Dugin

Dugin enters the narrative through Eduard Limonov’s thoughts in a remote Altai cabin, where a remembered book about the afterlife and an imagined reunion make him part of the scene’s meditation on death. The brief appearance conveys both affection and antagonism, but leaves the history behind their differences unstated.

Appearance in Limonov’s Thoughts

As Limonov lies in the cabin, almost sixty years old, he hears music that seems to belong to another world. He associates its gongs, horns, and sepulchral chants with the Bardo Thodol, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, which Dugin had introduced him to some time earlier. Dugin is not present in the cabin; he appears instead in a recollection that connects the book to Limonov’s thoughts about dying and what might follow.

Affection and Unresolved Tension

Limonov thinks of Dugin fondly, even as he calls him an asshole. He imagines meeting him again in the warriors’ paradise, then wonders whether Dugin would be accepted there, dismissing him as a coward. The thought holds warmth and mockery together: their antagonism has not erased Limonov’s expectation of reunion, while the imagined test of admission keeps their differences in view.

Narrative Significance

Dugin’s brief appearance gives Limonov’s final reflections a human point of reference. The possibility of seeing him again belongs to the same uncertain terrain as the music: Limonov wonders whether he is falling asleep or dying, and remains motionless on his cot as the sounds of his body blend with what he takes for music from beyond. The passage offers no account of Dugin’s wider life or of the dispute implied by Limonov’s mixed appraisal; it uses the remembered connection to bring affection, rivalry, and the prospect of death into a single thought.