Discourse of “Other”: Porfiry Petrovich in Pelevin’s prose

About the author:

Julia N. Myslina,

Cand. Sci. (Philol.), Senior Lecturer at the Department of Russian and Foreign Philology, Vladimir State University named after A. G. and N. G. Stoletov, Vladimir, Russia

yulia_mislina@mail.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5561-1859

Abstract:

The article is devoted to the rethinking of the image of Porfiry Petrovich as “Other” in contemporary Russian Pelevin’s prose. Understanding the hero of the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” as “Other” in the fiction of the 21st century lies in the perception of Bakhtin’s basic dichotomy of “Me” and “Other”, which establishes a fulcrum for returning the integrity of the “torn” consciousness lost as a result of the crisis of scientific knowledge in the 20th century. If for Dostoevsky “Other” was understood as an existential “Other” that substantiates the existence of the subject, then for Pelevin “Other” rebuilds itself in a new made virtual reality. A contemporary Russian writer reinterprets the image of Porfiry Petrovich and presents it as an aporia, so the eternal perfect computer algorithm prentends to acquire human consciousness or soul and to be immortal for a while. But even this absurd “apotheosis” is achievable if it is co-created with “Other”, as a direct effect of such co-creation. Therefore, if in Dostoevsky Porfiry Petrovich as the “Other” deliberately distorts or simplifies Raskolnikov’s idea in order to show its inhumanity to the author himself, then in Pelevin’s image Porfiry brings Raskolnikov’s idea to paroxysm, arguing that the death of all humanity is the most preferable option of achieving happiness for the maximum number of people. Thus, Pelevin’s image of Porfiry Petrovich is more of a rethinking of the existing simplified social myth about Dostoevsky than a development on the ideas expressed in the works of the Russian classic.

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