tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1917722747536655397.post8387923766037701665..comments2023-08-02T01:48:35.439-07:00Comments on The Grinnell College Russian Literature Blog: Omon Ra and FreedomKelly Heroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13484703304084014289noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1917722747536655397.post-76431094599916582092012-05-11T14:45:36.110-07:002012-05-11T14:45:36.110-07:00I view the book exactly the same way, Drew: the dr...I view the book exactly the same way, Drew: the dream failed. But, "the train carried me off into a new life." (p. 154) There is new beginning, new hope here, at the end of the novel.Petar Miljkovichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12078752071508950975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1917722747536655397.post-69502427054734861272012-05-11T12:30:23.208-07:002012-05-11T12:30:23.208-07:00I feel like the loneliness and isolation are a mal...I feel like the loneliness and isolation are a malignant extension of the escapism that I feel Omon was going for. Yes, he had aspirations, but I felt it was all under the guise of escapism, and the isolation he feels seems to be an unexpected consequence of that escapism.Andrew Shawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18080537394828341297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1917722747536655397.post-44836891922244428712012-05-11T09:55:39.023-07:002012-05-11T09:55:39.023-07:00Reading your post, I realized just how much foresh...Reading your post, I realized just how much foreshadowing there is in the novel. It is funny though, because until you have read the novel, you really don't see it. In fact, it almost makes me want to read through it again.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09939501507856664912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1917722747536655397.post-5176467067088772512012-05-11T09:03:38.692-07:002012-05-11T09:03:38.692-07:00Perhaps the novel is an allegory for the failure o...Perhaps the novel is an allegory for the failure of the USSR, at least a little bit. The dream failed.Drewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07636187161507879285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1917722747536655397.post-11069680459435330852012-05-11T00:57:16.725-07:002012-05-11T00:57:16.725-07:00I wonder if part of the mixture of pessimism and t...I wonder if part of the mixture of pessimism and talk of freedom is related to the actual act of space travel itself, which must have weighed on Pelevin's mind writing this novel. To some degree, you are above and beyond the Earth, but at another level you are taking the Earth with you in the shuttle, and in yourself. And there is no leaving a shuttle either, really, space isn't something you can walk out into. And so, the freedom and openness really are a myth, I think, in some ways. But it's a very different lack of freedom and openness too than the lack on Earth. Maybe Pelevin thinks of Perestroika in similar terms? As a new kind of lack of freedom and openness. If you take it that way, it's not entirely pessimistic, maybe?Coryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02588784554299415387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1917722747536655397.post-74119812386195554342012-05-10T22:21:45.986-07:002012-05-10T22:21:45.986-07:00Yeah! There is a moment when Omon compares people ...Yeah! There is a moment when Omon compares people with stars that is in line with what you wrote about. He says that a star's "...movement through space...[is] predetermined and subject to the laws of mechanics, which leave no hope at all for any chance encounters" much like humans spend their "...lives journeying towards what we call the light, although its source may have ceased to exist long ago" (112).Susanna Mollerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682397917906302408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1917722747536655397.post-2543728094441771742012-05-10T19:57:10.959-07:002012-05-10T19:57:10.959-07:00Good point, Chris. I've been very surprised a...Good point, Chris. I've been very surprised at the pessimism in Omon Ra, especially considering that it was written in 1992--a time I assume would lead to a great deal of optimism about the future of Russia.hoagscothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03804524528493019348noreply@blogger.com