[Ya Sam]

Well, actually there isn't one Russian author who is totally Pynchonesque. I 
wouldn't be able to single out one particular writer who could be called, 
say, an epigone of Pynchon or, in brighter terms, a follower of Pynchon. 
Pynchon is not integrated into the poetics of Russian literature and it will 
take a brilliant translation of 'Gravity's Rainbow' for this to happen. 
Still I can suggest some authors who could be compared to him in terms of 
their narrative ambition or quirkiness.

The huge 'Hanbook of Drawing' (Uchebnik Risovaniya) by Maksim Kantor. This 
is a two-volume doorstop which is expressly anti-avantguarde and anti-pomo. 
But in its ambition to indict the 'charlatanism' of contemporary art, to 
dissect the way 'anti-art' has ousted 'art', as well as  by sheer wackiness 
of its plot twists (A performance artist rapes a polecat but then falls in 
love with HIM etc.) it can be said to contain a cerain degree of the 
Pynchonesque. (I judge by the reviews, I haven't read it).

Vassily Aksyonov's 'The Burn' (Ozhog). The similarities between this novel 
and Pynchon's V. have been pointed out by several reviewers.

Victor Pelevin's 'The Clay Machine Gun (Alternative title: Buddha's Little 
Finger) (Chapaev i Pustota). A hallucinatory pseudo-Buddhist tale about the 
Russian Civil War.

Vladimir Sorokin's 'Blue Fat' (Goluboye Salo). A futuristic phantasmagoria 
in which the mysterious substance 'blue fat' (made me think of Imipolex-G) 
is grown on the clones of Russian classical writers during the production of 
respective pastiches. With certain reservations I would say it is Pynchon 
meets Anthony Burgess meets Francois Rabelais meets the Marquis de Sade.

Hope this will help.






>I recall, a while back, that there was mention of a Russian novelist, whose 
>works are not yet available in the States, who is particularly Pynchonesque 
>- does anyone recall his name?
>
>I am going to Moscow soon and would like to pick up some books one cannot 
>get here.
>
>Thank you, all.
>
>
>
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