The Changing Utopia of Ivan Efremov: From Prometheanism to Ecologism

Abstract

Russian paleontologist and science fiction writer Ivan Antonovich Yefremov (1908–1972) in his novels “Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale” and “The Hour of the Bull” presented a picture of the distant future of the Earth. But there are a number of differences between the utopian societies depicted in two novels (although the future of Earth is shown in “The Hour of the Bull” briefly). The article analyzes what exactly Yefremov changed in his utopia, and suggests why he did it. The novel “Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale” depicts an egalitarian and anti-authoritarian society, consisting of physically and intellectually developed people, similar to the heroes and demigods of antiquity, actively transforming nature. The attitude towards nature as an object of man’s application of his forces and a resource is called рrometheanism, which is opposed to ecologism, which declares the exhaustibility of resources and the need for humanity to be in harmony with nature. The prometheanistic features of the utopian society in “Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale”, however, are accompanied by important reservations that make one doubt the author’s prometheanism. In “The Hour of the Bull” Efremov firmly stands on the position of environmentalism, unequivocally warns about the dangers of prometheanism, and his strong and free heroes are convinced of the need for self-restraint, based on an ethical and, possibly, religious basis. Thus, I.A. Efremov’s novels “Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale” and “The Hour of the Bull” show us a utopia in progress (which is due to both a change in the socio-political context and the movement of the author’s thought), stimulating today the emergence of new ideas in discussions about posthumanity, рrometheanism and ecophilosophy.