Nefyodova N.I.
Master of Language and Literature Studies
SPECIFICS OF RUSSIAN POSTMODERNISM (ON THE BASIS OF V. PELEVIN’S NOVELS IN 1990-2010)
Abstract
The article examines the specifics of the Russian literary postmodernism based on the novels of V. Pelevin, one of the most famous Russian postmodern writers. This paper emphasizes that on the basis of V. Pelevin’s texts we can single out such features of the modern Russian post-modernism as a tendency to make a new myth on the fragments of an old deconstructed one, as well as the departure from deconstruction and references to the mass culture (the author tends to turn to the elite culture more frequently).
Keywords: postmodernism, myth-making, intertextthemes, mass culture, elite culture.
There are a lot of versions of when and where postmodernism originated. Some scientists believe it originated from Europe as a reaction to the Second World War, moved to the United States, and then successfully came back to Europe. Others argue that post-modernism originated from America [5, 148] while there is one more group of scientists who believe that postmodernism has no exact place of birth as it »originated and spread simultaneously in a number of regions» [3, 148].
Nevertheless, a single-root word of postmodernism was first mentioned in 1917 [6, 132]. The adjective “postmodern” was used for the first time in »The Crisis of European Culture» by the German writer Rudolf Panwitz refering to a person. The author described the critical state of the culture after the First World War when a «postmodern» person had become «something between a decadent and a barbarian» [1, 64]. In the second half of the 1940s, the term »postmodernism» was used by the British historian, philosopher and cultural scientist Arnold Joseph Toynbee [3, 150]. At this very time, the term appeared in the North America [2, 13-15].
However, in this case, we believe that it was not the concept that started developing at this time but the term.
According to a number of researchers, the movement originated at the end of the 1950s.
In the left-wing New York environment, the »postmodernism» concept was used for the first time by the sociologist C. Wright Mills and critic Irving Howie who used the term to indicate the end of liberalism and socialism ideals. Harry Levin considered »postmodernism» as non-original literature that rejected high intellectual standards and was used as an unoriginal mix of culture and commerce [2, 21-22]. At this moment, the term started spreading across other spheres of culture and across other countries, including Russia. The Russian postmodernism has its own specifics and, most importantly, the background that formed its distinctive features.
It is believed that the postmodernism era started in the late 60s — early 70s. Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov with his »Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom» (1968) [8, 74] is considered to be one of the first representatives of the new culture. In this publication, he expressed the thoughts which were similar to Toynbee’s ideas in terms of adverse effects of the Cold War, nuclear weapons and, as a result, the frightening fragmentation of the contemporary world.
First, according to I. Skoropanova, such late emergence of postmodernism in the USSR as compared to the Western civilization could be explained by the fact that during the Soviet period the artistic creativity was suppressed, subjected to strict censorship, and was ideologized. Second, the Russian postmodernism was introduced by the representatives of unofficial art who published their materials mainly abroad. Third, the ‘iron curtain’ prevented the foreign writers from entering the Soviet Union and assimilating in the Soviet society [8, 74-77]. In addition, it is important to understand that in the Russian literature postmodernism replaced socialist realism not modernism.
This had an effect on the area of deconstruction for the Soviet postmodernists, especially, those of the first wave. In the USSR, the writers also deconstructed the Soviet mass literature which was understood as political propaganda.
Thus, in the most popular novel by V. Pelevin »Chapaev and the Void», published in 1996, all the author’s creativity was aimed at deconstructing the political myth and Soviet literature. The well-known image of the First World War and Civil War participant Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev, to whom D. Furmanov’s novel »Chapaev» and the film by the Vasilyev brothers are devoted, was subject to deconstruction, as well. Let’s turn to the significant scene of Peter’s first meeting with the division head: »Who are you?» I asked. // »My name is Chapaev,» the stranger answered. // »It doesn’t say much to me,» I said. // »That’s why I use it, — he said … «[7, 89]. Thus, the surname «Chapaev» has become a common concept, as well as Anka-machine gunner has turned out to be an emancipated female succubus. So by deconstructing one myth, the author creates his own one.
In addition, in this work V. Pelevin shows different ways which can help Russia overcome its chaos at the end of the 20th century: by joining the West, the East, turning to the religion, and to the »new Russians». It turns out that all of these ways lead the country to nowhere. And at the end of the work, V. Pelevin concludes that first of all it is important to make focus on yourself not Russia. These ideas originated from Zen Buddhism. So a new myth has been created.
