Published: 2020-05-26

Memory made of plaster. On the fragility of tradition and modelling of the past-future in the late works of Viktor Pelevin

Mateusz Jaworski Logo ORCID

Abstract

Memory made of plaster. On the fragility of tradition and modeling the past-future in the late works of Viktor Pelevin

The paper aims at interpreting two recent novels by Viktor Pelevin –  Mafusail's Lamp and iPhuck 10 in the context of time-space, remembrance and oblivion. The analysis revealed the Russian writer’s vast interest in the physical and philosophical theories related to the true nature of the Universe. Therefore, time and space are inextricably connected in the relevant novels as they form a whole network of parallel realities. Moreover, the realities do not function in the linear way, as human beings would like to perceive them.  In Mafusail’s Lamp time travel is possible, but the introduce modifications of the past make the future impossible (in fact, the amendment of the past leads to an utterly new time-space). On the other hand, time travel in iPhuck 10  takes an unorthodox form of world creation (in this case – a world struggling to revive traditional spiritual values), as remembrance in the novel calls for constructing a whole new world. Thus, time travel hardly makes any sense, as all possible worlds exist simultaneously.

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Jaworski, M. (2020). Memory made of plaster. On the fragility of tradition and modelling of the past-future in the late works of Viktor Pelevin. Przegląd Rusycystyczny [Russian Studies Review], (3 (171). https://doi.org/10.31261/pr.7894

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No. 3 (171) (2020)
Published: 2020-06-10


ISSN: 0137-298X
Ikona DOI 10.31261/pr

Publisher
Polskie Towarzystwo Rusycystyczne oraz Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego

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