Companion to Victor Pelevin

Sofya Khagi is Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She focuses on contemporary Russian literature, modern Russian poetry, the intersections of literature and philosophy, and Baltic cultures. She is the author of Silence and the Rest: Verbal Skepticism in Russian Poetry (Northwestern UP, 2013) and Pelevin and Unfreedom: Poetics, Politics, Metaphysics (Northwestern UP, 2021).

• Introduction Victor Pelevin: Life, Works, Critical DebatesSofya Khagi, University of MichiganPart One: The Post-Soviet1. The Early Years: Post-Soviet with a Capital “S”Michael Martin, University of MichiganPart Two: Space, Time, History2.  Space-Time Poetics in Chapaev and the VoidSofya Khagi, University of Michigan3. Parody of Past and Present in Chapaev and the VoidChristopher Fort, University of Michigan4. Masking the Void, Voiding the Mask: Viktor Pelevin and the Performance of HistoryAlexander McConnell, University of MichiganPart Three: Simulation and Mind Control5. “The Battle for Your Mind”: Transformation of Western Social Theory in Generation ‘П’Dylan Ogden, University of Michigan6. Totalitarian Literature in Generation ‘П’Meghan Vicks, University of Colorado, BoulderPart Four: Metamorphosis and Utopia7. Transformative Reading for Tailless Monkeys: Metamorphoses in The Sacred Book of the WerewolfGrace Mahoney, University of Michigan8. The Mythic and the Utopian: Visions of the Future through the Lens of Victor Pelevin’s S.N.U.F.F. and Love for Three ZuckerbrinsTheodore Trotman, University of ChicagoAppendixSelect Publications by Victor Pelevin in Russian and English

“The present collection of articles serves as a balanced introduction to Pelevin’s literary career. It offers many thoughtful and insightful interpretations of Pelevin’s works.”— Alexandra Smith, University of Edinburgh, Australian Slavonic and East European Studies“Khagi’s project is intertextual, elucidating both Pelevin’s highly self-referential writing and its relation to Russian literature as a whole. Her holistic approach to Pelevin’s fiction is demonstrated by the extensive footnotes outlining literary theories and politics, and linking to multiple Russian authors, elevating the Companion from a sourcebook on ‘Peleviniana’ to a masterclass in post-Soviet literature. … This concern with intertextuality is embedded within each of the eight essays here, allowing Khagi’s Companion to offer Anglophone readers an invaluable map of the contemporary literary world that Pelevin both creates and critiques.”— Sarah Gear, University of Exeter, Modern Language Review (April 2023: Vol. 118, No. 2)“This companion to Pelevin’s work has two major benefits. It offers some usefully workmanlike analyses of his early texts, with handy plot synopses, some general contextualization and thematically engaging discussions. The Companion also offers some introduction to common critical approaches to the writer. The writing is accessible and succinct (if often rather descriptive), and the illustrations a pleasant touch. … [O]verall this is an excellent, balanced and carefully neutral… study that collects everything the Pelevin initiate needs to begin appreciating his work.”— Sally Dalton-Brown, University of Melbourne, Slavonic and East European Review 100, no. 3 (July 2022)“The new collection is thoughtfully crafted for a specific audience, namely US and European nonspecialists looking to teach Pelevin at the university level. The chapters… treat all the author’s major works, particularly those translated into English, but they also draw in less-known compositions and avoid going into the weeds on topics more relevant to Russianists. … In sum, the Companion’s scope is simultaneously expansive and tightly focused, and it models effective ways to approach Pelevin in the classroom. … Highly recommended.”— B. J, Nieubuurt, University of Michigan, CHOICE (December 2022: Vol. 60, No. 4)“The Companion to Victor Pelevin is a collaborative undertaking by current and recent graduate students from American universities and serves scholarly and pedagogical objectives… Some contributions, like Sofya Khagi’s and Alexander McConell’s, are innovative and explore new avenues in research about Pelevin…”— Clemens Günther, Freie Universität Berlin, Zeitschrift für Slavische Philologie 78.2