The story 4338 AD by Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevsk

The story 4338 AD, also called The Year 4338 (The Petersburg Letters), by Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevsky was never finished. This is why I refer to it as a story rather than a book. Fragments of the story were published on three separate occasions; one fragment in 1835, another in 1840, and the most complete version in 1926 (2). The tale takes place, in the title's namesake, in the year 4338. The story follows the letters written by a somnambulist (someone who sleepwalks or in this case puts himself into a deep trance) who claims to have the ability to time travel and become someone else, in this case a Chinese student named Hippolytus Tsungiev. The letters are written to his friend in Peking, China while Tsungiev is visiting Petersburg, Russia. In 1835 many astronomers believed that Biela's comet would make direct contact with the Earth in the year 4339, so Odoevsky centered this tale the year before the predicted demise of what many considered the end of the human race (1). The tale was written towards the end of the Romantic Era, yet the story contains elements of the Scientific Revolution in a positive way that has not been as common in our class readings. In the science fiction story 4338 AD,Vladamir Odoevsky embraces the cultural transition from the scientific revolution to the romantic era by weaving the two together in a entertaining literary fashion that should be included in our study of world science fiction.

Odoevsky yearned to know the reaction of societies in the future, given the now defunt news of a comet projected to collide with the earth. The author entertains his readers throughout the story using the tools of science fiction, and intertwining the progress made through the scientific discoveries and the romanti...

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...se are true aspects of science fiction.

The only downside to this work is the fact that it was never finished. I believe this leaves the rest of the story up to the readers imagination. Literary academics who are familiar with the works of Odoevsky believe that 4338 AD was originally intended to be the third and final installment of a trilogy. This utopian tale was imaginative and entertaining as well as containing all of the ingredients for a study of the cultural shift from the scientific revolution to the romantic era.

Works Cited

. Odoevsky, Vladimir F. "The Year 4338 (translation from Russian)." Feel Do Think The Year 4338 Translation from Russian Comments. Russian Federation, 2012. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.

2. Lin, Tony H. "BEYOND SCIENCE FICTION: VLADIMIR ODOEVSKIJ’S THE YEAR OF 4338 AS A HYBRID TEXT." Science Direct. Academia, 2013. Web. 2 Feb. 2014.