Literature is not only pleasure and relaxation. Very often, it serves as the “bell” that should awaken us from deep sleep. Such books cannot be read superficially or ignore their importance, because they are like flashlights - they show us the correct direction of the path.
Ivan Efremov wrote many wonderful stories that can be read out for hours. One of his best creations is the book “On the Edge of the Oikumeny”. She is very deep. In the article, we will consider a brief summary of “On the Edge of the Oikumena” in order to convey the main idea of ​​the Soviet writer.
about the author
Ivan Efremov was born in the spring of 1907 in the St. Petersburg province. He is a talented Russian science fiction writer and paleontologist. Also considered the creator of taphonomy and the philosopher-cosmist. I. Efremov is a laureate of the Stalin Prize of the second degree. He received it in 1952. The books of I. Efremov often describe the events of the past or a possible communist future.
"On the edge of the Oikumeny"
The novel-dilogy of Ivan Efremov was written in 1946. The book consists of two parts: “The Journey of Baurjed” and “On the Edge of the Oikumena”. The dates of their first publications are 1949 and 1953. Below we will consider in detail “On the Edge of the Oykumena” (summary) for the chapters of the book. So let's go!
The beginning of the story
A summary of “On the Edge of the Oikumena” begins with the first part of the book. It tells about the reign of Pharaoh Gedefr from the Fourth Dynasty of the Ancient Kingdom of Egypt. The lord wants to continue the glorious traditions of the pharaoh Djoser. Not knowing how to do this, he seeks advice from the priest of the god Thoth - Men-Kau-Thoth.
After a secret conversation between the rulers of this world and the other world, Pharaoh Gedefra decides to send on a sea expedition. He gives the navigation to the treasurer Baurjed. The purpose of the voyage is to find the fabulous and mysterious country of Punt. Ships head south in search of the unknown.
Priests of Ra and Thoth
In order to continue the brief content of the story “On the Edge of the Oikumeny”, one should plunge into the era. In Egypt there is no single faith that unites everyone. Priests worship either the god Ra or the god Thoth. They often quarrel among themselves, not recognizing the faith of another group, involving civil strife and the population. Sometimes this struggle goes very far - a lot of blood is shed.
Pharaoh always remained aloof from such strife, but not this time. The minions of the god Ra came up with a cunning and cruel plan of revenge, as a result of which Gedefra was killed. The new pharaoh of Egypt becomes his brother - Hafra. He decides to resume the construction of the pyramid.
The Return of Baurjed
After 7 long years of relentless sailing, Baurjed returns to Egypt with minor remains of a once-large expedition. The new pharaoh Hafra calls the man to him to tell him everything as it is. The history of the treasurer takes several days. He tells the pharaoh about the beauty, complexity and immensity of the found Oikumena.
The expedition found the mysterious country of Punt, and then on foot reached the Zambezi River and Lake Victoria. However, the authoritative pharaoh is not at all happy with the story of a world in which Egypt is not the center of the universe, but only a tiny part of it. He orders the treasurer and all expedition members to keep what they see secret. At the same time, Men-Kau-Tot learns about the arrival of Baurjed, finds him and takes him to a distant secret temple, which only the initiates know about. There, his story is recorded in detail, and then carved with hieroglyphs on the stone slabs of the shrine.
Rise of the Slaves
The story of the first part of the book ends with the completion of his stories in the secret temple of the priests, Baurjed returns to Egypt. There he discovers that his comrades have become slaves, which they ruthlessly use in the construction of the pyramid. He makes every effort to free them from captivity. And he does it. Unfortunately, this small event leads to a mass rebellion. Soon, Men-Kau-Tot receives a message from the scammer that the slaves were pacified by the army of the pharaoh, and Baurjed was captured.
Summary “On the edge of the Oikumeny”
The action of the second part of the book takes place more than a thousand years after the events of the first section. Now the author invites readers to Greece, in the era of the "dark ages." Efremov, “On the Edge of Oikumeny,” a summary of which is presented in the article, wrote with a number of indirect hints. Between the lines, he indicated at what time the action takes place - this is the reign of King Akhenaten and Hatshepsut.
Pandion
The book tells about the young sculptor Pandion, who is in love with a beautiful girl from the village. Their love is mutual. Once they decide to make a statue of Tessa together, but Pandion fails. Ashamed of failure, a young and impressionable young man decides to leave his village. His grandfather is trying to stop a stupid young man, talking about savages and dangers that may await on the way. All this has no effect on Pandion. He decides to travel to Crete.
However, fate decreed otherwise. The young man was in real danger of slavery. Pandion decided to explore the island from all sides and got into tribal games with bulls. Looking closely, the guy did not notice how the hostile tribe arrived: Pandion was captured. To escape, he flees on a merchant ship, from which he lands in Egypt. Again, an unmerciful fate pushes the guy into the shackles of slavery: the ship wrecked at Thebes, the former capital of Upper Egypt.
The escape
Pandion is in captivity for some time. He gets acquainted with other slaves - Kidogo, Remdom and Kavi. Together they decide to attempt an escape. But slaves are found. Instead of sending them to hard work in gold mines, slaves are offered to catch a living rhino for the Pharaoh's menagerie. In this case, the survivors will receive freedom. Pandion and his companions go up the Nile to find the beast. An interesting condition is that slaves will not be able to enter Egypt, even when they return home.
Interestingly, while in slavery, Pandion visited a cave. In her, he saw an old, but very beautiful woman, clearly not an Egyptian. He remembered his beloved and decided that together they would make a statue of Tessa, copying the features of this woman. In this part of the story, the time gap appears very sharply. After all, the events of the book take place in a single state. At that time, Egypt was already fragmented. He united only in 940 BC. at Sheshonka.
Pandion and other slaves are forced to cross Africa, pass Sudan and Cameroon to get to Greece. They return home through the Strait of Gibraltar on a Phoenician ship. The book “On the edge of the Oikumeny. Star ships ”, the brief content of which we examined, should become a guiding star for those who want to understand the depth of thought of I. Efremov. You can read the full version of the publication in any electronic library.
Analysis of the work
Efremov's “On the Edge of the Oikumeny” (a brief summary was presented above), with his book, draws a parallel between the past and present of the then Soviet society. In the work, he details the life of slaves in both parts of the novel. Interestingly, he is not trying to make them strangers or incomprehensible. Efremov shows slaves and reveals the essence of their life. These are ordinary ordinary people who are forced to work for their pharaoh. The whole hopelessness of this situation, the terrible living conditions and moral decline are shown.
In the book, slaves took refuge at night with papyrus. They even ate it, after pouring it with castor oil. It is inconceivable to imagine a person living in such conditions. At the same time, it is also shown that the pharaoh did not at all consider this state of affairs to be wrong. Slaves were not considered human beings. They were machines in which sometimes you need to fill in some kind of muck, if only the work continued. I want to say about the will of slaves. A summary of "On the Edge of the Oikumeny" shows their general rebellion against injustice. Slaves did not become cowardly dogs who are afraid to even raise their eyes to their master. In each of them, life beats, everyone dreams of finding freedom.
The book "On the Edge of the Oikumena", a brief summary and analysis of which we have described, is a pearl of the creative work of Ivan Efremov. This work shows the possibility of a real oppressive future in which all power will be in the hands of an oppressive and tough ruler. Even a brief summary of the book “The Edge of the Oykumena” gives an understanding of how metaphorical and deep the author’s thinking was. To draw so many parallels and to be able to create an integral picture in the reader’s head is a real talent of a visionary writer.