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60-477: Victor Olegovich Pelevin (Russian: Виктор Олегович Пелевин , IPA: [ˈvʲiktər ɐˈlʲeɡəvʲɪtɕ pʲɪˈlʲevʲɪn] ; born 22 November 1962) is a Russian fiction writer. His novels include Omon Ra (1992), The Life of Insects (1993), Chapayev and Void (1996), and Generation P (1999). He is a laureate of multiple literary awards including the Russian Little Booker Prize (1993) and

120-482: A Buddhist , he is engaged in Buddhist practices. Pelevin has repeatedly said that despite the fact that his characters use drugs, he is not an addict even though he experimented with mind-expanding substances in his youth. Pelevin is not married. Pelevin has no current or past public social media accounts (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, VKontakte) In December 2018, the media reported that the writer Victor Pelevin registered in

180-744: A 1990 series of short stories about the Vietnam War . Fictional works that explicitly involve supernatural, magical, or scientifically impossible elements are often classified under the genre of fantasy , including Lewis Carroll 's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland , J. R. R. Tolkien 's The Lord of the Rings , and J. K. Rowling 's Harry Potter series. Creators of fantasy sometimes introduce imaginary creatures and beings such as dragons and fairies. Types of written fiction in prose are distinguished by relative length and include: Fiction writing

240-404: A certain point of view. The distinction between the two may be best defined from the viewpoint of the audience, according to whom a work is non-fiction if its people, settings, and plot are perceived entirely as historically or factually real, while a work is regarded as fiction if it deviates from reality in any of those areas. The distinction is further obscured by a philosophical understanding, on

300-447: A completely imaginary way or been followed by major new events that are completely imaginary (the genre of alternative history ). Or, it depicts impossible technology or technology that defies current scientific understandings or capabilities (the genre of science fiction ). Contrarily, realistic fiction involves a story whose basic setting (time and location in the world) is, in fact, real and whose events could believably happen in

360-471: A figure from history, Bonnie Prince Charlie , and takes part in the Battle of Prestonpans . Some works of fiction are slightly or greatly re-imagined based on some originally true story, or a reconstructed biography. Often, even when the fictional story is based on fact, there may be additions and subtractions from the true story to make it more interesting. An example is Tim O'Brien 's The Things They Carried ,

420-695: A major impact on the creation and distribution of fiction, calling into question the feasibility of copyright as a means to ensure royalties are paid to copyright holders. Also, digital libraries such as Project Gutenberg make public domain texts more readily available. The combination of inexpensive home computers, the Internet, and the creativity of its users has also led to new forms of fiction, such as interactive computer games or computer-generated comics. Countless forums for fan fiction can be found online, where loyal followers of specific fictional realms create and distribute derivative stories. The Internet

480-597: A publishing house, first called The Day , then The Raven and Myth , for which Pelevin has edited three volumes of Carlos Castaneda 's work. From 1989 to 1990, Pelevin worked as a staff reporter for the magazine Face to Face . In 1989, he also began to work in the journal Nauka i Religiya (Science and Religion), where he edited a series of articles on eastern mysticism . In 1989, Nauka i Religiya published Pelevin's first short story " The Sorcerer Ignat and People ". In 1991, Pelevin published his first collection of stories The Blue Lantern . Two years later, it received

540-845: A result of a theft, but some speculated that it was a marketing ploy. In October 2009, the novel t was published. The author received the third award of the fifth season of the Big Book award (2009–2010) and won the reader choice vote. In December 2011, Eksmo released Pelevin's novel S.N.U.F.F. which received the E-book award for "Prose of the Year" in February 2012. Literary critics have noted Pelevin's postmodernist and absurdist styles, which incorporate Buddhist motifs, esoteric traditions, and satirical science fiction. Pelevin's books have been translated into many languages including Japanese and Chinese. In 2009,

600-570: A subset (written fiction that aligns to a particular genre ), or its opposite: an evaluative label for written fiction that comprises popular culture , as artistically or intellectually inferior to high culture . Regardless, fiction is commonly broken down into a variety of genres: categories of fiction, each differentiated by a particular unifying tone or style ; set of narrative techniques , archetypes , or other tropes; media content ; or other popularly defined criterion. Science fiction predicts or supposes technologies that are not realities at

660-501: A university or a similar institution, and with the continuation of such positions determined not by book sales but by critical acclaim by other established literary authors and critics. On the other hand, he suggests, genre fiction writers tend to support themselves by book sales. However, in an interview, John Updike lamented that "the category of 'literary fiction' has sprung up recently to torment people like me who just set out to write books, and if anybody wanted to read them, terrific,

