Chapayev and Void
Encyclopedia
"Chapayev and Void" , known in the US as "Buddha's Little Finger" and in the UK as "Clay Machine Gun", is a novel by Victor Pelevin
first published in 1996.
's book "Chapayev", this book is the truth.
The book is set in two different times - after the October revolution
and in modern Russia
. In the post-revolutionary period Pyotr Pustota is a poet who has fled from St.Petersurg
to Moscow
and who takes up the identity of a Soviet political commissar
and meets a strange man named Vasily Chapayev
who is some sort of an army commander. He spends his days drinking samogon, taking drugs and talking about the meaning of life with Chapayev.
Every night (according to his post-revolutionary life) Pustota has nightmares about him being locked up in a psychiatric hospital
because of his beliefs of being a poet from the beginning of the century. He shares the room in the hospital with three other men, each with his very individual form of fake identity.
Until the end of the book it isn't perfectly clear, which of Petr's identities is the real one and whether there is such a thing as a real identity at all.
as Fanerny he is approached by Chapayev. Chapayev tells him that Petr (or Fanerny) is transferred to the Asian Cavalry
division which is commanded by Chapayev. Everything that happens to him after boarding a train with Chapayev and his niece Anna is lost from Petr's memory after an injury he suffers in battle. Later he learns from other characters that he had become really close with Chapayev and had found answers to many questions. Petr falls in love with Anna who doesn't seem to find him attractive or interesting. He spends much time talking to Chapayev who is trying to explain the illusionary nature of the world to Petr. Petr's character is based on Petr Semenovich Isayev who was Chapayev's assistant in real life.
he tells a different story - about himself applying for work in a Japanese firm and performing seppuku
when the company that has hired him becomes a subject of a hostile takeover by an archrival company.
.
in the soap opera
Simplemente María which was very popular in Russia in the 1990s. In his hallucinations he is a manly woman who meets Arnold Schwarzenegger
and after flying together with him on a military airplane through Moscow Maria is hit by the Ostankino tower. His fantasies are full of phallic symbols.
Victor Pelevin
Victor Olegovich Pelevin 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...
first published in 1996.
Plot summary
The novel is written as a first-person narrative of Peotr Pustota (Petr Voyd) and in the introduction to this book it is claimed that unlike Dmitri FurmanovDmitri Furmanov
Dmitry Andreyevich Furmanov was a Russian writer. During the Russian Civil War he joined the Red Army and served as a Bolshevik commissar. He is well-known for his novel Chapayev about Vasily Chapayev, a Red Army officer and a hero of the Civil War. The novel is available in English translation.In...
's book "Chapayev", this book is the truth.
The book is set in two different times - after the October revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
and in modern Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. In the post-revolutionary period Pyotr Pustota is a poet who has fled from St.Petersurg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and who takes up the identity of a Soviet political commissar
Political commissar
The political commissar is the supervisory political officer responsible for the political education and organisation, and loyalty to the government of the military...
and meets a strange man named Vasily Chapayev
Vasily Chapayev
Vasily Ivanovich Chapayev or Chapaev was a celebrated Russian soldier and Red Army commander during the Russian Civil War.-Biography:...
who is some sort of an army commander. He spends his days drinking samogon, taking drugs and talking about the meaning of life with Chapayev.
Every night (according to his post-revolutionary life) Pustota has nightmares about him being locked up in a psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
because of his beliefs of being a poet from the beginning of the century. He shares the room in the hospital with three other men, each with his very individual form of fake identity.
Until the end of the book it isn't perfectly clear, which of Petr's identities is the real one and whether there is such a thing as a real identity at all.
Petr
Petr is an unpolitical monarchist poet who is fleeing from the authorities. After murdering his former schoolmate checkist commander von Ernen he takes up von Ernen's checkist name Fanerny. Apartment he meets Chapayev and after a revolutionary performance which Petr does in a cabaretCabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
as Fanerny he is approached by Chapayev. Chapayev tells him that Petr (or Fanerny) is transferred to the Asian Cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
division which is commanded by Chapayev. Everything that happens to him after boarding a train with Chapayev and his niece Anna is lost from Petr's memory after an injury he suffers in battle. Later he learns from other characters that he had become really close with Chapayev and had found answers to many questions. Petr falls in love with Anna who doesn't seem to find him attractive or interesting. He spends much time talking to Chapayev who is trying to explain the illusionary nature of the world to Petr. Petr's character is based on Petr Semenovich Isayev who was Chapayev's assistant in real life.
Petr
In modern Russia Petr wakes up in a psychiatric hospital and has only Petr's memories from the times of the revolution. From his case in the hospital he learns to know that he has had psychological pathologies since the age of fourteen.Serdyuk
Semen Serdyuk is an inmate of the 17th psychiatric hospital who shares the room with Petr. He claims that he has been put in the hospital after a misunderstanding he had with some policeman over the illusionarity of the world while lying drunk in some basement. When he is put in a state similar to hypnosisHypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
he tells a different story - about himself applying for work in a Japanese firm and performing seppuku
Seppuku
is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai bushido honor code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies , or as a form of capital punishment...
when the company that has hired him becomes a subject of a hostile takeover by an archrival company.
Volodin
Vladimir Volodin is a Russian gangster (so-called "new russian") and Petr's fellow inmate. He and his two friends (or rather "business partners") had consumed numerous psychedelic mushrooms, which took them to a Valhalla-like place ruled by Baron SternbergRoman Ungern von Sternberg
Baron Roman Nikolai Maximilian von Ungern-Sternberg was a Russian Yesaul , Lieutenant-general, and a hero of World War I...
.
Maria
Maria or Simply Maria (a male character) is another roommate of Petr's in the psychiatric hospital. After a head injury he has partly taken up the identity of "Simply Maria" - a character played by Victoria RuffoVictoria Ruffo
Victoria Ruffo is a Mexican actress. Ruffo, the surname she uses professionally, is actually her maternal grandfather's surname.- Biography :...
in the soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Simplemente María which was very popular in Russia in the 1990s. In his hallucinations he is a manly woman who meets Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
and after flying together with him on a military airplane through Moscow Maria is hit by the Ostankino tower. His fantasies are full of phallic symbols.