generation p rview, david macfadyen
DESCRIPTION
review of Pelevin, Generation P.TRANSCRIPT
7/18/2019 Generation P Rview, David MacFadyen
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/generation-p-rview-david-macfadyen 1/3
oard of Regents of the University of Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
Generation "P" by Viktor PelevinReview by: David MacFadyenWorld Literature Today, Vol. 73, No. 3 (Summer, 1999), pp. 553-554Published by: Board of Regents of the University of OklahomaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40154976 .
Accessed: 24/02/2015 21:38
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma and University of Oklahoma are collaborating with JSTOR to
digitize, preserve and extend access to World Literature Today.
htt // j t
7/18/2019 Generation P Rview, David MacFadyen
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/generation-p-rview-david-macfadyen 2/3
Viktor
Pelevin. Generation
P .Moscow.
Vagrius.
1999.
302
pages.
ISBN 5-7027-0949-7.
RUSSIAN
Fiction
Along
the central
streets
of St.
Petersburg,
Russia,
one
can
always
ind
impromptu
bookstands,
even
when
the weather s less than
pleasant.
These
tiny,
cov-
ered
stalls resemble
dining
tables,
one half folded such
that
it stands
vertical;
cross
he two
resulting
urfacesare
books
known to be of interest to
tourists.
Foreign
visitors
loath to wrestle
the
complexities
of Russian
syntax
can
thus
spare
themselves
awkward
nteractionwith sales staff
in bona fide bookstores.Here on the street,glossytexts
celebrating
he
Hermitage
or
local
palaces
n
English
can
be
perused
with the
nod of a head and then
acquired
with
the
quiet
flip
of a wallet.
Over
he last
couple
of
years,
considerable ocal interest
in the novels of Viktor
Pelevin has
guaranteed
them a
place
among
these
coffee-table
volumes. Even
penniless
pensioners,
elling magazines
or a
few
pennies
less at sub-
way
tations,
ometimesoffer
his books
n
additionto
Play-
boy
nd
Cosmopolitan.
elevin,
who has himself been
pub-
lished
in
the
former
magazine,
has
just brought
out the
story
itled GenerationP
hroughVagrius
n Moscowand
has reissued
severalearlier
texts at the same time.
In one
of
these,
a volume
containing
both
OmonRa
(1994;
see
WLT
9:4,
p.
821)
and
The
Lifeof
Insects
1996;
see WLT
71:4,
p.
823),
VyacheslavKuritsyn
ffers an
explanation
of
why Pelevin has become perhaps the most fashionable
writer
n Russia.
Kuritsyn
laims
that the author writes for those
em-
ployed
n visual
ields,
who
n
recent
years
have held no
books
in
their
hands,
save
the Yellow
Pages
and
areso-
cially
and
esthetically
ctive
membersof
society.
The
im-
plicit
referenceshere
to
designers
and hackers
are soon
made
explicit;
there
is indeed a
most visual
aspect
to
Pelevin
s
work,
one that
plays
an
integral part
in
these
rereleasednarratives.
n Omon
Ra,
for
example,
a
virtual,
three-dimensional
eality
utterly
confounds
not
only
the
novel's
main characterbut
also its readers
until its final
few
pages.
(To
say any
more would
spoil
the
enjoyment
that
awaits
future
audience.)
Pelevin'sretardation
f dis-
closureor
unveiling
until the denouement
is a
technique
also
employed
n
Generation
P ,
ogether
with
other famil-
iar emphases.
These
include the deconstruction
of re-
ceived
ideology,
the
relationship
of
subjective
antasy
o
objective
reality,
history'sapparent
linearity
(as
drama-
tized
previously
n
the
novella Zheltaia trela
Eng.
Yellow
Arrow]
and other
topicseasilyparaphrased
s
sociologi-
cal overviews
f
Russia fter
17
August
1998.
The letter
P here refers
to several
opical
notions,
one
of which
is
perhaps
the vilest word
in
contemporary
Rus-
sian.
Thankfully, hough,
its
primary
ignificance
s as an
abbreviation
or
Pepsi.
he connection
between recent
generations
and
Pepsi
is twofold:
he novel's hero is both
too
young
to
have
enjoyed
the axiomatic enets of Soviet
ideology
and is
fostering
a
very
modern career that moves
gradually
nto the field of
advertising opy,
where
phrases
such as the novel's title are
born.
Pelevin
plays
much
upon
the
ironic
workings
of
advertising
n
Russia,
both
before and after 1991.
The
significance
of
choosing Pepsi
over Coke s
perhaps
absent
n
a nation once furnished
by
decree with
Pepsi
and not
Coke;
even
today
that same na-
tion is
hardly
n
an economic state to entertain frivolous
(and
expensive)preferences
or
momentary
whims.
Pelevin'shero
is
directly
nvolved
n
the creationof
lin-
guistic
or visual llusions hat
endeavor o maskthis
irony.
The destruction of
quotidian reality
n
favor of a
prof-
fered
fantasy
s
suggested
n
both his last
name,
Tatarsky,
and first, Vavilen (from Vasily Aksyonovand Vladimir
Ilich
Lenin).
