Language Russian Published in English 1957 Country Soviet Union | Publication date 1946 Originally published 1946 Genre Science Fiction Published in english 1957 | |
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Publisher Foreign Languages Publishing House (Moscow) - English Similar Ivan Efremov books, Science Fiction books | ||
The Land of Foam also known as At the Edge of Oikoumene (Russian: На краю Ойкумены, Na krayu Oikumeny) and Great Arc (Великая Дуга, Velikaya Duga) is a novel written by the Soviet writer Ivan Yefremov in 1946.
Plot summary
The novel is divided in two parts, separated by more than 1000 years.
The first part takes place during the rule of the pharaon Djedefra (26th century BC), who decides to send an expedition to the South, in order to seek the famous and fabled Land of Punt and to seek the limits of the land and the start of the Great Arc, the circular ocean encompassing the entire world in Egyptian cosmology.
The second part starts in Ancient Greece during its Aegean Period (no precise dates are provided, but one can assume a date c. 1000-900 BC). A young sculptor named Pandion sets off on a journey to Crete, but a storm finally lands him in Egypt, where he is enslaved. He manages to win his freedom and after a long and perilous journey comes back home. On the way, he carves a cameo which portrays his friends and some details of their adventures.
In a short framing narrative, modern researchers examine the cameo and contemplate its possible origins.