BLUE ORCHIDS AND ORANGE JUNGLE: THE EXOTIC SPACE OF MARS AND VENUS IN UKRAINIAN FICTION OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Abstract

The article examines the genre of distant planets travel in Ukrainian science fiction of the 20th century based on the material of Volodymyr Vladko’s novel “Argonauts of the Universe” and Myroslav Kapii’s tale “The Land of Blue Orchids”. Both authors depict adventurous space journeys to the planets of the solar system on modern starships built thanks to scientific and technical progress, present heroic types of astronauts obsessed with conquering the Universe, draw plastic and colorful imaginary worlds of Mars and Venus, with specific landscapes, unusual flora and fauna, and ancient myths are also woven into the story: about the Argonauts in the novel by Vladko and about the Atlanteans in the tale by Kapii. An important role in each of the works is played by the image of alien space, which should be explored by an earthly expedition. Depicting the planets of the solar system, Ukrainian writers rely on the scientific knowledge of the time before the era of space exploration by automatic interplanetary stations, they use the works of Giovanni Schiaparelli, Percival Lowell, and Nikolai Rynin. Scientific hypotheses are supplemented in the works with adventurous motifs and images of exotic, wild flora and fauna, monsters that embody the phobias of earthlings. The novel by Vladko unfolds the plot of the colonization of Venus by Soviet astronauts, and the conquest of the planet in order to use its resources. In Kapii’s story, the international expedition to Mars is the result of the flourishing of science in the peaceful 21st century, and independent Ukraine finds itself at the center of space events. In both works, the distant planet is depicted as a projection of the Earth’s past: the Mesozoic era in “Argonauts of the Universe” and the civilization of Atlantis in “Land of Blue Orchids”.