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Babylon
"Gucci for Men--be a European, smell better". The irresistible rise of Babylen Tartasky from poet to advertising copywriter followed by the short step to ultimate political power is founded on his smart diagnosis of his country's malaise and his ability to encapsulate his compatriots yearnings in a sharp slogan. This is the new Russia of gangsters, fast-flowing cocaine and the untrammelled free market and it is a very disturbing place indeed, not least because in its rawness is laid bare the anatomy of our own degenerative Western culture. Add a splash of Gucci aftershave and there really is little to tell us apart.
As a literary sensation in Russia, with six novels already to his name, Pelevin has clearly touched a nerve with his acute insights into the national psyche. Written with cruel wit concealing an austere compassion, it is Pelevin's peculiar talent to capture the sheer absurdity of the experience of a nation which, in the space of a century, has undergone two convulsive revolutions, won and lost a global empire, conquered space and yet been defeated by its own habits of dependency. Omon Ra, Pelevin's most controlled work to date, is a novel woven around the fundamental Soviet fantasy of the cosmonaut hero, while The Clay Machine Gun concerns a contemporary madman's vivid imaginings of his experiences as an unintentional hero of the Revolution. In Babylon, though, we are tricked by a double fantasy: the narrative segues in and out of virtuosic hallucinatory prose alongside Tartasky's own drug trips while the story itself veers towards ludicrous revelations about where the power in society truly lies.
At times the strategy can be exasperating and the ultimate rewards are slightly squandered but along the way there are wonderful jokes and acute analysis. -Alex Butterworth
250 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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4351 people want to read
About the author
Victor Pelevin
186 books1,970 followersVictor Olegovich Pelevin is a Russian fiction writer. His books usually carry the outward conventions of the science fiction genre, but are used to construct involved, multi-layered postmodernist texts, fusing together elements of pop culture and esoteric philosophies. Some critics relate his prose to the New Sincerity and New Realism literary movements.
RU: Виктор Пелевин
RU: Виктор Пелевин
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January 25, 2020
The Only Drug You’ll Ever Need
What better therapy could there be for the protagonist, Tatarsky, to cope with the final trauma of the dissolution of the Soviet Union than the invention of advertising slogans? On the other hand, magic mushrooms might achieve the same end, namely, the removal of the “relict [sic] of the Soviet era, the slave mentality he still hadn’t completely squeezed out of himself.” This was necessary in order to play the Game With No Name that has taken over Russia.
The game, of course, is the game of language. As in the biblical legend of the ancient tower, language is changing in incomprehensible ways. Those who are in the vanguard of the changes are the ones most confused. They create the new words, which create commercial value. How do they do that? Capitalism, just like Communism, is built on words; just different words. The words necessary in post-Soviet Russia have to touch the Slav mind. Explosive words. Sexy words. Noble words of the Motherland and her deep culture of words. Words that fit with despair but promise greatness and plentitude.
And it works. Fizzy drinks, cigarettes, washing powder are the things words attach to. These things become the words, and vice versa. This is the magic by which transformation out of the Soviet mentality comes about. The magic affected absolutely everything: “... people weren’t sniffing cocaine, they were sniffing money, and the rolled-up hundred-dollar bill required by the unwritten order of ritual was actually more important than the powder itself.” Symbols, words, that is to say, language was being consumed everywhere as if it had real substance. No wonder the popular resurgence in God who also became real through the same process!
There is a curious subtlety in this process: “First you try to understand what people will like, and then you hand it to them in the form of a lie. But what people want is for you to hand them the same thing in the form of the truth.” Lie? Truth? Both come in the same package. Haven’t you noticed? Same brand. Same factory. Same ingredients. All sourced from the same raw material: that infinitely deep well of language. It never seems to go dry. The more that’s extracted, the deeper it gets. And it’s free.
Language is a drug. No, THE drug. Soviet language cut the drug with all sorts of repetitive, inert crap. The same words over and over. Barely enough to get a buzz on. Vodka was a welcome refuge. Capitalist language is the real thing, crack cocaine with a Fentanyl chaser. You can only appreciate it if you’ve been weaned on the fifth-grade junk of socialism. Capitalism gives you the words to fly, to soar... to eat a really satisfying meal. Sure it takes some getting used to the stuff but once you’re on it, you hardly notice the hangover. Just up the dose and the ride continues. The apparatchiks didn’t want anyone to know about the well. Now they pump out as much of it as they can.
Having consumed the abundant new words of Capitalism, we digest them and they become part of us, indistinguishable from us. They are us. We then excrete the waste, upon which the magic mushrooms grow. “As far as Tatarsky was able to judge from the murky depths of his own Soviet mentality, the project was an absolutely textbook example of the American entrepreneurial approach.” The system is self-sustaining - we eat each other’s shit. How’s that for a fecund metaphor?
What better therapy could there be for the protagonist, Tatarsky, to cope with the final trauma of the dissolution of the Soviet Union than the invention of advertising slogans? On the other hand, magic mushrooms might achieve the same end, namely, the removal of the “relict [sic] of the Soviet era, the slave mentality he still hadn’t completely squeezed out of himself.” This was necessary in order to play the Game With No Name that has taken over Russia.
The game, of course, is the game of language. As in the biblical legend of the ancient tower, language is changing in incomprehensible ways. Those who are in the vanguard of the changes are the ones most confused. They create the new words, which create commercial value. How do they do that? Capitalism, just like Communism, is built on words; just different words. The words necessary in post-Soviet Russia have to touch the Slav mind. Explosive words. Sexy words. Noble words of the Motherland and her deep culture of words. Words that fit with despair but promise greatness and plentitude.
And it works. Fizzy drinks, cigarettes, washing powder are the things words attach to. These things become the words, and vice versa. This is the magic by which transformation out of the Soviet mentality comes about. The magic affected absolutely everything: “... people weren’t sniffing cocaine, they were sniffing money, and the rolled-up hundred-dollar bill required by the unwritten order of ritual was actually more important than the powder itself.” Symbols, words, that is to say, language was being consumed everywhere as if it had real substance. No wonder the popular resurgence in God who also became real through the same process!
There is a curious subtlety in this process: “First you try to understand what people will like, and then you hand it to them in the form of a lie. But what people want is for you to hand them the same thing in the form of the truth.” Lie? Truth? Both come in the same package. Haven’t you noticed? Same brand. Same factory. Same ingredients. All sourced from the same raw material: that infinitely deep well of language. It never seems to go dry. The more that’s extracted, the deeper it gets. And it’s free.
Language is a drug. No, THE drug. Soviet language cut the drug with all sorts of repetitive, inert crap. The same words over and over. Barely enough to get a buzz on. Vodka was a welcome refuge. Capitalist language is the real thing, crack cocaine with a Fentanyl chaser. You can only appreciate it if you’ve been weaned on the fifth-grade junk of socialism. Capitalism gives you the words to fly, to soar... to eat a really satisfying meal. Sure it takes some getting used to the stuff but once you’re on it, you hardly notice the hangover. Just up the dose and the ride continues. The apparatchiks didn’t want anyone to know about the well. Now they pump out as much of it as they can.
Having consumed the abundant new words of Capitalism, we digest them and they become part of us, indistinguishable from us. They are us. We then excrete the waste, upon which the magic mushrooms grow. “As far as Tatarsky was able to judge from the murky depths of his own Soviet mentality, the project was an absolutely textbook example of the American entrepreneurial approach.” The system is self-sustaining - we eat each other’s shit. How’s that for a fecund metaphor?
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May 15, 2022
"The author's opinions do not necessarily coincide with his point of view." So writes Victor Pelevin as part of his "author's disclaimer" to this bestselling novel marketed under three different titles in English: Homo Zapiens, Babylon and Generation P
"Generation 'P' had no choice in the matter and children of the Soviet seventies chose Pepsi in precisely the same way as their parents chose Brezhnev." When asked by an interviewer what the "P" means, Victor indicated the references are multiple but the main meaning is a very rude, obscene word. With this in mind, I think we can confidently translate the "P" as "Pissed On" or "Pooped On" as in an entire generation of Russians covered in layers of Soviet excrement and tossed out of the fortress of communist ideology and into a cultural sub-zero post-Soviet Siberian tundra to fend for themselves. Good luck, comrades! Woops - slip of the tongue. Correct that to: Good luck, people! The novel's main character, one Babylen Tatarsky, could never understand why "it was worth exchanging an evil empire for an evil banana republic that imported its bananas from Finland."
Poor Tatarsky. His country, the USSR, "ejaculated the first sputnik - that four-tailed spermatozoon of the future that never began - into the dark void of cosmic space" when he was a youngster then during his early adult life went completely kaput, belly-up, becoming a mere former nation, a land left to mobsters, sharkers, brutes, thugs and multiple other varieties of no-goodniks.
Oh, former comrades, now that you are reduced to members of the general public aka the ruck aka the great unwashed, the question poses itself: In addition to being at the mercy of all those mobsters and no-goodnicks, according to Tatarsky (and indirectly author Victor Pelevin), where do you stand in the new Russia? Answer: Since all the Lenin statues were carted out of town, "his presence was merely replaced by a frightening murky greyness in which the Soviet soul simply continued rotting until it collapsed inward on itself."
Transition with a vengeance. It's bye bye USSR; hello home grown initiative + American consumerism = Brave New Russia. Thus bye bye Tatarsky the poet supported by state subsidies; hello Tatarsky the writer of slogans and script to make Western consumer goods and products maximally marketable to his fellow countryman.
