Sophia University Junior College Division Faculty Journal
第 44 号, 2023, 49-56

Research Note

Female and male characters in the works of
Russian science fiction writer Kir Bulychev
Olga Ilina
Introduction
In Russian science fiction, the ratio of male and female authors is such that1

the priority always belonged to men. According to researchers , this phenomenon is
explained by the fact that the so-called “hard science fiction” was a priority in the Soviet
Union, which told readers about the achievements and prospects of real science. Authors
described technical details and the operation of various mechanisms, and wrote about
exploring new territories. All these topics, as was traditionally believed, may be ofinterest primarily to men. The main characters of such works, written by male authors,more often became men than women. Female characters were on the sidelines: they
could be the helpers of male characters; they could play the role of a “damsel in distress”
who the hero needed to save; they could act as a hero’s love, often a fatal woman.
However, very rarely did they play an independent role in the plot.
In this work, we are going to talk about a rare, but very bright exception, the bookseries for teenagers about a girl from the future Alisa Selezneva by Kir Bulychev (19342

2003) . They were written by a male author and were very popular in the late Soviet
Union. Several films and animation films based on these books were shot, one of which
can be even attributed to the dystopia genre. In this work, we are going to analyze theimages of one female (Alica Selezneva) and several male (her best friends Arkasha
Sapozhkov and Pashka Geraskin) main characters to reach a clear understanding ofappropriate gender role models for soviet teenagers.

The World of the Future in The Books About Alisa’s Adventures
The book series began in 1965 with the novel “The Girl with Whom Nothing
Happens”. Later books were published until 2003 (in 2003, Kir Bulychev died), but inthis work we consider only those works that were written before 1991, since then theSoviet Union collapsed and the realities changed. The selected book series is noteworthy
in that they are one of the few works of Russian teenage literature of the Soviet period in─ 49 ─Olga Ilina

the genre of SF, in which the female character plays the main role. In addition, thanks
to films and animations, Alisa Selezneva and her adventures became known throughout
the Soviet Union, since the television was centralized and all residents watched thesame channels. So it can be said without exaggeration that several generations of Soviet
schoolchildren grew up in stories about the adventures of Alisa and her friends. After the
release of the animated film The Mystery of the Third Planet (1981) as well as the films
Guest from the Future (1985) and The Island of the Rusty General (1988), the popularityof books about Alisa could be compared with the popularity of Harry Potter in the 2000s.
And just like Harry, Ron and Hermione are a certain ideal of modern teenagers, so Alisa
and her friends embodied a certain example of Soviet teenagers.
The story of Alisa takes place in the futuristic Moscow of the twenty-first century.
The author does not explicitly mention whether Alisa lives under communism orsocialism, but indirect details hint to readers that her world is more like a society of
victorious communism, since it lacks money. People can easily move around the planet
Earth, as well as fly into space to distant planets. Teenagers from an early age havehobbies, are interested in science and technology, and can choose a major to their liking.
There is no social inequality; earthlings live together in a high-tech and convenientworld. All diseases, “except for the common cold”, have been managed, there ispractically no crime on Earth, and all earthlings are responsible, friendly, and socialized
members of society. Alisa describes her contemporaries as follows: “In the future there
will be no ordinary people. Five billion exceptional, famous, gifted people will live on
3

Earth” . The world of the future in books about Alisa is utopian, and more like a fairy
tale than a real one, but the explanation is simple: this world was created by the author
for a children’s and teenage audience. In addition, most of the books belong to Soviet
children’s science fiction, in which dreaming of a “bright” and fair future was quite
commonplace.
Later, especially in the post-Soviet period narratives, piracy, the slave trade, andviolence appear in books about Alisa, but basically, all this exists in deep space, on
planets more backward than Earth.

