Viktor Pelevin is a writer whose life is shrouded in mystery. The name and work of this man fascinates and arouses unceasing interest. Despite the fact that his first novel was published in 1996, the author's non-standard prose still causes heated debate. And the most amazing thing is that Victor Pelevin, whose books break sales records, remains one of the most mysterious figures in modern literature.

Mysterious personality

Pelevin is a writer of whom little is known. Few journalists can boast of a personal acquaintance with him. At one time, television people made unthinkable efforts in order to invite the writer to a program or talk show, but they could not even get through to him.

Viktor Pelevin, whose books have been translated into many European languages, is reluctant to give interviews to Russian journalists. And when he appears in public, which he rarely does, he appears before his fans exclusively in black glasses. Publishing houses, whose interests include the promotion of Pelevin's books, offer to send questions by e-mail to the proposal of press workers to organize an interview with a mysterious author. The author of sensational novels, as a rule, refuses personal meetings.

A few years ago, there were even rumors that Pelevin Viktor Olegovich was a non-existent person. And the books published under that name - the fruits of the labors of the so-called literary ghosts. And yet, who is Viktor Pelevin? What is known about him from official sources?

short biography

Pelevin Viktor Olegovich was born in Moscow in 1962. The future writer spent his childhood in a communal apartment in the very center of the capital. In the seventies, the family moved to Chertanovo, where, according to some sources, Viktor Pelevin still lives today. After graduating from a prestigious school located in Leontievsky Lane, he entered the Energy Institute. Then there were postgraduate studies and several years of work at the department. In 1987, the writer, like his famous hero Tatarsky, entered the Literary Institute. Gorky.

Viktor Pelevin, whose biography cannot be fully represented due to the presence of a large number of white spots, according to some sources, served in the army, was never married, worked for several years as a correspondent in one of the Moscow magazines. The first collection of short stories was published by a major Russian publishing house in 1992. The novel that made him famous was published in 1991. But before proceeding to the topic of Pelevin's work, it is worth saying a few words about what else the inquisitive members of the press have learned about the life of the author of the sensational novel Chapaev and Void.

School and Institute

Former classmates and teachers of Pelevin remember him as a closed teenager. Among his peers, he was distinguished by high erudition, but he always kept himself apart.

Pelevin was expelled from the famous university that produces certified poets and prose writers. There were many legends about him. In his student years, Pelevin did not stand out in any way. At least that's what the art teachers thought. Soon after his expulsion, he became famous. This professor could not forgive a former student for a long time. There was a time when an applicant, seen with a book by this author, had every chance of failing the entrance exams.

First novel

The work "Omon Ra" was published in 1991. In terms of genre, it is close to a thriller, but it is a parody of an educational novel of the Soviet years. The main feature of "Omon Ra" is grotesque. The heroes of the novel are cadets of the flight school. Maresyev. After admission, each of them will have their legs amputated. And this is done in the name of the motherland. Then the cadets learn the Kalinka dance. In passing, this fantastic and philosophical work also mentions the military school of Pavel Korchagin, whose graduates, without exception, are all blind invalids. For his first novel, Pelevin was awarded two prestigious literary prizes. --

A novel set in the void

Pelevin is a writer who, according to critics, has occupied the niche of Castaneda, Borges and Cortazar in Russian literature. The author of the novel "Chapaev and Emptiness" is the first representative of modern philosophical prose in Russia. The action of this work takes place two years after the revolution. The main character - Peter Void - serves in Chapaev's division. This work was received by critics ambiguously, but in most cases positively. The novel was included in the list of contenders for

"Generation P"

A novel about Russians whose views were shaped in an era of change was published in 1999. The action of the work, which has become a cult, takes place in the early nineties. The hero of the novel is a graduate of the Literary Institute, forced to work in a stall selling cigarettes and beer. But due to chance, he becomes one of the representatives of the profession, the existence of which in the early nineties in Russia, few people knew. Tatarsky (namely, that is the name of Pelevin's hero) becomes a copywriter.

Before the novel appeared on the shelves of bookstores, fragments of it were available to Internet users to read. Critics were interested in a non-standard plot. Pelevin had even more fans. The publication of the novel "Generation P" was a long-awaited event.

"DPP"

In 2003, a collection was published, which included stories and the novel "Numbers". Prior to this event, there was a short break in the author's work. Pelevin is a writer in whose books criticism of the Soviet consciousness is in the foreground. The satire of this author is peculiar. It is not expressed in the author's position expressed in the text itself. It is rather a feeling of the ugliness of modern life, which, however, cannot be otherwise. Similar ideas and sentiments are present in DPP.

Features of prose

Pelevin is a writer whose books are a kind of encyclopedia of spiritual and intellectual literature. Any of his writings can be considered as a textbook on mythology. But in order to understand the meaning of Pelevin's ideas, it is necessary to have sufficient information from the field of the history of religion and philosophy. Not every even educated reader can decipher the intertextual references that are present in his books.

