One of the most notable Russian writers XX century - Andrey Platonov. The list of works by this author allows you to thoroughly study the domestic history of the first half of the 20th century.
Andrey Platonov
Andrei Platonov, whose list of works is well known to every schoolchild, became famous after the release of the novels “The Pit” and “Chevengur”. But besides them there were many significant works.
The writer himself was born in Voronezh in 1899. Served in the workers' and peasants' Red Army, in Civil War took part as a war correspondent. He began publishing his works in 1919.
In 1921, his first book was published, which was called "Electrification". His poems also appeared in a collective collection. And in 1922, his son Plato was born and a collection of poems was published - “Blue Clay”.
Besides writing work, studied hydrology. In particular, he developed his own projects for hydrofication of the region in order to protect fields from drought.
In the mid-20s, Platonov worked fruitfully in Tambov. The list of the writer’s works is supplemented by such works as “Ethereal Route”, “City of Grads”, “Epiphanian Gateways”.
The following are his most significant works for Russian literature- these are “Kotlovan” and “Chevengur”. These are very unexpected and innovative works that differ modern language. Both works were created in a fantastic spirit, they describe the utopian construction of a new communist society, the formation of a new generation of people.
"Epiphanian Gateways"
"Epiphansky Gateways" appeared in 1926. The action takes place in Peter's Russia. At the center of the story is the English engineer William Perry, a master of lock construction. He calls his brother to Russia to help him fulfill the new imperial order. The British need to build a ship canal that would connect the Oka and Don rivers.
Whether the brothers will be able to carry out this plan is the subject of Platonov’s story.
"Chevengur"
In 1929, Platonov wrote one of his most famous works is a social and philosophical novel "Chevengur".
The actions of this work have already been transferred to contemporary writer Russia. In the south, War Communism and the New Economic Policy are in full swing. Main character- Alexander Dvanov, who lost his father. Father drowned himself, dreaming of better life, so Alexander has to live with a foster parent. These events described in the novel are largely autobiographical, in a similar way the fate of the author himself was shaping up.
Dvanov goes in search of his communism. On this path he meets many different people. Platonov revels in their description. The works, the list, the most famous of them are presented in this article, but “Chevengur” stands out even against this background.
Dvanov encounters the revolutions of Kopenkin, who resembles the medieval character Don Quixote. Her own Dulcinea also appears, which becomes Rosa Luxemburg.
Finding truth and truth in a new world, even with knights errant, turns out to be not at all easy.
"Pit"
In 1930, Platonov created the dystopian story "The Pit". Here communism is already being built in the literal sense of the word. A group of builders receives instructions to build a common proletarian house, a building that should become the basis of a utopian city of the future in which everyone will be happy.
Andrey Platonov describes their work in detail. The works listed in this article are a must read if you want to get to know this original author better. The story "The Pit" can greatly help you with this.
The construction of a common proletarian house is interrupted suddenly, even at the foundation pit stage. The matter cannot move forward. Builders realize that creating something on the ruins of the past is useless and futile. Moreover, the end does not always justify the means.
At the same time, the story of a girl Nastya, who was left homeless, is told. She is a bright embodiment of the living future of the country, those residents who should live in this house when it is built. In the meantime, she lives at a construction site. She doesn’t even have a bed, so the builders give her two coffins, which were previously taken from the peasants. One of them serves as her bed, and the second as a toy box. In the end, Nastya dies without seeing the construction of a utopian house.
In this story, Andrei Platonov sought to show the cruelty and senselessness of the totalitarian system. A list of this author's works often reflects this one point of view. This story contains the entire history of Bolshevism during collectivization, when people were fed only with promises of a bright future.
"Potudan River"
Platonov's short works, a list of which is also in this article, are of great interest to readers. These include primarily the story "The Potudan River".
It tells the story of Red Army soldier Nikita Firsov, who returns on foot from service to his homeland. Everywhere he meets signs of hunger and need. He goes out to the distance and notices the first lights of his hometown. At home he is met by his father, who was no longer expecting his son from the front, and changed his mind about many things after the death of his wife.
The meeting of father and son after a long separation takes place without unnecessary sentimentality. Nikita soon notices that his father is worried about serious problems. He is on the very edge of poverty. There is practically no furniture left in the house, even though my father works in a carpentry workshop.
The next morning Nikita meets his childhood friend Lyubov. She is the daughter of a teacher, their house was always clean and tidy, they seemed to be the main intellectuals. For this reason alone, he had long ago given up the idea of asking for her hand in marriage. But now everything has changed. Poverty and devastation came to this house. Everything around has changed.
"Return"
One of the last significant works Platonov's story "Return". This time the events after the end of the Great Patriotic War are described.
Captain Ivanov returns from the front. At the station he meets young Masha and comes to her hometown. At this time, his wife and two children, with whom he was separated for 4 years, are waiting for him at home. When he finally gets to his home, he discovers amazing picture. 12-year-old Petya is in charge of everything, Ivanov feels out of place, he cannot fully rejoice at his return.
Andrey Platonov
Stories
ADVENTURE
Before Dvanov’s eyes, accustomed to distant horizons, a narrow valley of some ancient, long-dry river opened up. The valley was occupied by the settlement of Petropavlovka - a huge herd of hungry households huddled together at a cramped watering hole.
On Petropavlovka Street Dvanov saw boulders that had once been brought here by glaciers. Boulder stones now lay near the huts and served as a seat for thoughtful old people.
