The Blue Lantern: Stories

by Victor Pelevin, Andrew Bromfield (Translator)

In a recent New York Times Magazine feature article, Victor Pelevin was cited as "almost alone among his generation of Russian novelists in speaking with a voice authentically his own, and in trying to write about Russian life in its current idiom." Since the publication of this collection of stories, The Blue Lantern , Pelevin's books have been translated into many languages, and Pelevin himself has been touted as a major world writer. The Blue Lantern , winner of the Russian Little Booker Prize, gathers eight of his very best stories. Various, delightful, and uncategorizable, the stories are highly addictive. Pelevin here, as in The Yellow Arrow (New Directions, 1996), Omon Ra (ND, 1997), and A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia (ND, 1998), pays great attention to the meaning of life, in earnest and as spoof. In the title story, kids in a Pioneer camp tell terrifying bedtime stories; in "Hermit and Six-Toes," two chickens are obsessed with the nature of the universe as viewed from their poultry plant; the Young Communist League activists of "Mid-Game" change their sex to become hard-currency prostitutes; and "The Life and Adventures of Shed #XII" is the story of a storage hut whose dream is to become a bicycle.

Genres: Short Stories, Russia, Fiction, Fantasy, Russian Literature, Science Fiction, Russian History

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Victor 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

Reviews

[Sinem A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yanlış olmasın ama sanırım ben okurken hayatta olan ilk Rus yazar.
Özellikle geç dönem Rus yazarlardan aldığı mirası farklı bir yere taşımış.
Birkaç hikaye epey etkileyiciydi.(herkesin bulacağı bir kaç tane çıkabilir o nedenle daha fazla kişiselleştirmiycem)
Hayvanlar ve cansızlar (buna ölü insanlar da dahil) üzerinden yaşayan insana dair bişiiler anlatmak kolay bir iş olmasa gerek ama güzel kotarılmış, okurken tam "berbadolacak" derken acaip bir yerden alıp kaldırıyor hikayeyi.
Ama absürd sevmeyenlere tavsiye etmem.

[Atreju · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars, really!
8 tra quelli che sono considerati i migliori racconti giovanili di Pelevin (periodo 1991-1993).
La prosa si aggancia salda al tipico incedere russo, tra realismo e grottesco. Ma è chiaro che orami i tempi sono del tutto cambiati e la fantasia è libera di scorrazzare per le vaste praterie delle idee dello scrittore.
Alcuni racconti abbinano anche il gusto per il colpo di scena o, per meglio dire, per un finale che sfugge del tutto a ogni possibile previsione logica del lettore.
In questo, il primo racconto "Notizie dal Nepal" è il più esemplare. E forse è anche il più bello. L'atmosfera generale mi ricorda molto il surreale degli Strugatskij, in particolare de "La chiocciola sul pendio".
Anche "L'eremita e Seidita" mi è piaciuto molto, ancorché qui forse il finale uno se lo può immaginare, più o meno, strada facendo.
Del tutto spiazzante, invece, è il bellissimo "Mediogioco". Atmosfere decadenti da crollo dell'URSS, personaggi realistici che, tuttavia, non sono affatto quello che sembrano. Non voglio svelare nulla, dico solo che è tutto assurdo, magnifico...
Altro racconto che mi è piaciuto è quello che dà il titolo alla raccolta. Anche qui, bella l'atmosfera da leggero brivido e l'ambientazione in un dormitorio. Di sicuro ci può ricordare le nostre stesse esperienze al campo estivo... chi non si è raccontato storie di paura di notte con gli amici?

[Türkay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pelevin iyi kurgulanmış, gerçeküstü öğeler, şaşırtıcı kahramanlar, doğa üstü olaylar da içeren arka planda bir mizah duygusunu sürekli yaşatan öyküler yazmış.
İyi bir çeviriyle yayınlanmış, keyifle okunan bir kitap Mavi Fener... iyi edebiyat...