The texts of this author contain religious and philosophical treatises. Reading Pelevin's books is like solving a crossword puzzle. Some literary scholars and admirers of Pelevin's work believe that his prose is a fascinating textbook of religious studies.

What is the reason for the popularity?

The author referred to in this article differs from many of his colleagues in his fine artistic taste and unusually developed imagination. At least, this is what the majority of Russian critics think. Pelevin manages to find a new angle and an original approach in each book. It often surprises, and sometimes even shocks. Pelevin's books contain complex philosophical constructions, but due to the ease of language, reading does not become tedious.

The images of the characters in the novels of this writer are memorable and vivid. And Pelevin's literary style is a mixture of forms and genres. In one book you can find several genres - science fiction, detective, mysticism, and drug novel. By the way, despite the fact that Pelevin's heroes abuse illegal drugs, the author claims that such a weakness is unknown to him. He is able to expand his consciousness without the use of narcotic drugs.

Criticism

Of course, not all readers are delighted with Pelevin's prose. But even fans notice that the skill of this writer does not develop incrementally. The novel, which was published more than twenty years ago, according to critics, has not yet been surpassed. Pelevin's prose is distinguished by the presence of different styles that may be present in one work. In the book, you can find episodes that do not play any role in the plot. All these features of prose cause both positive and negative reactions from critics and readers.

Pelevin and classics

One of the literary critics once said that Pelevin is trying to build a bridge between youth subculture and cultural heritage. The author of fashionable intellectual prose is called a follower of Bulgakov and Gogol. After all, Pelevin's books contain both social satire and mystical plots.

The question of whether Pelevin's work belongs to art and real literature is still debatable. And today there are critics who answer it negatively. However, bad prose, as you know, needs promotion and intrusive advertising. Pelevin's books became popular without much advertising campaign.

(ratings: 1 , average: 5,00 out of 5)

Name: Viktor Olegovich Pelevin
Date of Birth: November 22, 1962
Place of Birth: Russia, Moscow

Victor Pelevin - biography

Victor Olegovich Pelevin is an outstanding Russian writer of our time, one of the most mysterious prose writers of our time. The works of this author have received worldwide recognition and many literary awards, and he himself topped the list of the most influential Russian intellectuals (2009).

The future writer was born on November 22, 1962 in an intelligent Moscow family. His parents were teachers: his father taught at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, his mother worked as a head teacher and teacher of a foreign language at a prestigious Moscow school. Pelevin graduated from this institution in 1979. Then the young man entered the energy university, from which he graduated in 1985. Having left the walls of Alma mater as a certified specialist in electrification and automation of industry and transport, Victor gets a job as an engineer in one of the departments of his own university. He also served in the Russian Air Force.

Deciding to connect his life with science, in 1987 Viktor Olegovich entered the graduate school of the International Economic Relations. After studying there for two years, the future writer left science and did not bring his dissertation research to its logical conclusion. In 1989, he became a student at the Gorky Literary Institute, but two years later he was expelled for "losing contact with the university." As the famous prose writer recalls, during the years of study at this university, he did not learn anything new, but he gained important connections. Pelevin struck up an acquaintance and friendship with the young writers Albert Egazarov and Victor Kulle. They became the founders of a small Moscow publishing house, where Pelevin at one time worked as an editor.

Since 1989, the active journalistic activity of Viktor Olegovich begins. He works in two publications - Face to Face and "Science and Religion" (in this magazine he placed his publications on the subject of Eastern mysticism). Pelevin's debut story appeared here, written in 1989 - a phantasmagoria fairy tale "Sorcerer Ignat and people."
1991 was marked by the publication of the first major book by an aspiring prose writer - a collection of short stories "The Blue Lantern". At first, this work was not awarded the attention and even more praise of literary critics, but a few years later it was awarded three prizes - the Small Booker, Interpresscon and the Golden Snail. In 1993, Viktor Olegovich became a member of the Russian Union of Journalists.

In subsequent years, Pelevin's most popular novels were published, which are included in the list of his best books - "Omon Ra", "The Life of Insects", "Chapaev and Emptiness". However, the most iconic work of the author was the work "Generation P", which was published in 1999 - it was sold with a circulation of more than three and a half million copies. The penetrating combination of sarcasm and caricature of the generation of the nineties, living in advertising slogans, coupled with socio-political and esoteric notes, received many enthusiastic reviews from intellectual readers and influential critics.

For almost five years, Viktor Olegovich did not spoil the readership with his novelties, but in subsequent years he literally showered them with his masterpieces in the style of postmodernism. In 2003, a collection was published with the intricate title “Dialectics of the Transitional Period, the Way from Nowhere to Nowhere” (briefly called “DPP”), consisting of the novel “Numbers” and several short stories. A year later, a philosophical-fiction story was published with a sarcastic look at our brutal and ambiguous modernity, The Sacred Book of the Werewolf. In this work, readers saw a new Pelevin - as always, caustic and witty, but with a certain amount of lyrics and sensuality.

