Victor Olegovich Pelevin (Russian: Виктор Олегович Пелевин, born 22 November 1962 in Moscow) is a Russian fiction writer. His books usually carry the outward conventions of the science fiction genre, but are used to construct involved, multi-layered postmodernist texts, fusing together elements of pop culture and esoteric philosophies. Some critics relate his prose to the New Sincerity literary movement.
After high school Pelevin received a degree in electromechanical engineering from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, then attended seminars in creative writing at the Literature Institute. As an editor of “Science and Religion” magazine, he was responsible for an ongoing series of articles on Eastern mysticism.
Pelevin’s first story was published in 1989, and for the next three years his short stories appeared in various magazines and compilations. In 1992 a book of Pelevin’s collected stories The Blue Lantern received the first annual Russian Little Booker Prize… read more
Victor Olegovich Pelevin (Russian: Виктор Олегович Пелевин, born 22 November 1962 in Moscow) is a Russian fiction writer. His books usually carry the outward conventions of the science fiction genre, but are used to construct involved, multi-layered postmodernist texts, fusing together elements of pop culture and esoteric philosophies. Some critics relate his prose to the New Sincerity literary movement.
After high school Pelevin received a degree in electromechanical engineering from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute, then attended seminars in creative writing at the Literature Institute. As an editor of “Science and Religion” magazine, he was responsible for an ongoing series of articles on Eastern mysticism.
Pelevin’s first story was published in 1989, and for the next three years his short stories appeared in various magazines and compilations. In 1992 a book of Pelevin’s collected stories The Blue Lantern received the first annual Russian Little Booker Prize. His first novel, Omon Ra, appeared in 1992.
Pelevin rarely gives interviews; when he does, he is known to talk about the nature of the mind rather than his own writing. He has permitted all of his texts in Russian predating 2009 (except P5) to be published on the Internet for non-commercial use. Some novels are also available as voice files in Russian.
Pelevin’s prose is usually devoid of dialogue between the author and the reader, whether through plot, character development, literary form or narrative language. This corresponds to his philosophy (both stated and unstated) that, for the most part, it is the reader who infuses the text with meaning. His novel Babylon (“Generation П” or “Generation P” is the Russian title) bears on its cover the inscription, “Any thought that occurs in the process of reading this book is subject to copyright. Unauthorized thinking of it is prohibited”.[citation needed]
In a conversation with BOMB Magazine, Pelevin named Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita as an early influence on his reading, saying, “The effect of this book was really fantastic. […] This book was totally out of the Soviet world.” Pelevin avoids, however, listing authors who have specifically influenced his writing, for he believes that "the only real Russian literary tradition is to write good books in a way nobody did before. —Wikipedia
