The Review of Contemporary Fiction

The Sacred Book of the Werewolf, by Victor Pelevin
Reviewed by Michael Pinker

Trans. Andrew Bromfield. Viking, 2008. 335 pp. Cloth: $25.95.

Victor Pelevin goes to extraordinary lengths in his new novel to disarm expectations, beginning with a purported FSB (the former KGB) disclaimer calling it “a symptom of the profound spiritual decline through which our society is currently passing.” With manic glee he takes this mocking deflation to a new level, hoisting not only oligarch-ridden Russia but human self-regard—farcical, shortsighted, absurd—on his petard. Perhaps inspired by the mystical uroboros, heroine A Hu Li’s symbol of the conundrum of her life, as well as its philosophical basis, Pelevin deploys her superior if bemused insight to unravel the vanity of human wishes with an apparent nod to the primacy of the spirit. For two millennia, this fetching were-fox (her name a Russian obscenity) has mingled with humanity, lately appearing in Moscow as a teenaged prostitute (designated role of her kind) living at the expense of well-heeled hotel guests. Her longer perspective enables A Hu Li to view human history as an inside joke of which she takes full advantage to satisfy her Epicureanism. When chance brings Alexander, an FSB general (and attractive werewolf), into her life, passion reorients A Hu Li’s priorities while reawakening an old desire for ultimate transcendence. After he undergoes a surprising metamorphosis, A Hu Li tries to cajole Alexander with esoteric wisdom obtained from a Buddhist monk centuries ago in China. Unconvinced, Alexander would rather she regard him as the legendary super-werewolf, supreme among were-creatures. His insistent worldliness—Alexander is, after all, considerably younger, and to her dismay clings to duty, motherland, even Russian Orthodoxy—nonetheless vouchsafes A Hu Li a simple truth that had eluded her since her Chinese sojourn: release is at hand. Pelevin’s dazzling vision and considerable gusto convey rare delight in his sexually charged, fecund world of self-made dreams.