Translating Russian Folklore into Soviet Fantasy in Arkadi and Boris Strugatski’s Monday Begins on Saturday and Catherynne M. Valente’s Deathless

I analyze the representation of Koschei the Deathless in Arkadi and Boris Strugatski’s Soviet classic Monday Begins on Saturday (Ponedel’nik nachinayetskaya v subbotu, 1964; translated into English in 1977) and American author Catherynne M. Valente’s novel Deathless (2011) to investigate what remains of Russian folk culture after it passes through the crucible of the Bolshevik Revolution. Koschei the Deathless’s seeming deathlessness, his death, and his perpetual reappearance draw critical attention to what is deemed to be “essential” to the Russian cultural imaginary and to the people participating in the imaginative work of cultural construction.