Rather than expatiating on the plotnick, I'll shift to commenting on a number of my favorite lines and bits of this slam dunk Victor Pelevin best-seller. Here goes:
Tatarsky writes in his journal: "It might make sense to consider infiltrating into the consciousness of the consumer the character 'Nikola Spitov', an individual of the same type as Ronald McDonald, but profoundly national in spirit."
I suspect people in the US would get a chuckle if they saw that famous hamburger clown of the golden arches come on their TV screen with the name Nikola Spitov, a name more Americans would associate with a Soviet cosmonaut or Russian Olympic athlete then Ronald McDonald. Nikola Spitov - get serious, Tatarsky - that Ruski name doesn't even rhyme.
When experiencing his first high on those hallucinogenic magic mushrooms, in a fit of inspiration Tatarsky thinks of a potential advertising concept for these fly-agarics based on the "startling realization that the supreme form of self-realization for fly-agarics is an atomic explosion - something like the glowing non-material body that certain advanced mystics acquire."
Love the black humor here. American commercialism has so conquered the mind and heart of Tatarsky that when he is having his mind-blowing trip, the first thing he thinks of is how mystical realization can be transformed into mass marketing. This mixing of the esoteric enlightenment traditions such as Zen Buddhism with globalization via products and merchandising gives Victor's novel a special tang.
After snorting cocaine in a bathroom stall, Tatarsky takes out his notebook and begins writing, the first lines being: "In itself a wall on which a panoramic view of a non-existent world is drawn does not change. But for a great deal of money you can buy a view from the window with a painted sun, a sky-blue bay and a calm evening."
The new, young Russia of the 1980s meets the new, young financial swingers of Wall Street, USA - both sides fueled by a mountain of money and an even bigger mountain of cocaine.
In working up a marketing sceme for the Gap clothing stores in Moscow, Tatarsky comes up with "a poster showing Anton Chekhov, first in a striped suit, and then in a stripped jacket but with no trousers: the gap between his bare, skinny legs was emphasized in strong contrast, so that it resembled a Gothic hourglass."
You have to admire a former poet who knows when to call on a giant of his country's literature in order to sell a new clothing line.
"Tatarsky knew very well that in the area of radical youth culture nothing sells as well as well-packaged and politically correct rebellion against a world that is rules by political correctness and in which everything is packaged to be sold."
Tatarsky's reflection when spotting a black tee shirt with a portrait of Che Guevara and the inscription 'Rage Against the Machine' underneath. Victor's novel is so hip, he even finds a place for the great Che Guevara on both the physical and metaphysical level.
"In the same way as a viewer who does not wish to watch the advertisements switches between television channels, instantaneous and unpredictable technomodifications switch the actual viewer to and fro."
Thanks, Victor! Letting the next generation of men and women in your country know they have become little more than objects of manipulation in the hands of those in control of mass media and technology.
For those readers living both in Russia and outside Russia, one thing is certain - Victor Pelevin's novel rocks the house.
Victor Pelevin, born 1962
February 20, 2024
ben çocukken bi kitap vardı afa’dan “anneme reklamcı olduğumu söylemeyin o beni bir genelevde piyanist sanıyor” diye.
sonra hayat bi şekilde beni bir reklam ajansında redaktör yaptı. çok iyi kazanıyordum. korkunç bir ortamdı. eve gidemiyorduk. patron bizi kölesi sanıyordu. çalışanlar tüm günü ajansta geçiriyordu ki kimse onlar yokken patronun gözüne girmesin. 4 ay çalıştım. istifa ettim. işte böylelikle o kitabın adının ne demek olduğunu öğrendim.
sonra mad man’i izledik hepimiz. amerika’da bu işin ne kadar erken ve ne kadar yaratıcı yapıldığını ama yine de tam bir şrfszlk örneği meslek olduğunu (sorry) gördük.
bu arada çalıştığım ilk yayınevi adam mesela lowe adam ajansı sayesinde kurulmuştu, 90’larda pek çok iyi yazar metin yazarlığından gelmeydi. bunu kabul ediyorum. iyi metin yazarının yetenekli olduğunu da ama işte o ortam ve işin amacı…
bizde 80’lerden itibaren iyi ajanslar çok iyi koşullarda çok iyi paralar kazanmış, bu işin abecesini öğretmiş. ama 2000’lere geldiğimizde sektör bambaşkaydı. şu an o kölelik sistemini tahmin bile edemem.
işte viktor pelevin’in genç babylen tatarski’si 70’lerde doğup 80’ler bitik sscb’sine umursamazca şahit olup, 90’larda dağılmasını yaşayan “p kuşağı”na ait. p yani pepsi’yi seçenler.
“homo zapiens” çöküş sonrası rusya’yı, mafyayı, politikacıları tiye alan, çöken idealleri reklamcılık piyasasında bambaşka bir biçimde şahlandırmaya çalışan reklamcıları anlatan çok sarkastik, bir yandan da çok hakiki bir roman. tatarski’nin başına gelenler ve edebiyat okuduktan sonra reklamcılığa geçip orada yükselmesi, adım adım ruhunu şeytana satması gözlerimizin önünde gerçekleşiyor.
her olay ayrı komik, hatta trajikomik. rusya amerika ilişkisinden tutun da antisemitist ruslara, çeçen teröristlerden 90’larda burada da çok rastladığımız batı hayranı bembeyaz yakalara kadar… bu arada artık geçerli olmasa da tv’nin her şeydeki rolü inanılmaz.
ayrıca pelevin müthiş bir öngörüyle şimdi artık sürekli kullanılan yeşil ekran teknolojisiyle canlandırılan politikacıları nefis betimlemiş.
onun dışında yazarın kişisel ilgisinin bulunduğu budizm gibi inançlar romanda oldukça fazla yer kaplıyor ki onlarla da dalga geçebiliyor kendisi. ruh çağırma tahtasında gelen che’nin mesajları sayesinde aydınlanması filan, cidden bayağı şenlikli bir roman. bazı bölümleri fazla detaylı ve sıkıcı olsa da severek ve reklamcılık travmalarımı hatırlayarak okudum. bülent o. doğan’ın ustalıklı çevirisiyle.
ha bu arada svetlana aleksiyeviç okuya okuya hayran olduğum o rus insanının buna dönüşmesi de ayrı acıklı ama yapacak bir şey yok. çok daha yakıcı bir post sscb romanı okumak isteyenlere de “underground”ı öneririm.
sonra hayat bi şekilde beni bir reklam ajansında redaktör yaptı. çok iyi kazanıyordum. korkunç bir ortamdı. eve gidemiyorduk. patron bizi kölesi sanıyordu. çalışanlar tüm günü ajansta geçiriyordu ki kimse onlar yokken patronun gözüne girmesin. 4 ay çalıştım. istifa ettim. işte böylelikle o kitabın adının ne demek olduğunu öğrendim.
sonra mad man’i izledik hepimiz. amerika’da bu işin ne kadar erken ve ne kadar yaratıcı yapıldığını ama yine de tam bir şrfszlk örneği meslek olduğunu (sorry) gördük.
bu arada çalıştığım ilk yayınevi adam mesela lowe adam ajansı sayesinde kurulmuştu, 90’larda pek çok iyi yazar metin yazarlığından gelmeydi. bunu kabul ediyorum. iyi metin yazarının yetenekli olduğunu da ama işte o ortam ve işin amacı…
bizde 80’lerden itibaren iyi ajanslar çok iyi koşullarda çok iyi paralar kazanmış, bu işin abecesini öğretmiş. ama 2000’lere geldiğimizde sektör bambaşkaydı. şu an o kölelik sistemini tahmin bile edemem.
işte viktor pelevin’in genç babylen tatarski’si 70’lerde doğup 80’ler bitik sscb’sine umursamazca şahit olup, 90’larda dağılmasını yaşayan “p kuşağı”na ait. p yani pepsi’yi seçenler.
“homo zapiens” çöküş sonrası rusya’yı, mafyayı, politikacıları tiye alan, çöken idealleri reklamcılık piyasasında bambaşka bir biçimde şahlandırmaya çalışan reklamcıları anlatan çok sarkastik, bir yandan da çok hakiki bir roman. tatarski’nin başına gelenler ve edebiyat okuduktan sonra reklamcılığa geçip orada yükselmesi, adım adım ruhunu şeytana satması gözlerimizin önünde gerçekleşiyor.
her olay ayrı komik, hatta trajikomik. rusya amerika ilişkisinden tutun da antisemitist ruslara, çeçen teröristlerden 90’larda burada da çok rastladığımız batı hayranı bembeyaz yakalara kadar… bu arada artık geçerli olmasa da tv’nin her şeydeki rolü inanılmaz.
ayrıca pelevin müthiş bir öngörüyle şimdi artık sürekli kullanılan yeşil ekran teknolojisiyle canlandırılan politikacıları nefis betimlemiş.
onun dışında yazarın kişisel ilgisinin bulunduğu budizm gibi inançlar romanda oldukça fazla yer kaplıyor ki onlarla da dalga geçebiliyor kendisi. ruh çağırma tahtasında gelen che’nin mesajları sayesinde aydınlanması filan, cidden bayağı şenlikli bir roman. bazı bölümleri fazla detaylı ve sıkıcı olsa da severek ve reklamcılık travmalarımı hatırlayarak okudum. bülent o. doğan’ın ustalıklı çevirisiyle.
ha bu arada svetlana aleksiyeviç okuya okuya hayran olduğum o rus insanının buna dönüşmesi de ayrı acıklı ama yapacak bir şey yok. çok daha yakıcı bir post sscb romanı okumak isteyenlere de “underground”ı öneririm.
