4 by Pelevin

by Victor Pelevin, Andrew Bromfield (Translator)

Four stories by one of the most popularand critically controversialyoung writers to emerge from post-Glasnost Russia. "Hermit and Six Toes"; "Vera Pavlovna's Ninth Dream"; "The Life and Adventures of Shed Number XII"; and "Tai Shou Chuan USSR" are four characterstic stories by the young Russian virtuoso Victor Pelevin, here collected in a New Directions Bibelot edition. With a deadpan and cooly ironic voice that speaks of the phantasmagorical, the surreal, the grotesque and the absurd just as affectingly as Gogol did in his day, Victor Pelevin writes of the dark chaos of the New Russia. In one story, a public toilet attendant discovers in her tiled hovel the entranceway to an alternate reality; in another, a man walks through a city at night with a companion he isn't entirely sure isn't his own shadow. This slim volume offers first-time Pelevin readers a compelling taste of his bleakly comic genius.

Genres: Short Stories, Russia, Fiction

101 pages, Paperback

First published September 6, 2001

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

[Dan Ust · Rating 3 out of 5]

First two stories are quite imaginative, but the last two (of the four) while initially interesting soon became tedious for me.

[Cardemonde]

lovely and solipsistic

[Thijs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Niet alle 4 even leuk. Beetje absurd

[Dylan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first two stories but not the last two, I guess I didn't really comprehend what was happening which could be the fault of the translation or my own ignorance.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5🌟
- Read for school

[p · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first story, "Hermit and Six-Toes", is really good the second time you read it. Quite compelling.

The second story, "Life and Adventure of Shed XII" is kind of more of the same. It's pretty interesting.

The third story, "Ninth Dream of [so-and-so, i can't remember]" bored me. It deals with the necessary tie between solipsism and realism, and it might have interested me four years ago. It's definitely artsy and people who have poor imaginations but are enlightened by others' imaginations will like it.

The fourth story, "A Chinese Folktale [or something like that]" is okay. It's pretty straightforward, but doesn't add a whole lot.

Overall, very imaginitive. Be prepared to use your brain while you read. I also recommend his novel "Life of Insects."

[John Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book on a very auspicious day--my first official day at Notre Dame (prefaced by 20 years of unofficial days there)...
And read it in the shade of a now vanished tree, while everyone else went to Mass and got shiny objects (one of which, it should be noted, a comrade snagged for me).
Pelevin is the balm to panicked and frantic realities we find ourselves in.
He is magical, exacting, and perfect.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd read the second two stories in another collection of Pelevin's short works, A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia: And Other Stories. While I enjoyed this collection, and I think enjoyed the latter two stories more on my second reading, I think I prefer his longer works.

[A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its been a while since I read this book. No matter. The Life and Times of Shed XII is a freaking fantastic story. The rest of the stories can stay.

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

really good short stories about the philosophical views of non humans and inannimates

[Julie Alisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four point five stars.

[Neal Kerrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book you can judge by it's cover. It's odd, and very far out there. I really enjoyed the first two stories. I can't think of the last two off hand. It was still pretty good.

[Claudius · Rating 5 out of 5]

reread