Review (#5): "Quarantine," a novelette by Yuriy Shcherbak (Kyiv, 1966)

By Péter MARTON

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"Quarantine" (Карантин in Ukrainian and Russian), a 1966 novelette by Yuriy Shcherbak, may be well worth a read even today. In this brief review I will give you a few good reasons for this, bullet point by bullet point, to keep my thoughts super-organised.

• Shcherbak is originally an epidemiologist, and as such he is the author or co-author of many scholarly papers.* Given this, when it comes to dealing with the medical and technological details of a story that begins with an incident in an early-era biosafety lab, it's like a walk in the park for him – he pulls it off without effort.
• He is also a pretty good writer, good at drawing characters, and providing insights about their merits and into their motives, simply by showing their actions and interactions unfold. In Quarantine, he is able to present a silent hero of humanism in chief researcher Balandin without even concluding the plot – technically speaking, the story ends with a cliffhanger, and yet, regardless of what the outcome would ultimately be (it is ambiguous), we may be convinced that Balandin made at least good (not perfect or right, but good) decisions, striking an appropriate balance between acting in the interests of humanity and protecting his colleagues, never putting his own survival, let alone his reputation, before anything else in the meantime.
• The story begins as a medical thriller, evolves into a more conventional drama play between the characters as the tension and the time together brings out everyone's true self, and finally there is even an SF element... that's a 3-in-1 deal!
• The SF element (minor spoiler here) reflects what was known in virology at the time. The major breakthroughs leading to isolating, producing and – ultimately – using interferons for medical purposes would only come starting in the 1970s. Speculating about the implications of viral interference was pretty forward-looking in 1966.
• Biosafety labs are an interesting topic, by the way, from a Security Studies perspective, too. There are diseases emerging from natural sources, of course, but with the ongoing human efforts to defend against these, there is a major man-made threat as well, to public health. Negligence at BSL-3 and BSL-4 (top safety level) biolabs may lead to major incidents resulting in outbreaks with pandemic potential. And negligence there certainly is, even though we will rarely know about it. We are most likely to find out when someone like Janet Parker dies (referring to a 1978 incident). Shcherbak's scenario may show how negligence is not even needed – external circumstances may interfere as well.
• Beyond the literary and SF values, there is also an interesting historical thread, key to understading Balandin's figure (and to understanding how some of the others relate to him in the Soviet system): an incident involving the UPA (the Ukrainian Insurgent Army) that fought against the Red/Soviet Army even in the post-WW2 years (Balandin is briefly abducted by UPA combatants who need a doctor to treat one of their wounded.)
• There is humour and – yes, in a book published in the Soviet Union in 1966 – some "politically edged" criticism, too. Again, this may be a minor spoiler: when the biosafety incident happens, and there is an incoming phone call with the caller complaining about the insufficient cultural activity of the lab team, it's funny (in a tragicomical way) as well as there is a lesson in it. Not everything is ever measured only according to professional standards, not even in and around a virology lab.
• In case all of the above arguments haven't convinced you, let me add that Yuriy Shcherbak went on to serve as a diplomatic representative of independent Ukraine, as Ambassador to Israel (1992-1994), to the US (1994-1998), and, after a stint as Presidential advisor, as Ambassador to Canada (2000-2003). In the meantime, he has also written about geopolitics, so his work arches right across the entire spectrum of my main interests, ranging from International Relations to Science-Fiction and public health. Pretty amazing, huh?
• Instantaneous correction! Professor/Ambassador Shcherbak is also an environmentalist, a former founder of the Green Party of Ukraine, and of course this also has my sympathy.

What remains after all this is for me to guide you as to how you can get a copy of Quarantine. Well, sadly, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat... unless you can go to a second-hand bookstore in Poland or Hungary and read in the two countries' respective languages (then it's easy). Or if you can lay your hands on a Ukrainian or Russian copy perhaps. Unfortunately, to my best knowledge only his documentary book on Chernobyl has been translated to English so far, which is a shame... World, you're wrong! Just so you know!

* For examples of Yuriy Shcherbak's scholarly work, see, inter alia:
Scherbak, Y. N. (1982): Epidemiology  of  natural  rabies. DSc  thesis, Kiev, Ukraine, USSR (in Russian).
Scherbak, Y. N. (1984): "Virologic  studies  of  rabies  in  the  Ukrainian SSR." In: Viruses and Viral Diseases, vol. 12, pp. 11–16. Kiev: Zdorovye (in Russian).

Previously reviewed here on EUtopias and Other Futures: "Utópia 501," a digital anthology from Petőfi Irodalmi Múzeum.

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