Continuing to regularly release his masterpieces and receiving numerous literary awards, Viktor Olegovich becomes one of the most popular Russian authors of our time. By 2017, his creative baggage amounted to fifteen major novels and more than fifty novels and short stories. The Russian writer loves to experiment with different literary forms and genre mixing. In 2005, the play by the prose writer “The Helm of Horror. Creatiff about Theseus and the Minotaur”, created as part of the inter-author series “Canongate Myth”. In addition, Pelevin tried his hand at poetry - his poems complement some novels.

Another direction of the author's work is journalistic essays and essays. In his journalistic works, the prose writer expresses his opinion about the mores and philosophical concepts of our society, analyzes modern literary trends and evaluates the controversial works of postmodern writers and philosophers. His most famous essays are John Fowles and the Tragedy of Russian Liberalism, Zombification. An Experience in Comparative Anthropology”, “The Bridge I Wanted to Cross”.

The main feature of all the books of Viktor Pelevin is sarcastic notes that reflect the vices of modern society. Often a talented prose writer takes well-known stories and historical events as the basis of his works, refracting them from a creative point of view. A heap of eccentric images with a double or even triple meaning and an unusual interpretation of familiar things is the main reason for the dizzying success of Pelevin's work. The plot lines of his works are very streamlined: reality smoothly turns into phantasmagoria, the past goes hand in hand with the future, and the boundaries between life and death are completely erased. The main characters of his works are ordinary people taken from various walks of life. Often they are witnesses of unexpected metamorphoses of consciousness and environment, which helps them to realize the futility and illusory nature of being.

The outstanding writer has more than fifteen literary awards, including the prestigious Russian awards "National Bestseller", "Big Book", "Great Ring". His books occupy the top lines of reader ratings, and the author himself is included in the list of the thousand most influential figures in the world culture of our time (according to French Magazine). The works of Viktor Olegovich have been translated into many languages, and performances based on his works are watched by viewers all over the world. By 2017, the film adaptations of five works of the writer saw the light. To date, the shooting of a new film based on the work of the prose writer "Empire V" has begun - the first part of the dilogy "Rama II".

Pelevin is not a public person. He does not participate in literary parties, does not meet with readers, and does not even appear at the awards ceremony. For a long time there was an opinion that a group of authors was working under the Viktor Pelevin brand. It is known that the writer is not married and travels a lot in Eastern countries.

Anyone who wants to get enough of unusual stories with subtle intellectual overtones can read online books by Viktor Pelevin on our website absolutely free. Among the materials of our virtual library, you can easily find the work of the writer you need, as the sequence of books in his bibliography is arranged in chronological order. You can also download prose e-books in Russian in any convenient format - fb2 (fb2), txt (txt), epub or rtf.

All books by Viktor Pelevin

Series of books - Dialectics of the Transition Period from Nowhere to Nowhere

• Elegy 2
• Numbers
• Macedonian critique of French thought
• Akiko
• Focus group
• Wind Seeking Record

Book Series - Sleep

• Sorcerer Ignat and people
• News from Nepal
• The ninth dream of Vera Pavlovna
• blue lantern
• USSR Taishou Zhuan
• Mardongs
• The Life and Adventures of Barn Number XII

Book Series - Middlegame

• Ontology of childhood
• Built-in reminder
• Water tower
• Middlegame
• Ukhryab

A series of books - Memory of fiery years

• Music from the pole
• Kroeger's revelation
• Weapon of retribution
• Reenactor (About the research of P. Stetsyuk)
• crystal world

Book series - Nika

• Origin of Species
• Tambourine of the Overworld
• Ivan Kublakhanov
• Nether Tambourine
• bungee

Book series - Greek version

• A Brief History of Paintball in Moscow
• Greek variant
• Christmas Cyberpunk, or Christmas Night-117.DIR
• Timeout, or Evening Moscow

A series of books - Intellectual bestseller. myths

• Helm of Dread

A series of books - One and only. Victor Pelevin

• iPhuck 10
• Lamp of Methuselah, or the Ultimate Battle of the Chekists with the Freemasons
• Love for Three Zuckerbrins
• Overseer. Book 1. Order of the Yellow Flag
• Overseer. Book 2. Iron Abyss
• Batman Apollo

Series of books - Library of Chrysostom

Book Series - Complete Works

• DPP (NN) (compilation)

A series of books - Dima and Mitya

• Insect life
• horizon light

Book Series - Contemporary Short Story Collection

• Your way (compilation)

A series of books - dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution

• Seventeen on Seventeen (compilation)

