First published in a much longer version in Canadian-American Slavic Studies 6.2: 286-307. , 1972

My original longish 1972 essay, to which the reader is respectfully referred, used a bibliography of 96 units of criticism for a survey of the critical reception accorded to the Strugatsky Brothers. It wished to plot the USSR ideological debate and intervene into the conflict between the critical “cold” and “warm” stream with sympathy to the latter. It is remembered here for historical memory of how the rulers are prone to not only blame but also materially harass and bully critical intellectuals, alas very actual today. It contains a simplified overview of the main points from my original essay, while my evaluation the Strugatsky opus can be seen in my book PARABLES OF FREEDOM AND NARRATIVE LOGICS: POSITIONS AND PRESUPPOSITIONS IN SCIENCE FICTION AND UTOPIANISM, edited by Eric D. Smith, forthcoming in the Ralahine Series at P. Lang, Oxford. Whatever the Pope or Caesar may say, Lucretius was among the very best poets of the Latin language.