The Hour of the Bull (, Chas Byká) is a social science fiction novel written by Soviet author and paleontologist Ivan Yefremov in 1968. Six months after its publication in book form in 1970 Soviet authorities attempted to remove it from libraries and bookshops after realizing that it contained a sharp criticism of the current state of affairs in the USSR disguised as a critique of "Capitalism" and Chinese-style communism of that time. It was published again in the 1980s "perestrojka" and thereafter. This novel is considered a sequel to the 1957 novel Andromeda, taking place in the same universe some century or more later. Even though the cast of characters is entirely different, an occasional reference is made to the events and characters of the previous volume. For example, the main character in The Hour of the Bull is a female historian who on one occasion remembers most of the notable Andromeda characters as historical figures.

Plot summary

The plot is of the "story within a story" format. The actual story is told as an answer to a question asked in school at a lesson about the patterns of the development of societies. The story goes as follows. After the story of Tormance has been told in the classroom it was clarified by the teacher that the contact with the Earth people had eventually indeed helped the people of Tormance to achieve Freedom. Now, some 130 years after the events, the Earth had just received a message from the Tormancians, and a starship from one of Earth colonies was being prepared to be sent to Tormance.

Main concepts

Eras of human history

Spanning approximately three thousand years from the 20th century to the present time of the novel, these are: It is hinted that a devastating world war has occurred between the eras of Disjoint World and World Reunion, nearly wiping out the Humanity. And prior to it there was a period of great ecological degradation and pollution resulting in widespread diseases, genetic and otherwise, increase in cancer rates and planet-wide epidemics (that's when the progenitors of Tormancian human population had left the "doomed" Earth on a starship flotilla that subsequently "fell through a space-time anomaly", and found itself near the inhabitable planet of Tormance, by pure chance).

Main characters

Starship Dark Flame crew

Planet Tormance characters

Publications and translations

The novel was first published in 1968 in the Soviet popular science magazine Tekhnika Molodezhi (Technology for the Youth). The second publication was in 1969, in magazine Molodaya Gvardiya (Young Guard). Book editions: After breakup of the USSR, there were more publications of the book. The novel was translated to Hungarian (1972), Czech (1973), French (1979), Bulgarian (1984), Ukrainian (1990, 1991), and Polish (2015) languages