Characteristics of the main characters
Alisa is a girl of school age; in most books, she is 12 years old. Alisa’s appearance
is described as follows: this is a blonde girl of high stature and athletic build, usually
dressed in “men’s” clothes (shorts and a tank top, or jumpsuit). Alisa is in high school;
she is a member of the circle of young naturalists and dreams of becoming a biologist,─ 50 ─

Female and male characters in the works of Russian science fiction writer Kir Bulychev

like her father. According to the book “Alisa’s Journey” (1974) (“A Girl from the Earth”),
Alisa is in the second grade (“After all, the third “B” class left altogether at night inthe sack of potatoes on a cargo [spacecraft] barge. They will be in the stadium, and our
second grades class are not”), while in the book “A Hundred Years Ahead” (the film
Guest From the Future based on this novel), Alisa tells the schoolgirl of the late XX
century, Yulia Gribkova, that in her time in schools “there are no classes and no letters”(which indicated classes gradation as well), but “only interest groups” (in the film Guest
from the Future, shot on this story, on the contrary, Alisa says she is in sixth-gradeclass).
Alone, together with her father or friends, she traveled to many distant planets, inthe underground depths of Earth and in Atlantis, as well as in the distant past (includingin the “era of legends” 26 thousand years ago) and in the twentieth century (1976).
Alisa is the only child in the family. Her father is a famous cosmozoologist, professorof zoology Igor Seleznev, and director of the Moscow zoo of the future, Cosmozoo. He is
the author of many printed works (in particular, the book “Animals of the Far Planets”),
and a regular author of the galactic journal “Bulletin of Cosmozoology”. Her mother isa famous architect of the solar system, Kira Selezneva, known for the buildings of the
Nukus Stadium and the cultural center on the asteroid Pallas. Alisa spends much moretime with her father than with her mother, but, since the books are for children, she has
no psychological injuries in this regard.
Alisa’s character is impulsive, energetic, and adventurous. She constantly surprises
adults with her childish spontaneity, resourcefulness, and fearlessness. Often her
outlandish guesses are more accurate than the scientific hypotheses of adult scientists.
Along with peers - especially with her best friend Pasha Geraskin - Alisa, on thecontrary, often plays the role of a skeptic and a balanced, calm member of the team.
Alisa is honest, and she believes that “if you have the opportunity not to lie, it’s better
not to do that”, but she thinks it is permissible to show tricks to her parents or other
adults if there is reason to think that adults will interfere with the implementation of4plans because of their excessive concern for the welfare and safety of children . She isvery independent and often travels in the company of friends or alone, rather than withher parents. Nevertheless, usually, a friendly adult is always present nearby her, but
Alisa has to make many decisions alone and she copes with this task perfectly.
Arkady (Arkasha) Sapozhkov and Pavel (Pashka) Geraskin are her best friends andcompanions. They study with Alisa in the same class (in the Soviet Union and in modern
Russia, school classes have a constant composition of students throughout the study─ 51 ─Olga Ilina

period - from the first grade of elementary school to the last grade of high school, thatis, the same students study with each other all 11-12 years) and also attend a circle ofyoung naturalists.
Pashka is a peer, classmate, and best friend of Alisa, a member of the circle ofyoung biologists. Born a month later than Alisa. Outwardly described as a blue-eyed,tall, and fair-haired boy. By nature, he is an incorrigible romantic, bombastic, braggart,and stubborn, unwilling to admit his own mistakes, but a true friend and reliable
companion. He has a keen nature, he is constantly in search of adventure, which often
leads to disastrous consequences. He is prone to impulsive actions. He constantly gets
involved in adventures, and very often Alisa and her friends have to save Pashka andsave themselves from the troubles in which Pashka got everyone involved.
In the adaptations, he appears only in the cartoon Prisoners of Yamagiri-maru
5(1988) .
Arkady Sapozhkov is Alisa Selezneva’s classmate (at least from the second grade)and her closest friend. He lives in Moscow with a large family - parents, grandfather,
grandmother, brothers, and sisters. There is also a cottage in Kratovo, built by thegreat-grandfather of Arkady Sapozhkov. About relatives, we only know that his greatgrandfather Ilya Borisovich received the Nobel Prize for scientific discoveries.
There is no data about Arkady’s life before school. In school, he specializes inbiology. Together with Alisa and some other classmates, he conducts research at thestation of young biologists on Gogolevsky Boulevard in Moscow. He has scientificpublications.
He participated with Alisa in space expeditions within our Galaxy for scientific andadventurous purposes.
Arkady Sapozhkov is the exact opposite of Pashka Geraskin. His character isamazingly suited to the path of life that he has chosen for himself. He is an ideal
scientist. He is alienated from everything that does not belong to the subject of research,always immersed in scientific creativity, purposeful and active, when the scientific task
requires it, scrupulous, methodical, and patient in finding a solution. Phlegmatic andcalm at home, he can flare up when it comes to discussing his scientific research or
defending his own right. Obviously, an exceptionally successful scientific career awaits
him, and he will receive his Nobel Prize, after his grandfather. At the same time, Arkady
Sapozhkov is quite attached to friends and even sometimes is able to distract fromresearch for the sake of help and support.
He is described as a teenager slightly above average height with bright red curly─ 52 ─

Female and male characters in the works of Russian science fiction writer Kir Bulychev

6hair and freckles on his face .

Characters’ Behavior and the Gender Role Model that They
Demonstrate to Readers
Alisa’s two main qualities are curiosity and charm. When Alisa was younger andtraveled with her father and his space colleagues in search of rare animals, her father
described her abilities as follows: “Alisa has wide connections”. Thanks to innatesociability and charm, Alisa makes many influential acquaintances on this journey.
However, with age, she becomes more modest, accustomed to behaving “as a girlshould”, that is, she becomes forced to act indirectly more, than directly. In books series
where Alisa and her friends fall into medieval societies, she is forced to behave like anaverage girl: wear a dress, keep quiet; and no one listens to her opinion. On the other
hand, in such societies, Alisa remains at large, while Pasha Geraskin, who could not
restrain himself and insulted the knight, is seized and detained. Alisa manages to free
him only because she is dressed like a princess and those around her do not consider her
dangerous.
Among other things, Alisa is smart, observant, courageous, and loyal to her friends
and tries not to break her promises and not lie (when it is possible and does not harm
security). Along with all her other friends, she goes in for sports, and for schoolchildren
from the present (1976), her abilities seem superheroic: she plays basketball very well,
can jump over the fence, and run very fast. However, Alisa herself does not consider
herself a supergirl - she is modest and not ambitious, as a proper Soviet girl should be.
Best of all, the features of the image of Alisa can be seen in comparing her withanother character - her female peer, the alien humanoid slave Zauri from the novel“The War with the Lilliputians” (1992). In early childhood, Zauri was abducted from aprosperous planet by space pirates and sold into slavery, where she spent most of herlife. She is a beautiful girl; she has long black hair, dark eyes, and dark skin. Alisa’s
friends like Pashka and Arkady like her, and this fact makes Alice a little jealous (butshe does not give a look). Deprived of slavery of the opportunity to dress beautifully,
freed by Alisa and her friends Zauri immediately begins to wear dresses, flirting. But,
as Alisa notes, Zauri is “a very spoiled girl”. She may cry at the most inopportune
moment, become stubborn, or start demanding that everyone take care of her. Alisa
believes that all this comes from a lack of education. At the beginning of the story,
Zauri was irresponsible, but gradually, thanks to the support of Alisa and her friends,
she shows her best qualities and saves her friends from danger. We can say that Zauri─ 53 ─Olga Ilina

demonstrates a pronounced stereotypical female model of behavior: she is tearful,
spontaneous, and capricious, and she likes to dress beautifully and flirt with the opposite
sex. In contrast to her, Alisa is restrained, sensible, and behaves correctly with malefriends; she tries to suppress her jealousy of Zauri, who Pashka likes (in the book series
about Alisa it is not mentioned directly, but some of Alisa’s reactions indicate that she
has a romantic feeling for Pashka Geraskin). Alice puts in the first place the business,work, and well-being of the team, and all these “girly” experiences for her are much lessimportant.
Due to the fact that Alice is a girl, she manages to resolve some conflicts throughdiplomatic means, and not through violence, which gravitates to, for example, Pashka.
However, pronounced femininity in her behavior is still not observed, in contrast to thealien girl Zauri. Such was the ideal image of a Soviet teenage girl: her business qualities
are not inferior to men’s, and in the sphere of personal relations she knows how tocontrol herself and is more inclined to compromise than her male friends. And yet, Alisa
is often required to keep silent and be more tactful than Pashka and Arkasha: they are
more active, more selfish than Alisa, can be carried away by an unexpected idea andput the group’s security at risk, or decide that they can solve the problems alone andoverestimate their strength.
As a girl, Alisa often manages to refrain from rash steps, stop and think. Despite
the fact that their team of three people does not have a leader, sometimes Pashka
Geraskin claims to be the clear leader. Arkasha, as a true scientist, prefers to act
autonomously. But Alisa, due to her innate charm, diplomacy, and well-developed
emotional intelligence, copes well with the duties of an implicit leader. However, as
mentioned above, she is modest and not ambitious, and therefore does not take aleadership position in the open. All these qualities were also relevant for women in theSoviet Union (and in modern Russia as well): to work alongside men, and coordinate
their actions, but never openly demonstrate their (women’s) leadership qualities.
Although some details in the book series indicate that Alisa is not indifferent toPasha Geraskin, she never speaks openly about her feelings for him. The romantic
line between the main characters is underdeveloped. Among the three characters,
only Pashka Geraskin clearly falls in love with different girls (not Alisa), since he isa romantic person, spontaneous, and prone to rash acts. More serious people - Alisa
and Arkasha - are passionate about work and adventure, they do not have time forsuch nonsense as romantic hobbies. This attitude about falling in love is also very
characteristic of Soviet teenagers since the romantic side of the relationship between the─ 54 ─

