Sergei Lukyanenko and Andrew Bromfield on the ‘Watch’ urban fantasies : UK SF Book News

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Sep

2

Sergei Lukyanenko and Andrew Bromfield on the ‘Watch’ urban fantasies

Posted in: UKSFBN Talks To on 2nd September 2007 by Sandy Auden

Featuring a rich mixture of werewolves, vampires and Light Magicians battling it out on the streets of Moscow, Sergei Lukyanenko's Watch series is a prime example of why urban fantasy is one of the fastest growing book markets in the UK.

Its intelligent storylines, haunting cultural resonances and vivid imagery are captivating throughout the three volumes in the series so far: The Night Watch [Amazon], The Day Watch [Amazon] and The Twilight Watch [Amazon] (#1 is out now in mass-market paperback, #2 will follow in January, and #3 has just been published in large-format paperback in the UK).

A leading light in Russia's fan-scene, Lukyanenko explains how the series came to be written: "Normally, when I start writing a book I do not plan in advance that it will be a part of a series. I have books without sequels, have two-book series, trilogies and one quadrology – The Watch series.

"I usually realise that a book needs continuation after I finish it. Strangely enough, I did not have that feeling when I finished The Night Watch. I thought that the book was sufficient as it was. However, my friend Vladimir Vassiliev, a writer of science fiction books, liked my idea of the 'world of Others' very much. He suggested writing The Day Watch together in order to show the events from the point of view of the Dark forces. We wrote the book and again, I thought that the series was finished. But then there came a film offer.

"I worked on the screenplay for a long time, watched the filmed episodes and gradually got very involved with the subject again. I wrote The Twilight Watch that included some episodes that did not make it to the film. By the time the second film (The Day Watch) came out I made up my mind to write the final book The Last Watch.

"Now, I am not saying that the series is finished. There will probably be book five, especially since the readers are demanding it."

The series follows the exploits of Anton Gorodetsky as he discovers, then gets recruited into the Night Watch, an organisation of Light Others that watches the Dark Others to ensure that the Treaty is not violated. Living in an uneasy truce after discovering that open battle would annihilate both sides, the Others on both sides police the Treaty rigorously, tracking down renegade Others who threaten to upset the balance. For Anton, it's the start of a journey that will lead him to revelation, love and not a little danger…

"Anton is a simple ordinary person," says Lukyanenko. "He never tried to join the Watches, he got there by pure chance. It is the same as if somebody was stopped in the street and asked: 'Would you like to join a super-secret special service that fights the evil?' Of course nothing like that can happen in real life, but we all want adventures, magic, each of us would like to become the hero of a thriller. And Anton is an ordinary person who suddenly became somebody like James Bond or Superman, only in a fantasy world.

"Anton is also important because in the very beginning he does not completely understand what is going on, unaware of the rules of the world he got into. The same as the readers who are not familiar with the rules of the game look at the world through Anton's eyes and eventually understand what is going on, why and how. Anton is very active, he does not try to avoid any happenings, he is capable of action, and that is why so many things happen to him. Such a novice character, inexperienced but willing, is the best friend of a writer!

"Another thing is that Anton is a positive character. He has his drawbacks, he is not perfect but he always tries to choose the best possible decision. Nowadays everybody wants a positive hero. And want to be like him. People are tired of cynical villains."

One of the other stars of the series, especially in the earlier books, is the city of Moscow itself. "Moscow is a very big city, a megapolis with a lot of things happening, therefore anything can happen there. In Russian literature, quite a few mystical books were traditionally set in Moscow. Even in the USSR times when 'fantasy' literature was not welcomed by the authorities, there were such books as The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov and The Violist Danilov by Orlov.

"Being a science fiction author I wanted to write a book in the genre of 'city fantasy'. Of course Moscow stood no competition. Also, at that time I moved to Moscow myself and was getting to know the city and putting my impressions from the city in the book. But the world of The Watches grew and expanded, I wanted to show what was going on in other Russian cities, how the international structures of the Others work, which is similar to real existing organisations. The more the world of the Others grew, the less possible it was to keep it within one city."

The Night Watch series was written in Lukyanenko's native Russian language and has been translated into English by Andrew Bromfield. It was a task that had it's up and downs for Bromfield: "With two languages as different as Russian and English, even many of the basic forms of language cannot be rendered in a simplistically 'literal' manner. But my effort is always directed to 'recreating the author' in English, not to authoring a text of my own. I'm not one of those translators who think that the translator owns the text and can remodel it to suit himself.

"My job is to provide the readers of a translation with an experience which is as close as possible to the experience that the author provides to readers of the original – the author's authentic voice and relationship to his characters (and readers) should come across in the same way in a translation. Also, the translated text should, ideally, read just as naturally as the original (and conversely, if an author doesn't read comfortably in the original, that should be reflected in the translation).

"After the effort of coming up with appropriate equivalents for the elements of style required to convey a modern author's voice and intonation, what I am eventually left with is a whole range of points that require special decisions - like cultural references that are entirely foreign and require explanation or sub-textual assumptions of shared experiences that don't extend from Moscow as far as London (not to mention New York). That's where the ultimate difficulties arise, in deciding which solution to adopt – ignore, modify, omit or substitute."

This was Bromfield's first foray into translating for the fantasy book market and he has inevitably formed his own opinions of the Night Watch series: "I think that against a well-conceived 'historical background' they represent a successful combination of engaging characters, fantastical action and varied plot-lines – in other words, a formula that can endure. It was also easy to identify with the frequently bemused hero, Anton Gorodetsky. Life often seems a bit confusing to me too."

The Twilight Watch is out now from publishers William Heinemann. The Day Watch movie gets a UK/US release on DVD in October 2007.

Source: Sergei Lukyanenko and Andrew Bromfield

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