By VLADIMIR ORLOV (Morrow; 1980/87)

A singularly bizarre supernatural fantasy from the Soviet Union.  DANILOV appears to be an unassuming viola player, but he’s actually a demon in human form—or at least half a demon, being the product of a human-monster coupling—whose mission is to make trouble for Earth dwellers.  It seems Danilov’s been neglecting his duties, however, which has upset his superiors to no end; they’ve sentenced him to “Time X,” a sort of cosmic trial to determine whether he’ll be annihilated or not.

In the meantime Danilov entertains some rambunctious ghosts trapped in his apartment building and looks after his buddy Karmadon, who after cavorting on the distant planet Beta-Mol decides to turn himself into a blue bull.  He also fights an intergalactic missile duel that leaves Danilov with a (literal) black hole in one of his shoulders (“He felt funny knowing that his hole was the start of a tunnel leading to another universe”).

AL’TIST DANILOV was quite a cult sensation in its native land, apparently a must-read among university students and intellectuals.  Being a Russian novel (translated by Antonina W. Bouis), its take on the supernatural is quite different from what you might expect from a Western author.  The straightforward acceptance of otherworldly phenomena and delirious insanity-filled set-pieces are worthy of Mikhail Bulgakov‘s MASTER AND MARGARITA, with author Valdimir Orlov capturing Bulgakov’s sense of a satiric surface masking disturbing undertones with enormous brio.

Also like THE MASTER AND MARGARITA, DANILOV provides a fascinating glimpse into the day-to-day life of (then) modern-day Russia, presented as a nightmare of uncontrolled bureaucracy (not unlike present-day America).  But alas, DANILOV isn’t nearly as strong as Bulgakov’s masterpiece, being packed with dead spots and prose that never compels attention (probably the result of a subpar translation).

What the book has in its favor is an impressive bevy of surreal insanity, particularly in the final third, where Danilov faces his demonic superiors in a mystical hotel whose nine floors represent different levels of the underworld.  Here he spends time in a dark, timeless expanse called the Well of Anticipation, is tormented by psychedelic visions of other worlds and, as his ultimate punishment, granted an extreme sensitivity to all the sufferings of the world, a sensitivity that’s set to increase as Danilov’s musical skills grow more acute.  Whatever qualities Vladimir Orlov may lack as an author, a sense of manic invention definitely isn’t one of them.