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Victor Pelevin. A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia and Other Stories. Andrew Bromfield, tr. New York. New Directions. 1998. 213 pages. $23.95. ISBN 0-8112-1394-3.
Victor Pelevin is, to all appearances, a contemporary Western writer dressed in Russian clothing. His writing is hip and funny, chaotic and surrealistic, almost that of a hippie swinging his way through a world that lacks rational meaning. Appearances are deceptive, however, for Pelevin is Russian to the core, from his subject matter (urban chaos versus rural calm) to his technique (realism a la Sinyavsky/Tertz). A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia is his fifth book to appear in English, and makes an excellent introduction to what a number of U.S. publications consider the freshest voice now writing in Russian.
Like a modern-day Gogol, Pelevin presents the...