No series

• S.N.U.F.F.
• Chapaev and Void
• Generation "P"
• Children's world (compilation)
• Empire "B"
• Holy Book of the Werewolf
• Omon Ra
• Stories performed by the author
• Pineapple water for a beautiful lady (compilation)
• Yellow Arrow (compilation)
• P5: Farewell songs of the political pygmies of Pindostan (compilation)
• All stories (compilation)
• The best. Novels and stories
• The best novels. Selected Prose: Issue 1
• yellow arrow
• Prince of the State Planning Committee
• The Recluse and Sixfinger
• The best stories and novels. Release 1
• Bulldozer Day
• Anti-aircraft codes of Al-Efesbi
• Dialectics of the Transition Period from Nowhere to Nowhere (collection)
• Sorcerer Ignat and people (compilation)
• Yellow Arrow (compilation)
• Hotel of good incarnations
• Friedman space
• All stories and essays
• Focus group (compilation)
• Zombification. Comparative anthropology experience
• Werewolf problem in the middle lane
• Assassin
• Ixtlan - Petushki
• Hall of Singing Caryatids
• Relics. Early and unreleased (compilation)
• Warrior's last joke
• Necroment
• John Fowles and the Tragedy of Russian Liberalism
• The names of the oligarchs on the map of the Motherland
• Viktor Pelevin asks PRs
• Fortune telling on runes, or Ralph Bloom's Runic Oracle
• World Code
• Feeding the crocodile Khufu
• Ultima Tuleev, or the Tao of Elections
• The bridge I wanted to cross
• underground sky
• GKChP as tetragrammaton
• Lunokhod
• Hats on the towers
• one vogue
• Macedonian Critique of French Thought (compilation)
• Psychic attack. Sonnet
• Who by fire

Date of Birth: 22.11.1962

Popular contemporary Russian writer. Pelevin's books have been translated into all major world languages, including Japanese and Chinese. Plays based on his stories are successfully staged in theaters in Moscow, London and Paris.

Viktor Pelevin was born in Moscow on November 22, 1962. In 1979 he graduated from the Moscow Secondary English Special School No. 31 (now the Kaptsov Gymnasium No. 1520). This school was located in the center of Moscow, on Stanislavsky Street (now Leontievsky Lane), was considered prestigious, Victor's mother, Efremova Zinaida Semyonovna, also worked there as head teacher and teacher of English. His father, Oleg Anatolyevich, also worked as a teacher - at the military department at Moscow State Technical University. Bauman. In 1985 he graduated from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute with a degree in electromechanics, studied at the Literary Institute, but was expelled. For several years he was an employee of the journal Science and Religion, where he prepared publications on Eastern mysticism. The first published work is the fairy tale "Sorcerer Ignat and people" (1989). Pelevin's books have been translated into all major world languages, including Japanese and Chinese. Plays based on his stories are successfully staged in theaters in Moscow, London and Paris. French Magazine included Victor Pelevin in the list of 1000 most significant contemporary figures in world culture.

The writer Viktor Pelevin so long and skillfully mystified the public that among his young fans there was even an opinion that the real Pelevin did not exist, and almost a computer writes novels under this name.

Viktor Olegovich Pelevin - he is called the hero of our time. Modern Dostoevsky. There is an opinion about the inclusion of Pelevin in the school curriculum.

