A Soviet science fiction satirical comedy from the 1960s that follows Alexander “Sasha” Privalov, a computer programmer who accidentally ends up joining the National Institute for the Technology of Witchcraft and Thaumaturgy (NITWiT), a place where scientists and bureaucrats study magic as a serious, rigorous discipline. For people who lived through that era, this is a cult classic. For me, reading it in another country more than 60 years later, it didn’t work at all.
The book doesn’t have much of a plot or coherent storyline. It’s largely a collection of random, magical occurrences—e.g., people walking through walls and sofas that turn dreams into reality—that are meant to set up absurd scenes that mix scientists, bureaucrats, and fairy tales, folklore, and magic (Baba Yaga, Merlin, vampires). The goal is to create a satire of bureaucracy and to make you laugh. Unfortunately, it fell largely flat for me.
I understood some of the references and jokes, but the vast majority went right over my head. And that’s a shame, as beyond the satire and comedy, there’s nothing else in this book. No intriguing mystery, no deep characters, no exciting action scenes, no big sci-fi ideas. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad book, and I know people who love it, but I think this qualifies as an instance of “you just had to be there.”
