Vladimir Gubailovsky. 3.68

3,68
Victor Pelevin. "Dialectics of the transition period from nowhere to nowhere" M.: EKSMO, 2003.

Vladimir Gubailovsky

Publication date: November 27, 2003

In Hergil leads Dante through hell. The demon Tailtail, who came out to meet him, says:

106 ...Can't go any further

You with this comb; and torture fruitlessly:
The sixth bridge has collapsed and there is no way.

109 To go out anyway, if you wish,
Follow this shaft, where the trail is,
And with the nearest ridge you will come out freely.

112 Twelve hundred and sixty-six years
Yesterday, five hours late, we managed
Leak since there is no road here.

Dante Alighieri. Divine Comedy , Inferno, XXI

And here is a comment, remarkable for its soviet style:

112-114. Twelve hundred and sixty-six years... - Tail explains the collapse of the bridge with the same shudder of the underworld that Virgil spoke about (A., XII, 37-45), that is, an earthquake that occurred, according to the Gospel legend, at the moment of the death of Christ. The clergy believed that Christ died at the age of thirty-four, and Dante adhered to this belief (Symposium, IV, 23). According to Khvostach, 1266 years have passed since the earthquake. Consequently, the time of action of this scene is 1300, which is what the author hints at (cf. A., I, 1 and note).

1300 Dante is 35 years old.

Yuri Olesha in his book “Not a Day Without a Line,” quoting this fragment of “The Divine Comedy,” exclaims: “What the power of authenticity!”

The power of authenticity is jaw-dropping. An episode of artistic reality is sandwiched between two plans: Dante's autobiography and divine history. This “sixth bridge” cannot be denied if you believe in your own existence and/or in God. This collapsed bridge combines two certainly real plans. This is the detail that is as reliable as pain in the knee joint.

Victor Pelevin always used the same method of substantiating and constructing the text. Conventionally, it can be called: a riddle and a solution. The writer does not invent a riddle: it exists in reality, the writer finds it. But the main thing is that the writer knows the answer. And the moment he opens it, the reader bursts out with a shocked “Ah!” “The star caught on the ground” (Yuri Kuznetsov).

Why did the bridge collapse? Because Christ descended into Hell. Dante saw this bridge. That means he was there. Means...

Why do we live so hard and painfully? Because we all died a long time ago and are in some kind of intermediate space - like purgatory (“News from Nepal”).

How did the great mighty Soviet Union exist and why did it collapse? Everything is simple down to the elementary level. This country existed because there were a small number of people willing to die for it. Without reasoning. Without asking what they will get for it. This country was powered by the power of heroes. And while these heroes were, while they were ready to die, for the sake of the country, for the sake of... They did not ask for what. This unreasoning heroism was the source of strength that held this whole colossus in its hands.

These people may have realized that they were playing a game, but it was a game with a deadly outcome. And it’s good that it was just a game. The forces were not wasted in vain - on achieving some pragmatic goals, such as space flights. It was absolutely selfless and self-sufficient heroism. Heroism for heroism's sake. Why is Meresyev dear to the Soviet Union? Is it really because he was able to fly without legs and even shoot down enemy planes? Of course not. He is dear and valuable because he knew how to dance “Kalinka”. Let's raise the Meresyev generation. It was on this senseless heroism, on his transcendental effort, that a huge country rested. What did you think, labor productivity is higher under socialism? Or is it a planned economy?

As soon as these nameless heroes, these unknown soldiers simply gave up on everything and went out to the metro station, the country ended (“Omon Ra”).

Pelevin takes a plane of reality that is intimately familiar to the reader, and shatters this history and reality with a calculated blow. He hits very precisely: at the points of intense expectation of an answer. And then horror raises your hair from incredible authenticity. And then it becomes uneasy from the feeling of recognition and understanding. And we can assume that the writer is not a writer at all, but a prophet, that he does not write books, but testifies to the truth.

This is, of course, an illusion. Pelevin is not a prophet, and the impact of his books is purely aesthetic. The prophet poses a question and speaks about the future. Pelevin answers the question and talks about the past.

Pelevin's answer to a question is always complete and exhaustive; he leaves no silences or obscurities. Pelevin is clear and detailed.

The authenticity of Dante's Hell is proven by the unconditional reality of the world and Christ. Pelevin proves the authenticity of Omon Ra by the unconditional reality of the Soviet Union, but it has already ended its existence - aesthetically closed.

In "The Recluse and the Six-Fingered" the planes of reality are inverted. The story is written as a parable and develops according to parable laws. This is a kind of life: with repetitions, with a choice of path, with a teacher, but in the last paragraph everything falls from the heights of a parable, falls like a stake and sticks into the floor of a broiler factory - and this reality justifies all the abstract reasoning and creates the depth of insight.

It is easy to talk about this, but it is not clear how to achieve this in the text. Pelevin succeeded. This is talent.

The novel “Numbers” is written in the same traditional manner for Pelevin: two plans are immediately given: numerology, as a true reality, and our life today, as a reflected or even imaginary reality. But while reading this book, which is certainly fascinating and rich in many discoveries, I did not experience the feeling of discovery that I experienced while reading those Pelevin things that I just talked about.

But further.

Pelevin's book is not one separate novel "Numbers", it is a book "Dialectics of the transition period from nowhere to nowhere." The heroes of "Numbers" act both in the story "Macedonian Criticism of French Thought" and in the story "One Vogue".

Having read the novel and the story, practically without a pause, I was surprised to find that I was looking at “Numbers” as a preface to the story expanded to exaggerated proportions. Maybe “Numbers” is a false move, a red herring? At least those numbers that the heroes of the novel worship. There is a number, but it is different. And the heroes of the novel continued to wander around in the dark, unable to find a way out to the light. This becomes clear only after the story is read. After all, what did the bankers do in “Numbers”? They transferred huge amounts of money: one from Paris to Moscow, the other the same money from Moscow to Paris. Their story ended when there was no need to transfer money.

Why did they do this?

It turns out that this money was transferred by a crazy oil tycoon nicknamed Kika. In this way he saved European civilization, which had swallowed Russian oil and was poisoned by this oil. Money is the oil left over from people. People become money after death (“remain in the fruits of their labor”, “die in capital”). Oil is the lifeblood of the earth. This tension system wouldn't work if it weren't for the number. One single number - 3.68. This is the coefficient adopted when calculating the “sulfur factor” - compensation that is paid to the supplier of oil with a sulfur content lower than the average in the Europipe.

Oil goes to Europe. Europe sucks, along with oil, the despair of the Gulag, the damned and the murdered - this number becomes the average number of deaths. Europe is doomed. If she doesn't stop, she will be poisoned. Or: “Kika began to extract oil from the French and pump it back to Russia. Of course, we are not talking about a thick, oily black liquid, but about its virtual analogue, which Kika called “human oil.” The transfer was carried out in the amount of 368 euros.” “People think they are trading oil, but they become oil themselves.”

Pelevin builds a rigid scheme. He manages to tie the knots so tightly and give his calculations such a semblance of evidence that the reader, who always feels that everything in our country is connected with oil, everything smells of it, and it smells of death (this is the primary experience that interprets and to which relies in this case on Pelevin), - this reader opens his mouth, and the very same “Ah!” comes out of his mouth. instant recognition. And it is no longer possible not to trust Pelevin. He once again discovered the truth...