In a Nutshell

Victor Pelevin “The Sacred Book of Werewolf”

In speaking of intelligentsia’s debt of guilt to the nation, he kept using two terms that I thought were synonyms – ‘intelligentsia’ and ‘intellectuals’.  After a while I just had to ask:

‘But what difference is there between a member of the intelligentsia and an intellectual?”

‘There’s a very big difference,’ – he replied.  ‘I can only try to explain it allegorically.  Do you understand what that means?’

I nodded.

‘When you were still very little, there were a hundred thousand people living in this city who were paid for kissing the ass of a loathsome red dragon – which you probably don’t even remember…’

I shook my head.  Once in my young days I really had seen a red dragon, but I’d already forgotten what it looked like – the only thing I could remember was my own fear.  It was unlikely that Pavel Ivanovich had that incident in mind.

‘Of course, those hundred thousand people hated the dragon, and they dreamed of being ruled by the green toad who fought against the dragon.  So, anyway, they came to an arrangement with the toad, poisoned the dragon with lipstick that they got from the CIA and started living a new life.’

‘But what have the intell – ‘

‘Wait,’ he said, raising his hand.  ‘At first they thought that under the toad they would be doing exactly the same as before, only they’d get ten times as much money for it.  But it turned out that instead of a hundred thousand ass-kissers there was only demand for three professionals working in three eight-hour shifts to give the toad a never-ending blowjob.  And which of the hundred thousand those three would be, would be decided by an open competition, in which candidates would not only have to demonstrate their advanced professional skills, but also the ability to smile optimistically with the corners of their mouths while they were at work…’

‘I’m afraid I’ve lost the thread.’

‘Well, this is the thread.  Those hundred thousand people were called the intelligentsia.  And those three are called intellectuals.’

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Posted on November 18th, 2009 under Literature, Quotes • Tags: "The Sacred Book of Werewolf", intellectual, intelligence, intelligent, intelligentsia, skills, Victor Pelevin. • • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback