from The Teacher of Symmetry Cycle

Фотография Пушкин (1799–2099)

Fotografiya Pushkin (1799–2099) Literal: Pushkin’s photograph (1799–2099) English release: Pushkin’s Photograph (1799–2099)

by Андре́й Би́тов

Release: 1989
Format: Novelette
Genres: Science Fiction, Comedy
Audience: Adults
Content: Definite Time Travel
Original Language: Russian

In 1985, an author has visions of a time traveler named Igor from 2099. The traveler is being sent by his comrades in the domed city of St. Petersburg back to the 19th century, where he is tasked with capturing images and audio of motherland’s supreme father of poetry, Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin.

Note: A dissertation by [ex=bare]Гулиус Наталья Сергеевна | Gulius Natalya Sergeevna[/ex] notes that this story is part of Bitov’s Teacher of Symmetry Cycle, which consisted of a series of avant-garde stories purportedly written by an obscure Englishman named [ex=bare]Э. Тайрд-Боффин | A. Tired-Boffin[/ex] and loosely translated to Russian by Bitov. The English version of “Fotografiya Pushkin (1799–2099)” was said to have been called “Shakespeare’s Photograph” (or possibly “Stern’s Laughter” or “Swift’s Pill”), and presumably it was about Shakespeare rather than Pushkin.

Sergeevna explains that all this artistic mystification was part of an extensive footnote to “Fotografiya Pushkin (1799–2099),” but up in the ITTDB Citadel, we’ve yet to track down the footnote. Perhaps it was part of the 1987 publication in [ex=bare]Знамя || Znamia[/ex], or maybe it did not appear until the story was published along with the rest of the cycle in Bitov’s 1988 collection, [ex=bare]Человек в пейзаже | Man in the landscape | Chelovek v peyzazhe[/ex]. It is not listed in the table of contents of [ex=bare]Преподаватель симметрии ] | | Prepodavatelʹ simmetrii[/ex](2008), which was translated to English as Symmetry Teacher (2014).

— Michael Main

. . . мы сможем в будущем, и не таком, господа-товарищи, далеком, заснять всю жизнь Пушкина скрытой камерой, записать его гол. . . представляете, какое это будет счастье, когда каждый школьник сможет услышать, как Пушкин читает собственные стихи!

. . . we will be able in the future, and, gentlemen-comrades, not such a distant one, to photograph Pushkin’s entire life with a hidden camera, record his voice . . . imagine how wonderful it will be when every schoolboy will be able to hear Pushkin read his own poetry!

English

DEBUT

[ex=bare]Фотография Пушкин (1799–2099) | Pushkin’s Photograph (1799–2099) | “Fotografiya Pushkin (1799–2099)”[/ex], [ex=bare]Знамя || Znamia[/ex], January 1987.

VARIANTS

1 Russian variant

TRANSLATIONS: No translations.

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Time Periods

Circa AD 1800 to 1899: Pushkin’s time
Circa AD 1970 to 1999: The author views the events from 1985
Circa AD 2000 to 2099: Igor and his comrades are in 2099.

Timeline Models

Single Static Timeline: The story has only a single timeline, and there are some hints that it is static. Moreover, Igor can see only things that were known in his time.
Viewing the Future: From his attic, Bitov sees and writes of the time traveler.

Time Travel Methods

Luggable Time Machine: Igor seems to lug the necessary equipment around in a suitcase.

Themes

Ex Nihilo Obects and People: The 1833 coin that Igor receives from Pushkin might have been returned to Pushkin in 1824, so it could be a minor ex nihilo object.
Save the Bigwig (excluding JFK and Lincoln)!: Igor tries to stop Pushkin from dying from wounds acquired in his famous duel.
Technology and Science from the Future: penicillin
Time Montages: As Igor travels, he sees a sequence of times playing out in reverse.
Viewing the Past: From his attic, Bitov sees and writes of the time traveler.
What Year Is It?: Igor asks the clichéd question.

Real-World Tags

Fictional Tags

Andrei Bitov

Groupings

The Teacher of Symmetry Cycle (story series): After it’s first publication, this story was melded into the cycle.
Cited in Time Machines by Paul J. Nahin ()

TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY (SPOILERS!)

From St. Petersburg, Russia, 2099 ⋙ to St. Petersburg, 23 May 1836. Note: All the trips were made by Igor.
From an unknown time ⋙ to various places in and around St. Petersberg, at increasingly early dates, ultimately landing in 1824. Round trip.
From an unknown time ⋙ to Kolomna, Russia, 1985. Note: Here they found him, [. . .]in the center of Kolomna, but—in our time, yours and mine[. . .].
From an unknown time ⋙ to St. Petersburg, 2099. Note: And there he sits, living out the twenty-first century.

INDEXER NOTES (SPOILERS!)

Debut—The [/d]January 1987[/d] debut citation comes from <a href='http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fantast-cccr.ru%2F0_4_fajly-avtory-pisateli-b-belyaev-s----bobrov-o-bitov-a-g--docx'>Fantlab</a> and is verified by Footnote #25 in <a href='https%3A%2F%2Frepository.brynmawr.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D1010%26context%3Drussian_pubs'>The Distorted Images and Realities of Andr ted Images and Realities of Andrei Bitov’s Liter s Literary 
Photographs</a> by José Vergara. We don’t know whether the debut or any later variants were explicitly credit to the hoax name <a href='A._Tired_Boffin'>A. Tired Boffin</a>.
Length—The Russian original is about 13,400 words. The 1989 English translation is considerably longer, possibly as much as 20,000 words.
Series Order—We use a <a href='http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fantast-cccr.ru%2F0_4_fajly-avtory-pisateli-b-belyaev-s----bobrov-o-bitov-a-g--docx'>Fantlab listing</a> as the starting point for defining Bitov’s Teacher of Symmetry Cycle. It lists this novelette as the earliest and the novella <a href='6931'>“'Prepodavatelʹ simmetrii”</a> as the second.
Other Related Works—The main character, Igor, is a distant descendant of characters in Bitov’s earlier novel <a href='https%3A%2F%2Fwww.themodernnovel.org%2Feurope%2Feurope%2Frussia%2Fbitov%2Fpushkin%2F'>[ex=bare]Пушкинский дом | Pushkinskiy dom | Pushkin’s house[/ex]</a>, which takes place in the historic St Petersburg <a href='https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FPushkin_House'>Pushkin House</a>. A later book by Bitov—also called Фотография Пушкин (1799–2099)—is a biography.