Viktor Olegovich Pelevin (born November 22, 1962, Moscow) is a Russian writer, author of the novels Omon Ra, Chapaev and Void, Generation P and Empire V. Winner of numerous literary awards, including "Small Booker" (1993) and "National Bestseller" (2004). Viktor Olegovich Pelevin was born on November 22, 1962 in Moscow in the family of Zinaida Semyonovna Efremova, who worked as the director of a grocery store (according to other sources, a school teacher of English), and Oleg Anatolyevich Pelevin, a teacher of the military department of the Moscow State Technical University. Bauman. As a child, he lived in a house on Tverskoy Boulevard, then moved to the Chertanovo district. In 1979, Viktor Pelevin graduated from the secondary English special school No. 31 (now the Kaptsov gymnasium No. 1520). This school was located in the center of Moscow, on Stanislavsky Street (now Leontievsky Lane), and was considered prestigious. After school, he entered the Moscow Power Engineering Institute (MPEI) at the Faculty of Electrification and Automation of Industry and Transport, graduating in 1985. In April of the same year, Pelevin was hired as an engineer at the Department of Electric Transport at MPEI. It was also mentioned that he served in the army, in the Air Force, but the years of his service were not called.
In 1987 (according to other sources - in April 1985), Pelevin entered the full-time graduate school of the MPEI, where he studied until 1989 (he did not defend his dissertation on the project of an electric drive for a city trolleybus with an asynchronous motor). In 1989, Pelevin entered the Literary Institute. Gorky, to the correspondence department (prose seminar by Mikhail Lobanov). However, he did not study here for long: in 1991 he was expelled with the wording “for separation from the institute” (Pelevin himself said that he was expelled with the wording “as he had lost touch” with the university). According to the writer himself, studying at the Literary Institute did not give him anything.
While studying at the Literary Institute, Pelevin met the young prose writer Albert Egazarov and the poet (later literary critic) Viktor Kulle. Egazarov and Kulle founded their own publishing house (at first it was called The Day, then The Raven and The Myth), for which Pelevin, as an editor, prepared a three-volume book by the American writer and mystic Carlos Castaneda.
From 1989 to 1990, Pelevin worked as a staff correspondent for Face to Face magazine. In addition, in 1989 he began working in the journal Science and Religion, where he prepared publications on Eastern mysticism. In the same year, Pelevin's story "Sorcerer Ignat and people" was published in "Science and Religion" (you can also find information on the Web that the writer's first story was published in the journal "Chemistry and Life" and was called "Grandfather Ignat and people") .
In 1992, Pelevin released the first collection of short stories, The Blue Lantern. At first, the book was not noticed by critics, but a year later, Pelevin received the Small Booker Prize for it, and in 1994, the Interpresscon and Golden Snail awards. In March 1992, Pelevin's novel Omon Ra was published in Znamya magazine, which attracted the attention of literary critics and was nominated for the Booker Prize. In April 1993, Pelevin's next novel, The Life of Insects, was published in the same journal.
In 1993, Pelevin published an essay entitled "John Fowles and the Tragedy of Russian Liberalism" in Nezavisimaya Gazeta. This essay, which was the writer's response to the disapproving reaction of some critics to his work, subsequently began to be referred to in the media as "programmatic". In the same year, Pelevin was admitted to the Russian Union of Journalists.
In 1996, Pelevin's novel "Chapaev and Emptiness" was published in Znamya. Critics spoke of it as the first "Zen Buddhist" novel in Russia, the writer himself called this work of his "the first novel, the action of which takes place in absolute emptiness." The novel received the Wanderer-97 award, and in 2001 was shortlisted for the world's largest literary award, the International Impac Dublin Literary Awards.
In 1999, Pelevin's novel "Generation P" was published. More than 3.5 million copies of the novel were sold worldwide, the book received a number of awards, in particular, the German literary prize named after Richard Schoenfeld, and acquired cult status.
In 2003, after a five-year break in publications, Pelevin's novel Dialectics of the Transition Period. From nowhere to nowhere” (“DPP. NN”), for which the writer received the Apollon Grigoriev Prize in 2003 and the National Bestseller Prize in 2004. In addition, "DPP (NN)" was shortlisted for the Andrei Bely Prize for 2003.
In 2006, the Eksmo publishing house released Pelevin's novel Empire V, which was shortlisted for the Big Book Prize. The text of "Empire V" appeared on the Internet even before the publication of the novel. Representatives of "Eksmo" claimed that this happened as a result of theft, but some suggested that this was a marketing ploy of the publisher.
In October 2009, Pelevin's novel "t" was released. The author of the book became the winner of the fifth season of the Big Book National Literary Award (2009-2010, third prize) and became the winner of the reader's vote.
In December 2011, Pelevin published the novel S.N.U.F.F. by the Eksmo publishing house. In February of the following year, this work received the "Electronic Book" award in the "Prose of the Year" nomination.
Literary critics, in addition to Buddhist motifs, noted Pelevin's penchant for postmodernism and absurdism. The influence of the esoteric tradition and satirical science fiction on the writer's work was also mentioned. Pelevin's books have been translated into major world languages, including Japanese and Chinese. According to some reports, French Magazine included Pelevin in the list of 1000 most influential figures in contemporary culture. According to a poll on the OpenSpace.ru website in 2009, Pelevin was recognized as the most influential intellectual in Russia.
As noted by the media, Pelevin is known for not being part of the “literary crowd”, practically does not appear in public, very rarely gives interviews and prefers communication on the Internet. All this became the reason for various rumors: it was claimed, for example, that the writer did not exist at all, and a group of authors or a computer was working under the name "Pelevin". For example, Alexander Gordon in the program "Closed Screening" (aired on February 17, 2012) expressed doubts about the very existence of such a person as the writer Pelevin. In May 2011, information appeared that Pelevin would personally attend the Super National Best award ceremony. It was especially noted that this was to be the writer's first appearance in public. But contrary to expectations, Pelevin did not come to the ceremony.
The media indicated that Pelevin often visits the East: for example, he was in Nepal, South Korea, China and Japan. It was noted that the writer does not call himself a Buddhist, but is engaged in Buddhist practices. According to the testimonies of people who know the writer personally, Pelevin manages to combine his passion for Buddhism with practicality "in money matters."
Pelevin repeatedly emphasized that despite the fact that his characters take drugs, he himself is not a drug addict, although in his youth he experimented with mind-expanding substances.
Pelevin is not married. As of the beginning of the 2000s, he lived in Moscow, in the Chertanovo district.

Interview with Viktor Pelevin
This has not happened for several decades - for a writer, after the first serious publication, as they say, to wake up famous and then quickly and confidently enter world literature.

After that there were the Small Booker, awarded for the best debut, the novels "The Life of Insects", "Omon Ra", translated into dozens of languages, and the latest novel "Chapaev and Emptiness", already published in the currently most prestigious "black" series " Vagrius".