[Christabel_Lamort · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notizie dal Nepal ⭐⭐⭐
L' Eremita e Seidita ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
Il mondo di cristallo ⭐⭐⭐
Nika ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Mediogioco ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
Vita e avventure del casotto Numero XII ⭐⭐⭐⭐
La lanterna blu ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
Il tamburo del Mondo Superiore ⭐⭐⭐

[Dhanaraj Rajan · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some stories that deserved 4 0r even 5 stars.

The top rated stories according to me are:

1. The Hermit and the Six Toes
2. The Life and Adventures of Shed No. XII.
3. Nica.

The other stories might have had effect in the original Russian as it had references to Russian history or the culture.

The stories expound the philosophical themes of "Existence" "Spiritual Perfection" "Collectivity vs Individuality" "Death and Afterlife - Memory."

An interesting collection.
Now, I will have to try one of his famous novels. And certainly I will try it.

[ktulu81 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Già in questi racconti giovanili sono presenti gli elementi caratterizzanti che ho ritrovato nei romanzi “Omon Ra” e “Il mignolo di Buddha”: un mix secondo me molto ben riuscito tra satira ironica, grottesco e riflessioni di carattere metafisico. Tutto quello che ho letto fino ad ora di questo autore è stato estremamente stimolante e, perlomeno in base alle mie limitate letture precedenti, decisamente originale.

[Fábio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting stories, individually, but few (none?) actually extraordinary.
The author's serio-comical style seeps through every page. As usual, cultural references are everywhere, but they're easier to grasp than the Russian pop trivia that makes some of Pelevin's works a bit hermetic. The breakdown:

- News from Nepal (*****) - A humdrum Russian nightmare, with Oriental undertones, as expected (and, actually, hoped for, in my case). Perhaps the most "Pelevinesque" story in the book.

- Hermit and Six-Toes (*****) - Very very interesting, it reminded me of some of Italo Calvino's "Cosmicomics". Would love to see it fleshed-out as a novel. Or a whole saga.

- Crystal World (***) - Russian history! Also, drugs! A lot of "Chapaev i Pustota" (and others by the same author) here, but nothing special.

- Nika (**) - Cutesy, but kinda obvious halfway through.

- Mid-Game (***) - Interesting tale about change in another of Russia's several "Times of Trouble". (See "Crystal World" above.)

- The Life and Adventures of Shed Number XII (***) - An entertaining read, but meh... Once again reminded me of Calvino, whose stories can also feel kinda gimmicky. It is supposed to be philosophical, but it achieves little more than motivational poster status. "The Little Shed that Could.

- The Blue Lantern (****) - Creepy and weird little tale(s), but I kept expecting one of the usual twists involving children (but I guess it never came, so... good?)

- The Tambourine of the Upper World (*****) - Very interesting concept. Shamanism, capitalism. and love in Post-Soviet Russia. A nice wrap taken in context with the first story. Would like to see it in longer form too.

I've also noticed some strong parallelisms on the book's structure (partly): "Tibet" / "Tambourine", obviously, but also "Hermit" and "Shed" (both philosophical journeys of enlightenment, inward and outward) and "Crystal World" and "Midgame" (pairs of characters wandering Russian streets during times of change).

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

if i were the president of good reads, i would make it so you could review stories, not just books. a story is a complete product and i don't like feeling like i have to finish a books of stories just cause i liked the first one. maybe i want to read something else.

i just read "hermit and six-toes" by pelevin and it was great, saunders-esque but anticipating saunders by a few years, a mix between huxley and kafka and nick park.

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've said it once and I'll say it again: The story about the chickens made me cry.

[Rv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pelevin's tales vary from zany and off-the-wall to profound and meditative. They throw you into a time-looping death trip, let you explore animal dreamscapes, and introduce you to an anthropomorphic shed with dreams of transcending its shed-hood.

This is a great collection of short stories and a perfect intro to Pelevin's style. Some shine brighter than others (Shed XII in particular), but they all bear the mark of an inventive and unique writer.

