Burdened by Evil, or After Forty Years

The novel Burdened by Evil, or Forty Years Later represents the authorial farewell of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky; it is the final chapter of their thirty-year-long collaborative creative journey. And it is an incredibly striking and clear final chapter, showing what a huge distance they travelled as writers since the days of The Land of Crimson Clouds or Hard to Be a God, and what an immense transformation they underwent over time.

The relatively short length does not prevent the authors from developing not one, but three separate storylines within the pages of the work. The first, which unfolds deep in the past, offers an unconventional perspective on the origin and development of the world's major religions. The second depicts the authors' present, the “perestroika” 80s of the last century, but with an intense, almost Bulgakov-esque touch of magic and mysticism. And finally, the third will take you several decades further into one of the possible futures, which is not nearly as benign and idyllic as it might seem at first glance. The three storylines weave around each other, occasionally touching, before ingeniously intertwining into a single whole at the end.

Burdened by Evil is a treat for the discerning reader – the most complex, darkest, and most intellectually demanding text the Strugatskys ever wrote. It is a deeply philosophical novel that asks more questions than it answers, plunging you into a whirlwind of doubt, ethical dilemmas, and spiritual uncertainty.