Victor Pelevin: The Helmet of Horror

[Kenny Shovel]

Since his emergence in the early 1990’s, Victor Pelevin has remained a controversial and contradictorily presence on the modern Russian literary scene. As a powerful, profound and immensely popular writer, Pelevin was hailed by many as the voice of Russia’s generation X and the new wunderkind of Russian letters. The literary establishment however, were slower to acknowledge his craft; coming as it did in books that had elements of science fiction and which tackled the perilous and surreal nature of the consumer society that exploded in the former Soviet Union following the collapse of communism.

Given his career path to date, Pelevin must have been fairly high up Canongate’s wish list of authors to take part in their ambitious Myths series. Fortunately for them, he not only accepted, but has delivered a marvellous, contemporary re-telling of the ancient Greek tale of Theseus and the Minotaur.

Pelevin’s version begins with a group of people waking to find themselves in what appear to be identical locked hotel rooms, each with a computer terminal linked to the same internet chat room. As they start to communicate, they quickly realise that certain physical aspects of their environment can be controlled by making requests on-line - compartments with food can be made to open, and the door to their room unlocked to reveal they are trapped in different parts of the same giant maze.
As they start to work together they begin to understand that each of them has information that can be used to work out where they are and how they can escape. In particular the mysterious Adriana, who has started the thread, discloses detailed dreams she has had about the maze and it’s Minotaur, who wears the Helmet of Horror. As we are dragged further into the story, we are faced with every increasing questions of which direction takes us to the truth. Who is wearing the Helmet of Horror? The Minotaur, Adriana, or are we all? Does the maze exist in reality, in our minds or are we trapped in the helmet itself?

‘The Helmet of Horror’ is written as a single internet chat thread, spread over several days. Whilst there is the occasional emoticon and text speak abbreviation used, presumably to piss of his beard stroking critics, the text actually reads more like a play, and a damn good one at that. Pelevin weaves myth with modern culture and neatly stitches it together with elements of Christian belief & cyber-age Descartesian philosophy. As with most of Pelevin’s work, he poses many questions, but prefers to allow us to make our own conclusions.

I don’t read much contemporary fiction, so I’m not really in a position to judge where Pelevin stands amongst modern authors; but if there are writers out there more inventive and intelligent than this modern Russian master, they must belong to a very select group indeed.

K-S

 

[venusunfolding]

I love this series. I really enjoyed The Helmet of Horror. Usually I try to avoid anything written in IM chat or email, but since the other books in the series were so good I gave it a try. Some of it went way over my head, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it. It's definately an interesting modern take on the myth.

 

[Zolipara]

Sounds like the author has seen the movie "Cube".

 

[Kenny Shovel]

Sounds like the author has seen the movie "Cube".

Possibly, as Pelevin’s books are infused with modern culture. Then again, since the days of ‘Theseus and the Minotaur’ the idea of protagonists working together to escape some kind of maze or trap, be it physical or mental, was become a fairly standard plot that has been interpreted over the years in various ways.
I’ll keep a look out for “Cube”, but unless the director is a modern day Bergman or Tarkovsky I’d be surprised if his take had the same depth and philosophical insight as Pelevin has managed.

Regards,

K-S

 

[Zolipara]

Yes its a fairly standard plotdevice, but it was the first thing i thought when i read your review.
The director is not exactly a modern day Tarkovsky but its worth a watch.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0123755/

I just ordered the book as well. It sounds interesting. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Kenny Shovel]

I just ordered the book as well. It sounds interesting. Thanks for the tip.

Just returning the favour. I have 'Skipper Worse' by Alexander Kielland, 'Lasso round the moon' by Agnar Mykle and 'Naive. Super' by Erlend Loe all on my TBR list thanks to you.

Regards,

K-S

 

[beer good]

Victor Pelevin: The Helmet Of Horror

It's a plot not unlike many a science fiction movie; a bunch of people wake up one morning, each in an identical hotel room with a bed, a door, and a computer. They don't know how they got there. The door of each room leads to a labyrinth - each person seems to have a different labyrinth, though of course they might simply be at different starting points of the same one. The only thing on the computer screen is a chat room where they can interact with each other, though some unseen moderator keeps censoring any messages that might help them figure out who and where the others are. Each person has been given a nickname (an avatar) which they cannot change. And the only thread in the chat room was started by the member named Ariadne, asking about the labyrinth and Theseus and the Minotaur.

This is the fourth volume in Canongate's Myth series that I've read (after Armstrong, Winterson and Östergren) and of the fictional ones, it's by far the most interesting. Where the others seemed content to simply retell a story, Pelevin gets right down to business and tries to come to grips with what a myth IS, why it can matter, why it can continue to be relevant for thousands of years - in short, how we use it to understand the world and ourselves. You may know the basics of the Theseus myth; the hero enters the labyrinth (using a roll of thread given to him by the King's daughter, Ariadne, so he doesn't lose his way) and kills the monster. Simple enough, it would seem; all our intrepid Internet heroes need to do is figure out how the labyrinth(s) work(s), where the minotaur is, how to kill it, how to get out, and which one of them is Theseus.

But as Pelevin notes in the foreword, every myth takes on a different meaning depending on its context - and since every single one of the protagonists represent a different school of thought (the existentialist, the Christian, the rational scientist, etc etc etc) every attempt they make to make sense of their situation turns into a long discussion of just what the labyrinth, and the minotaur, and they themselves symbolize... and of course, since they can't see each other, they can't be sure that the others (and their viewpoints) even exist or are worthy of consideration. Yet their only way out seems to be co-operation.

When I hear the word ‘discourse’ I reach for my simulacrum.

As you might gather, it's not exactly a fast-paced thriller (though it is both thrilling and a quick read...) and if the book has one great flaw, it is that it tends to forget that it's supposed to be a novel (at least I think it's supposed to be a novel) and settles for an Eco-like lecturing rather than try to advance the plot (such as it is). Since the entire novel is presented in the form of a chat room thread, you have to be interested in stuff like how we construct reality (virtual and "real"), the nature of memories, free will, perception of time etc. If you're into that sort of thing, The Helmet of Horror is a fascinating if deceptively tricky novel, flipping subject and object back and forth, a myth writing itself, how we create future from the past. It's all in your mind; including your mind. So post it ends up pre. Or something. I might still be stuck in that labyrinth - hell, we might all be. But I think I want to read more by Pelevin before I find my way out.

4/5.