"Moscow - Petushki" by Venedikt Erofeev, summary

This book is the story of a drunken intellectual’s journey on a commuter train outside Moscow. The text was written in 1969. The narrative is told in the first person and is liberally peppered with biblical allusions, interspersed with vulgar language. The author meticulously records every alcoholic drink the protagonist consumes.

Morning in Moscow

Venichka Erofeev wakes up with a severe hangover in a random Moscow entryway. The day before, he tried unsuccessfully to find the Kremlin. Instead, he finds himself back at Kursky Station. Overcome by nausea and heartache, he steps out onto the wet street. Invisible angels quietly advise him to go to the station restaurant. They offer him a cold sherry. Venichka obediently follows their advice. He carefully clutches a small suitcase to his chest. Inside are some Vasilyok candies for the woman he loves and some nuts for his young son.

There’s no sherry in the restaurant. The waitresses treat him with hostility. The bouncers roughly grab Venichka by the arms. They push him out into the square, his belongings and all. Having endured this humiliation, the hero freezes in place. He calls on the world to observe a moment of silence for the two mortal hours before the stores open. Finally, the doors open. Venichka buys alcoholic beverages. His list includes Kuban vodka, Russian vodka, and rosé. The purchases cost nine rubles and eighty-nine kopecks. With this supply, he boards the commuter train.

Petushki seems like a perfect paradise to him. Birds sing there year-round. Jasmine never fades there. His beloved woman with whitish eyes lives in this city. His chubby three-year-old son is also there. The child knows the letter "U" well. He expects a glass of treats from his father. The hero prays to God for the baby’s health.

The path and new companions

As soon as the train departs, Venichka steps out into the vestibule. He drinks his first alcoholic drink. After a brief battle with nausea, physical relief sets in. He returns to the train car. He begins long internal monologues. Venichka mentally addresses God, the angels, and the readers. Then he recalls the recent past. He worked as a foreman of assembly workers. His fellow workers played cards all day long. They drank vermouth or cheap cologne.

Venichka tried to probe the souls of his subordinates. He drew individual charts of their alcohol consumption on good vellum paper. The lines he drew reminded him of the Himalayas or the beating of a proud heart. One of the older workers mistakenly sent these charts to management. The diagrams were sent along with the socialist obligations. As a result, the bosses came to the site. Yerofeyev was immediately fired from his position as foreman.

Venichka’s intoxication steadily increases. He readily shares the recipes for his original cocktails. The concoctions are made from denatured alcohol, nail polish, foot cream, and insect repellent. Among them are "Canaan Balsam," "Spirit of Geneva," "Komsomolskaya Pravda’s Tear," and "Bitch’s Guts." The hero compares the creation of these poisonous drinks to symphonic music. The concoctions deprive a person of memory or common sense. But they are imbued with metaphysical allusions. Venichka himself washes down his melancholy with the dregs of Kuban vodka.

Conversations in a stuffy train car

Gradually, Venichka notices that some of his Russian vodka is missing. He strikes up a conversation with the other passengers. A motley group gathers around him. There’s an elderly grandfather, Mitrich, with his blue eyes weeping. His feeble-minded grandson sits next to him. Opposite him sits a man with a black mustache and a jacket. A little further away, a man in a hooded coat, known as a Decembrist, rides. Later, a drunken woman joins them. She has a scar on her head and is missing four teeth. All the passengers drink copiously of Venichka’s supply. They combine vodka and wine into a single concoction called "Aunt Klava’s Kiss."

A heated debate ensues between the fellow travelers. Chernousy puts forward a paradoxical theory. He believes that all honest people drank heavily because of the ardor of their hearts and grief for the Russian people. He cites Gogol, Mussorgsky, and Schiller as examples. Decembrist vehemently objects, citing the German poet Goethe, who never drank. Venichka convincingly argues the opposite. In his opinion, Goethe forced his literary characters to drink in his stead. The argument gradually shifts to women. The passengers discuss love and Turgenev’s lofty ideals.

Each of those present shares a personal story. The Decembrist tells of his nervous friend. He was obsessed with the famous harpist Olga Erdeli. To cure his friend, he had to forcefully throw a drunken woman with a balalaika in his face. Old Mitrich tearfully recalls the stern chairman Lohengrin. He was covered in boils. Lohengrin would ride alone in a motorboat, then weep bitterly in the boardroom. A toothless woman describes her passion for the Komsomol organizer Yevtyushkin. She constantly demanded answers from him. The woman wanted to know who would raise the children of the poet Pushkin. For this, Yevtyushkin fractured her skull.

Revolution and delirium tremens

The conversation naturally turns to international politics. Venichka tells his fellow passengers fictitious stories. He recalls his travels to France, Italy, and the United States. He claims he tried to enroll at the Sorbonne. The rector dismissed him in disgrace. Then he offered his services to the director of the British Museum. The latter merely sniffed his socks with disgust. Soon, the tired passengers fall asleep. Venichka sinks into a deep, drunken delirium.

He recalls a strange episode. He and his friend Tikhonov launched an armed uprising in Petushinsky District. The rebels quickly occupied several villages. They issued absurd decrees regarding land and time. The invaders boldly declared war on Norway. They sent insolent letters to world leaders. Having received no response from the international community, Venichka resigned as president. He walked to Petushki. There was no regret in his heart.

Awakened by this vision, the hero finds the carriage empty. Senior Inspector Semyonich had long since fallen off the train. Previously, he had collected fines from fare dodgers in the form of grams of vodka. Semyonich crashed on the Orekhovo-Zuyevo platform. Outside, pitch-black darkness reigns. It should be midday. A deep anxiety grips Venichka. He peers out the vestibule. On the fogged glass, he sees the name of the Pokrov station. Judging by the arrangement of the city lights, the hero realizes with horror the terrible truth. The train is heading back.

Return and tragic ending

Severe hallucinations begin. A legless and headless Sphinx appears to Venichka. The creature poses absurd mathematical riddles about the shock worker Stakhanov and the Lord Chamberlain. The Sphinx laughs mockingly. It announces that no one will ever get to Petushki. The hero panics and rushes through the train cars, trying to find at least one living person. He encounters a crying woman who resembles a princess. Then an illusory servant, Pyotr, appears. The servant angrily snuffs out the candles in the candelabra and jumps out the train window.

The carriages rapidly fill with terrifying mythical creatures. Ancient Furies, the Erinyes, race past. Tractor driver Yevtyushkin runs after them, his face twisted. Venichka is overcome by a violent shiver. King Mithridates of Pontus appears with a sharp knife. Then the figures of the worker and peasant woman from Mukhina’s sculpture appear. They inflict painful blows on the hero with a sickle and a heavy hammer. Venichka falls convulsing onto the empty, dark platform. He finally realizes that the train has arrived home.

The heavenly angels promised a joyful meeting on the platform. Now they laugh mercilessly at the hero. Four unknown men appear from the darkness. They have classic profiles and a ferocious appearance. The hero instinctively tries to flee. He crosses the empty, wet square. He tells himself, "Run, Venichka, run." Finally, for the first time in his life, he clearly sees the Moscow Kremlin. The pursuers inexorably catch up with the fugitive. Venichka tries to hide in an unfamiliar entryway on the very top floor.

Four killers rise after him. They remove their shoes and carry them in their hands. The attackers approach completely silently. They pin the exhausted hero to the dirty floor. One of them takes out a huge shoe awl with a wooden handle. He plunges the tool straight into Venichka’s throat. The last thing the choking hero sees is a thick red letter "U." It blurs before his eyes. The text ends with a statement of the terrible fact. Since then, the hero has not regained consciousness and never will.