Omon Ra
First American edition, hardcover
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| Author | Victor Pelevin |
|---|---|
| Original title | Омон Ра |
| Translator | Andrew Bromfield |
| Country | Russia |
| Language | Russian / English |
| Series | Novaya volna russkoy fantastiki |
| Genre | Fiction |
| Publisher | Tekst |
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Publication date
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1992 |
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Published in English
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1994 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 285 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 33440144 |
| LC Class | PG3485.E38 O46 1993 |
Omon Ra (Russian: Омон Ра) is a short novel by Russian writer Victor Pelevin, published in 1992 by the Tekst Publishing House in Moscow. It was the first novel by Pelevin, who until then was known for his short stories.
Pelevin traces the absurd fate of the protagonist Omon, named by his policeman father (after OMON, Soviet and Russian special police forces, pronounced "Amon"), placing him in circumstances that are both fantastic and at the same time have recognizable everyday detail. Pelevin uses this story to illustrate the underlying absurdity of the Soviet establishment with its fixation on "heroic achievements," especially in those fields of human endeavor which could be favorably presented to the outside world—science, the military, and most significantly space exploration.
The book is narrated in the first person. It is a coming-of-age story, or Bildungsroman. The protagonist is Omon Krivomazov, who was born in Moscow post-World War II. The plot traces his life from early childhood. In his teenage years, the realization strikes him that he must break free of Earth's gravity to free himself of the demands of the Soviet society and the rigid ideological confines of the state. After finishing high school, he immediately enrolls in a military academy. Omon soon finds that the academy does not, in fact, create future pilots, but instead exposes cadets to a series of treacherous trials, beginning with the amputation of both of their feet. The goal of the trials is to manifest Soviet heroism in the cadets. These amputations come as a reference to a famous Soviet ace-pilot Alexey Maresyev, who, despite being badly injured in a plane crash after a dogfight, managed to return to Soviet-controlled territory on his own. During his 18-day-long journey, his injuries deteriorated so badly that both of his legs had to be amputated below the knee. Desperate to return to his fighter pilot career, he subjected himself to nearly a year of physical therapy and exercise to master control of his prosthetic devices. He succeeded and returned to flying in June 1943.
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