August 29, 2010
Five stars for a book that I resent? Certainly why not?
From the second that I started to read the book I couldn't quite decide if I liked it or hated it. The book comes off a bit like an elitist ass hole. One of those guys who knows he is smarter than you and decides that instead of acting like a civilized person he is going to prove it to you by, well telling you things that don't make any sense and then acting like they do. and if that is not enough he will include diatribes against things that as far as you were aware of didn't exist in the book. A weird obsession with pens and a preponderance of references to buddhism that don't actually explain that they are references to buddhism.
and why will you then give this book five stars? because somehow it all fits together. The long diatribe against tv actually changes your perception of the book thus far and colors your reading of further passages. Comments about che guevera's buddhism change your understanding of what might be buddhism, but comments about he buddhist method of television watching then change your perception of whether pelevin even understands buddhism, or if he wants to?
The mundane seems repetitive but the deep seems substantial and ever changing.
somehow the book seems complete without being reasonable and active while forcing a slowdown.
Everything feels deliberate. The first 10 chapters feel convoluted and hard to read but slip into a long stretch of easy flowing chapters which again devolve into convoluted muck. materialism becomes buddhism becomes "Ideal"ism. There is something about the evolution of the novel as form that evolves the novel as content. In short something feels right, perhaps because something feels just a little wrong.
*************************************
I don't actually know if I like this book. I mean I resent it but I don't know. I shall extrapolate and possibly decide and review later...
From the second that I started to read the book I couldn't quite decide if I liked it or hated it. The book comes off a bit like an elitist ass hole. One of those guys who knows he is smarter than you and decides that instead of acting like a civilized person he is going to prove it to you by, well telling you things that don't make any sense and then acting like they do. and if that is not enough he will include diatribes against things that as far as you were aware of didn't exist in the book. A weird obsession with pens and a preponderance of references to buddhism that don't actually explain that they are references to buddhism.
and why will you then give this book five stars? because somehow it all fits together. The long diatribe against tv actually changes your perception of the book thus far and colors your reading of further passages. Comments about che guevera's buddhism change your understanding of what might be buddhism, but comments about he buddhist method of television watching then change your perception of whether pelevin even understands buddhism, or if he wants to?
The mundane seems repetitive but the deep seems substantial and ever changing.
somehow the book seems complete without being reasonable and active while forcing a slowdown.
Everything feels deliberate. The first 10 chapters feel convoluted and hard to read but slip into a long stretch of easy flowing chapters which again devolve into convoluted muck. materialism becomes buddhism becomes "Ideal"ism. There is something about the evolution of the novel as form that evolves the novel as content. In short something feels right, perhaps because something feels just a little wrong.
*************************************
I don't actually know if I like this book. I mean I resent it but I don't know. I shall extrapolate and possibly decide and review later...
March 6, 2020
Grāmatu kluba krievu mēnesī nolēmu aizpildīt robu savā mūžizglītība ar kādu "kulta rakstnieka" darbu. Vispār kārtējo rezi pārliecinājos, ka savu gaumi zinu gana labi, un, ja domāju, ka tā laikam nebūs grāmata man, parasti tā arī ir. Tā ka, lūdzu atslābstiet neskaitāmie grāmtas fani, es zvaigznes lieku par SAVU lasīšanas pieredzi, nevis autora rakstītprasmi. Nu un man nepatīk šizofrēnija un narkotiku murgi. Godprātīgi izlasīju, bet tā arī nespratu to gala jēgu. Simt punkti, ka vaina ir manī, ne grāmatā, bet tas nemaina, ka man nepatīk.
June 17, 2019
4.5 out of 5 stars
I first attempted reading this book when I was 17, and I didn't get far—I was quickly appalled by what I managed to read, closed the book, and didn't think I would ever read Victor Pelevin again. Well... I guess the years have made me a lot more cynical because this time around I not only finished the book, but also found it to be fascinating, clever, satirical, quotable, philosophical, and pretty damn funny. But also rather depressing, and still a bit appalling. I guess my cynicism still has a bit of room to grow.
I'm taking half a star off because there were a few parts that were unnecessarily drawn out, but really, I can't believe how much I ended up loving this whole thing.
If you're wondering what Generation "П"/ Homo Zapiens / Babylon (depending on the edition you read) is even about—well, it's generally about advertising in post-Soviet Russia. And manipulation. And human values. And addiction. And consumerism. And politics. And mythology. And... I just think you should read it because I'm too tired to write a long review at the moment that this book undeniably deserves.
I first attempted reading this book when I was 17, and I didn't get far—I was quickly appalled by what I managed to read, closed the book, and didn't think I would ever read Victor Pelevin again. Well... I guess the years have made me a lot more cynical because this time around I not only finished the book, but also found it to be fascinating, clever, satirical, quotable, philosophical, and pretty damn funny. But also rather depressing, and still a bit appalling. I guess my cynicism still has a bit of room to grow.
I'm taking half a star off because there were a few parts that were unnecessarily drawn out, but really, I can't believe how much I ended up loving this whole thing.
If you're wondering what Generation "П"/ Homo Zapiens / Babylon (depending on the edition you read) is even about—well, it's generally about advertising in post-Soviet Russia. And manipulation. And human values. And addiction. And consumerism. And politics. And mythology. And... I just think you should read it because I'm too tired to write a long review at the moment that this book undeniably deserves.
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March 2, 2013I'd like to think that I have a bit of a Russian soul. I stare down long, snowy views pinned down by the sheer weight of being, lose myself in massive novels, like to think that I fight for the proletariat, and attribute certain cleansing abilities to vodka. However, this is a Russia that is long since dead. The modern Russia is populated by thugs in tracksuits and all manner of slimy manipulators of post-Soviet malaise. This is the Russia Pelevin writes about.
"Once upon a time in Russia there really was a carefree, youthful generation that smiled in joy at the summer, the sea and the sun, and chose Pepsi."
Wheee!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a world of oral-anal transmissions predicted by Che Guevara through a ouija board, nationalist ad campaigns for Western products, Chechen conspirators, visions of fantastic animals brought on by heavy consumption of Siberian shaman mushrooms, and whole civilizations built on credit. Much like when I read David Foster Wallace, I get a vision of postmodern humanity so bleak and so funny and so, at its core, aching to simply be human that I have to put the book down and sigh a bit from time to time.
"Once upon a time in Russia there really was a carefree, youthful generation that smiled in joy at the summer, the sea and the sun, and chose Pepsi."
Wheee!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a world of oral-anal transmissions predicted by Che Guevara through a ouija board, nationalist ad campaigns for Western products, Chechen conspirators, visions of fantastic animals brought on by heavy consumption of Siberian shaman mushrooms, and whole civilizations built on credit. Much like when I read David Foster Wallace, I get a vision of postmodern humanity so bleak and so funny and so, at its core, aching to simply be human that I have to put the book down and sigh a bit from time to time.
March 12, 2018
Mind-blowing book about how propaganda, especially of the commercial kind, literally infects our being. Pelevin is as hilarious as he is deadly in his satire of what drives modern life. The setting is post-Soviet Russia, rushing towards capitalism, but the message can send a depth charge to America as well. The visual of the Russian Parliament as a pack of cigarettes is----excuse the modern allusion--priceless. This is a different kind of 5 stars than I usually give, and I am already pushing on to Pelevin's more mystic works about werewolves.
February 9, 2024
Okuduğum en acayip metinlerden biriydi Homo Zapiens.
Çağdaş Rus edebiyatının önemli yazarlarından Victor Pelevin, SSCB döneminde kendi halinde bir edebiyat öğrencisiyken, SSCB dağıldıktan sonra, önce bir büfede çalışan, ardından eski bir üniversite arkadaşı vesilesiyle kendini reklam sektörünün içinde bulan bir gencin, bu sektörün merdivenlerini hızla tırmanmasının hikâyesini anlatıyor kısaca. Öncelikle Sovyetler’in dağılmasından sonraki Rusya’yı gözler önüne seriyor yazar: serbest piyasa ekonomisine geçildikten sonra Rus oligarklar ve mafya tarafından yönetilen ekonomi, uyuşturucu ticareti, kaçakçılık ve arbitrajla bir gecede türeyen girişimci milyonerler ve tüm bunların sonucunda belirsizlik ve şiddet ortamında savrulup giden toplumu yansıtıyor. Ardından oldukça yaratıcı ve orijinal bir biçimde tüketim toplumu eleştirisi sunuyor: Tüm fikirlerini televizyondan edinen, hatta tüm hayatı televizyon ve reklamlar tarafından manipüle edilen, kendine ve diğer insanlara sahip oldukları ya da olamadıklarıyla değer biçen, tüketim metalarının esiri olmuş insanları, kendi deyimiyle Pepsi ya da P Kuşağı’nı kendine has üslubu ve yarattığı absürt evrenle yeriyor. En sonda da tüm bu yönlendirme ve manipülasyonun sadece sıradan insanın günlük rutinlerini değil aynı zamanda ülke, hatta dünya siyasetini yönlendirmek için nasıl kullanıldığını işliyor.
