A summary of "Necromancer" by Victor Pelevin Automatic translate

This novella by Viktor Pelevin is a satirical account of the life and death of a high-ranking Russian police officer, published in 2008. The book is styled as a documentary investigation, meticulously gathering disparate facts about the activities of the former deputy head of the Moscow traffic police. The text exposes the absurdity of the media landscape, interweaving bureaucratic routine with occult practices.

The Rise of General Krushin

The story begins with a simple traffic controller. A military archivist compares General Krushin’s case to the trial of Gilles de Rais, a French marshal burned at the stake for ritual murders in 1440. Krushin’s career rise occurs on Aminyevskoye Highway, near the exit from Kutuzovsky Prospekt to Rublyovka. High-ranking officials notice the stately major with a megaphone, successfully holding back a kilometers-long traffic jam. Soon, Krushin is promoted to general and becomes the second-in-command in the Moscow traffic police.

The general is embarking on a political career. According to polls, he can count on twelve percent of the vote. His campaign rhetoric is rife with oddities. He proposes allowing gay pride parades in Gorky Park strictly on Airborne Forces Day. He advocates forming a commercial army. Krushin interprets the acronym "USA" as "United Satan of America" and calls America a fascist Germany ruled by Jews. In a television commercial, the general, dressed in a white uniform, delivers a speech: "The traffic police are the only uncompromised national force that collectively embodies the spirit of our generous and unique people."

Conflicts with political strategists

To create his political image, Krushin enlists the help of Goyda Orestovich Pushisty’s team. The project is being overseen by political strategist Makar Getman, who is developing tactics of hidden innuendo. Getman produces A3-size posters entitled "Methods of Concealing Tatar-Mongol and Jewish Infantry and Cavalry." They compare a Mongolian camouflaged pit with horses to the plastic driver’s licenses of Yermolai Tvorozhny and Saveliy Krynka. Another section of the poster contrasts the Mongolian temnik Ucha-bagatur, riding with two horses, with the Orthodox democratic politician Frol Shchuplovato, standing with two passports at Sheremetyevo-2 Airport.

The general’s relationship with his consultants quickly deteriorates. Major Vasily Rozanovych, a marine artist at Driving School No. 8, recounts a conflict with the Hetman. The political strategist creates a series of posters featuring kissing traffic cops for the hunting lodge of a Saudi prince. Rozanovych, in turn, rents ten billboards, displaying images of the kissing Hetmans against the backdrop of the Central House of Artists. Due to the scandals, Krushin replaces his consultants. A new consultant devises a unit of purple-bearers. The police officers are assigned to patrol restricted highways with portraits of the Holy Great Martyr Georgina on purple bows.

Esotericism and the body of ash

The philosopher Dupin serves as the general’s intellectual mentor. He introduces Krushin to Eurasian secret teachings. In a video recording of a lecture given to the winners of the All-Russian Inspector Competition, the general talks about preserving the subtle "body of bones." According to Krushin, the great man’s mummy was deliberately positioned so that the subtle body hovering above it would transmit magical power to the leaders standing nearby. The general believes that Lenin’s Mausoleum was built precisely for this purpose.

The general believes that the bones’ ability to support the subtle body is transferred to the ashes after a person is cremated. He studies mystical texts collectively known as "Silent Peaks." One passage describes the consciousness of the murdered Sergeant Petrov. After death, the policeman feels like a balloon, tethered by an invisible rope to a heavy black anchor. The sergeant’s thoughts float in a transparent cloud high above the traffic, and his new posthumous body seems like an indestructible rock.

Krushin’s personal crematorium

The investigation uncovers terrifying details of the officer’s personal life. Krushin invites young, stocky, fair-haired police officers with no immediate family to his country house. He promises them a transfer to Sochi with a service apartment. Over the course of four years, one hundred and eighty officers disappear without a trace.

