As to why they did what they did to Mitiok...
August 11, 2008 5:11 AM Subscribe
A question regarding what happens to the character Mitiok in the novel Omon Ra, by Victor Pelevin. [spoilers, and more, inside]
So, I just finished Omon Ra by Pelevin. Hilarious, captivating book. However, I was perplexed by Mitiok's very long (14 or so pages) confession during the reincarnation examination, followed so abruptly by his death. I understood the humor of listening as Mitiok was led to some dungeon somewhere and shot, all the while under the trance of some Soviet hypnotist, but I was completely lost during Mitiok's rambling story. I feel like there might have been a lot of weird Soviet mysticism and history in there, which went completely over my head. What did he say that angered the Soviets so much that they needed to dispatch him? Or was the point that they were always going to get rid of him, and that he was needed solely as a friend to Omon during his training? Or, finally, is the humor in the fact that there was not really any rhyme or reason to his offing besides just his incredibly odd and detailed "confession" of his past lives.
Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
So, I just finished Omon Ra by Pelevin. Hilarious, captivating book. However, I was perplexed by Mitiok's very long (14 or so pages) confession during the reincarnation examination, followed so abruptly by his death. I understood the humor of listening as Mitiok was led to some dungeon somewhere and shot, all the while under the trance of some Soviet hypnotist, but I was completely lost during Mitiok's rambling story. I feel like there might have been a lot of weird Soviet mysticism and history in there, which went completely over my head. What did he say that angered the Soviets so much that they needed to dispatch him? Or was the point that they were always going to get rid of him, and that he was needed solely as a friend to Omon during his training? Or, finally, is the humor in the fact that there was not really any rhyme or reason to his offing besides just his incredibly odd and detailed "confession" of his past lives.
Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
Or was the point that they were always going to get rid of him, and that he was needed solely as a friend to Omon during his training?
I think that's it. The Soviet system didn't really work on the basis of having done anything wrong; if they needed you dead for whatever reason, you were dead.
posted by nasreddin at 7:15 AM on August 11, 2008
I think that's it. The Soviet system didn't really work on the basis of having done anything wrong; if they needed you dead for whatever reason, you were dead.
posted by nasreddin at 7:15 AM on August 11, 2008
Response by poster: Mityok's interrogation is reconfigured first into Babylon, then into Ancient Rome, then into Nazi Germany--I think to show the eternal, mythological nature of this confrontation between the human being and the state.
Okay, that makes sense. I was getting the feeling that, because it went on for so long, there was something very significant that Pelevin was trying to get across. So your interpretation makes a lot of sense. Thanks. And, ultimately, I think it's supposed to be relatively uncertain as to why Mitiok was murdered - it adds to the humor and to Omon's confusion as to what his mission is and why it is being undertaken in the particular manner in which it is being waged.
posted by billysumday at 7:26 AM on August 11, 2008
Okay, that makes sense. I was getting the feeling that, because it went on for so long, there was something very significant that Pelevin was trying to get across. So your interpretation makes a lot of sense. Thanks. And, ultimately, I think it's supposed to be relatively uncertain as to why Mitiok was murdered - it adds to the humor and to Omon's confusion as to what his mission is and why it is being undertaken in the particular manner in which it is being waged.
posted by billysumday at 7:26 AM on August 11, 2008
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It's been a very long time since I read that book, but looking over it now it seems like a very typical Pelevin thing: he has a motif throughout all of his novels that our society is really just a perverse future Babylon. Mityok's interrogation is reconfigured first into Babylon, then into Ancient Rome, then into Nazi Germany--I think to show the eternal, mythological nature of this confrontation between the human being and the state. Something like that.
posted by nasreddin at 7:13 AM on August 11, 2008