The Life of Insects by Victor Pelevin, translated by Andrew Bromfield
In the first chapter of The Life of Insects we meet two Russians, Andrew and Arthur, businessmen apparently, and a foreigner, Sam. They are negotiating some kind of business deal. Sam insists they begin immediately to asses the situation and set off in search of "samples." They set off, and are transformed into mosquitos. Or perhaps they have been mosquitos all along. Or else they change back and forth. Anyway, the "samples" they want are of blood from the local population. They find a sleeping body on a bed, and after some comparison of different body types around the world ("landscapes"), Sam inserts his proboscis and begins to drink. The drink is interrupted by the body's waking up, and the mosquitos escape. Sam later becomes violently ill because the blood he drank was contaminated with Russian Forest cologne.
The summary just offered of the first chapter suggests the sorts of things to follow. Life of Insects is a series of short stories, loosely interconnected, about people who turn out to be insects, or insects that are really people, or creatures that are simultaneously human and insect. Among others, we meet two dung beetles, father and son, an ant named Marina who walks along the boardwalk in red shoes with stiletto heels, has amorous daydreams watching French films, and then goes to dig her burrow. We meet Natasha, a sexy greenbottle fly (whore?), who has an affair with Sam. And there are two moths Mitya and Dima, who ponder, among other things, their compulsion to fly toward the light.
Life of Insects is off-beat, often amusing, and sometimes very funny. Some people describe it as a satire of Soviet and post-Soviet society. I saw some of that, but it wasn't the principal theme for me; perhaps I am insufficiently familiar with Soviet society and so missed a lot of what is going on. I do recommend this book, however, particularly to someone in the mood for something completely different.
The summary just offered of the first chapter suggests the sorts of things to follow. Life of Insects is a series of short stories, loosely interconnected, about people who turn out to be insects, or insects that are really people, or creatures that are simultaneously human and insect. Among others, we meet two dung beetles, father and son, an ant named Marina who walks along the boardwalk in red shoes with stiletto heels, has amorous daydreams watching French films, and then goes to dig her burrow. We meet Natasha, a sexy greenbottle fly (whore?), who has an affair with Sam. And there are two moths Mitya and Dima, who ponder, among other things, their compulsion to fly toward the light.
Life of Insects is off-beat, often amusing, and sometimes very funny. Some people describe it as a satire of Soviet and post-Soviet society. I saw some of that, but it wasn't the principal theme for me; perhaps I am insufficiently familiar with Soviet society and so missed a lot of what is going on. I do recommend this book, however, particularly to someone in the mood for something completely different.