Pelevin is 34 years old today, and he is his own direction, current, brother of the Serapions and a green lamp. He brings together incompatible things: irony and touching seriousness, democracy and elitism (in such burning issues for the Russian intelligentsia as Buddhism and the samurai code of honor, Pelevin is simply indecently educated). But in general, Pelevin somehow does not want to be defined. I want to read it, retell it, quote it. Victor does not like to talk about himself, and in general he tries not to meet with journalists.

He refused to talk to me, but answered my questions in writing, as per the charter: accurately, accurately and on time. He didn’t take pictures - well, he doesn’t like it - but he found a card for us that he himself likes.

At one time, Viktor Erofeev, in response to my request to characterize your literary generation - those who follow the "metropolitans" - said that there was no generation there, there was only Pelevin. At the same time he scolded you, of course. Your comments.

It is not very clear to me that this is a “literary generation”. There is such a folk etymology of this word: “generation” is a group of people who die at about the same time. I don't want to take on obligations of this kind. Associating a person's physical age with what he writes is somehow very militia-like. It is not clear why writers should be grouped by age and not by weight, for example. And as for the fact that Viktor Erofeev scolded me, it’s a shame, of course, but what can I do. Existentialists are complex people.

Who do you consider yourself to be: a guru or a novelist?

As for the word “guru”, my friends once used such a verb - “guruvat”. Gurovanie was considered one of the most heinous occupations in life. Hope you can't blame me for this. I don't consider myself a writer either. To tell the truth, I don't really need to consider myself someone.

How do you feel about the talk that Pelevin almost offers a new religion?

I have not heard such talk. I did not offer any religion to anyone, but if someone became interested in it or even believed, then I would ask you to immediately hand over contributions for the repair of the temple. I need to recycle the floor, re-paste the wallpaper, change a couple of doors - but there is not enough money.

One of the fashionable topics today is the attitude of a believer to other religions ...

I think this is a bogus problem. The truth that one comes to through religion has nothing to do with the mind, so, for example, for a Christian (not formal, but a believer) there is not much point in being interested in Islam. There will be no "information" that would complement the Bible and help "understand" something deeper. On the contrary, confusion will arise in the head, and instead of trying to live according to the commandments, a person will engage in meaningless speculation about who Jesus is - the prophet Jesus or the Son of God. If a person is lucky and has faith, then it is best to just follow it, accepting it as it is. And do not get close to anyone except the Lord. As for the question of the relationship between world religions, it is up to three burnt out light bulbs for me. “Religion” means “connection”, and a person can build this connection only by himself, whether he is in a confession or not. But in general, questions on a religious theme make me feel awkward. We have to talk about the divine, and yesterday I drank vodka with the girls. Somehow uncomfortable.

Drugs. You, it seems, did not hide that you are experimenting with them?

To drugs, especially addictive, I am sharply negative. I have seen them die. I myself do not use drugs (although, of course, I know what it is) and do not advise anyone. It leads nowhere and gives nothing but exhaustion and disgust for life. Indeed, I write about drugs quite often, but this is because, unfortunately, they have become an important element of culture. But to conclude from this that I myself use them is as stupid as to assume that the author of criminal action movies kills people in batches and robs banks.

Little Booker. how were they honored (who represented, etc.)? How do you feel about this award?

I received the Small Booker quite unexpectedly for myself and found out about it by phone. They said that "Omon Ra" would be shortlisted, but instead they gave me an award for "Blue Lantern". As for Omon Ra, I quickly calmed down - a year later he was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize - this is an English award for translated literature. Nothing worse than Booker. As for the Russian Booker Prize, I am not close to the circles that give it, and I can say little. It seems to me that the same thing is happening to her as to everything else in Russia. There is - or at least was - a tendency to give it not for a specific text, but according to the length of service and the totality of the deed. But this is not surprising - in general, we have very little decent literature and a lot of "literary process".

When I read "Omon Ra", I had to break myself: after all, space is one of the few indisputable achievements of the Soviet period, and suddenly - such a mockery. And how was it written? (For those lucky ones who have yet to read this thing: whether this is an evil parody of social reality or a subtle allegory, but there, for example, the spent stages of a launch vehicle are fired not by a machine gun, but by a suicide cosmonaut; suicide bombers are pedaling a lunar rover, etc. .).

I am amazed by such a reaction to Omon Ra. This book is not about the space program at all, it is about the inner space of the Soviet man. Therefore, it is dedicated to the "heroes of the Soviet space" - one could probably guess that there is no Soviet space outside the atmosphere. From the point of view of the inner space of the personality, the entire Soviet project was space - but whether the Soviet space was an achievement is a big question. This is a book about what Castaneda called the word "tonal". Many Western critics understood it that way. And for some reason we decided that this was a belated anti-Soviet provocation. By the way, when our rocket flying to Mars crashed, I was very upset. And then a journalist from New York called me (I was in Iowa at that time) and said that the rocket crashed because the fourth stage did not separate. In his opinion, the suicide bomber, who was supposed to separate her, refused to do this for ideological and mystical reasons - a country in such a state as Russia simply does not have the right to launch objects into space.

