Of Planets and Trenches: Imperial Science Fiction in Contemporary Russia

In post‐Soviet Russia, science fiction has become a huge literary industry with hundreds of titles published yearly, and dozens of regular events for authors and fandom. Having recovered from the dominance of translated science fiction in the 1990s and reliance on Strugatsky's style and spirit, today's writers have developed a specific “sub‐genre” of imperial science fiction. Using the example of fifteen novels, this paper explores interconnections between this sub‐genre and the ongoing processes of identity‐making in Russia. It argues that “imperial science fiction” paradoxically exposes quasi‐post‐colonial sensibility, the loss of agency, and feelings of disempowerment, but by so doing it contributes to a geopolitical and revanchist way of thinking, entertained by authors and readers alike.