One of the leading authors of our time is Victor Olegovich Pelevin. The writer's work will be highlighted in this article. In it, as in a mirror, reflected the realities of the world. Despite numerous details, the author knows how to emphasize the most essential and important. Thanks to his talent, our compatriot has gained world fame. Let's find out what works of the writer have become a real revelation for grateful readers.
Origin
Victor Pelevin, whose bibliography will be presented in our article, was born in Moscow in 1962. His dad - Oleg Anatolyevich Pelevin - worked as a teacher in the military department at Bauman University. In the past, he was a career officer. The mother of the future writer - Zinaida Semenovna Pelevina - once headed the department of one of the central grocery stores in the capital. She had access to all the scarce foods at the time. However, despite this, the Pelevins did not live well. They huddled with their grandmother in a communal apartment, in a house on Tversky Boulevard. Only the 1970s they were lucky to move to a separate three-room dwelling in Northern Chertanovo.
Search for your destination
In 1979, Victor Pelevin graduated from a secondary English special school. The bibliography of the writer indicates the extensive knowledge that the author received in childhood. An educational institution in the center of Moscow was considered very prestigious. After him, the graduate had great opportunities. First, the future writer gave the documents to the Moscow Energy Institute. There he was listed at the Faculty of Electrification and Automation. The educational institution was successfully completed in 1985. After that, Pelevin began working as an engineer at the department of his native institute. Army service did not pass him either. He gave his duty to the motherland in the air forces.
In 1987, Viktor Olegovich entered the graduate school of MPEI, but only lasted there for two years. He felt that writing was his calling, and decided not to oppose it. In 1989, he became a student in the Gorky Literary Institute . A future celebrity attends a correspondence course, but quickly becomes disappointed in learning. In 1991, he was expelled as “having lost contact” with a higher educational institution. The strange formulation is still the subject of lively discussion among the fans of the writer. It is not known who lost Pelevin’s connection with the university, or the institute with the future eminent author. However, the writer never regretted leaving the Literary Institute.
The beginning of the creative path
Despite disagreements with teachers, it was at a literary university that Viktor Olegovich met his future associates - Albert Egazarov and Victor Kulla. The young prose writer and promising poet founded their own publishing house. Its name changed several times - first, “Day,” then “Raven,” and then “Myth.” For this publishing house, Pelevin, whose bibliography is rich and complex, prepared a three-volume book by the American mystic Castaneda. He actively helped his comrades, collaborated with them, which undoubtedly helped him to find the necessary connections in the publishing environment. The writer was willingly published even before widespread fame among readers.
The first literary experiments
From 1989 to 1990, our hero works as a full-time correspondent for Face to Face. In addition, Victor Pelevin is published in the journal Science and Religion. The bibliography of the writer began with a short story printed in it. It was called “Sorcerer Ignat and the people” and did not make much impression on the readers.
But in 1992, the author loudly declared himself. He released a storybook called The Blue Lantern. At first, this creation was ignored by critics, but a couple of years later Pelevin received several prestigious literary awards for it - Malaya Bookerovskaya, Interprescon and Golden Snail.
The advent of novels
Not only stories involved Victor Pelevin. The bibliography of the author is known for his novels. The first, OMON RA, was published in the Banner magazine in 1992. He was immediately nominated for a Booker Prize. Then in the same edition they published the novel Life of Insects in 1993. This secured the title of a talented and promising writer for Viktor Olegovich. The author not only wrote interesting works, but also knew how to “give back” to unnecessarily arrogant critics. So, in 1993, an essay entitled “John Fowles and the Tragedy of Russian Liberalism” appeared in Nezavisimaya Gazeta. It was so strong and convincing that it subsequently came to be referred to in the media as "software." The year 1993 was marked for the writer as another fateful event - he was accepted into the Union of Russian Journalists.
"Chapaev and the Void"
Victor Pelevin, whose biography and work is of interest to many fans, was regularly published in the journal Znamya. In 1996, a work was published under the intriguing title “Chapaev and the Void”. Critics called it the first domestic Zen-Buddhist novel. The author himself positioned it as "the first novel, the action of which takes place in an absolute void." The progressive creation received several prestigious nominations at once. For example, the writer was awarded the “Wanderer-97” award. And in 2001, he even entered the list of applicants for the world's largest literary award called the International Impac Dublin Literary Awards.
Fame
In 1999, fans got the opportunity to read the new work, which Pelevin wrote. The bibliography of the writer was decorated with a fresh literary masterpiece - the novel Generation P. A total of 3,500,000 million copies of this book were sold. She received all sorts of awards and became a cult. For her, the author was awarded the German Literary Prize Richard Schönfeld.
