The Review of Contemporary Fiction
A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia and Other Stories by Victor PelevinMichael Pinker
Victor Pelevin. A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia and Other Stories. Trans. Andrew Bromfield. New Directions, 1998. 213 pp. $23.95.
Victor Pelevin’s new collection offers startling pleasures in its imaginative freedom. Scathingly comic, his vision solicits attention through both insinuation and bravado.
In the title story Pelevin portrays the emotional rush of a young werewolf’s awakening to his “cross-over” capabilities. “Vera Pavlovna’s Ninth Dream,” with roots in Cherneshevsky as well as the worker’s state, delivers the main character into an intellectual cul-de-sac reminiscent of Twain’s The Mysterious Stranger. As the protagonist of “Sleep” attempts to rouse the woozy masses from their comforting primal stupor, Pelevin’s satire broadens to include the whole world. His caustic send-ups of latter-day Russian life and mores leave few holds barred.
“Tai Shou Chuan” finds Ch’an the Seventh’s uncanny climb up several bureaucratic rungs interrupted by a leading question, dashing his dream of power. Both Pyotr Petrovich’s “Tarzan Swing” and a philosophical prison rat’s “Ontology of Childhood” mingle detached self-absorption with naive wonder while mapping the compelling topographies of their respective mind-forged manacles. “Bulldozer Driver’s Day” proves an occasion for displaying Perestroika’s ground zero, where getting soused is the principal preoccupation, a beating the reward for meritorious service. Last, “The Prince of Gosplan” pilots a human Pac-Man through an interlocking set of computer games. Sasha’s hack work has him facing perils familiar to devotees of Myst and Doom. Politic, ingenious, and deliberate, he retains a saving grace. Should he make a wrong move, a few keystrokes permit the resumption of his feckless sallies to higher levels.
Each story poses a new problem of perception, the key to which unlocks an unerring internal logic. Pelevin’s reach in these stories is considerable, his grasp archly amusing. His penchant for the wild and free should appeal to those for whom contemporary political and social realities contend with whimsical fantasy for outrageous excess. [Michael Pinker]