The general’s compound, built in the architectural style of the French city of Albi, is equipped with a luxurious sauna. A bust of Emperor Tiberius stands in the marble hall, behind which is concealed a button for a hermetically sealed partition. The office is equipped with hydromassage nozzles from the Austrian company HDG. These expensive devices are designed to spray soporific gas mixtures.

In the courtyard of the house, ten meters from the sauna, stands a mobile incineration unit for dead animals. This high-tech military device features powerful burners and an afterburning chamber. The mobile crematorium operates quickly and smokelessly. Inside, the general methodically incinerates the bodies of euthanized victims.

Road barriers and trigrams

The ashes of slain officers are regularly sent to Mytishchi, near Moscow. Krushin unofficially controls the enterprise ZAO Dorozhny Servis. The plant specializes in the production of artificial road bumps. The plant’s chief engineer recounts how a general forced workers to add charred bones to the molded rubber. Krushin calls this powder a Japanese eco-additive. The packaging process is strictly regulated — the ashes of one person fit exactly into one molded barrier.

An unknown bearded man in a black Russian shirt oversees the addition of ashes to the conveyor belt. The motives behind these occult activities are revealed by philosopher Konstantin Golgofsky. Dupin initially planned to lay out a runic prophecy about the future of Gardariki. Rubber barriers containing human ashes were placed at precise coordinates in neighboring alleys of the capital. Realizing the rune translation error, Dupin decided to lay out the classic circle of eight Chinese trigrams, the "Ba Gua."

The mystical plan suddenly goes awry. Dupin hears a radio report that the American and Chinese economies have effectively merged. The geopolitical significance of the spell is completely lost. The philosopher becomes disillusioned with the concept and goes on a prolonged drinking binge.

Suicide and the fate of ashes

Realizing the hopelessness of his situation in the face of the investigation, Krushin commits a spectacular suicide. Dressed in a crisp white uniform, he reads a Martin Heidegger quote to a video camera. The general calls human life a being-to-death. He calmly raises a Makarov pistol to his temple and pulls the trigger.

The general’s body is cremated, and the urn containing his ashes is officially handed over to his relatives. The family, preoccupied with the scandalous division of their inheritance, indifferently hands over the container to an unknown courier. This courier turns out to be a bearded man in a black Russian shirt. ZAO Dorozhny Servis is casting the very last batch of speed bumps. Krushin’s ashes are mixed into black rubber. The finished products are taken away, and the location of the barrier containing the general’s remains remains unknown.

Information noise and consequences

Investigative materials about the barrier casting leak into the media six months later. The public completely ignores the horrifying facts. Headlines about necromancy and recycled human ashes are drowned out by a flood of absurd news. Reports about the Krushin case sit alongside stories about hiccuping girls, police officers chasing pregnant cows, and the effects of the smell of cucumbers on women.

Local controversy erupts exclusively in the LiveJournal blogosphere. Authoritative users under the handles "psycheberta" and "animanuska" are heatedly debating the ritual purity of urban road barriers. They’re seriously debating whether touching rubber with police ashes defiles pedestrians. The debate is interrupted by the words of a young user: "Don’t make it complicated. Walk on whatever’s on the ground, and no one will hold you accountable."

Marginal Hell Publishing House is releasing Artur Anonimny’s short story "Many Cars." The writer desperately attempts to describe the consciousness of a murdered policeman, forever trapped in the asphalt. The ashen body only comes to life when car tires hit the rubber casing with force and force.

Soon, the final text of "Mute Peaks 22," purportedly attributed to Dupin, appeared on a popular website with compromising material. The excerpt poignantly describes the tormented soul of General Krushin. His yellow-haired head briefly emerges from the gray morning asphalt in the rays of dawn, dreaming of a miraculous rescue. However, the number of cars keeps growing. Heavy wheels constantly slam against the rubber, the morning light fades in the gasoline smoke, and the blinded soul slowly crawls back into its flat black holster.