In general, I know very little about you - I only read books. You seem like such an international playboy to me: you received a grant, went and talked about your work with some Vittorio Strada or Wolfgang Kozak ... Tell us about yourself what you think is necessary.

And why, Eugene, do you think that you should know something about me? I don't know much about you either, and it's okay. I am as much an international playboy as democracy is from Russia. And the grant you are talking about does not mean that they gave me money. It's just a trip to America on a literary program. I had two books published there (I saw them in bookstores in ten cities, from New York to Los Angeles) and there was very good press, even a big article in the New York Times daily, which rarely happens at all. And these books sell well. I get very nice letters from American readers. Two more books are coming out, and now they are going to publish Chapaev, which, to be honest, pleasantly surprises me.

Now they say that, they say, mass culture is nothing, people will eat up, the pendulum will swing and interest in Great Culture will return ...

Mass culture is the Great Culture, whether we like it or not. And people are only interested in something interesting. We have the following: there are many people. who believe that they should be of interest because they continue the Russian literary tradition and represent "real literature", "big culture", mainstream. In fact, they represent nothing but their heartburn. And it is unlikely that the pendulum will swing in their direction without some new Glavlit. And the Russian literary tradition has always developed through its own negation, so that those who try to "continue" it have nothing to do with it. The question today is different - is it possible to write a good book that will become part of mass culture? I think so, and there are many examples of this.

Glory did not spoil Viktor Pelevin?

I practically do not communicate with people from literary circles, so I do not feel either my fame or their hatred. Sometimes I read articles about myself. It happens that some newspaper fool will bark, you will be upset. But after half an hour passes. That's all. And my friends are not very interested in literature, although they read my books. It happens that someone will come to visit in a black Saab, you will show him your book in Japanese, and he will say to you: “When are you, Victor, going to do business?”. In general, I like writing, but I don't like being a writer. And this, unfortunately, is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid. If you do not take care of yourself, then the writer's ego grows, and everything that you laughed at two years ago begins to seem serious and significant. It seems to me that a very big danger is when a "writer" tries to live instead of yourself. That's why I don't particularly like literary contacts. I am a writer only at the moment when I am writing something, and the rest of my life does not concern anyone.

Viktor Olegovich Pelevin (November 22, 1962, Moscow) is a Russian writer, author of the cult novels of the 1990s: Omon Ra, Chapaev and Void, and Generation P. Winner of numerous literary awards, including "Small Booker" (1993) and "National Bestseller" (2004).

In 1979, Viktor Pelevin graduated from secondary English special school No. 31. After school, he entered the Moscow Power Engineering Institute (MPEI) at the Faculty of Electrification and Automation of Industry and Transport, graduating in 1985. In April of the same year, Pelevin was hired as an engineer at the Department of Electric Transport at MPEI.

In 1987, Pelevin entered the full-time graduate school of MPEI, where he studied until 1989 (he did not defend his dissertation on the project of an electric drive for a city trolleybus with an asynchronous motor).

In 1989, Pelevin entered the Literary Institute. Gorky, to the correspondence department (prose seminar by Mikhail Lobanov). However, he did not study here for long either: in 1991 he was expelled with the wording "for separation from the institute" (Pelevin himself said that he was expelled with the wording "as having lost touch" with the university "). According to the writer himself, studying at the Literary Institute did not give him anything.

From 1989 to 1990, Pelevin worked as a staff correspondent for Face to Face magazine. In addition, in 1989 he began working in the journal Science and Religion, where he prepared publications on Eastern mysticism. In the same year, Pelevin's story "The Sorcerer Ignat and People" was published in "Science and Religion" (you can also find information on the Internet that the writer's first story was published in the journal "Chemistry and Life" and was called "Grandfather Ignat and People") .

In 1991, Pelevin released the first collection of short stories, The Blue Lantern. At first, the book was not noticed by critics, but two years later, Pelevin received the Small Booker Prize for it, and in 1994, the Interpresscon and Golden Snail awards.

In 1996, Pelevin's novel "Chapaev and Emptiness" was published in Znamya. Critics spoke of it as the first "Zen Buddhist" novel in Russia, the writer himself called this work of his "the first novel, the action of which takes place in absolute emptiness." The novel received the Wanderer-97 award, and in 2001 was shortlisted for the world's largest literary award, the International Impac Dublin Literary Awards.

Pelevin's books have been translated into all major world languages, including Japanese and Chinese. Plays based on his stories are successfully staged in theaters in Moscow, London and Paris.

French Magazine included Viktor Pelevin in the list of the 1000 most significant contemporary figures in world culture (Russia in this list, in addition to Pelevin, is also represented by film director Sokurov).

Books (14)

Empire V. Empire V. The Tale of a True Superman

The main character - nineteen-year-old Roman Shtorkin - became a vampire, received the divine name Rama II and began to study the main vampiric sciences - glamor and discourse. Their essence is disguise and control - and, as a result, power ...