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720-434: A written work of fiction that: Literary fiction is often used as a synonym for literature , in the narrow sense of writings specifically considered to be an art form. While literary fiction is sometimes regarded as superior to genre fiction, the two are not mutually exclusive, and major literary figures have employed the genres of science fiction, crime fiction , romance , etc., to create works of literature. Furthermore,

780-508: Is a part of media studies. Examples of prominent fictionalization in the creative arts include those in the general context of World War II in popular culture and specifically Nazi German leaders such as Adolf Hitler in popular culture and Reinhard Heydrich in popular culture . For instance, American actor and comedian Charlie Chaplin portrayed the eccentric despot Adenoid Hynkel in the 1940 satirical film The Great Dictator . The unhinged, unintelligent figure fictionalized real events from

840-446: Is also used for the development of blog fiction , where a story is delivered through a blog either as flash fiction or serial blog, and collaborative fiction , where a story is written sequentially by different authors, or the entire text can be revised by anyone using a wiki . The definition of literary fiction is controversial. It may refer to any work of fiction in a written form. However, various other definitions exist, including

900-439: Is characterized by a lesser degree of adherence to realistic or plausible individuals, events, or places, while the umbrella genre of realistic fiction is characterized by a greater degree. For instance, speculative fiction may depict an entirely imaginary universe or one in which the laws of nature do not strictly apply (often, the sub-genre of fantasy ). Or, it depicts true historical moments, except that they have concluded in

960-490: Is known as fictionalization . The opposite circumstance, in which the physical world or a real turn of events seem influenced by past fiction, is commonly described by the phrase " life imitating art ". The latter phrase is popularity associated with the Anglo-Irish fiction writer Oscar Wilde . The alteration of actual happenings into a fictional format, with this involving a dramatic representation of real events or people,

1020-446: Is known as both fictionalization , or, more narrowly for visual performance works like in theatre and film, dramatization . According to the academic publication Oxford Reference , a work set up this way will have a "narrative based partly or wholly on fact but written as if it were fiction" such that "[f]ilms and broadcast dramas of this kind often bear the label 'based on a true story'." In intellectual research, evaluating this process

1080-492: Is most long-established in the realm of literature (written narrative fiction), the broad study of the nature, function, and meaning of fiction is called literary theory , and the narrower interpretation of specific fictional texts is called literary criticism (with subsets like film criticism and theatre criticism also now long-established). Aside from real-world connections, some fictional works may depict characters and events within their own context, entirely separate from

1140-427: Is often described as "elegantly written, lyrical, and ... layered". The tone of literary fiction can be darker than genre fiction, while the pacing of literary fiction may be slower than popular fiction. As Terrence Rafferty notes, "literary fiction, by its nature, allows itself to dawdle, to linger on stray beauties even at the risk of losing its way". Based on how literary fiction is defined, genre fiction may be

1200-407: Is the process by which an author or creator produces a fictional work. Some elements of the writing process may be planned in advance, while others may come about spontaneously. Fiction writers use different writing styles and have distinct writers' voices when writing fictional stories. The use of real events or real individuals as direct inspiration for imaginary events or imaginary individuals

1260-754: Is to write good books in a way nobody did before." Fiction Fiction is any creative work , chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals , events, or places that are imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history , fact , or plausibility. In a traditional narrow sense, "fiction" refers to written narratives in prose – often referring specifically to novels , novellas , and short stories . More broadly, however, fiction encompasses imaginary narratives expressed in any medium , including not just writings but also live theatrical performances , films , television programs , radio dramas , comics , role-playing games , and video games . Typically,

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1320-646: The Apollon Grigoryev Prize in 2003 and the National Bestseller award in 2004. DTP (NN) was also shortlisted for the Andrei Bely Prize in 2003. In 2006, Eksmo published Pelevin's novel Empire V . The novel was shortlisted for the Russian Big Book award. The text of Empire V appeared on the Internet even before the publication of the novel. Representatives of Eksmo claimed that it was

1380-628: The French magazine chose Pelevin as one of the 1,000 most significant people in contemporary culture. A 2009 OpenSpace.ru survey voted Pelevin as the most influential intellectual in Russia. Pelevin is known for not being a part of the literary crowd, rarely appearing in public or giving interviews and preferring to communicate on the internet. When he gives interviews, he talks more about the nature of his mind rather than his writings. This has given grounds for various rumours. For instance, it has been suggested that

1440-673: The Iowa Writers' Workshop . Under the Engles' guidance, hundreds of writers came to Iowa, particularly from parts of the world where literary and personal freedom was often restricted. During the 1970s and 1980s the program's reach towards nations in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and eastern Europe expanded significantly. In 1979 the Engles coordinated a "Chinese Weekend", one of the first significant meetings of writers from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and

