Shocking Histories and Missing Memories: Trauma in Viktor Pelevin’s Čapaev i pustota

The article draws on recent developments in trauma studies to analyze the complex “re-organization” of Russian history in Viktor Pelevin's celebrated novel Chapaev i Pustota (1996; translated as Buddha's Little Finger). Pelevin employs the narrator's individual shock, amnesia and trauma – and the confused historical plot ensuing from it – for a reflection on the possibilities of collective remembrance and mourning in post-Soviet Russia. The article briefly positions its approach among other recent efforts in Russian studies to apply notions of “trauma”. Subsequently, it analyzes Pelevin's intricate reflections on the confusing traumatic legacies of twentieth-century history in this novel.