. Reba orders the torture and execution of Doña Ocana. Rumata, faced with the horrible consequences of his power-play, goes into a drunken stupor. Finally, left with no other option, in front of the King, Rumata openly accuses Don Reba of kidnapping a famous physician whom he (Rumata) had invited to tend to the King's maladies.

History

According to Boris Strugatsky, the concept behind Hard to Be a God started as a "fun adventure story in the spirit of The Three Musketeers" while the brothers were writing Escape Attempt, which mentions a character who is a spy on another planet. It was originally titled Seventh Heaven and then renamed The Observer as they developed the novel. The backlash from the Manege Affair in 1962 caused the authors to rethink the tone of the novel. There was a sudden backlash against any form of abstract art, and it came to a head at a March 1963 meeting of the Union of Soviet Writers when an argument broke out about the direction of Soviet science fiction being too abstract, and one story even being accused of supporting fascism. After that meeting, the brothers shifted the novel to be a "story about the fate of intelligentsia, submerged in the twilight of the middle ages", and finished writing in June 1963. In the process of sharing the manuscript with other writers and editors, they made many changes, including a suggestion from Ivan Yefremov that the character Don Rebia be changed to Don Reba because it was too obvious an anagram for Lavrentiy Beria. They didn't run into any censorship issues, but after the novel was published, some of their peers accused the book of abstractionism, surrealism, and pornography, each of them a grave offense in the view of the Party, and Yefremov published an article defending the novel from those allegations.

Translations

The first English translation of the novel by Wendayne Ackerman, published in 1973, was made from a German translation of the original Russian. In 2014 the Chicago Review Press published the first direct-to-English translation by Olena Bormashenko.

Reception and influence

Theodore Sturgeon praised Hard to Be a God as "one of the most skillfully written, heavily freighted sf novels I have ever read," saying "The writing is well paced and the narrative is beautifully structured." Publishers Weekly wrote "The unadorned prose cloaks rich ideas, illustrating the ability of imaginative literature to probe troubling moral questions."

The novel was included into the 2013 list 100 Books for Schoolchildren recommended by the Ministry of Education and Science (Russia).

Soviet writer Isay Davydov said that he took the idea of progressorship, the core of his novel I Will Return in a Thousand Years, from Strugatsky's Hard to Be a God.

Adaptations

Hard to Be a God was adapted multiple times in different media.

Theatrical films

1989 film directed by Peter Fleischmann and with an appearance by Werner Herzog

2013 film known previously as History of the Arkanar Massacre, directed by Aleksei German.

Without Weapons

Without Weapons (Без оружия, Bez oruzhia) also known as A Man from a Distant Star (Человек с далёкой звезды, Chelovek s dalyokoy zvezdy) was a play created by the Strugatsky brothers themselves in 1989. It roughly followed the plot of the book and revealed several previously unknown details. Certain characters were also combined for the sake of brevity. The play was most likely created as a reaction to the 1989 Peter Fleischmann film.

PC Game

In 2007, the French video game company Nobilis Group published a CD-ROM PC game based on the book.