Anlattıklarından ziyade anlatım biçimi nedeniyle oldukça değişik bir kitap bu. Pelevin kurguda, uyuşturucu kullanan karakterin halüsinatif dünyasını ve mitolojik hikayeleri öyle bir harmanlamış ki, kitap ilerledikçe absürtleşiyor; hayal ile gerçek, tarihsel ile kurgusal iç içe geçiyor ve fakat her ikisi de ana hikayeye öyle iyi oturuyor ki eğreti durmuyor. Haliyle garipsemiyorsunuz ama o absürt dünya biraz zihninizin sınırlarını zorluyor. Pelevin’in halüsinatif sahnelerini biraz Hunter S. Thompson’a, akla hayale gelmeyecek durumları bir araya getirip meramını yaratıcılığın uç noktalarında anlatmasını da Pynchon’a benzettim biraz.
Pelevin’in absürt dünyası bazen yordu zihnimi ama kafası farklı çalışan yazarları tanımayı çok seviyorum ve böylesine yeni ve bambaşka bir dünya tanımanın verdiği haz ve tatmin de açıkçası bir o kadar başka oluyor. Belki daha kısa tutulabilirdi metin ama yine de okuduğuma çok memnunum. Buda’nın Serçe Parmağı ile yazara devam edeceğim.
Çağdaş Rus edebiyatının önemli yazarlarından Victor Pelevin, SSCB döneminde kendi halinde bir edebiyat öğrencisiyken, SSCB dağıldıktan sonra, önce bir büfede çalışan, ardından eski bir üniversite arkadaşı vesilesiyle kendini reklam sektörünün içinde bulan bir gencin, bu sektörün merdivenlerini hızla tırmanmasının hikâyesini anlatıyor kısaca. Öncelikle Sovyetler’in dağılmasından sonraki Rusya’yı gözler önüne seriyor yazar: serbest piyasa ekonomisine geçildikten sonra Rus oligarklar ve mafya tarafından yönetilen ekonomi, uyuşturucu ticareti, kaçakçılık ve arbitrajla bir gecede türeyen girişimci milyonerler ve tüm bunların sonucunda belirsizlik ve şiddet ortamında savrulup giden toplumu yansıtıyor. Ardından oldukça yaratıcı ve orijinal bir biçimde tüketim toplumu eleştirisi sunuyor: Tüm fikirlerini televizyondan edinen, hatta tüm hayatı televizyon ve reklamlar tarafından manipüle edilen, kendine ve diğer insanlara sahip oldukları ya da olamadıklarıyla değer biçen, tüketim metalarının esiri olmuş insanları, kendi deyimiyle Pepsi ya da P Kuşağı’nı kendine has üslubu ve yarattığı absürt evrenle yeriyor. En sonda da tüm bu yönlendirme ve manipülasyonun sadece sıradan insanın günlük rutinlerini değil aynı zamanda ülke, hatta dünya siyasetini yönlendirmek için nasıl kullanıldığını işliyor.
Anlattıklarından ziyade anlatım biçimi nedeniyle oldukça değişik bir kitap bu. Pelevin kurguda, uyuşturucu kullanan karakterin halüsinatif dünyasını ve mitolojik hikayeleri öyle bir harmanlamış ki, kitap ilerledikçe absürtleşiyor; hayal ile gerçek, tarihsel ile kurgusal iç içe geçiyor ve fakat her ikisi de ana hikayeye öyle iyi oturuyor ki eğreti durmuyor. Haliyle garipsemiyorsunuz ama o absürt dünya biraz zihninizin sınırlarını zorluyor. Pelevin’in halüsinatif sahnelerini biraz Hunter S. Thompson’a, akla hayale gelmeyecek durumları bir araya getirip meramını yaratıcılığın uç noktalarında anlatmasını da Pynchon’a benzettim biraz.
Pelevin’in absürt dünyası bazen yordu zihnimi ama kafası farklı çalışan yazarları tanımayı çok seviyorum ve böylesine yeni ve bambaşka bir dünya tanımanın verdiği haz ve tatmin de açıkçası bir o kadar başka oluyor. Belki daha kısa tutulabilirdi metin ama yine de okuduğuma çok memnunum. Buda’nın Serçe Parmağı ile yazara devam edeceğim.
November 13, 2022
პირველ რიგში: Welcome To The Route 666.
სანამ ჩვენთან სისხლიანი და ბნელი 90-იანები მიმდინარეობდა, პარალელურად რუსეთი დანგრეული კომუნიზმიდან აღმოცენებასა და შეგუებას კაპიტალისტური იდეების დემონსტრირებით ცდილობდა. ტექსტში ვხვდებით: "ძველი სიტყვა "დემოკრატია" მომდინარეობს ბერძნული "დემოსიდან". ახალი კი გამოთქმიდან "Demo-Version"". ნარატორმა მკაფიოდ გამოსახა ყველა ის ჭუჭყი თუ ნაგავი, რომელიც რუსეთს 90-იან წლებში ჭამდა. ამ წიგნში არსებობს კლასიფიცირების ორი სახე: მაყურებელი და კრეატორი.
თუ საბჭოთა კავშირში რეალობას კომუნისტები აყალბებდნენ, ამ პროფესიას იმ დროინდელ რეალობაში მედია ითვისებს. გადასარჩენად, ანუ იმისთვის რომ პირმშო მაყურებელი არ გახდეს, ის კრეატორის როლის მორგებას ცდილობს, როგორც პროტაგონისტი ტატარსკი. ხოლო მაყურებლის პათოსი ხილულია: "Trapped? Masturbate".
"ისინი ზუსტად ისევე ირჩევდნენ პეპსის, როგორც მათი მშობლები ბრეჟნევს".
და რატომ "P" როგორც "პეპსი" და არა "P" როგორც "პიზდეცი"? ჩემი აზრით, ავტორმა გარდა პეპსისა, მეთხუთმეტე ასოში არამარტო წიგნის მთელი იდეა ჩადო, არამედ ნათლად წარმოაჩინა ყველა კუთხე ამ ბნელი დროებისა. შხამა სოკოებისა თუ სმაილიანი მჟავის ზემოქმედება ტატარსკის ერთ-ერთი მთავარი ფანტაზიის გამხსნელია, სხვა ყველა უბედურებასთან ერთად. "იოანე ღვთისმეტყველის Bad Trip". ნატურალურად წარმოჩენილი ჩე გევარა, მიუხედავად იმისა რომ ტექნოლოგიის ერთ-ერთი Setting-ია, მაინც თრიფის ნაწილად რჩება, ხოლო ბაბილონის გოდოლი სწორედ ის მწვერვალია, რითაც სამწუხაროდ ტატარსკი ამ ყველაფერში გარკვევას ცდილობს, თუმცა დაბრმავებულს ენის აღრევის არ ეშინია.
"You always get back to the basics"
მაყურებლების რაოდენობა კი ნამდვილად ჭარბობს მოცემულ სამყაროში. პარალელურად ავტორი შესანიშნავად წარმოგვიჩენს ფარ-ხმალ დაყრილ ადამიანებს, რომლებიც მარკეტინგული სამყაროსგან თავის გადასარჩენად ბუდისტურ მანტრას მიმართევენ, როგორიცაა სიმბოლო ამოყირავებული ტელევიზორი, რომლის მეშვეობითაც მაყურებელი მხოლოდ და მხოლოდ ამინდის გაგებას ცდილობს.
"This game has no name, It wil never be the same"
წიგნის ბოლოს კი მონარქიულ თავისუფლებას ავტორი გაშარჟებით ასრულებს და იმ დასკვნამდე მივდივართ, რომ მედიას ვირუსისგან დასაცავად ანტივირუსის Update სჭირდება.
და მართლად საავტორო უფლებები ამ წიგნის შეუცვლელი აქსიომაა.
"There they are in great dread,
For God is with Regreteous Generation".
სანამ ჩვენთან სისხლიანი და ბნელი 90-იანები მიმდინარეობდა, პარალელურად რუსეთი დანგრეული კომუნიზმიდან აღმოცენებასა და შეგუებას კაპიტალისტური იდეების დემონსტრირებით ცდილობდა. ტექსტში ვხვდებით: "ძველი სიტყვა "დემოკრატია" მომდინარეობს ბერძნული "დემოსიდან". ახალი კი გამოთქმიდან "Demo-Version"". ნარატორმა მკაფიოდ გამოსახა ყველა ის ჭუჭყი თუ ნაგავი, რომელიც რუსეთს 90-იან წლებში ჭამდა. ამ წიგნში არსებობს კლასიფიცირების ორი სახე: მაყურებელი და კრეატორი.
თუ საბჭოთა კავშირში რეალობას კომუნისტები აყალბებდნენ, ამ პროფესიას იმ დროინდელ რეალობაში მედია ითვისებს. გადასარჩენად, ანუ იმისთვის რომ პირმშო მაყურებელი არ გახდეს, ის კრეატორის როლის მორგებას ცდილობს, როგორც პროტაგონისტი ტატარსკი. ხოლო მაყურებლის პათოსი ხილულია: "Trapped? Masturbate".
"ისინი ზუსტად ისევე ირჩევდნენ პეპსის, როგორც მათი მშობლები ბრეჟნევს".
