CRITIC AT LARGE - With Paul "The Mole"

DIZZY GILLESPIE CUBANA BOP

CRITIC AT LARGE - With Paul "The Mole"

OMON RA Victor Pelevin

Having discovered this book

whilst investigating the death

of a high-ranking KGB official,

it sat upon my shelf gathering dust,

undisturbed by human

hands until Saturday last.

It began entering my

consciousness in a rather

peculiar manner, popping

up in my thoughts again

and again.

Determined to solve the

mystery of its seemingly

conspiratorial attempts to

draw me in, I decided to call its

bluff, and opened the dusty pages.

Victor Pelevin's first novel is a masterpiece of Post-Soviet satire, that enthralled me with its darkly humorous imaginings of early Russian space exploration.

His protagonist Omon, having dreamt of space

flight as a child, finds himself the sole

pilot for a

supposedly unmanned mission to the moon

after a selection and

training process that throws into sharp relief the absurdity of post-World War II

Russia's twin

obsessions,

heroism and the space program.

A contemporary criticism that plunged to the

depths of my emotions with its

profound mysticism,

returning to the murky surface bearing glittering

offerings

of everyday irony, only to dive back into

the deep once again, hugging me tight.