Secrets of Kir Bulychev: Why the author of "Guests from the Future" hid his real name

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

16 years ago, on September 5, 2003, the famous Soviet science fiction writer and screenwriter Kir Bulychev passed away. He became known to the general public in the 1980s, because his story “One Hundred Years Ahead” was used as the basis for the cult film “Guest from the Future” for Soviet teenagers. He also wrote the film Through Thorns to the Stars and the cartoon The Mystery of the Third Planet. About 20 of his works have been filmed. However, the science fiction writer had another life, where he was known by his real name. And from colleagues in his main profession, he hid his literary pseudonym for many years …

The real name of Kira Bulychev is Igor Mozheiko. He was born in 1934 in Moscow into a family of people from a noble family. After graduating from the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Languages, Igor Mozheiko worked as a translator in Burma for several years, and after returning to Moscow he entered the postgraduate course at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences and began studying the culture of the countries of the East. Having defended his dissertation, Mozheiko began teaching the history of Burma at the same educational institution. After 16 years, he became a doctor of historical sciences.

In scientific circles he was known as a serious scientist and teacher, the author of scientific works on the history of Southeast Asia and journalistic essays in the journals "Around the World" and "Asia and Africa Today". Engaging in "fiction", especially as "low-grade" as science fiction, at the institute was considered unworthy and frivolous. Mozheiko was afraid to harm his reputation and lose his job, therefore, carried away by literary creativity, he took a pseudonym for himself - Kirill Bulychev, composed of the mother's maiden name and the name of his wife, artist Kira Soshinskaya. Later the name Cyril was shortened to "Kir".

Igor Mozheiko himself later talked about this with a smile: "".

Igor Mozheiko was not a member of the Writers' Union, and in the USSR, only members of the creative union could engage in exclusively literary activity - otherwise they would have been considered parasites. Therefore, he was so afraid of losing his main job, and published books under a pseudonym.

His first story "Maung Joe Will Live" was published in 1961, and since then his works have regularly appeared in print under the pseudonym Kir Bulychev. His fantastic stories and stories about the adventures of Alisa Selezneva, who became the main character in 52 of his works, enjoyed particular love and popularity among young readers!

The author named his heroine in honor of his daughter Alice, although she did not become the prototype of the heroine - the girls were different both in appearance and in character. About how the idea of these works was born, Kir Bulychev told: "".

The writer's daughter Alice told about her father: "".

The story “One Hundred Years Ahead” served as the basis for the script for the 5-episode film “Guest from the Future”. After its release, Alisa Selezneva became the idol of Soviet schoolchildren. Letters to the young actress Natasha Guseva came in bags, fans were on duty at her entrance. This glory that suddenly fell on her did not make the girl happy, but frightened, and she decided not to associate her life with the acting profession.

The writer's "double life" was revealed in the early 1980s, when Kir Bulychev was awarded the USSR State Prize for scripts for the film "Through Thorns to the Stars" and the cartoon "The Mystery of the Third Planet". If it was possible to “hide” behind a pseudonym in published books and film credits, then the writer had to reveal his real name. Contrary to his fears, this did not harm his main profession and he was not fired from the institute.

In total, about 20 works by Kir Bulychev were filmed, and today he is called Stephen King of Soviet science fiction. In 2002, the writer was ordained a knight of the Order of the Knights of Fantasy.

September 5, 2003 Kir Bulychev passed away after a serious cancer. And his works and their adaptations do not lose popularity to this day. In 2004, the Kira Bulychev Writers' Prize was established.

In the film, the main character predicted the future for her friends, but her predictions in real life did not come true. "Guest from the Future" 34 years later: Who became Alisa Selezneva's classmates.