1500-604: The Moscow Power Engineering Institute (MPEI) graduating with a degree in electromechanical engineering in 1985. In April of that year, MPEI Department of Electrical Transport hired him as engineer. Pelevin served in the Russian Air Force . From 1987 to 1989, Pelevin attended the MPEI graduate school. Pelevin travels to Asia often and has been to Nepal, South Korea, China and Japan. While he does not call himself

1560-538: The Russian Little Booker Prize . In 1994, it received InterPressCon and the Bronze Snail awards. In March 1992, Pelevin published his first novel Omon Ra in the literary journal Znamya . The novel attracted the attention of literary critics and was nominated for the Booker Prize. In April 1993, the same journal published Pelevin's next novel The Life of Insects . In 1993, Pelevin published an essay "John Fowles and

1620-667: The Russian National Bestseller (2004), the former for the short story collection The Blue Lantern (1991). In 2011 he was nominated for the Nobel prize in Literature. His books are multi-layered postmodernist (disputed) texts fusing elements of pop culture and esoteric philosophies while carrying conventions of the science fiction genre. Some critics relate his prose to the New sincerity literary movement. Victor Olegovich Pelevin

1680-422: The human condition . In general, it focuses on "introspective, in-depth character studies" of "interesting, complex and developed" characters. This contrasts with genre fiction where plot is the central concern. Usually in literary fiction the focus is on the "inner story" of the characters who drive the plot, with detailed motivations to elicit "emotional involvement" in the reader. The style of literary fiction

1740-460: The "Electronic Book" award in the "Prose of the Year" category. In March 2013, Pelevin's eleventh novel " Batman Apollo " was released, which is a sequel to " Empire V ". Then came the novels " Love for Three Zuckerbrins " (2014), " The Caretaker " (2015), " Methuselah's Lamp, or The Last Battle of the Chekists and Masons " (2016). In 2017, the novel " iPhuck 10 " was published, which won

1800-521: The 18th and 19th centuries. They were often associated with Enlightenment ideas such as empiricism and agnosticism . Realism developed as a literary style at this time. New forms of mass media developed in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, including popular-fiction magazines and early film. Interactive fiction was developed in the late-20th century through video games. Certain basic elements define all works of narrative , including all works of narrative fiction. Namely, all narratives include

1860-526: The Andrew White Prize. In 2018, the novel " Secret Views of Mount Fuji " was released. " The Art of Light Touches " was released in August 2019. In August 2020, the novel " The Invincible Sun " was published. For the past nine years, the author has been releasing one book a year, it can be a novel or a collection of stories united by a common theme. In the fall of 2021 the book " Transhumanism Inc . "

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1920-817: The Chinese diaspora since 1949 . For their efforts to connect writers worldwide and to promote international understanding, the Engles were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976. Hualing Nieh Engle and Paul Engle co-directed the IWP until 1977, after which Engle retired and Hualing continued as sole director. She retired in 1988, and currently serves as a member of the IWP Advisory Board. Other past directors include Fredrick Woodard (1988), Clark Blaise (1990), Steven Ungar (1998), and Sandra Barkan (1999). The primary residency, which takes place each fall, offers writers

1980-572: The Internet for non-commercial use. Some novels are also available as audio files in Russian. In December 2010, he wrote a collection of novels and short stories " Pineapple Water for the Fair Lady ", which was in the long list of the Russian Literary Award "Big Book" (season 2010/11). In December 2011, he released the novel " S.N.U.F.F. ". In February of the following year, this work received

2040-604: The audience's willing suspension of disbelief . The effects of experiencing fiction, and the way the audience is changed by the new information they discover, has been studied for centuries. Also, infinite fictional possibilities themselves signal the impossibility of fully knowing reality, provocatively demonstrating philosophical notions, such as there potentially being no criterion to measure constructs of reality. In contrast to fiction, creators of non-fiction assume responsibility for presenting information (and sometimes opinion) based only in historical and factual reality. Despite

2100-415: The audience, including elements such as romance , piracy , and religious ceremonies . Heroic romance was developed in medieval Europe , incorporating elements associated with fantasy , including supernatural elements and chivalry . The structure of the modern novel was developed by Miguel de Cervantes with Don Quixote in the early-17th century. The novel became a primary medium of fiction in

