authors got the idea of The Doomed City in March 1969. At first, the novel was conceived as an autobiography. The authors say that they never worked longer or more diligently on any other of their works than on this novel. The draft of the novel was finished in 1972. After completion the authors shelved the draft as they did not hope to ever see the novel published. The political allusions, the spirit of despondency and its ideological vacuum made the novel unacceptable for the Soviet regime. Any attempted publication would have been stopped by the censors. The authors had initially hoped that by submitting the draft to publishing houses the people who read it would make copies and the novel might find readers through samizdat. The novel was finally published in 1989 after the controls on publishing were eased during Glasnost and Perestroika. References External links Text of the Novel (Russian) at Maxim Moshkov's e-library 1975 Russian novels 1975 in the Soviet Union Novels by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky Russian philosophical novels 1975 science fiction novels Soviet science fiction novels