და რატომ "P" როგორც "პეპსი" და არა "P" როგორც "პიზდეცი"? ჩემი აზრით, ავტორმა გარდა პეპსისა, მეთხუთმეტე ასოში არამარტო წიგნის მთელი იდეა ჩადო, არამედ ნათლად წარმოაჩინა ყველა კუთხე ამ ბნელი დროებისა. შხამა სოკოებისა თუ სმაილიანი მჟავის ზემოქმედება ტატარსკის ერთ-ერთი მთავარი ფანტაზიის გამხსნელია, სხვა ყველა უბედურებასთან ერთად. "იოანე ღვთისმეტყველის Bad Trip". ნატურალურად წარმოჩენილი ჩე გევარა, მიუხედავად იმისა რომ ტექნოლოგიის ერთ-ერთი Setting-ია, მაინც თრიფის ნაწილად რჩება, ხოლო ბაბილონის გოდოლი სწორედ ის მწვერვალია, რითაც სამწუხაროდ ტატარსკი ამ ყველაფერში გარკვევას ცდილობს, თუმცა დაბრმავებულს ენის აღრევის არ ეშინია.
"You always get back to the basics"
მაყურებლების რაოდენობა კი ნამდვილად ჭარბობს მოცემულ სამყაროში. პარალელურად ავტორი შესანიშნავად წარმოგვიჩენს ფარ-ხმალ დაყრილ ადამიანებს, რომლებიც მარკეტინგული სამყაროსგან თავის გადასარჩენად ბუდისტურ მანტრას მიმართევენ, როგორიცაა სიმბოლო ამოყირავებული ტელევიზორი, რომლის მეშვეობითაც მაყურებელი მხოლოდ და მხოლოდ ამინდის გაგებას ცდილობს.
"This game has no name, It wil never be the same"
წიგნის ბოლოს კი მონარქიულ თავისუფლებას ავტორი გაშარჟებით ასრულებს და იმ დასკვნამდე მივდივართ, რომ მედიას ვირუსისგან დასაცავად ანტივირუსის Update სჭირდება.
და მართლად საავტორო უფლებები ამ წიგნის შეუცვლელი აქსიომაა.
"There they are in great dread,
For God is with Regreteous Generation".
June 28, 2024
Rus yazar Viktor Pelevin'in epeyce konuşulan kitabı Homo Zapiens - P Kuşağı'nı okumayı epeydir arzu ediyordum, sonunda başardım. Tarif etmesi güç, özgün bir metin kendisi.
Epeyce nüktedan bir kitap öncelikle bu - Sovyet rejimi sonrası yaşanan devasa dönüşümle beraber büyük bir boşluğa düşen Rus halkının anlam arayışına dair bir satir diyebiliriz. Kapitalizme geçişle oluşan ideolojik boşluğa yerleşmeye çalışan yeni "şey"lerin mücadelesinin vahşiliğini, absürtlüğünü, anlam kaybının anlamsızlıkla doldurulma girişimini anlatıyor yazar.
Baş kahramanımız genç ve idealist şair Babylen Tatarski. Kendisi orada burada kısa süreli işlerde çalışan biri, kayıp kuşağın üyelerinden bir diğeri. Yeni Rusya'nın içinde kendini reklam yazarı olarak buluyor ve olaylar gelişiyor. Özellikle kitabın ilk yarısında Tatarski'nin şehirde oradan oraya dolaşırken başına gelenler yahut evinde uyuşturucu etkisiyle geçirdiği tuhaf nöbetler klasik Rus romanı karakterlerinin buhranlarına göz kırpıyor; klasiği modernize etme işini çok iyi becermiş Pelevin, çok hoşuma gitti - hem tanıdık hem yepyeni sahiden.
Tatarski'nin reklamcılık kariyeri, yazdığı absürt metinlerle ilerledikçe kendini yeni bir evrenin içinde buluyor. Toplumun, kontrol ve propaganda aracı olan televizyon ve reklamlarla gerçekliği yitirdiğini, insanın sanal bir varlığa dönüştüğünü görüyor. Amerika'dan sanal politikacıları yaratmak için bir teknolojinin ithal edildiği, görünürdeki demokrasinin bizzat bir simülasyona dönüştüğünü fark ediyor. Bu kısımlar şahane yazılmıştı, içinde yaşadığımız dünyanın ne kadar sanal olduğunu, siyasetin, ekonominin, kültürün hepsinin nasıl araçsallaştığını çok alaycı biçimde anlatıyor yazar.
Metin zekice yazılmış, eğlenceli, komik. Fakat yazarın zaman zaman bence fazlaca daldığı Doğu mistisizmi kısımlarını epeyce zorlama buldum. Metine bir derinlik katmadığı gibi aksine baya bağlamsız kalıyor oralar. Buralarda kitap baya bir sayıklamaya dönüşüyor, yani öyle ki ayık kafayla okunmayacak gibi bir hale geliyor.
Ama bunun dışında derdini ve derdini anlatma biçimini genel olarak sevdiğimi; grotesk, saykodelik, satirik anlatımını okumaktan zevk aldığımı söyleyebilirim. Böyle.
Epeyce nüktedan bir kitap öncelikle bu - Sovyet rejimi sonrası yaşanan devasa dönüşümle beraber büyük bir boşluğa düşen Rus halkının anlam arayışına dair bir satir diyebiliriz. Kapitalizme geçişle oluşan ideolojik boşluğa yerleşmeye çalışan yeni "şey"lerin mücadelesinin vahşiliğini, absürtlüğünü, anlam kaybının anlamsızlıkla doldurulma girişimini anlatıyor yazar.
Baş kahramanımız genç ve idealist şair Babylen Tatarski. Kendisi orada burada kısa süreli işlerde çalışan biri, kayıp kuşağın üyelerinden bir diğeri. Yeni Rusya'nın içinde kendini reklam yazarı olarak buluyor ve olaylar gelişiyor. Özellikle kitabın ilk yarısında Tatarski'nin şehirde oradan oraya dolaşırken başına gelenler yahut evinde uyuşturucu etkisiyle geçirdiği tuhaf nöbetler klasik Rus romanı karakterlerinin buhranlarına göz kırpıyor; klasiği modernize etme işini çok iyi becermiş Pelevin, çok hoşuma gitti - hem tanıdık hem yepyeni sahiden.
Tatarski'nin reklamcılık kariyeri, yazdığı absürt metinlerle ilerledikçe kendini yeni bir evrenin içinde buluyor. Toplumun, kontrol ve propaganda aracı olan televizyon ve reklamlarla gerçekliği yitirdiğini, insanın sanal bir varlığa dönüştüğünü görüyor. Amerika'dan sanal politikacıları yaratmak için bir teknolojinin ithal edildiği, görünürdeki demokrasinin bizzat bir simülasyona dönüştüğünü fark ediyor. Bu kısımlar şahane yazılmıştı, içinde yaşadığımız dünyanın ne kadar sanal olduğunu, siyasetin, ekonominin, kültürün hepsinin nasıl araçsallaştığını çok alaycı biçimde anlatıyor yazar.
Metin zekice yazılmış, eğlenceli, komik. Fakat yazarın zaman zaman bence fazlaca daldığı Doğu mistisizmi kısımlarını epeyce zorlama buldum. Metine bir derinlik katmadığı gibi aksine baya bağlamsız kalıyor oralar. Buralarda kitap baya bir sayıklamaya dönüşüyor, yani öyle ki ayık kafayla okunmayacak gibi bir hale geliyor.
Ama bunun dışında derdini ve derdini anlatma biçimini genel olarak sevdiğimi; grotesk, saykodelik, satirik anlatımını okumaktan zevk aldığımı söyleyebilirim. Böyle.
May 30, 2007
Victor Pelevin is like a pop culture-savvy and Russian Murakami, or like Tom Robbins but less snarky and less lyrical or something. I LOVE him. This particular novel is really interesting because it approaches the world of advertising from a unexpected perspective: in soviet Russia, the seller is the sucker! Some twists are a little hokey, but the final twist is worth the read. I am a huge fan of Russian authors like Bulgakov, Dostoevsky and co, and he definitely plays around with these classic themes while elucidating the weirdness of Soviet Russia on it's last legs.
December 19, 2019
"Here we are interested not so much in the frightening prospects for tomorrow as in the no less frightening reality of today."
Lordy, this genius is hard to review!
I call it seance fiction. What this means is contacting a reality that runs parallel to ours for their perspective. They usually know better and are picky about their conveyance avatars, like Pelevin. In Homo, a young Russian guy forfeits a career in literature to work in advertising. His job in the main is to write advertisements for Western products but to sculpt them in such a way to make them palatable to the post-Soviet consumer. These are surreal and hilarious. When people start taking notice, he gets inculcated into the deeper, darker world of advertising, eventually discovering that all political figures around the world are digitized, motion-capture puppets and that ad creators write all the political crap, too. Tucked in between these plottings are bizarre and beautiful interludes where the hero does a lot of drugs and holds seances with "Che Guevara", some otherworldly menace who lays out for us the theory that people are not real because of the medium of the screen. Lurking also is another ancient strangeness in the form of Ishtar worship and the oral-anal theory of monetarism and consumerism.
Lordy, this genius is hard to review!