In 2015, V. Pelevin published his new novel »The Lamp of Methuselah, or the Extreme Battle of the Chekists with the Masons». At the beginning of the 21st century, the author no longer focused on the Soviet ideology but on the modern Russian society structure. However, he continued his tradition of building a new myth on the fragments of deconstructed ones.
Thus, according to the concept outlined in the novel, »Europe has no longer leading positions, but America, and has become something like a madhouse for the elderly now», »All important issues are resolved for the benefit of financiers that are ruled by the masons, as you know. The Russian Chekists are those who oppose the masons being the only good force throughout the whole world. And we are this very force.» [7, 141]. These lines refer to the world conspiracy theory. However, V. Pelevin deconstructs it and continues its own myth-making. It turns out that reptilians are above the masons in the world hierarchy. But all other cosmic races that inhabit he Universe are ruled by the «All-Seeing Eye». Interestingly, the nature and outcome of all international military and political conflicts are determined by the All-Seeing Eye’s position which could be pro-Russian or pro-American. The reasons for crisis in Russia are explained by the fact that the reptilians once »removed» the bearded men (patrons of Russia) from the present. For this reason, the country has both great past and future as during these times the bearded men inhabit Russia. But now there is no one to defend the country and confront the Western influence.
However, myth-making is not the only feature of V. Pelevin’s postmodern texts. The European postmodernism was known to be anti-elite art. It equalized both mass and elite culure. A similar trend could be observed in the works of Russian authors. For example, in V. Druk’s »TV Center» stereo poem, the columns consist of «quotations-fragments» which are supposed to be taken from well-known poems («… and life is such a sobering center if to be looked at without coloured glassed!»), newspaper and radio-television stamps («in the epicenter of world rumours», «frame rate, clarity of frames»), political slogans and clichés («advanced development», «I am ready for work and defense»), popular songs («I am a simple naturalist // I am not a radio amateur at all» ). Even the epigraph quotes a line from a social survey: «I spend my free time // behind the TV screen …». The phrase: «The Third World War // will end with the world-wide // television // show!» [4].
V. Pelevin’s novel »Numbers» contains a huge amount of mass culture precedent texts of the beginning of the 21st century. There are 65 non-repetitive intertextthemes and at least 47 precedent texts which relate to the modern media culture of that time (for example, the mention of Wakanda from the Marvel Universe, the Pokémon multiseries, the Star Wars film, etc.) and to the deconstructed proverbs and sayings well-known to the mass reader (for example, «Beauty will save the world and trust it to big business!», «Half a loaf is better than no bread «).
Eighteen intertexthemes relate to the elite art. Basically, they included references to historical figures, writers and poets, as well as precedent texts from the classical literature. It is important to note that some of them (for example, »Romeo and Juliet» by William Shakespeare, »The Master and Margarita» by M. Bulgakov) were also widely known to the mass reader.
However, in the second half of the 2010s, the situation changed. For example, in the novel »The Lamp of Methuselah, or the Extreme Battle of the Chekists with Masons» V. Pelevin, the intertextthemes were used not in the mass modern media culture field, but in the field of elite, specialized culture. For example, this work contains a lot of precedent phenomena referring to economic events, terms, quotations from economic articles, as well as the names and publications associated with the masonry. The novel «IPhuck 10 also contains a lot of IT vocabulary (for example, «Bilt», «rcp procedures», «rc network», etc.), as well as the elite culture phenomena (for example, Shirin Nishat’s film »Turbulent», »The Birth of Venus» by S. Botticelli, Hegel’s philosophy, quotation by A.N. Tolstoy, etc.). We should mention that sometimes one should use a dictionary or Internet to find out the meaning of a particular term.
Moreover, «IPhuck 10» has 30 non-repeating intertextthemes. Twenty of them relate to the elite culture field, and ten relate to the mass culture.
Thus, the dominance of elite culture over mass culture can be observed in the works of Russian postmodernist writer V. Pelevin in the second half of the 2010s which is not typical neither for the foreign postmodernism nor for the earlier works of the Russian postmodernism
Therefore, based on the profound research, the following feautures of Pelevin’s writings and Russian post-modernism can be distinguished:
1) a tendency to make a new myth in place of old deconstructed ones;
2) a turn to the elite culture instead of mass culture in the literature of the second half of the 2010s.
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