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid four (4) stars. Good but not great. Moments of sheer brilliance which often got lost by the zany endings and ironic Russian sense of humor.

I do admire the "new" spirit of openness in an otherwise repressive regime. Some of the nine (9) short stories were truly inspired as in "Mid-Game" where Victor Pelevin paints a picture of hardliners from the military playing a deadly game of chess with dire results against "working girls" who turn out to be former mid level Communist Party officials who have undergone sex change operations under this new season of perestroika. Lest you think the author supports violence against street hustlers and/or women, think again. The "working girls" are winning! You go girls ... er ... you get the drift.

Another of the short stories reads like a version of a hellishly bad "Groundhog's Day" for the heroine in "News from Nepal" and while reading "Hermit [a/k/a Recluse in Russian] & Six-Toes" I kept thinking of the hilarious stop action claymation movie "Chicken Run" made by the creators of "Wallace & Gromit" in the UK.

At the center of each story was the existential quest for the meaning of life told in hilarious, ironic fashion. A fresh perspective here because Russian authors can be so freaking heavy handed and over the top. Don't get me wrong. I am a huge fan of Russian literature and Mother Russia's hardy folks. But their oft-dour tragic cultural outlook must be the result of the cold northern climate and the long winter nights. Listen to Al Stewart's "Roads to Moscow" six (6) times in a row right now. You get the picture.

Maybe climate change is bringing about a long overdue thaw to the frosty Russian angst and national sense of humor. There may be something to that. Say, did you hear the one about the frog who slowly boiled to death in a pot of hot borscht? There's an apropos Russian punchline in there somewhere.

Do read this book if another day on the soul-killing hamster wheel called life finds you reaching for an icy cold bottle of Stolichnaya. There be sound philosophical entertainment and good reading here.

[Danilo · Rating 3 out of 5]

pelevin prova a ritrarre la russia contemporanea (e non) tramite simboli e allegorie lungo gli 8 racconti che compongono il libro. in alcuni ci riesce alla grande (quello sui polli e quello sui garage), mentre in altri si fatica a trovare un appiglio per portare a termine la lettura. nel complesso buono

[Shatterlings · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very mixed selection of stories, a couple are fantastic, Hermit and six toes a satire about religion or maybe communism, some sort of social control anyway, and Nika for the massive clever twist. But I didn’t finish Crystal World and didn’t enjoy the weirdness of Mid Game.

[Guy Salvidge · Rating 2 out of 5]

I basically don't gel with Pelevin. He's too cold, cerebral and elliptical for my liking. I did enjoy 'Mid-Game' but found myself bored and confused by most of the rest.

[wally · Rating 4 out of 5]

1st from pelevin for me.

the 1st story...bit of a hoot...as it begins and ends w/the same line:
and when the door against which lyubochka was pressed by the invisible force finally opened, it turned out that the trolley was already moving, and now she had to jump straight into a puddle.

the title "news from nepal" ...

lyubochka...a woman who works amongst many others, rank and file, after that first line she tries to cross a street where trucks are moving...
...the translation...hmmm...seems to be missing an article in one place, "the"...yet no big deal. still, that 1st sentence, i had to read it several times yet now it makes complete sense.

story 2. "hermit and six-toes" about two chickens...and they have just made a break for it, although they had to trick the other chickens into forming a chicken-pyramid so they could get over the wall at the end of the world...hermit is like this wise-chicken, six-toes the sancho-panza...close, not quite perhaps...hermit not quite a quixote.

as metaphor for the world, it works. not done w/it, as yet...

update: finished, the 1st of 2012...sunday

story 3: crystal world
two russian guys on horseback are guarding this area, some road, and lenin must be a sensitive chap as the head honcho wants the two guards to keep any whores from heading down the road...politicians are like that, i suspect, not wanting to see anything to upset them...acid reflux and so on.

toward the end there's a guy selling lemonade to the pickets.

story 4: nika
you don't realize till the end, but nika is a cat...actually, i thought perhaps this or something like it at some point, but by the end it is clear, nika, the cat is no more as patriot this big dog chased her into the street where she met her end.

story 5: mid-game
heh! two whores...and we can't use that word, can we? as it is not politically correct? lenin again.