This was followed by a five-year break, after which there was a novel with the long title “Dialectics of the transition period. From nowhere to nowhere. ” For two years, the work was nominated for all kinds of awards: in 2003 - the Apollo Grigoriev Prize, in 2004 - the “National Bestseller”, etc. After that, in 2006, the novel was published by Empire V. It was published by Eksmo Publishing House. Readers could find the text of the book long before publication. Publishers claimed the theft occurred, but some thought it was a substandard marketing ploy.
Strange names
Victor Pelevin is famous for his originality. The bibliography of the writer is filled with novels with short, concise and eye-catching titles. In the fall of 2009, the novel “t” was released. Thanks to this work, the author became the laureates of the domestic literary prize "Big Book" and becomes the third in the list of applicants. Readers unconditionally recognized him as a leader, but the jury made an independent decision.
At the end of 2011, Viktor Olegovich presented the novel SNUFF to the court of readers. This work has been awarded the E-Book Prize. It is possible that such strange names are a quality mark of a great artist. Studying an unusual abbreviation, each of us is trying to penetrate its meaning. And often it turns out to be wider than that of a simple name of two or three intelligible words.
Creative concept
The heroes of Pelevin's novels are often addicted to drugs. The author strongly emphasizes that he himself does not use such substances, although in his youth he experimented with them to expand his own consciousness. What for? The answer lies in the philosophical concept that Victor Pelevin adheres to. Features of the writer's work are closely related to Zen Buddhism. The fact is that to the adherents of this trend the surrounding world is seen not as an objective reality, but as a product of individual perception. Not only the existence of realities is questioned, but also the personality itself. For example, Petra in “Chapaev and Void” in a psychiatric clinic is treated for “bifurcation of a false identity”. By this, the author hints that both incarnations of the patient are equally unreliable. How to find out what the true nature of the world is? The path to enlightenment lies through mental cognition, repulsion from the usual framework of worldview and the search for nirvana. Sometimes, to eliminate the rigid boundaries of reality, psychotropic substances are used. The author in no way calls for drug use. He simply offers to look at the world around him in a different way.
The most famous works
Wrote a great many stories, novels and novels by Victor Pelevin. The works, the list of which is presented below, are the most famous:
- The Recluse and Six-Fingered (1990);
- "Reconstructor" (1990);
- “Prince of the State Planning Commission” (1991);
- “News from Nepal” (1991);
- “Tambourine of the Upper World” (1993);
- The Yellow Arrow (1993);
- “Zombification” (1994);
- “Ivan Kublakhanov” (1994);
- The Holy Book of the Werewolf (2004);
- Helmet of Terror (2005);
- "P5: Farewell Songs of the Political Pygmies of Pindostan" (2008);
- “Pineapple water for a beautiful lady” (2010).
Theater performances
Repeatedly staged in the theater works of Victor Pelevin. The writer's work interested many brilliant directors. So, in 2000, the play “Chapaev and the Void” was staged by Pavel Ursul. Viewers were able to see him at the Clownery Theater named after Durova Teresa. A year later, the same novel appeared on the stage of the Kiev theater DAH in a completely different version. The production is known as "... the fourth extra ...".
In 2005, at the NET Theater Festival in the center of Strastnoy, the interactive play Shlem.com by Zhivil Montvilayte was a success. It was created based on Pelevin’s novel “Helmet of Terror”. Director Marina Brusnikina became famous for staging “Tambourine of the Upper World” based on the works of Viktor Olegovich. She saw the light on the stage of the Pushkin Moscow Theater. In the Theater Center on Strastnoy, the premiere of the performance of Sergei Shchedrin "Crystal World" took place. The production was based on Pelevin's self-titled story.
Interesting Facts
- Victor Pelevin, whose life and work is unique, does not like to give interviews. He does not have his own blog and accounts in social networks. He spends most of his time in solitude. Only a few of his old photographs can be found on the Internet. By his behavior, the writer is very similar to Salinger.
- After completing his studies at the university, Viktor Olegovich worked in a trolleybus park located in Lesnaya Street in Moscow. As a graduate student, he developed an electric drive system with an asynchronous motor for urban-type trolleybuses.
- A book entitled Pelevin and the Generation of the Void has been published about Pelevin's life. Its authors - Sergey Polotovsky and Roman Kozak - collected all the known facts about Viktor Olegovich and summed them up. The book includes the memories of teachers, acquaintances and friends of the writer.
- Many phrases that Pelevin once spoke or wrote, went to the people. For example, the words of Vasily Ivanovich from "Chapaev and the Void": "Here is my commander’s wisdom."
Conclusion
The books written by Viktor Pelevin deserve close attention. Creativity, summarized in this article, will certainly be included in the golden fund of world literature. A person who has managed to take a different look at the world and convey this vision to readers remains a mystery to many. Hopefully, over time, the author will delight us with new interesting works and winged sayings. Because such talent is given to few, and its fruits are intended for all of us. Studying the writer's books, we more deeply comprehend the world in which we live.