2160-581: The context of the real world. One realistic fiction sub-genre is historical fiction , centered around true major events and time periods in the past. The attempt to make stories feel faithful to reality or to more objectively describe details, and the 19th-century artistic movement that began to vigorously promote this approach, is called literary realism , which incorporates some works of both fiction and non-fiction. Storytelling has existed in all human cultures, and each culture incorporates different elements of truth and fiction into storytelling. Early fiction

2220-442: The elements of character , conflict , narrative mode , plot , setting , and theme . Characters are individuals inside a work of story, conflicts are the tension or problem that drives characters' thoughts and actions, narrative modes are the ways in which a story is communicated, plots are the sequence of events in a story, settings are the story's locations in time and space, and themes are deeper messages or interpretations about

2280-483: The fantastic and the real, the historical and the fictional. In the spirit of postmodernism, it abounds in hidden quotations, allusions, the game semantic clichés, and irony . Buddhist symbolism neighbours in it with occultism, European philosophy with mysticism, didacticism with parody, and active presence of realities of modern culture with an appeal to archaic consciousness. But, he employs postmodernist devices for humanistic ethos. Pelevin's works are characterized by

2340-474: The fictionality of a work is publicly expressed, so the audience expects the work to deviate to a greater or lesser degree from the real world rather than presenting, for instance, only factually accurate portrayals or characters who are actual people. Because fiction is generally understood as not adhering to the real world, the themes and context of a work, such as if and how it relates to real-world issues or events, are open to interpretation . Since fiction

2400-567: The imperial period. Plasmatic narrative, following entirely invented characters and events, was developed through ancient drama and New Comedy . One common structure among early fiction is a series of strange and fantastic adventures as early writers test the limits of fiction writing. Milesian tales were an early example of fiction writing in Ancient Greece and Italy. As fiction writing developed in Ancient Greece, relatable characters and plausible scenarios were emphasized to better connect with

2460-441: The known physical universe: an independent fictional universe . The creative art of constructing such an imaginary world is known as worldbuilding . Literary critic James Wood argues that "fiction is both artifice and verisimilitude ", meaning that it requires both creative inventions as well as some acceptable degree of believability among its audience, a notion often encapsulated in the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge 's idea of

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2520-600: The mixing of elements of different genres — adventure novel and parable , fairy tale and anecdote , pamphlet and utopia . In a conversation with BOMB Magazine , Pelevin named Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov 's The Master and Margarita as an early influence on his reading, saying, "The effect of this book was really fantastic. [...] This book was totally out of the Soviet world." Pelevin avoids, however, listing authors who have specifically influenced his writing, for he believes that "the only real Russian literary tradition

2580-508: The more the merrier. ... I'm a genre writer of a sort. I write literary fiction, which is like spy fiction or chick lit". Likewise, on The Charlie Rose Show , he argued that this term, when applied to his work, greatly limited him and his expectations of what might come of his writing, so he does not really like it. He suggested that all his works are literary, simply because "they are written in words". Literary fiction often involves social commentary , political criticism , or reflection on

2640-560: The novel won Strannik Literary Award  [ ru ] for science fiction, and in 2001 it was shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award . In 1999, Pelevin's novel Generation P was published. Over 3.5 million copies have been sold worldwide. The book received a number of awards including Germany's Richard Schoenfeld Prize. In 2003, Pelevin published the novel The Dialectics of Transition Period from Out of Nowhere to Nowhere or DTP (NN) , receiving

2700-493: The one hand, that the truth can be presented through imaginary channels and constructions, while, on the other hand, works of the imagination can just as well bring about significant new perspectives on, or conclusions about, truth and reality. All types of fiction invite their audience to explore real ideas, issues, or possibilities using an otherwise imaginary setting or using something similar to reality, though still distinct from it. The umbrella genre of speculative fiction

2760-468: The opportunity to participate in American literary, academic, and cultural life through talks, lectures, readings, screenings, stage performances, school visits, and travel, while providing time for personal writing and creative work. University of Iowa students can take several classes built around the work and presence of the IWP residents. Literary translation is an integral part of the program's mission. At

2820-589: The program has broadened its efforts to promote international connections among writers by organizing a variety of events, some of which take place outside the United States. Among these are: A major source of funding for writers attending the IWP is the U.S. Department of State , and the program's administration is supported by the University of Iowa. The IWP also administers grants for writers sponsored for their residency by private and public cultural organizations in

2880-579: The register of individual entrepreneurs in the territorial office of the Pension Fund in Moscow. In 1989, Pelevin attended Mikhail Lobanov's creative writing seminar at Maxim Gorky Literary Institute . While studying at the Institute, Pelevin met the young novelist Albert Egazarov and the poet Victor Kulle, later a literary critic. Pelevin was expelled from the Institute in 1991. Egazarov and Kulle went on to found

