Companion to Victor Pelevin ed. by Sofya Khagi

Abstract

Reviewed by: Companion to Victor Pelevin ed. by Sofya Khagi Sarah Gear Companion to Victor Pelevin. Ed. by Sofya Khagi. Boston: Academic Studies Press. 2022. xxxiv+208 pp. $32.95; £23.99. ISBN 9–781–64469776–4. In her essay in the volume under review, 'Transformative Reading for Tailless Monkeys: Metamorphoses in The Sacred Book of the Werewolf ', Grace Mahoney describes Victor Pelevin's novels as 'metamorphs' which 'resist qualification and elude decisive conclusions' (p. 185). Mahoney's statement is thoroughly tested by the comprehensive examination of Pelevin's work in her own essay and elsewhere in this Companion to Victor Pelevin, edited by Sofya Khagi, a leading specialist on the often controversial author. While Pelevin's major novels Chapaev and the Void (1996) and Generation 'P' (1999) receive the most attention here, Khagi's project is intertextual, elucidating both Pelevin's highly self-referential writing and its relation to Russian literature as a whole. Her holistic approach to Pelevin's fiction is demonstrated by the extensive footnotes outlining literary theories and politics, and linking to multiple Russian authors, elevating the Companion from a sourcebook on 'Peleviniana' to a masterclass in post-Soviet literature. Khagi's thorough Introduction schools the reader in Pelevin's literary output. She charts the author's creative evolution from his first short story 'Sorcerer Ignat and People' (1989), then summarizes his work during his early, so-called 'classic', and later periods, ending with the appearance of his novel iPhuck (2017). Khagi also explores Pelevin's critical reception in both Russia and the West, discussing principal debates around his œuvre. The Companion's subsequent chapters underscore Pelevin's thematic preoccupations: the section headings 'Space, Time and History', 'Simulation and Mind Control', and 'Metamorphosis and Utopia' lead the reader through thematic and temporal explorations of his novels. In the first section, Michael Martin's article 'The Early Years: Post-Soviet with a Capital "S"' focuses on Pelevin's The Blue Lantern (1991) and Omon Ra (1992) as reactions to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Characterized by Pelevin's subversion of Soviet literary norms, this early writing became ground zero for his subsequent experimental work. This first chapter is echoed by the Companion's final essay, in which Mahoney considers the theme of metamorphosis in Pelevin's work in relation to the author as well as his texts. Theo Trotman's essay 'The Mythic and the Utopian: Visions of the Future through the Lens of Victor Pelevin's S.N.U.F.F. and Love for [End Page 277] Three Zuckerbrins' considers S.N.U.F.F. (2011) as a reprise of Soviet utopian themes, finding parallels with Evgenii Zamiatin's We (1922) while exploring Pelevin's role as an (anti-)utopian prophet. The central chapters of the Companion focus on Chapaev and the Void and Generation 'P'. Although repetitious at times, the five essays on these novels are justified by the variety of themes they explore. While Khagi's 'Space-Time Poetics in Chapaev and the Void' focuses on Pelevin's references to Zhuangzi, Nietzsche, Freud, and Kant, Christopher Fort's 'Parody of Past and Present in Chapaev and the Void' looks instead at the novel's interaction with Socialist Realism. Fort highlights Pelevin's exploitation of the Socialist Realist preoccupation with dreams and sleep as a vehicle for satire. In 'Masking the Void, Voiding the Mask: Victor Pelevin and the Performance of History', Alexander McConnell reflects on Pelevin's 'restaging of the twentieth century' (p. 103), relying on what he terms 'hyperhistory' (p. 76). McConnell's approach complements Khagi's in her Introduction and her separate essay 'Space-Time Poetics in Chapaev and the Void', examining the themes of temporal and spatial reality in Chapaev in relation to Pelevin's historical fiction. Generation 'P' is also scrutinized from different angles. Dylan Ogden considers the influence of social theorists such as Jean Baudrillard, Herbert Marcuse, and Guy Debord on Pelevin's work in '"The Battle for Your Mind": Transformation of Western Social Theory in Generation "II"'. Ogden explores simulacra, conspiracy theories, and capitalism in its corporeal form, noting that these themes and motifs are developed in Pelevin's later novels Empire V (2006) and...