$5 bills, lincolns, "legal tender" in the story is "legitimate affection". heh!
both, turns out, were men, now women.

story 6: shed #12
story of a shed who dreams of becoming a bicycle and does so, a kind of storybook ghost bicycle...interesting story....metaphor....but tommyknockers aren't into metaphor, so what can be done? pickle barrel....

story 7: the blue lantern
boys in a camp at lights out in their bunk tell stories. bev vincent in shivers v has a story about camp, story-telling....not quite like this...but the same idea.

story 8: the tambourine of the upper world
two russian gals are traveling via train to a crashed german plane. w/them is a reindeer-herder, a woman name of tyimy....which could possibly be suomalainen...her costume is a hoot....the face of clock tied to one leg, a horseshoe tied to the other, dragging, "so she does not get stuck in the mud".

this....[sami-witch] does the number w/the tambourine (there's two, one for the lower world, another for the upper) and she is able to call the dead...the girls are using the dead for mates...getting good money for it...foreigners, i guess so they can leave the country...


an interesting collection of stories. imaginative thought-provoking serious comical. favorites? i dunno....they all rate about even....they are different enough one from the other to make each unique....the idea in that last, raising the dead for marriage so people can leave the state. heh!
and we want to become more like mother russia in this country! go figure!

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of eight short stories fresh from post-Soviet Russia was written 25 years ago, and having finally gotten around to reading them, I can't help but feel time has worn the edge off them somewhat. Although to be fair, it could also be the case that readers with a deeper sense of Russian and Soviet history and culture will find layers that eluded me.

Probably my favorite story was the final one, "The Tambourine of the Upper World" -- in which two women travel the country with an practitioner of arcane arts, seeking the corpses of Western men to bring back to life so they can arrange a marriage with someone who wants to obtain a foreign passport. A similarly surreal take on post-Soviet life occurs in "Mid Game", which follows two hard currency prostitutes in Moscow and their strange encounter with a pair of possible serial killers, with the plot twist of sex-change serving as metaphor for ideological change.

Other stories take place deeper in history -- in the titular story, children in a Young Pioneer camp tell scary stories at night, but I couldn't work out what it all meant. In "Crystal World", two White Russian soldiers on guard duty in St. Petersburg banter away the night, unclear on why they are guarding the street, and oblivious to their multiple encounters with Lenin on the night of the Uprising.

There's a strong philosophical strain to most of the stories, which is not something I responded to, however inventively executed. "The Life and Adventures of Shed XII" is a meditation on the meaning of existence through the eyes of a shed. "Hermit and Six-Toes" is much the same, but through the lives of chickens. "Nika" is written as if it is about the relationship between a man and woman, although it's obvious early on that the woman is actually a cat or dog.

As exciting as this collection might have been when it came out, I can't help but feel that it's more of a curiosity at this point. I can't see myself recommending this to anyone but the most diehard fan of post-Soviet writing.

[Lauri Laanisto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Juhtus nii, et ma saan jälle maal teatud raamaturiiulitele ligi. Haarasin sealt kohe portsu kraami koju kaasa, mida olen tahtnud juba ammu üle lugeda. Muuhulgas ka selle raamatu. Pelevini jutukogu kohta ma oma blogist postitust ei leia, mis tähendab et ma pole seda vähemalt viimase 15 aasta jooksul lugenud. Selles mõttes oli küll ülelugemine pettumus, et kõik lood tulid pärast esimese paari lõigu lugemist meelde. Liiga meelde. Nostalgilise meenutuse asemel oli mäluelevantide rünnak. Kunagi kui ma seda lugesin, meeldisid mulle kõige enam "Buldooserijuhtide päev" (keele pärast), "Erak ja kuusvarvas" (maailma pärast" ja "Keskmäng" (puändi pärast). Nüüd oli üsna samamoodi. Pole ma siis tõesti viimase 20 aastaga üldse muutunud? Samas kui vahepeal on muutunud see, et Pelevinist on saanud eelkõige romaanikirjanik, samas kui Sinise laterna järelsõnas öeldakse, et ta on ikkagi eelkõige lühivormi meister. Mul on üldiselt savi, kas on pikk jutt Pelevinil või lühike, pettunud ma seni ei ole. Ei, vassin, "Omon Ra/Generatsioon P" jättis pärast "Tšapai ja Pustotad" kuidagi lahja mulje. Tuleb vist uuesti käsile võtta...

