"Picnic on the sidelines": analysis and summary. "Picnic on the sidelines": authors

Let's talk about one of the most famous Russian fantasy novels of the 20th century. By the way, he acquired special fame thanks to the film "Stalker" by Andrei Tarkovsky. And later the popularity of the novel was increased by a series of books and games that were already published in the early 2000s and dedicated to the adventures of stalkers.

The article will contain a brief summary. "Picnic on the sidelines" - this is the name of the work that we will retell and analyze.

Authors

The creators of the surprising and attractive world of the novel were the Soviet science fiction brothers Strugatsky. A picnic on the sidelines, a brief summary of which will be presented later, is a fantastic novel written by them in 1972. In addition to fame in the homeland, it received wide publicity abroad - this novel ranks first among the Strugatsky productions, in terms of the number of transfers to other languages.

The novel was first published in 1972 in the pages of the magazine "Aurora". However, to release the work in its final form, as a whole book, writers in the Soviet Union for a long time failed. Only in 1980 it was printed, and then with large corrections.

Introduction to the Visiting Zone

"Picnic on the sidelines," a brief summary of which we will tell in the article, tells about the events that unfold in the late 20th century. The place of action is the town of Harmont, located next to the Visiting Zone. So called places on Earth, where shortly before the described story, several alien ships landed. They stayed on the Earth for a short time, but left behind a lot of things that people could not understand. In total, there are six Zones.

The territory visited by aliens was fenced, and the entrance to it is allowed only for employees of the International Institute of Extraterrestrial Cultures. But there are those who illegally enter the territory of the Zone in order to obtain various alien objects and sell them. Such people are called stalkers.

Scientists have proposed several hypotheses of the origin of the Zones: extraterrestrial intelligence placed on the Earth samples of its culture; The aliens settled in the Zones, from where they learn people; Or maybe the aliens just stopped to rest on the way to another goal, how people stop at a picnic, and what remained of them was equivalent to human wrappers from sweets, fire pitches, cans, petrol stains, etc.

Main character

Let's try to include a three-dimensional work in a concise manner. "Picnic on the Roadside" describes the life of Redrick Schuhart, a former stalker, now an employee of the Institute of Extraterrestrial Cultures. He holds the position of laboratory assistant, helping the Russian scientist Cyril Panov, who examines one of the artifacts of the Zone - the so-called pacifiers. "Dummy" - two discs of copper, the size of a tea saucer, between them constantly keeps the same distance of 40 centimeters. It is impossible to squeeze or dilute them for a longer distance.

Zone

Red and Kirill have a good relationship, and he offers the scientist to go together to the Zone to get a "dummy", which has something blue inside. Red had seen her during the previous raids. Having dressed in special costumes, the researchers go to the Zone.

During the study, Cyril accidentally touches some silver cobweb. The scientist does not notice this, but Red begins to worry. However, the expedition was successfully completed, and the scientists returned from the Zone whole. True, after a few hours the scientist dies because of a heart attack.

Red blames himself for the death of a colleague. He, an experienced stalker, did not finish watching! He knew that in the Zone there can not be trifles - every trifle can have serious consequences.

Back to stalkers

The world of the Zone is the most popular of all that the Strugatsky brothers have created. "Picnic on the roadside," the brief content of which we are considering, takes the reader into a gloomy, incomprehensible and deadly reality. And the life of the protagonist is not distinguished by joy and carelessness.

Cherz several years after the death of Cyril Redrick leaves the Institute, returning to the profession of a stalker. Red has a wife Guta, they have a daughter - Maria, whom they call the Monkey. It has long been noted that the children of stalkers are slightly different from other people. Maria is no exception - her face and body are covered with wool. In the rest it is an ordinary child.

About new adventures of Red in the Zone only superficially can tell a short summary. "Picnic on the sidelines," whose author does not regret paints, describes a sortie into the Redrik Zone with Buzzard Burridge. He became famous for his cruelty towards other stalkers. However, this time in danger was the life of Burridge himself - he stepped into the "witch jelly", and now below the knees his legs became like rubber. The vulture asks him to help, in exchange promising to help Red find the Golden Ball.

The golden sphere is a mythical artifact, to which the power to fulfill desires is attributed. Barbridge says that he found it, and even the artifact fulfilled his desire. Redrick did not take his words seriously, but he helps the comrade.

The same day, Red goes with the booty to the buyer of artifacts, where he is arrested and imprisoned.

Return from prison

Of course, all the nuances of unfolding events can not convey a summary. "Picnic on the sidelines" is a novel, the plot of which is developing rapidly. So, Red, having finished his term, returns home. Here he learns the unpleasant news - his daughter has changed so much that doctors doubt whether she is a person. In addition to changes in appearance, she ceased to understand human speech.

Red decides to go to the Zone in search of the Golden Ball. However, the Vulture warned him that serious tests were possible on the way. The most terrible of them is the "meat grinder". In order to go through it you will need to sacrifice another person. Red elects the son of Barbridge, Arthur, as a victim. Stalkers overcome all the traps and companion of Red, rushed forward with a cry: "Happiness for all!", Dies in the "meat grinder".

A wish

That's the end of the novel "Picnic on the Roadside", the brief content of which you read. Red looks at the Golden Ball and realizes that he, in fact, does not know what to ask, except for the health of his daughter. All his life he was engaged in the fact that he went to the Zone to feed his family. He simply can not do anything else. And then it becomes clear to him that Arthur was right, so unlike his father, and he could not think of a better desire: "Happiness for all! Free! ».

Analysis

Unfortunately, it can not contain the depth and duality of everything that the Strugatsky describes, a brief retelling.

"Picnic on the roadside, according to critics, is suitable for two definitions. Some believe that this is a sci-fi novel, others argue - social fiction. The latter cite such arguments - there are no scientific descriptions of the artifacts of the Zone in the work, the origins and purpose of aliens are not clear and there is no scientific justification for the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence.

The work instead abounds with descriptions of everyday scenes, which does not convey a summary. "Picnic on the sidelines" affects more social problems, telling about the hard life and fate of an ordinary guy in an unusual situation. Before the reader reveals the complex inner world of a person who paid a huge price, but what for? Therefore, the end of the novel can not be considered unambiguous, and everyone will understand it in their own way.