Female and male characters in the works of Russian science fiction writer Kir Bulychev

characters was usually presented in the form of sincere friendship between them, andmutual support, but sex, and carnal love rarely became the subject of description. In theSoviet Union, there was so-called “Puritan” morality, and all topics related to love andaffection were under the tacit ban. Especially when it came to literature for children
and teenagers. Alisa and her male friends are a team of colleagues working on a difficult
task or a group of friends who have fun. They consider any kind of romantic hobbies
with each other as a weakness and are in no hurry to indulge themselves in satisfying
the need for romantic love. This is probably one of the reasons why Alisa and her friends
stay for 12 years old throughout the book series. If they got older, the writer would haveto enter a romantic line, and then the age limit of books would have to be increased.

Conclusion
In modern Russia, one can observe a tendency toward a return to the Soviet
model of banning the image of sexual and romantic relationships between teenagers.
For instance, for several years there has been a law banning gay propaganda among7

non-adults (and in November 2022 a law banning LGBT propaganda among adults
appeared), and even a flag with the symbols of the LGBT community cannot be displayed
publicly so as not to cause uncomfortable questions for children and teenagers (there
were curious precedents when vigilant citizens called the police when they saw curtains
in the window colors of the rainbow flag). The origins of this tradition can be found in
Soviet times when the “Puritan” Soviet morality avoided open conversations on the topic
of sexual relations, and homosexuality was considered a disease that should be treated.
In addition, nominally men and women both in the Soviet Union and in modern Russia
are considered equal and have equal rights and duties. At first glance, it seems that
there are no pronounced stereotypical gender differences between them. However, in
reality, men predominantly occupy leadership positions, and they are characterized by amore active, more independent life position than women. And women, possessing equalbusiness qualities with men, are still in second positions and are a little shy of theirfemininity, perceive it as a weakness, imbalance, something that needs to be eliminatedand corrected.
Moreover, thanks to the emancipation of Soviet women in the early twentiethcentury, the modern nuclear Russian family is usually based on a husband and wife
both working. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a new norm emerged in the middle
and upper-middle classes that copied the relationship in the traditional American family(or in the traditional Japanese family, where the man works and the woman does the─ 55 ─Olga Ilina

housework), but for economic reasons, this norm has not become universal.
At the same time, women are still being educated with the idea that a woman
should be modest, and unselfish, she should give in to a man and be content with therole of his assistant even if her professional and personal qualities are in no way inferior
to a male colleague.

Notes
1

	Paul Amnuel, interview with Elena Kushnir, 2018.06.17,
https://knife.media/amnuel-interview/ (accessed November 25, 2022).

2	Bulychev, Kir, SFE, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction,
https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/bulychev_kir (accessed November 25, 2022).

3

	A film “Guest from the Future” (1985).

4	Sergei Lobov, Fairytale about the Future. Alisa Seleznyova // Mir Fantastiki, 2009,№7, p. 115-119.

5

	Ibid.

6

	Alisa Seleznyova, Encyclopedia,
https://alisa.romantiki.ru/?p=193 (accessed November 25, 2022).

7

	The Russian federal law “for the Purpose of Protecting Children from Information
Advocating for a Denial of Traditional Family Values”, also known in Englishlanguage media as the “gay propaganda law” and the “anti-gay law”, is a bill thatwas unanimously approved by the State Duma on 11 June 2013 and was signed
into law by President Vladimir Putin on 30 June 2013.

─ 56 ─