I call it seance fiction. What this means is contacting a reality that runs parallel to ours for their perspective. They usually know better and are picky about their conveyance avatars, like Pelevin. In Homo, a young Russian guy forfeits a career in literature to work in advertising. His job in the main is to write advertisements for Western products but to sculpt them in such a way to make them palatable to the post-Soviet consumer. These are surreal and hilarious. When people start taking notice, he gets inculcated into the deeper, darker world of advertising, eventually discovering that all political figures around the world are digitized, motion-capture puppets and that ad creators write all the political crap, too. Tucked in between these plottings are bizarre and beautiful interludes where the hero does a lot of drugs and holds seances with "Che Guevara", some otherworldly menace who lays out for us the theory that people are not real because of the medium of the screen. Lurking also is another ancient strangeness in the form of Ishtar worship and the oral-anal theory of monetarism and consumerism.
February 5, 2017
Pelevin’s Homo Zapiens in Russian Generation P, quickly became a cult books. But, if you think that this novel will explain Russian people’s mindset or describe life during the nineties to you, then you are wrong. The author does not describe or explain Russian lifestyle during the nineties, neither he gives an answer to the question that bothers reader throughout this book. Pelevin is post-modernist and the book is structured as a dialogue between writer and the reader. I believe that Pelevin wants each reader to think about various questions he included in the book and find the answers by themselves. Homo Zapiens requires active reading, and you will not relax while reading it. Pelevin’s book is rather an experience, the best part of reading this novel happened after I finished it. I started to think about the themes in the novel and analyze different aspects of the story.
In short, Homo Zapiens main character is Vavilen Tatarsky who works in the advertisement industry. He creates ads for foreign brands to adopt them in the Russian market. It is very hard to say in a few words what this book is about. The novel is good because it works on a various level of reading. It can be read as a Vavilen Tatarsky story, but you can go deeper and try to discover other topics of the novel. Homo Zapiens is a post-modernist novel and it particularly follows the fragmentation feature of post-modern works. The novel is unique because it is about different topics at the same time. The novel is about advertisement industry, Babylon myths, conspiracy theories, nineties period in Russia, Russian national idea, hallucinogens, TV reality and oranuses. I believe that each of these themes has its own separate narrative in the book. For example, if you think that the book is about conspiracy theories, you will find pieces of evidence for that in the entire novel and not only in a few chapters. Alternatively, if you are in a mood for a mythical story, you can really narrow down Vavilen Tatarsky story, and it will be only about Babylon and Ishtar myths. You should approach Homo Zapiens as an active reader; think about the different aspects of the story and why Pelevin chose to include them. If you will carefully follow every tiny detail Pelevin have in his book, then you’ll have a chance to crack Vavilen Tatrsky story and gain an exceptional experience of reading this book.
However, I may not recommend reading this book if you don’t have a background in Russian history or culture. The book actually has a good portion of humor in it. The ads Vavilen Tatarsky creates throughout the novel are really funny and clever. However, I believe that it will be hard to get this humor without the knowledge of Russian history. In addition, one of the main topics in the novel is Russian national idea and the nineties period (happened right after the collapse of Soviet Union). You might still like the novel and find other interesting topics for you. However, you will miss the chance to get a new perspective on these topics about Russian history and culture.
In short, Homo Zapiens main character is Vavilen Tatarsky who works in the advertisement industry. He creates ads for foreign brands to adopt them in the Russian market. It is very hard to say in a few words what this book is about. The novel is good because it works on a various level of reading. It can be read as a Vavilen Tatarsky story, but you can go deeper and try to discover other topics of the novel. Homo Zapiens is a post-modernist novel and it particularly follows the fragmentation feature of post-modern works. The novel is unique because it is about different topics at the same time. The novel is about advertisement industry, Babylon myths, conspiracy theories, nineties period in Russia, Russian national idea, hallucinogens, TV reality and oranuses. I believe that each of these themes has its own separate narrative in the book. For example, if you think that the book is about conspiracy theories, you will find pieces of evidence for that in the entire novel and not only in a few chapters. Alternatively, if you are in a mood for a mythical story, you can really narrow down Vavilen Tatarsky story, and it will be only about Babylon and Ishtar myths. You should approach Homo Zapiens as an active reader; think about the different aspects of the story and why Pelevin chose to include them. If you will carefully follow every tiny detail Pelevin have in his book, then you’ll have a chance to crack Vavilen Tatrsky story and gain an exceptional experience of reading this book.
However, I may not recommend reading this book if you don’t have a background in Russian history or culture. The book actually has a good portion of humor in it. The ads Vavilen Tatarsky creates throughout the novel are really funny and clever. However, I believe that it will be hard to get this humor without the knowledge of Russian history. In addition, one of the main topics in the novel is Russian national idea and the nineties period (happened right after the collapse of Soviet Union). You might still like the novel and find other interesting topics for you. However, you will miss the chance to get a new perspective on these topics about Russian history and culture.
October 5, 2014
Осмиването на постсоциалистическата действителност не успя да ми влезе под кожата. В началото бях очарована от острия език на автора, от чувството му за хумор, което изглеждаше неизчерпаемо и иронията - в големи, огромни дози.
Към средата сериозно ми доскуча и въпреки въвеждането на нови персонажи и завръщането в повествованието на вече споменати лица, действието сякаш зацикли и започна да ме отегчава. Всичко описано е по руски мащабно - става дума за много пари, за много елементарни, прясно забогатели "предприемачи", за много и тежко действащи наркотици, за много алкохол, за крайно нелепи рекламни слогани и разни други причудливи завои в ежедневието на основният виновник за всичко случващо се - Татарски.
Американската реалност, посята в руска саксия, се оказва неизчерпаем източник на абсурдни идеи и още по-абсурдното им реализиране. Не знам в кой момент точно ми дойде в повече абсурда, но се случи и трудно дочаках финала. Струва ми се, че историята за объркан човек, който не разбира времето, в което живее, но успешно се възползва от него, вече съм я чела в различни вариации и точно тази не е любимата ми.
Към средата сериозно ми доскуча и въпреки въвеждането на нови персонажи и завръщането в повествованието на вече споменати лица, действието сякаш зацикли и започна да ме отегчава. Всичко описано е по руски мащабно - става дума за много пари, за много елементарни, прясно забогатели "предприемачи", за много и тежко действащи наркотици, за много алкохол, за крайно нелепи рекламни слогани и разни други причудливи завои в ежедневието на основният виновник за всичко случващо се - Татарски.
Американската реалност, посята в руска саксия, се оказва неизчерпаем източник на абсурдни идеи и още по-абсурдното им реализиране. Не знам в кой момент точно ми дойде в повече абсурда, но се случи и трудно дочаках финала. Струва ми се, че историята за объркан човек, който не разбира времето, в което живее, но успешно се възползва от него, вече съм я чела в различни вариации и точно тази не е любимата ми.
September 14, 2017
Изтормози ме този роман. С елементи на чудесна сатира, но липса наа свестен сюжет. Авторът сякаш е тръгнал с много идеи и е искал да ги изрази всичките – просто така, да си каже всичко, измислил го е все пак, защо да не го употреби. И сипе идеи на едро, загубвайки всякакъв баланс. Жалко, в началото намирах романа за свеж, накрая минавах през страниците насила.
February 9, 2019
As it is now popular, I need to start with a disclaimer that this review is an expression of my humble opinion that you should and hopefully would not agree with, otherwise it would mean that wow-factors are doing their job. And beware, because Pelevin intends to both entertain and puzzle the reader by immersing you into what seems to be fundamental, reasonable and even intellectually appealing historical and philosophical narratives, but reducing it to the postmodernist absurdity.
Vavilen Tatarsky is a hero of our time. Although being situated by Pelevin in 90’s, his Odyssey and discoveries that he makes about himself and the “New Russia” around him will appeal to you. But while it could possibly be the result of the Pelevin’s genius and the timelessness of his craftsmanship, I felt as if I was a witness of the unchanging nature of Russian politics and all the unflattering conclusions you can derive from that. The publication of Generation P was by itself a challenge to the existing traditions. Before the book was published in 1999 by Vagrius after Pelevin’s 2-year silence, it was uploaded for a free public access to the Internet thus embodying Pelevin’s indifference towards the existing capitalist schemas. Pelevin’s status of a postmodern writer is strengthened by his provocative and yet very reserved behavior. He is one of the most globally recognized influential intellectuals in modern Russia and a recipient of numerous awards such as Russian Booker Prizes, InterPressCon and the Bronze Snail awards for The Blue Lantern, Russia's Wanderer Award for science fiction for his novel Chapaev and Void, and Germany's Richard Schoenfeld prize for the bestseller Generation P(3.5 million copies). And yet he prefers to stay out of spotlight allowing the free online access to his works that you can find here, which adds the mystical touch to his prophet-like status.
The seriousness of the tone of the narration and the nerve with which Vavilen lives through the most ridiculous experiences would regularly be puzzling and make you question the narrative and Pelevin’s intentions. Tatarsky is sent by Pelevin on a quest for the meaning of life in attempt to make sense of the world- a very relatable experience for people of 90s, and both unexpectedly and unfortunately, even more relevant for the contemporary reader. But the way ORANUS is presented as a philosophical and true explanation of 90’s reality which really is a simulacrum puzzles even the experienced reader. The sincerity and the logical flow of argumentation makes you seriously doubt Pelevin’s intentions. You can’t help but think how good 3 wow-impulses describe the modern consumerist culture, yet at the same time you can’t process the Freudian fixation concepts that are so closely tied to it in the most absurd way. So, does Pelevin make a statement proposing this model of interpreting the world or is he simply making fun of post-Soviet system or even you? We don’t know, but trust me on this, you will enjoy it anyway.
