A writer of prose, as well as a literary critic, editor, and outspoken defender of the environment, Sergei Zalygin had a long and prolific career. Zalygin wrote short stories, essays, novellas, and novels. Although Zalygin is best known for the clear, analytical realism with which he explored the watershed events of Soviet history, he also experimented with fantasy as a literary technique. In the period of glasnost, Zalygin became editor in chief of the prestigious journal Novyi mir (New World), the first person to hold that post who was not a member of the Communist Party. As editor of Novyi mir, Zalygin championed the publication of literary works that had been banned under the Soviet system of censorship.

Sergei Pavlovich Zalygin was born on 6 December (23 November) 1913 in the village of Durasovka, in the province of Ufa. Zalygin's father, Pavel Ivanovich, was born into a peasant family. He graduated...