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Batman and Apollo
Victor Pelevin’s novel “Batman and Apollo” completely re-wrote the entire concept of vampirism, while at the same time explaining the reasons behind the prolific nature of the vampire myth. Pelevin shows vampires in a completely new light: they appear completely human, have a normal lifespan and don’t drink blood for food. What sets them apart from ordinary people is an ancient creature that lives within them, and together they shape the world to maximise human suffering, which is the end product that they consume. Money is an important factor that drives human suffering, as is quest for status and power, which is why vampires direct and manipulate the political scene and the mass media. This does not mean that Pelevin’s vampires are lacking identity and distinctive characteristics, quite the opposite, it is just that these qualities are not borrowed from past hundreds of years of vampire fiction. In “Batman and Apollo” vampires retreat to ‘hamlets’ to hang in the upside down position to meditate, they serve the Great Bat, a giant bat-like creature living underground with a long neck that has a human head attached to it, different countries have their own Bat and use different strategies to make people suffer, from starting wars to creating unbearable peer pressure. Vampires can gain access to vast sources of current and historical information, using DNA preparations and they can fly by transforming into an invisible Ancient Body. Not much of is stereotypical, yet the book not only acknowledges the vampire ‘facts’ but explains why they are so persistent in the popular culture.
As a fiction novel it is very difficult to attribute to a particular genre, it combines political satire with fantasy, set in the framework of metaphysics. All Pelevin’s output, which comprises of 12 novels and many collections of short stories, is heavily imbued with the subject of metaphysics and Zen buddhism. He is not dissimilar to Robert M. Pirsig, in his attempt to explore the philosophical argument of subject-object view of reality within the settings of a fiction novel.
This is an ongoing self-led illustration project that will be completed and released in 2016.