2940-541: The story that its audience is left to discuss and reflect upon. Traditionally, fiction includes novels, short stories, fables , legends , myths , fairy tales , epic and narrative poetry , plays (including operas , musicals , dramas, puppet plays , and various kinds of theatrical dances ). However, fiction may also encompass comic books , and many animated cartoons , stop motions , anime , manga , films , video games , radio programs , television programs ( comedies and dramas ), etc. The Internet has had

3000-448: The study of genre fiction has developed within academia in recent decades. The term is sometimes used such as to equate literary fiction to literature. The accuracy of this is debated. Neal Stephenson has suggested that, while any definition will be simplistic, there is today a general cultural difference between literary and genre fiction. On the one hand literary authors nowadays are frequently supported by patronage, with employment at

3060-417: The then ongoing Second World War in a way that presented fascist individuals as humorously irrational and pathetic. Many other villains take direct inspiration from real people while having fictional accents, appearances, backgrounds, names, and so on. International Writing Program The IWP was founded by Paul Engle and Hualing Nieh Engle as a non-academic, internationally focused counterpart to

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3120-498: The time of Hualing's retirement, two volumes of selected IWP writings had been compiled under the title Writing From The World , in addition to another collection, The World Comes To Iowa , and more than a dozen individual volumes in the Iowa Translation Series. Today, the IWP supports 91st Meridian, an online literary journal, and the book series 91stM Books , housed at the independent Autumn Hill Books . In recent years

3180-501: The time of the work's creation: Jules Verne 's novel From the Earth to the Moon was published in 1865, but only in 1969 did astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to land on the Moon. Historical fiction places imaginary characters into real historical events. In the 1814 historical novel Waverley , Sir Walter Scott 's fictional character Edward Waverley meets

3240-535: The traditional view that fiction and non-fiction are opposites, some works (particularly in the modern era) blur this boundary, particularly works that fall under certain experimental storytelling genres—including some postmodern fiction , autofiction , or creative nonfiction like non-fiction novels and docudramas —as well as the deliberate literary fraud of falsely marketing fiction as nonfiction. Furthermore, even most works of fiction usually have elements of, or grounding in, truth of some kind, or truth from

3300-745: The tragedy of Russian liberalism" in Nezavisimaya Gazeta . The essay was the writer's answer to some negative critics' reactions to his work. In the same year, Pelevin was admitted to the Russian Union of Journalists. In 1996, Pelevin participated in the International Writing Program residency at the University of Iowa. That same year, Znamya published Pelevin's novel Chapayev and Void . Critics called it "the first Zen Buddhist novel in Russian". The writer himself called it "the first novel which takes place in an absolute vacuum". In 1997,

3360-451: The writer does not exist and Pelevin is actually a code name for a group of authors or even a computer. In May 2011, it was reported that Pelevin would personally attend the award ceremony SuperNatsBest, which would have been the writer's first appearance in public. However, he did not come. Pelevin has permitted all of his texts in Russian predating 2009 (except P5: Farewell songs of the political pygmies of Pindostan ) to be published on

3420-413: The writer's work. In 2023, the novel “Journey to Eleusin” was published. It also became the sequel to two previous novels, “KGBT+” and “Transhumanism Inc.”. In September 2024, it was revealed that Victor Pelevin will release a new novel "Krut'". Sales of the new book started on October 3, 2024. Pelevin's prose, creating a mythologized and multi-layered picture of reality, is built on the interweaving of

3480-445: Was born in Moscow on 22 November 1962 to Zinaida Semenovna Efremova, an English teacher, and Oleg Anatolyevich Pelevin, a teacher at the military department of Bauman University . He lived on Tverskoy Boulevard in Moscow, later moving to Chertanovo . In 1979, Pelevin graduated from an elite high school with a special English program located on Stanislavskogo Street in the centre of Moscow, now Kaptsov Gymnasium #1520. He then attended

3540-465: Was closely associated with history and myth . Greek poets such as Homer , Hesiod , and Aesop developed fictional stories that were told first through oral storytelling and then in writing. Prose fiction was developed in Ancient Greece , influenced by the storytelling traditions of Asia and Egypt. Distinctly fictional work was not recognized as separate from historical or mythological stories until

3600-458: Was published, which is a collection of stories united by the theme of the concept of transhumanism . In September 2022, the novel “KGBT+” was published, which is a sequel to the previous novel “Transhumanism Inc.”. In November 2022, the documentary film Pelevin directed by Rodion Chepel was released. The author studied archives and early works of Pelevin, interviewed the writer's acquaintances, his childhood friends, colleagues and researchers of

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