#Pelevin

[haxyr3]

Yay! My new podcast is ready! In this episode I talk about Victor Pelevin, one of my favourite modern writers.

As usual, the episode comes with the full transcript, so you can listen and read along.

Level: upper intermediate - Advance

Language: mix of Russian and English this time, an interview with a Russian ex-KGB officer is in English.

Why listening: you'll practice listening comprehension in Russian and learn about one of the most popular modern Russian writers who is also a father of the Russian postmodernism.

Bonus: music, all links included.

[leantailean]

“Omon Ra” 

Illustration for the novel “Omon Ra” by Victor Pelevin

[mknd]

[kampeszino]

Orbán Viktor közvetve Viktor Pelevintől kölcsönözte legújabb eszmefuttatását

Orbán Viktor a mai brüsszeli kutatólaborban kifejlesztett woke vírusról, és ez elleni vakcinát kialakító magyar laborról szóló beszéde erősen rímel a kortárs mágikus posztrealizmus nagyágyújának, Viktor Pelevinnek, a Gyengéd Érintések Művészete című kisregénye gondolatmenetével. 

Spoilerezés!!!!  Pelevin duplacsavaros regényhőse (mert a regényhős elképzelt hosszú kötetének piszi verziós recenziója maga a kisregény) hosszas és kalandos kutatómunka során, misztikus tárgyak és rítusok vizsgálatával foglalkozó szakértőkkel beszélgetések után, valamint okkult társaságokban és titkosszolgálatok hálózatában elmélyedve majdnem odáig jut, mint Orbán. Ámde a regényben a woke ármány egy mentális támadó fegyver, amit valójában az orosz titkosszolgálatok találtak ki az amerikai társadalom romba döntésére, de az amerikaiak ezt visszafordították a támadók ellen. 

Szerintem ezt a triplacsavart nem tudná már integrálni a NER narratíva, de lehet ezt olvasva felhorkan egy Trombitás Kristóf, hogy fogjam meg a sörét.

[autpal]

14. Empty

[rubenovichoff]

[bracketsoffear]

The Raw Shark Texts (Steven Hall) "Eric Sanderson wakes up with no memory of who he is or any past experiences. He is told by a psychologist that he has a dissociative condition known as fugue but a trail of written clues purporting to be from his pre-amnesiac self describe a more fantastic and sinister explanation for his lack of memories. According to these, he has activated a conceptual shark called a Ludovician which "feeds on human memories and the intrinsic sense of self" and is relentlessly pursuing him and will eventually erase his personality completely.

Also at one point there's about 30 pages of an ASCII shark moving towards the reader. Could easily be interpreted as the Ludovician actually approaching the reader in a Leitner-ized version. (Spoilers under the cut)"

The Helmet of Horror (Victor Pelevin) "Eight people find themselves in eight different rooms with a labyrinth behind them and a computer in front of them. They try to communicate via the computer that allows them to chat with one another, but has nicknames set for them(IsoldA, UGLI 666, Ariane…) and blocks their personal information. They(and us) can't know if they are lying. When two of them try to see each other by visiting a spot in the labyrinths that should be the same they each then recount a completely different experience and accuse each other of lying. Another character claims they all must be figments of his imagination, he must be very drunk. And they're all afraid of the minotaur. It is a book where no one, even the reader knows what's real, everyone is afraid of what might appear if they turn a corner and no one knows what's going on."

[SPOILERS] "When the Ludovician attacks Eric, he decides to go in search of a doctor named Trey Fidorous, identified by the letters from his previous self, in the hope he may be able to help to explain what happened to him and how to defeat the shark. Eric travels through Britain in search of clues and is contacted by a mysterious figure called Mr. Nobody, who is part of a megalomaniac network intelligence called Mycroft Ward. Mr. Nobody attempts to subdue and control Eric but Eric manages to escape with the help of an associate of Fidorous named Scout. Scout takes Eric to meet Fidorous, travelling through un-space (an underground network of empty warehouses and unused cellars). They begin a romantic relationship during the journey but Eric feels betrayed when he discovers that Scout has brought him to Fidorous to use him as bait for the shark in the hope of destroying Ward.

With their help Fidorous builds a conceptual shark-hunting boat and they sail out on a conceptual ocean. After a battle with the shark they throw a laptop hooked up to the Mycroft Ward database into its mouth, destroying both Ward and the shark. Eric and Scout remain in the conceptual universe while Eric's dead body is discovered back in the real world."

[gregor-samsung]

“ Mitek mi stava osservando con attenzione. Incrociando il mio sguardo, mi fece l'occhiolino e con voce un po' impastata domandò: «Che dici, ci andiamo sulla Luna?». Io feci segno di sì e, mentre abbassavo la testa per annuire, gli occhi mi rimasero incollati su un trafiletto che s'intitolava NOTIZIE DALL'ORBITA. La parte inferiore del testo era strappata e quello che rimaneva della colonna erano solo le parole: «Ventotto giorni...» scritte in grassetto. Ma bastava anche quello. Capii tutto al volo e chiusi gli occhi. Sì, era proprio così: quelle tane in cui passavamo tutta la vita in effetti erano buie e sporche e forse noi stessi eravamo l'esatto corrispettivo di quelle tane. Ma nel cielo blu sopra le nostre teste, in mezzo alle stelle rade e fioche, esistevano dei piccoli punti speciali, brillanti, artificiali, che scivolavano lenti fra le costellazioni e che erano stati creati qui, in terra sovietica, in mezzo al vomito, alle bottiglie vuote e al fumo puzzolente di tabacco, che erano fatti d'acciaio, di semiconduttori e di energia elettrica e che in quel momento volavano nel cosmo. E ognuno di noi, perfino quell'ubriacone cianotico che poco prima avevamo visto per strada, accovacciato come un rospo in mezzo a un cumulo di neve, perfino il fratello di Mitek, e certo anche Mitek e io, ognuno di noi aveva lassù, nel blu freddo e pulito, la sua piccola ambasciata. Corsi fuori, in cortile, e piangendo a dirotto me ne restai a fissare il limpido cielo invernale e il globo giallo-azzurro della Luna, incredibilmente vicino. “