After reading this fantastic, philosophical, at times humorous and aphoristic novel, you will learn the whole truth about creation and the laws of our world, which "was written by Rama II, friend of Ishtar, head of glamor and discourse, Komarin man and god of money with oak wings."

Batman Apollo

Dedicated to my friends and peers, the generation of Russian vampires 1750-2000. birth - to all who entered this life as into a friendly nightclub, not knowing that the night that sheltered us is already running out.

The characters of the novel "Empire V" act in the book, but a preliminary acquaintance with it is not necessary. You can start here and read Empire V later.

All stories and essays. Author's collection

"All stories and essays" by Viktor Pelevin is one of the writer's landmark books.

According to it - like an oracle - one can guess about the true meaning of our life, opening at random either the legendary story "The Yellow Arrow", or the philosophical parable "The Hermit and the Six-fingered".

Thanks to the hero of “Prince Gosplan”, future generations will remember the best computer game of the nineties “Prince of Persia”, and immediately, plunging into the myths and practices of werewolves, our descendants will read with bated breath the story “The Werewolf Problem in the Middle Zone”.

This book has everything that Pelevin is loved for. Power and knowledge, daring wit and subtle self-irony, fascinating plots at the intersection of reality and otherworldliness, a style recognizable from the very first lines, where every word is worth its weight in gold.

All stories (Compilation)

The collection includes the works of:
sleep
. Sorcerer Ignat and people
. sleep
. News from Nepal
. The ninth dream of Vera Pavlovna
. blue lantern
. USSR Taishou Zhuan
. Mardongs
. The Life and Adventures of Barn Number XII
Middlegame
. Ontology of childhood
. Built-in reminder
. Water tower
. Middlegame
. Ukhryab
Memories of fiery years
. Music from the pole
. Kroeger's Revelation (Documentation Set)
. Weapon of retribution
. Reenactor (About the research of P. Stetsyuk)
. crystal world
Nika
. Origin of Species
. Tambourine of the upper world
. Ivan Kublakhanov
. Nether Tambourine (Green Box)
. bungee
. Nika
Greek variant
. Sigmund in a cafe
. A Brief History of Paintball in Moscow
. Greek variant
. lower tundra
. Christmas Cyberpunk, or Christmas Night-117.DIR
. time out
Focus group
. horizon light
. Focus group
. Wind Seeking Record
. Bon guest
. Akiko

Insect life

A dizzying phantasmagoria with a transfer from one bizarre reality to another and a change in character masks exactly at those moments when the reader least expects it ... But are these bright masks really so conventional and what lies under the grotesque? Read and decide for yourself.

Lamp of Methuselah, or the Ultimate Battle of the Chekists with the Freemasons

As you know, the difficult international position of our country is explained by the acute conflict between the Russian leadership and world freemasonry.

But few people understand the roots of this confrontation, its financial background and occult meaning. V. Pelevin's hybrid novel breaks the veil of silence from this mystery, simultaneously explaining in a simple and accessible form the main issues of world politics, economics, culture and anthropogenesis.

At the center of the story are three generations of the noble family of the Mozhaiskys, serving the Fatherland in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

Pelevin Viktor. stories

Annotation to the book The collection includes the following works:

1. "Akiko"

2. Bulldozer Day

3. "The ninth dream of Vera Pavlovna"

4. "A brief history of paintball in Moscow"

5. Lunokhod

6. "Music from the pole"

8. "Ontology of childhood"

9. "Lower Tundra"

10. "Papakhas on the towers"

11. Middlegame

12. "The Origin of Species"

13. "Reenactor"

14. "The Recluse and Six-fingered"

15. "Yellow Arrow"

16. "The Life and Adventures of Barn No. XII"

17. "Sigmund in a cafe"

18. "Tambourine of the lower world"

19. "Tambourine of the upper world"

20. "Greek version"

21. "Ivan Kublakhanov"

22. "Sorcerer Ignat and people"

23. "Weapon of Vengeance"

24. Kroeger's Revelation

25. "Light of the Horizon"

26. "News from Nepal"

27. "Water Tower"

28. "The Werewolf Problem in the Middle Lane"

Holy Book of the Werewolf

“It looks like I can be given from fourteen to seventeen - closer to fourteen. My physical appearance evokes in people, especially men, strong and contradictory feelings that are boring to describe, and there is no need - even lolitas read Lolita in our time. These feelings feed me. You can probably say that I feed on fraud: in fact, I am not a youngster at all. For convenience, I set my age at two thousand years - I can remember them more or less coherently. This can be considered coquetry - in fact, I am much more. The origins of my life are lost very far away, and it is as difficult to remember them as to illuminate the night sky with a flashlight. We foxes were not born like humans. We come from a heavenly stone ... "- On this we will finish quoting. We invite you to read one of the most fascinating and brilliant books in the history of Russian literature!