Their Four Hearts

Their Four Hearts is a novel by Vladimir Sorokin that explores the failure of the Soviet Union, its metaphysical designs, and the violence it produced. It follows the violent and nonsensical missions of a group of four characters who represent Socialist Realist archetypes, and is presented as God might see it or Bataille might write it. Sorokin is interested in burrowing down to the libidinal impulses that fuel a totalitarian system and forcing the reader to take part in them in a way that is not entirely devoid of aesthetic pleasure.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 204 pages
Publication date: 09 June 2022
Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press

In many ways, Their Four Hearts is a book of endings and final things. Vladimir Sorokin wrote it in the year the Soviet Union collapsed, and then didn't write fiction for ten years after completing it. His next book, the infamous Blue Lard, which he wrote in 1998, could be called the first book of the Russian twenty-first century. Without exaggerating too much, one might call it the last book of the Russian twentieth century and Blue Lard the first book of the Russian twenty-first century. It is a novel about the failure of the Soviet Union, about its metaphysical designs, and about the violence it produced, but presented as God might see it or Bataille might write it.

Their Four Hearts follows the violent and nonsensical missions carried out by a group of four characters who represent Socialist Realist archetypes: Seryozha, a naive and optimistic young boy; Olga, a dedicated female athlete; Shtaube, a wise old man; and Rebrov, a factory worker and a Stakhanovite embodying Soviet manhood. However, the degradation inflicted upon them is hardly a Socialist Realist trope. Are the acts of violence they carry out a more realistic vision of what the Soviet Union forced its "heroes" to live out? A corporealization and desacralization of self-sacrificing acts of Soviet heroism? How the Soviet Union truly looked if you were to strip away the ideological infrastructure?

As we see in the long monologues Shtaube performs for his companions, some of which are scatological nonsense and some of which are accurate reproductions of Soviet language, Sorokin is interested in burrowing Soviet language. He wants to dig down to the libidinal impulses that fuel a totalitarian system and force the reader to take part in them in a way that isn't entirely devoid of aesthetic pleasure. As presented alongside Greg Klassens brilliant charcoal illustrations, which have been compared to the works of the w, Sorokin creates a vivid and disturbing portrait of a society gone mad.

In conclusion, Their Four Hearts is a powerful and thought-provoking book that offers a unique perspective on the collapse of the Soviet Union. Sorokin's exploration of the libidinal impulses that fuel a totalitarian system is both fascinating and disturbing, and his use of charcoal illustrations to accompany his text adds to the overall impact of the novel. While it may not be for everyone, those who are willing to take the time to engage with this complex and challenging work will be rewarded with a profound understanding of the human condition.

Dimension: 215 x 139 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781628973969