Viktor Pelevin, Omon Ra, traduzione dal russo di Katia Renna e Tatiana Olear, Mondadori (Collana Strade blu), 1999. [Libro elettronico]

[Edizione originale russa: Омон Ра, casa editrice Издательство Текст, Mosca, 1992]

[rhapsodynew]

#Thoughts out loud📌

Brothers In Arms...

"War turns people born to live as brothers into wild beasts."

Voltaire.

Bad people, after stealing and shitting at home, run away to a happy place that seems to them a safe haven. But along with their wealth, they bring bad karma and God's wrath hanging over them, and the quiet harbor becomes hell for those who live there, because hell is any place where devils are allowed. Devils don't happen to be exes.

Victor Pelevin. "KGBT+"

[vintage-russia]

"Beloved" (1890)

Ivan Pelevin (1840-1917)

[eelaine]

roma shtorkin

[ilmomentoingiusto]

"Se vogliamo paragonare le costruzioni della mente a scale atte a elevarci verso ciò che è recondito, dobbiamo immaginarcele appoggiate non alle mura del castello della verità, bensì alla semplice immagine delle medesime scale riflessa nello specchio del nostro intelletto. E dunque, per quanta abnegazione possiamo mettere nell'arrampicarci e per quanto in alto possiamo spingerci, alla fine siamo ogni volta condannati ad andare a sbattere contro noi stessi, senza accostarci alla verità e senza neppure scostarcene. Quanto più lunghe saranno le nostre scale, tanto più si innalzeranno le mura, giacché lo stesso castello sorge solo quando appaiono coloro che ambiscono a espugnarlo, e quanto più intenso ne è il desiderio, tanto più esso si fa inespugnabile. Prima dell'attimo in cui iniziamo a cercare la verità essa nemmeno esiste. In questo consiste la verità."

[diasdesol05]

Ivan Pelevin

[mixotrophics]

Viktor pelevin was soo right when he wrote fiction about a bug-derived hallucinogen that made you hallucinate preying mantises, and they mantises are telling you to kill misogynist oligarchs

[lina-vas-dom]

Как всё-таки много на женщинах всяких крючков и застёжек - даже на совершенно голых женщинах. И каждую нужно расстегнуть с заботой и вниманием, иначе ничего не выйдет... /Виктор Пелевин

There are so many hooks and clasps on women - even on completely naked women. And each one must be undone with care and attention, otherwise nothing will come out… /Viktor Pelevin

[bracketsoffear]

Codex Seraphinianus (Luigi Serafini) "The Codex is an encyclopedia in manuscript with copious hand-drawn, colored-pencil illustrations of bizarre and fantastical flora, fauna, anatomies, fashions, and foods. It has been compared to the still undeciphered Voynich manuscript, the story "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" by Jorge Luis Borges, and the artwork of M. C. Escher and Hieronymus Bosch. The illustrations are often surreal parodies of things in the real world, such as a bleeding fruit, a plant that grows into roughly the shape of a chair and is subsequently made into one, and a copulating couple who metamorphose into an alligator. Others depict odd, apparently senseless machines, often with delicate appearances and bound by tiny filaments. Some illustrations are recognizable as maps or human faces, while others (especially in the "physics" chapter) are mostly or totally abstract. Nearly all of the illustrations are brightly coloured and highly detailed. The false writing system appears modeled on Western writing systems, with left-to-right writing in rows and an alphabet with uppercase and lowercase letters, some of which double as numerals. Some letters appear only at the beginning or end of words, similar to Semitic writing systems. The curvilinear letters are rope- or thread-like, with loops and even knots, and are somewhat reminiscent of Sinhala script. In a talk at the Oxford University Society of Bibliophiles […] Serafini stated that there is no meaning behind the Codex's script, which is asemic; that his experience in writing it was similar to automatic writing; and that what he wanted his alphabet to convey was the sensation children feel with books they cannot yet understand, although they see that the writing makes sense for adults. Take a look for yourself"

The Color Out of Space (H.P. Lovecraft) "An indescribable color leaches the life out of a patch of farmland and everyone on it."

The Helmet of Horror (Victor Pelevin) "Eight people find themselves in eight different rooms with a labyrinth behind them and a computer in front of them. They try to communicate via the computer that allows them to chat with one another, but has nicknames set for them(IsoldA, UGLI 666, Ariane…) and blocks their personal information. They(and us) can't know if they are lying. When two of them try to see each other by visiting a spot in the labyrinths that should be the same they each then recount a completely different experience and accuse each other of lying. Another character claims they all must be figments of his imagination, he must be very drunk. And they're all afraid of the minotaur. It is a book where no one, even the reader knows what's real, everyone is afraid of what might appear if they turn a corner and no one knows what's going on."