[Cate]

Note on translation of "Nika"

In response to his friend's teasing, "Can't your Nika even stand the sight of me?" (91), the author makes fun of him for thinking that what he says in jest is really true:
"Ему не приходило в голову, что именно так оно и есть, со странной наивностью он полагал, что в глубине никиной души ему отведена целая галерея." =>
"He assumed with odd naíveté that in Nika's heart of hearts she adored and idolized him" (91)

I like the phrase, "...that in the depths of Nina's soul he had a whole gallery." Maybe "heart of hearts" corresponds better to existing English idiom (OK, maybe), but tying together "sight" and "gallery" seems to me clever and poetic.

"...когда она прижимается ко мне своим по-кошачьи гибким телом"
=> "...she was pressing her lithe body against me" (95)

The translator could have chosen "catlike" or "feline," and I can't believe he chose "lithe"

[Marjorie · Rating 3 out of 5]

short stories: 1) they're dead 2) they're chickens 3) drug-taking soldiers in the cold rain 4) she's a cat 5) they're all trans 6) a shed who dreams of being a bicycle 7) corpses 8) finding foreign corpse husbands.

Not bad but mostly too short to enjoy or feel developed. The chicken one was nice though and the cat revelation was really very fun.

[HelloB · Rating 1 out of 5]

A parte il primo racconto, il resto non mi è piaciuto per niente.. "l'Eremita e Seidita" l'ho trovato tedioso; "Nika" lasciamo stare x_x e così purtroppo anche per i racconti restanti. Peccato perché il primo "Notizie dal Nepal" è bellissimo, mi ha ricordato molto le atmosfere alla Bulgakov 😁 e alla Dylan Dog.

[Tony Coffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Every sentence finds its own executioner, and every one of us is an accomplice in a mass of murders.”

“He flew away from the window, picked up speed, turned back, folded his wings, and disappeared into the beam of light pouring in through the hole in the painted glass together with the wind and the new, unfamiliar sounds.”

[Jagadeesh Vallabhaneni · Rating 4 out of 5]

News from Nepal - 3.75
Hermit and Six-Toes - 4.75
Crystal World - 2
Nika - 3.5
Mid-Game - 3.25
The Life and Adventures of Shed Number XII - 4.75
The Blue Lantern - 4
The Tambourine of the Upper World - 3.75

[Torsten Dennin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great collection of 8 stories. My favorite are „Nika“, „News from Nepal“, and „Hermit and Six-Toes“. The theme stays the same, that’s a positive for the collection, but for the reader it is not. Anyhow, love the read Pelevin 😃

[Hekmatjar · Rating 4 out of 5]

fucking weird but interesting. had to read Миттельшпиль for class, intriguing combination of gender and the confusion near the fall of the Soviet Union

[Corinne Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible. Just incredible. Every one of these stories.

[Alan Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

the first 2 stories are especially good! really cool concepts but definitely not as fleshed out as his full novels

[Liam Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did not expect to shed tears over the heart-wrenching story of a shed that dreamt of becoming a bike, only to one day be burnt to the ground. 4 stars.

[Spotted Towhee]

Hermit & Six-Toes and Shed XII were stand outs, with several others quite good. None of the rest were as good as those 2, but there were no duds.

[Shushan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nika still remains the best short story i’ve ever read !

[UnderseaDavis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I made it up as an ancient legend