Vavilen lso hints in Russianat the Tower
of
Babel,
at the virtual difice to
(equally
himerical)
capi-
talismwhich
Tatarsky's
dvertising opy
createsand which
is mocked
in
several cenes
set
in
the
vicinity
of an
impos-
ingly
tall structure.That turret s reminiscentof
an enor-
mous
mushroom,
and thus the
imaginary
world of adver-
tising
soon finds a
counterpart
n a
hallucinogenic
haze,
as
in
some of
Pelevin's other stories.
Meandering,drug-
fueled
digressions
serve to
weaken further the linear ad-
vancement
of
either communism or
capitalism.
The de-
sire
to fulfill
a
plan
and
get things
done
dissolves nto
aimless
wanderings hrough eternity,
or
at least
through
Soviet
history
n a
decidedly
ortuous
ashion.
By undermining
the narrativesof commerce and
big
business,
Pelevin leaves his hero
in
a world
that cannot
justify
deals or transactions s
connected
in
any meaning-
ful,
let alone ethical
way.
A sale on
Monday
neither
guar-
antees the successof
(nor
justifies
the efforts
nvested
n)
a sale on
Tuesday.Equally
rootlesscustomerswanderbe-
tween the
shifting lights
of
prevailing
advertisements.
(Once
again,
this is a
theme
developed
earlier,
on this oc-
casion
in
The
Life of
Insects.)
Distilling
ts central
plot
or
thematic
emphasis,
GenerationP ffers
severalextended
digressions
on the nature of both customersand viewers
as a massed oranus r
polyp
without
ears, nose,
eyes,
or
mind. The oranusexists or
two,
eternally
nterrupted
nd
recurring
easons: o
ingest
and to
excrete.
Pelevin extends this cruel indictment of a
new,
con-
sumer
generation
to its
activity
as viewer of
and
partici-
pant
in a
virtual,
political reality.
The
representation
of
ideal
products
moves into
the field of ideal ideas. As al-
ready
mentioned,
the author's
interest
in
virtual states
leadshim to close severalof his storieswith a
demystifica-
tion,
and
once
again
I am
unwilling
to make
premature
disclosureshere.
Nevertheless,
anybody
who has
recently
viewed TheMatrix
n
Westerncinemas will
perceive
a fa-
miliar
premise;
he fact that the same
film
is now
showing
in
Russian
cinemas
only
serves
o
strengthen
the contem-
porary
elevanceof GenerationP .
At a time since
August
1998 when both
foreign
and
domestic
advertising
evenueshave
plummeted
n
Russia,
Pelevin'sbook
acquires
added
resonance as a
cutting
in-
This content downloaded from 132.174.255.3 on Tue, 24 Feb 2015 21:38:31 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
7/18/2019 Generation P Rview, David MacFadyen
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/generation-p-rview-david-macfadyen 3/3
554 WORLD LITERATURE TODAY
dictment of the
increasingly
razen
promotions
hat
pep-
per
Russian elevision creens
everyday.
The novel has an-
other,
diachronic
pertinence
in
that
the
author,
by
both
describing
and
himself
embodying
a
high degree
of mod-
ishness,
scrutinizes
he
fleeting,
visual moment
through
the prism of long-termprojectssuch as literaryhistory,
corporate
radition,
or
political deologies.
Russia
recently
celebrated
Aleksandr Pushkin's two-
hundredth
anniversary,
he boldest milestone on
the na-
tion's
literarypathways.
The
day
after that
birthday,
a na-
tional television show asked its viewershow
they
reacted
to the
festivities,
o their use as commercialand
political
spectacle.
The most
popular
answer: Itwould have made
Pushkin ill. If
Pelevin's acerbic discussion
of Russian
spectacle,
real or
not,
finds a
huge
audience
today
(the
same
people,
no
doubt,
who called that
show)
then
surely
it deserves imilar nterest
among
studentsand teachersof
Russian ulture
n
the West.
David
MacFadyen
Dalhousie
University
Interviews
Contextualizing
Transition: nterviewswith
Contemporary
us-
sian
Writers nd Critics.Serafima
Roll,
ed. & tr. New York.
Peter
Lang.
1998.
x +
182
pages,
ill.
$43.95.
ISBN
0-8204-
3779-4.
The interviews in
Contextualizing
Transition have al-
ready
been
published
in
Russian,
but
perhaps they
now serve a more
valuable
purpose
in
English.
Serafima
Roll has
collected nine substantial conversationswith
some
of the
leading
names
in
contemporary
Russian
iter-
ature.
She framesher
dialogues
with both
perceptions
of
urban
Russia
n
the midnineties and an
impressive
heo-
reticalassessment f currentbelletristic endencies.In the
West this kind of
introduction to Russia's
rapidlychang-
ing
cultural
climate is most
helpful; although
these au-
thors
may
voice their
opinions
from countless
periodicals
at
home,
they
are almost
never heard
in an
English-lan-
guage
context.
Roll
begins by
assessing
he role of
postmodernism
n
Russia n
recent
years,
the
uneasy
transition
t has made
from one
cultural
context to another.
In
the name of ob-
jectivity,
she
then offers two
additional
frameworks,
s it
were: he first
delineates
changes
within Russian ommer-
cial
environments,
new
circumstances
n
which the
inter-
viewed
writersare
now
obliged
to
operate;
he second
us-
tifies the
very
genre
of
interviews hat Roll
employs,
and
hypothesizes
how that
genre
altered
depending upon
the
person
and
place
involved n
each conversation.This ex-
tended
emphasis upon
variegation
(different
contexts,
people,
and
markets)
all
helps
to communicate
today's
vigorouslycompeting styles
to a Western
audience,
to
sketch the
philosophies
and
commercial attitudes that
constitute
(in
a
messy
manner)
the
literary
world
in
Moscow,
St.
Petersburg,
and farther afield. The authors
who
constitute that
muddled
portrait
are
Mikhail
Berg,
Vyacheslav
Kuritsyn,
Oleg
Dark,
Viktor
Erofeev,
Vladimir
Sorokin,
Valeria
Narbikova,
Tatiana
Tolstaya,Egor
Radov,
and
IgorYarkevich.
Throughout,
there
remains
a
healthy
tendency
not to
divorce
literaryprocesses
rom the
surrounding
ociopo-
litical context
that Roll sketches
in
her
opening
pages.
The
workings
of
prose
and
poetry
are
not
dispatched
o
an ethereal
realm
far from the
land
of failed
banksand
tardypensions.WhenRollaskswherethe archetypal ovi-
et bookworm
might
be found
today,
she
is told:
Our
au-
dience has turned to
life. This
might
seem
blasphemous,
but
I
think
it's
right.
For the
first time
readershave
em-
braced
the
opportunity
o start
living.
It isn't
that
life is
not
agonizing;
whatmatters
s that t's
real.
Though
modern
prose
may
be
struggling
under
multi-
ple pressures
all
of which
find
voice),
Roll drawsher
dia-
logue
toward
one
central theme: the
aforementioned
influence of
postmodernist
hought
upon
Russian
itera-
ture.
There
may
initially
be
few
surprises
when
the ab-
sence
of Soviet
ideology
is
equated
with the absence
of
any overriding,
exclusiveesthetic
today.
Of
greater
nter-
est,
though,
is an intermittent
endency
to
see the
level-
ing
of all ideas
as either a
perverse
lip
side
to Soviet de-
ology
or as
a carte blanche
allowing
total rebirth.
Either
the exclusion of all alternativedeas has been replacedby
the absenceof
any
ideas
whatsoever,
r that
vacuum
s a
natural,
cyclicalprecursor
o an
upswing
within
a
process
of creative
birth
and
decay.
In
discussing
even
in
sad,
deterministic
terms
the
consequences
of
postmodernism,
greatest
reference
is
perhaps
made to
Lyotard.
As
a
result,
his influence
upon
post-Soviet
Russian iterature
can with reasonable
asser-
tion be
judged
from this slim text.
Lyotard's
presence
is
sensed even
when he
is not discussed
n
explicit
terms,
since
an occasional
kitsch
tendency
toward
nostalgia
or
socialist
realismmanifests he
Frenchman's
key
indicator
of
modernism,
he
yearning
or
somethingpast,
or a real-
ized
nostalgia.
Viktor
Erofeev' words
(although spoken
with
tongue
in
cheek,
perhaps)
lead
one to doubt the
presence
of
postmodernism
t all: I
prefer
Socialist
Real-
ism because it reflected our human weaknessand our
kitsch
emotions much
more
vividly
than
today's
culture].
It could
render our
ability
or
love,
our
capability
or un-
derstanding,
and our desire
for
competition
much
more
strongly
han detective
novels,
or even bad comics.
Problematic
nostalgia,
sincere or
not,
forms the
basis
for Roll's
concluding pages.
Here she offers
an overview
of
developments
n recent Russian
writings,
or at
least
in
the midnineties.
Producing
a
book-length
manuscript
n
current events
is never
easy (especially
f
that
book
al-
ready
appeared
some time
ago
in
another
language),yet
by
providing
extensivecreativeand critical
bibliographies
in
the footnotes
to her
interviews,
Roll's
publication
should
not retreat into
back-catalogues
s research
of
fleeting
relevance.
Her
closing
essay
and useful notes
help
to
place
these
intervieweesand their work
in
a
broader
context,one that is neatlydovetailedwith the lateeighties
and the relative reedoms
of
glasnost\
As a
result,
Contextu-
alizing
Transition
hould
prove
a useful
bridge
between
the
workings
f late Soviet
prose
and
today's
market.
At a conference at Dalhousie
University
n
March
1999,
Yakov
Gordin,
the editor
of Russia's
respected
literary
journal
Zvezda
The
Star)
spoke
of similar
matters. He
contrasteda
tendency
towardwantonexcessand disorder
in the worksof those such
as ViktorPelevin
and the os-
trichlike avoidance
of
change among
some older
mem-
bers
of the
literarycommunity.
Pelevin's
works,
Gordin
This content downloaded from 132.174.255.3 on Tue, 24 Feb 2015 21:38:31 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions