Glukhovsky's Metro 2033 (3/3): Gender Issues

We are here today to count the number of women on this book cover and beyond...

By Péter MARTON
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One of the strenghts of the allegory in Glukhovsky's Metro 2033 is exactly what very probably would have been an obstacle to publishing this book in the US first. Because what all US editors encourage writers to include in their stories by default these days is... strong female characters (with some good reasons, at that).

The number of strong female characters in Metro 2033 = 0 (zero).

The reason is not chauvinism. To the contrary: through the absence of women, regardless of whether this is intentional or intuitive, the story demonstrates the importance of not standing in the way of women taking leading roles in the running of the world. In the subterranean universe, where man is often wolf to man, the sun doesn't shine, for it has no alternative. (See what I did there? H/t simultaneously 2 Thomas Hobbes & Samuel Beckett, in yah face!)

There are many tough guys in the metro. There are ones that are even tougher: the stalkers, for example. There are the clever guys, too, in the Polis, who fight with brains. All in all, everyone has to fight, even the scared little guys. 

As to women... In fact, the number of any kind of female characters is close to zero.

These are the women I can recall being in the story in a visible way:

• There is a lady who prostitutes her little son so they can earn the currency (Kalashnikov bullets are hard currency here) to get by.
• There is a young lady who serves food and drinks to Artyom during a serious conversation that she is not part of. Artyom digs that, the wonderful, silent service and the good looks.

That is a grand total of 2 (two) women. (Remind me in the comments if I left out someone.)

The rest of the women get only passing mention at times. They are working the pig & mushroom farms that sustain humanity where the sun don't shine.

The Russia of the 1990s. Mafia wars, separatist struggles, power struggles... between men. Throughout all this time, the country was kept running and a new generation could grow up thanks to the work of the invisible hand. Strictly no h/t to Adam Smith there! For that was the invisible hand... of many ordinary men, too, no doubt, but also, and especially, that of women. 

It might be fitting to leave you with some hip Russian urban sounds at the end of this...

 Previously on EUtopias and Other Futures: Glukhovsky's Metro 2033: The Kremlin