The literary components of this book add an extra layer of complexity that you might be already full of. But using Pelevin’s mythological terms, Generation P is a true Pandora’s box full of references, examples of intertextuality, and other experimental features of postmodernist literary works that seem to have no end, but all in a very playful and delightful way. For example, the chapter when ORANUS is described by Che Guevara during Tatarsky’s attempt to use the aleatory writing typical for postmodern genre, is an example of eclecticism. But speaking of genre, it is hard to identify Generation P as a pure and direct example of postmodern literature. Because Tatarsky is not an ordinary postmodern character as he is not trying to reject the metanarratives of Soviet ideology or destroy the old tradition. In contrary, because of his literary background he is attempting to build on top of the existing heritage through the constant references of Russian literary titans as Dostoevsky and Griboedov in his advertisements as though he is trying to replicate what neoclassicists did to Greek traditions and modernize the Russian heritage.
It is also worth to mention the mythological aspects of the novel and their connection to Pelevin’s personality. As Pelevin’s personal interest in Buddhist practices and the Eastern mysteries is reflected in Vavilen’s life. Everything starting from his authentic name reminding of Babylon and the Babel Tower to the highest status he was destined for are being dictated by the myths of Eastern civilizations. Moreover, these myths (e.g. 3 mysteries of Ishtar) provide the backbone to the adventures of the main character, as it is them that push him to the new levels in his quest to understand himself and the new world he happened to live in.
This complex yet fragile balance that Pelevin maintains between the polarities of absurd and crystal reason might be hard to grasp at first, but once you get the vibe you will be totally absorbed by your oral impulses that would call for the consumption of even bigger and perverse portions of this mockery to satisfy your appetite. Although you might by now think that you know what this book is like and what to expect from it, I must assure that it’s delusional, because Generation P intertwines multiple topics that it can be discussed upon, such as conspiracy theories as well as drug-inspired art processes that constitute the big part of the uniqueness of this literary work. So, what can I say? Bon Voyage and off to the world of ‘Saeculum Pizdec’.
Vavilen Tatarsky is a hero of our time. Although being situated by Pelevin in 90’s, his Odyssey and discoveries that he makes about himself and the “New Russia” around him will appeal to you. But while it could possibly be the result of the Pelevin’s genius and the timelessness of his craftsmanship, I felt as if I was a witness of the unchanging nature of Russian politics and all the unflattering conclusions you can derive from that. The publication of Generation P was by itself a challenge to the existing traditions. Before the book was published in 1999 by Vagrius after Pelevin’s 2-year silence, it was uploaded for a free public access to the Internet thus embodying Pelevin’s indifference towards the existing capitalist schemas. Pelevin’s status of a postmodern writer is strengthened by his provocative and yet very reserved behavior. He is one of the most globally recognized influential intellectuals in modern Russia and a recipient of numerous awards such as Russian Booker Prizes, InterPressCon and the Bronze Snail awards for The Blue Lantern, Russia's Wanderer Award for science fiction for his novel Chapaev and Void, and Germany's Richard Schoenfeld prize for the bestseller Generation P(3.5 million copies). And yet he prefers to stay out of spotlight allowing the free online access to his works that you can find here, which adds the mystical touch to his prophet-like status.
The seriousness of the tone of the narration and the nerve with which Vavilen lives through the most ridiculous experiences would regularly be puzzling and make you question the narrative and Pelevin’s intentions. Tatarsky is sent by Pelevin on a quest for the meaning of life in attempt to make sense of the world- a very relatable experience for people of 90s, and both unexpectedly and unfortunately, even more relevant for the contemporary reader. But the way ORANUS is presented as a philosophical and true explanation of 90’s reality which really is a simulacrum puzzles even the experienced reader. The sincerity and the logical flow of argumentation makes you seriously doubt Pelevin’s intentions. You can’t help but think how good 3 wow-impulses describe the modern consumerist culture, yet at the same time you can’t process the Freudian fixation concepts that are so closely tied to it in the most absurd way. So, does Pelevin make a statement proposing this model of interpreting the world or is he simply making fun of post-Soviet system or even you? We don’t know, but trust me on this, you will enjoy it anyway.
The literary components of this book add an extra layer of complexity that you might be already full of. But using Pelevin’s mythological terms, Generation P is a true Pandora’s box full of references, examples of intertextuality, and other experimental features of postmodernist literary works that seem to have no end, but all in a very playful and delightful way. For example, the chapter when ORANUS is described by Che Guevara during Tatarsky’s attempt to use the aleatory writing typical for postmodern genre, is an example of eclecticism. But speaking of genre, it is hard to identify Generation P as a pure and direct example of postmodern literature. Because Tatarsky is not an ordinary postmodern character as he is not trying to reject the metanarratives of Soviet ideology or destroy the old tradition. In contrary, because of his literary background he is attempting to build on top of the existing heritage through the constant references of Russian literary titans as Dostoevsky and Griboedov in his advertisements as though he is trying to replicate what neoclassicists did to Greek traditions and modernize the Russian heritage.
It is also worth to mention the mythological aspects of the novel and their connection to Pelevin’s personality. As Pelevin’s personal interest in Buddhist practices and the Eastern mysteries is reflected in Vavilen’s life. Everything starting from his authentic name reminding of Babylon and the Babel Tower to the highest status he was destined for are being dictated by the myths of Eastern civilizations. Moreover, these myths (e.g. 3 mysteries of Ishtar) provide the backbone to the adventures of the main character, as it is them that push him to the new levels in his quest to understand himself and the new world he happened to live in.
This complex yet fragile balance that Pelevin maintains between the polarities of absurd and crystal reason might be hard to grasp at first, but once you get the vibe you will be totally absorbed by your oral impulses that would call for the consumption of even bigger and perverse portions of this mockery to satisfy your appetite. Although you might by now think that you know what this book is like and what to expect from it, I must assure that it’s delusional, because Generation P intertwines multiple topics that it can be discussed upon, such as conspiracy theories as well as drug-inspired art processes that constitute the big part of the uniqueness of this literary work. So, what can I say? Bon Voyage and off to the world of ‘Saeculum Pizdec’.
August 23, 2020
В общем, если отключить в себе профдеформацию и плавно скользить по самой поверхности текста, не особо разнимая его на части и не обращая внимания на все эти "кивки головой", этим даже можно наслаждаться (в разумных пределах). Как читать глянцевую газету примерно, хоть и устарелую. Или сборник бородатых анекдотов, хотя сейчас уже трудно сказать, что было раньше, роман или народ. Да и неохота в этом копаться. Но реалии конца 90х, конечно, документально узнавае��ы, вот кто у нас реальный Нестор (с легкой стилистической поправкой на Стругов). Да и в любом случае, с середины 90х мы все живем в романе Пелевина, не выходя оттуда, ему даже придумывать ничего не надо, бери да списывай. Вот жизнь и списывает, как списала смену власти в 00м.
November 21, 2020
90-იანი წლების რუსეთის გარემო, სოციალიზმიდან გამოსვლა და კაპიტალიზმით ჩანაცვლება, დრაგები, ახალი პროდუქტები და ამ პროდუქტების მარკეტინგი,მაგრამ tbh არ მომეწონა. უფრო დიდი მოლოდინი მქონდა "ჩაპაევის და სიცარიელის" წაკითხვის შემდეგ. ყველა პროდუქტზე რეკლამის აღწერა იმდენად დიდი დოზითაა, რომ ცოტა მოსაბეზრებელი იყო ჩემთვის. ყველაზე მეტად რაც მომეწონა წიგნში ორალურ/ანალურ ვაუფაქტორის შედარება და მისი განვითარების დონეები იყო.
3/5
3/5
September 15, 2021
Очень сильно напоминает 99 франков Бегбедера, но почему у обоих авторов рекламщики грязные типчики, кокаинисты и беспредельщики? Да, манипулятивным воздействием на подсознание, реклама стала новым идеологическим инструментом, если не оружием, направленным на создание общества зомбированного потребления. Но воздействовать можно на тех, у кого нет критического мышления, поэтому Хомо Запиенсы сами виноваты.
April 3, 2019
Вторая книга Пелевина, которую прочтал и если честно, оценивая после 7 дет, по сравнению с Чапаев и Пустота это по слабее. Но не очень - это все-ровно один из топ-книг Пелевина.
November 3, 2020
Sad tek vidim da je neko dodao ovu knjigu na Goodreads i stavio spoiler u opisu... Ako citas ovo, neki dobri Goodreads Librariane/samaricanine, ispravi ovu nepravdu...
Kod Pelevina su uvek u pitanju neka drustvena previranja, zavere, manipulacije i ova knjiga nije drugacija... Reklamokratiju Pol Andersona sam odavno citao i pomalo zaboravio, ali mi se cini da bi ova knjiga mogla da se opise kao Reklamokratija ruskih tranzicionih, devedesetih godina sa dodatnim obrtima :)
Za nijansu je losija/haoticnija od "Sok od ananasa za divnu damu" koju bih pre preporucio nekome ko se tek upoznaje sa opusom Victora Pelevina. No, bez obzira koliko se pripremite za Pelevina, ocekujte sok kad ga krenete citati... Prijatno!
