In Search of the Russian Idea (From the Novel "Generation P" to Import Substitution)

Abstract

The article deals with the literary interpretation of translation/adaptation of advertising texts, a process that took place intensively in Russia in the 1990s. The object of the study is Victor Pelevin's cult work – the novel Generation P. The advertising texts in Pelevin's novel are analysed considering the actual context in which the opposite process is taking place (at least declaratively), i.e., the replacement of foreign production by domestic production. Such process, like the one described by Pelevin, is accompanied by the production of texts that are, in fact, translations/adaptations of Western texts (names, advertising slogans, etc.) or new texts created for "Russian" surrogates of foreign goods or brands. Both processes are typified by the imposition of a certain material culture (consumer goods), the endeavour to adapt media texts to the requirements of the customer and the target group (the Russian consumer), which is also manifested in the search for the so-called "Russian idea" or "Russian soul". The article attempts to prove that in V. Pelevin's novel, this process is presented as a post-industrial one. Pelevin's novel presents this process as a postmodernist game, mockery, intentional irony, exposing the existing cultural clichés and stereotypical perceptions of Russians about themselves. Pelevin implies that comicality of the import substitution industrialisation (ISI) taking place today indicates a failure of this process and inadvertently points out the actual absence of the so-called "Russian idea". Reception of Victor Pelevin's novel through the lens of contemporary events in Russia allows us not only to look at Pelevin’s text from a new perspective, but also to see the ongoing processes in a broader historical and cultural context.