Should Putin be assassinated? That is the (literary) question

Let's set the scene right away. The title is literary. Not literal. The fact remains that the novel Volodia - short for Vladimir - deals with the means of eliminating the statesman. Four scenarios are proposed. It's up to the reader to choose. Cathartic action par excellence.

Is Volodia to be devoured by a toad with womanly arms? Quartered by the genitals? Drowned in front of the UN General Assembly? Or served on a skewer to Matteo, Solovyev and the Hungarian friend? In the fiction of Czech author André Ourednik, who is also a lecturer at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the University of Neuchâtel, four scientists test solutions for killing. 

Each scenario is tested on cloned Volodya brains. Volodia for Vladimir: Vladimir Putin, we quickly guess. And, as you'd expect, the hero and villain of the story takes offense. «The West's double standard!» he defends himself. For him, these procedures show the true face of over-liberal democracy. «Human rights here, free expression there. Who's fooled! The truth is, I'm being betrayed! surrounded! resisted! beaten! ignored! murdered! So you're restoring the death penalty.»

The new man

Really? Capital punishment? No. Because this is not a summary execution. But a human sacrifice. «His death [must] serve as the final point on millennia of perverted history», we are told. It's a rupture: «The end of an era, the psychosomatic foundation of a new posture».

So we look for the best way to mark the occasion. Scientists dissert. Among other things, it's a matter of wiping out a toxic masculinity system, but we mustn't repeat the criticized actions of the old world. For example, some researchers don't believe in «cutting the balls off» villains. Under no circumstances should the act resemble revenge. 

Nor is it conceivable to present death as a form of return to the earth, to Gaia. Any maternal metaphor of the nurturing breast or underground labyrinths for the womb is therefore inappropriate. The end must not resemble a life cycle. There should be no suggestion of forgiveness or redemption.

Who, how much and how

The question is how to put an end to Volodia's life. However, as we gradually come to understand, this head of state does not seem to be the only one to be sacrificed. The aim is to «deal with one per continent», we're told. In fact, a certain Jair has already done so. This begs the question as to whether these killings really allow for transition. If the process is to be repeated, the question is not «how» to kill them, but «how many».

Accustomed to mixing science (fiction) with contemporary issues, André Ourednik presents a disgusting but wickedly cathartic little tale. Volodia relieves helplessness. A book to put in the hands of anyone who has ever heard the phrase «we have to kill Putin». Provided they are capable of distance.

Write to the author: diana-alice.ramsauer@leregardlibre.com

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André Ourednik 
Volodia 
Editions La Baconnière 
2023 
120 pages 

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