Kod Pelevina su uvek u pitanju neka drustvena previranja, zavere, manipulacije i ova knjiga nije drugacija... Reklamokratiju Pol Andersona sam odavno citao i pomalo zaboravio, ali mi se cini da bi ova knjiga mogla da se opise kao Reklamokratija ruskih tranzicionih, devedesetih godina sa dodatnim obrtima :)
Za nijansu je losija/haoticnija od "Sok od ananasa za divnu damu" koju bih pre preporucio nekome ko se tek upoznaje sa opusom Victora Pelevina. No, bez obzira koliko se pripremite za Pelevina, ocekujte sok kad ga krenete citati... Prijatno!
March 16, 2024
Сейчас такие провидческие тексты читать страшно. Несмотря на то, что половину книги я слушала и улыбалась, общее настроение после книги пессимистическое.
Я обычно предпочитаю книги, где автор эмоционально вовлекает меня в события, заставляет сочувствовать кому-то из героев. Здесь эмпатии не было, но с удовольствием ставлю пять звезд хотя бы за то количество цитат, которые я себе выписала.
В наше время люди узнают о том, что они думают, по телевизору.
Глупо искать здесь следы антирусского заговора. Антирусский
заговор, безусловно, существует - проблема только в том, что в нем
участвует все взрослое население России.
....ничто так не выдаёт принадлежность человека к низшим классам общества, как способность разбираться в дорогих часах и автомобилях.
Я обычно предпочитаю книги, где автор эмоционально вовлекает меня в события, заставляет сочувствовать кому-то из героев. Здесь эмпатии не было, но с удовольствием ставлю пять звезд хотя бы за то количество цитат, которые я себе выписала.
В наше время люди узнают о том, что они думают, по телевизору.
Глупо искать здесь следы антирусского заговора. Антирусский
заговор, безусловно, существует - проблема только в том, что в нем
участвует все взрослое население России.
....ничто так не выдаёт принадлежность человека к низшим классам общества, как способность разбираться в дорогих часах и автомобилях.
July 24, 2020
Как классно, что я не прочитала этот роман в студенчестве. Тогда его читали и обсуждали все мои однокурсники. Я тоже полистала книжку с Че Геварой на обложке для приличия, но отрывки про мухоморы, Иштар и Вавилон как суровые бабки у метро периода 90х отговорили меня от Поколения П. Не знаю, что там поняли мои однокурсники.. но я точно не поняла бы в этом романе ничего. Только сейчас я прониклась всей гениальностью этого романа, который стал по-моему самой удачной попыткой осмыслить нелепое десятилетие 90-х в постсоветской России.
Сарказм, ирония, реклама, у.е., полит-технологии, полное отсутствие «русской идеи», поиски новой опоры и идеологии и эксперименты с наркотиками. В общем, Ай да Витя, Ай да сукин сын.
Сарказм, ирония, реклама, у.е., полит-технологии, полное отсутствие «русской идеи», поиски новой опоры и идеологии и эксперименты с наркотиками. В общем, Ай да Витя, Ай да сукин сын.
June 10, 2024
It’s like Burroughs, Palahniuk and even PKD went to Russia 🤯
November 25, 2011
Clearly Victor Pelevin wrote the bulk of this book sitting on the toilet or standing in the shower. He collected all his stray thoughts and tried to make them anecdotes in the life of a cipher of a character. This book suffers from the same problems that Tom Robbins continually stumbles over, which is that he wants to convey some grand idea and then he has one character ask a couple questions to fake a dialog, while the other character expounds endlessly with the writer's voice. Whereas Robbins' books only make you sit through one or two chapters of it, the whole book is rife with exposition.
That said, some of it is really intriguing. I would even go so far as to say that you can skip the whole book and read nothing but the Homo Zapiens chapter and come out well ahead, missing virtually nothing. That chapter is truly incredible, and was clearly a stand alone essay that was the thesis from which the rest of the book loosely hangs on. BTW, this is the Che Guevara element that the cover copy talks about and this moment has no bearing or relevance at all to the rest of the plot and is there in namesake only. In fact the character later asks questions about things that were directly answered for him in that chapter.
About the rest of the book, well it gives an intriguing look into Post-soviet Russia. Most of it is fantasy, but the tone and timber are there. There were certainly some entertaining moments. Meanwhile, you have to put up with the flaccid ad copy. The reason why the Monty Python "Funniest Joke in the World" sketch worked is because you never heard the joke. Here you are shown time and again that his ad copy sucks, yet he's taken as being brilliant (and I'm pretty sure that it isn't supposed to be ironic).
As a straight read, I found it to be difficult, the book was dense, meandering and unclear. I can only assume that most of the problem was with the translation. The verbiage was awkward. There were tons of spelling errors. There were a number of sentences that use English words that would never be used that way by a native speaker. The clunky writing must come from the fact that no editor ever set eyes on this translation.
That said, some of it is really intriguing. I would even go so far as to say that you can skip the whole book and read nothing but the Homo Zapiens chapter and come out well ahead, missing virtually nothing. That chapter is truly incredible, and was clearly a stand alone essay that was the thesis from which the rest of the book loosely hangs on. BTW, this is the Che Guevara element that the cover copy talks about and this moment has no bearing or relevance at all to the rest of the plot and is there in namesake only. In fact the character later asks questions about things that were directly answered for him in that chapter.
About the rest of the book, well it gives an intriguing look into Post-soviet Russia. Most of it is fantasy, but the tone and timber are there. There were certainly some entertaining moments. Meanwhile, you have to put up with the flaccid ad copy. The reason why the Monty Python "Funniest Joke in the World" sketch worked is because you never heard the joke. Here you are shown time and again that his ad copy sucks, yet he's taken as being brilliant (and I'm pretty sure that it isn't supposed to be ironic).
As a straight read, I found it to be difficult, the book was dense, meandering and unclear. I can only assume that most of the problem was with the translation. The verbiage was awkward. There were tons of spelling errors. There were a number of sentences that use English words that would never be used that way by a native speaker. The clunky writing must come from the fact that no editor ever set eyes on this translation.
April 21, 2016
Indeed, a gem. I'm reasonably excited because I haven't come across such a piece in a while.
The humour was excellent. Surrealistic. Like modernised Gogol. Lots of awfully funny nuances. I think the translation as well deserves to be mentioned because although I do not know the original script, I can imagine that the language in this book has required some real brainstorming, so inventive it is.
My favourite part of the book was probably the lengthy and lavish manifesto by Che Guevara's spirit about television, primary objects, secondary objects, anal-wow-factor & oral-wow-factor as well as wow-factor (sublime terms coined by the author to argue that we live for materialism). It was well funny but at the same time very insightful rant about how we have practically substituted our consciousness with that of mass media.
I have not read new Russian literature much (as in published less than 50 years ago) so this was a nice start.
The humour was excellent. Surrealistic. Like modernised Gogol. Lots of awfully funny nuances. I think the translation as well deserves to be mentioned because although I do not know the original script, I can imagine that the language in this book has required some real brainstorming, so inventive it is.
My favourite part of the book was probably the lengthy and lavish manifesto by Che Guevara's spirit about television, primary objects, secondary objects, anal-wow-factor & oral-wow-factor as well as wow-factor (sublime terms coined by the author to argue that we live for materialism). It was well funny but at the same time very insightful rant about how we have practically substituted our consciousness with that of mass media.
I have not read new Russian literature much (as in published less than 50 years ago) so this was a nice start.
September 4, 2012
finished it in one day. gave me the strangest dream: I wandered into some derelict building - I could see the sea through one window and some huge mountains through another - and met this flying dragon-fox-angelesque creature.
then we sat down like proper yoga people and had a cup of absent. talked about something - probably commercials and pepsicola.
afterwards I went out through the door and met Tatarsky, who asked me whether I had a light. Of course I had a light. but I couldn't find it.
this made him really unhappy and he sent some mobsters after me.
it got really creepy. but then I woke up.
do not read Generation P before falling asleep.
then we sat down like proper yoga people and had a cup of absent. talked about something - probably commercials and pepsicola.
afterwards I went out through the door and met Tatarsky, who asked me whether I had a light. Of course I had a light. but I couldn't find it.
this made him really unhappy and he sent some mobsters after me.
it got really creepy. but then I woke up.
do not read Generation P before falling asleep.
April 15, 2009
Ah ha, I am copying my own comment on someone else's review into this review because I am lazy and I think it's sad that I never wrote anything here.
Homo Zapiens is (IMO) Pelevin's tour de force. It's a totally fucking incredible story of advertising and mass psychology in post-Communist Russia, with a heavy dose of psychedelic mushrooms, violence, mistaken identity, etc. It's been a few years since I read it, but holy shit was it ever nuts. Plus one of the best cover illos ever.
Homo Zapiens is (IMO) Pelevin's tour de force. It's a totally fucking incredible story of advertising and mass psychology in post-Communist Russia, with a heavy dose of psychedelic mushrooms, violence, mistaken identity, etc. It's been a few years since I read it, but holy shit was it ever nuts. Plus one of the best cover illos ever.
April 24, 2012
The book was quote interesting, but not really my kind of read. Among all the imaginary and not so much revelations, those that truly interested me were stories of post-Soviet Russia and references to ancient mythologies. Ending didn't have the closure I expected, but thanks to all the mysteries left untold, my thoughts still keep jumping back to them, as if trying to see something I missed, something that was obvious all along. Was worth reading anyway.
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