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Monday Starts On Saturday

Monday Starts On Saturday

By,&
SatireFantasy
Pages
264
Published
1965
Language
English

Synopsis

Alexander Privalov is driving through the north of Russia when he picks up two hitchhikers, and by morning he has been talked into a job at NITWiT, the National Institute for the Technology of Witchcraft and Thaumaturgy, in the town of Solovets.

The Institute is staffed by wizards, by a cat that cannot finish a story, by a talking pike, and by researchers pursuing universal human happiness with the same grinding committee procedure a real Soviet institute would apply to anything else. Nobody goes home. Working through the weekend is not an imposition here, it is the point: for these people Monday genuinely does start on Saturday.

The Strugatsky brothers wrote it in 1965 as a love letter to scientists and a demolition of the bureaucracy around them, and it remains their funniest book. Folk tales, time travel, a department of Absolute Knowledge that produces nothing, and one of the great satires of institutional life.

Prose complexity
7/10

Vibe

FunnyWhimsicalSatiricalLightheartedThought-ProvokingNostalgic
Fish Out of WaterTime LoopAcademy

Genres

Satire Fantasy Humor Science Fiction Classics Folklore

Authors

E
Evgeny Migunov

Evgeny Migunov is the author of "Monday Starts On Saturday," a book celebrated for its imaginative storytelling. His writing invites readers into a world of wit and wonder.

А
Аркадий Натанович Стругацкий

Arkady Natanovich Strugatsky was born in Batumi, Russia. While he was a child, he moved with his family to Leningrad. In 1942, Leningrad was under siege and he left with his father, who did not survive the trip to Vologda. Arkady was later drafted into the Soviet Army, and in 1949 he graduated from the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow. He worked as a teacher and interpreter for the military until 1955. From 1955 he began to work as an editor and writer. In 1958, he began his lif...

Б
Борис Натанович Стругацкий

Boris Natanovich Strugatsky was born in Batumi and later moved with his family to Leningrad. During World War II, his father and his older brother left the city, and his father died upon reaching Vologda. In 1950 he graduated from high school and went on to study astronomy at Leningrad State University. In 1955 he graduated and began working as as an astronomer and computer engineer. In 1966 he quit to write full time with his brother Arkady. He died in Saint Petersburg on November 19, 2012.

Characters

Alexander PrivalovProtagonist

A Leningrad computer programmer who takes a job running the Institute's electronic brain and narrates the whole business.

All characters in Monday Starts On Saturday

Frequently asked questions

  • Is there a film adaptation of Monday Starts On Saturday?

    A Soviet television film, Charodei (The Magicians), was released in 1982, loosely based on the novel. While it captures some of the whimsical spirit, it significantly alters the plot and character dynamics.

  • How does Monday Starts On Saturday relate to other Strugatsky novels?

    This novel is part of the Noon Universe, a shared setting for many of the Strugatskys' science fiction works, though it stands alone as a complete story. It offers a more satirical and humorous take on the universe compared to some of their darker or more philosophical entries.

  • What inspired the setting and themes of Monday Starts On Saturday?

    The book draws heavily on the authors' experiences working in Soviet scientific research institutes, satirizing the bureaucracy, eccentricities, and idealism prevalent in those environments. It also incorporates elements of Russian folklore and fairy tales into its magical realism.

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