Dvanov remembered these stones when he was sitting in the Petropavlovsk village council. He went there to get a place to stay for the night and to write an article for the provincial newspaper. Dvanov wrote that nature does not create ordinary things, so it turns out well. But nature has no gift, she takes with patience. From the rare ravines of the steppe, from the deep soils, it is necessary to give water to the high steppe in order to establish socialism in the steppe. While hunting for water, Dvanov reported, we will simultaneously reach the goal of our hearts - indifferent peasants will understand and love us, because love is not a gift, but construction.
Dvanov knew how to combine the intimate with the social in order to preserve within himself an attraction to the social.
Dvanov began to be tormented by the certainty that he already knew how to create a socialist world in the steppe, but nothing had yet been accomplished. He could not endure the gap between truth and reality for long. His head sat on his warm neck, and what his head thought immediately turned into steps, manual labor and behavior. Dvanov felt his consciousness like hunger - you cannot renounce it and you will not forget it.
The Council refused the cart, and the man, whom everyone in Petropavlovka called God, showed Dvanov the way to the settlement of Kaverino, from where to railway twenty versts.
At noon Dvanov went out onto the mountain road. Below lay the gloomy Valley of a quiet steppe river. But it was clear that the river was dying: it was filled with ravines, and it was not so much flowing as being dissolved into swamps. Autumn melancholy hung over the swamps. The fish sank to the bottom, the birds flew away, the insects froze in the crevices of the dead sedge. Living creatures loved the warmth and the annoying light of the sun, their solemn ringing shrank into low holes and slowed down into a whisper.
Dvanov believed in the opportunity to eavesdrop and collect in nature everything that is most sonorous, sad and triumphant in order to make songs - powerful, like natural forces, and alluring, like the wind. In this wilderness, Dvanov began talking to himself. He liked to talk alone in open places. Talking to yourself is an art; talking to others is fun. That is why a person goes into society, into fun, like water down a slope.
Dvanov made a semicircle with his head and looked around half of the visible world. And he spoke again to think:
“Nature is the basis of the matter. These glorified hillocks and streams are not only field poetry. They can water the soil, cows and people and move motors.”
In sight of the smoke from the village of Kaverino, the road went over a ravine. In the ravine the air thickened into darkness. There were some silent swamps there and, perhaps, huddled strange people, who have departed from the diversity of life for the monotony of thoughtfulness.
The snoring of tired horses was heard from the depths of the ravine. Some people were riding, and their horses were stuck in the clay.
There is in a distant country.
On the other side
What do we dream about in our sleep?
But the enemy got it...
The horses' pace straightened. The detachment covered the front singer in chorus, but in their own way and with a different tune.
Cut it out, apple.
Ripe gold.
The Council will cut you off
Hammer and sickle...
The lone singer continued at odds with the squad:
Here is my sword and soul,
And there is my happiness...
The squad crushed the end of the verse with a chorus:
Eh, apple.
Sincere,
You'll end up on rations, -
You will be rotten...
You grow on a tree
And by the way, the tree
And you will get into the Council
With stamp number...
People immediately whistled and finished the song recklessly:
Eh, apple.
You keep freedom:
Neither the Soviets nor the kings,
And to all the people...
The song died down. Dvanov stopped, interested in the procession in the ravine.
Hey top man! - they shouted to Dvanov from the detachment. - Get down to the beginningless people!
Dvanov remained in place.
Walk fast! - one said loudly in a thick voice, probably the one who sang. - Otherwise, count to half - and sit on the gun!
Dvanov did not understand what he needed to do, and answered what he wanted:
Come here yourself - it’s drier here! Why are you killing horses in the ravine, kulak guards!
The squad below stopped.
Nikitok, do it right through! - ordered a thick voice.
Nikitok drew his rifle, but first, at the expense of God, he relieved his depressed spirit:
On the scrotum of Jesus Christ, on the rib of the Virgin Mary and throughout the entire Christian generation - come on!
Dvanov saw a flash of intense, silent fire and rolled from the edge of the ravine to the bottom, as if he had been hit in the leg by a crowbar. He did not lose clear consciousness and, as he rolled down, he heard a terrible noise in the ground, to which his ears were pressed alternately as he walked. Dvanov knew that he was wounded in his right leg - an iron bird had dug into it and was moving with the prickly spines of its wings.
In the ravine, Dvanov grabbed the horse’s warm leg, and he felt no fear near that leg. My leg trembled quietly from fatigue and smelled of the sweat and grass of the roads I had traveled.
Protect him, Nikitok, from the fire of life! The clothes are yours.
Dvanov heard. He grabbed the horse's leg with both hands, the leg turned into a pressing living body. Dvanov’s heart rose to his throat, he cried out in the unconsciousness of that feeling when life from the heart moves to the skin, and immediately felt a relieving, satisfying peace. Nature did not fail to take from Dvanov what he was created for: the seed of reproduction. In your lately, hugging the soil and the horse, Dvanov for the first time recognized the echoing passion of life and was surprised at the insignificance of thought in front of this bird of immortality, which touched him with its weather-beaten, fluttering wing.
Nikitok came up and tried Dvanov’s forehead: was he still warm? The hand was big and hot. Dvanov didn’t want to; so that this hand would soon tear away from him, and he would place his caressing palm on it. But Dvanov knew that Nikitok was checking and helped him:
Hit the head, Nikita. Wedge the skull quickly!
Nikita did not look like his hand - Dvanov caught this - he cried out in a thin, lousy voice, without matching the peace of life stored in his hand.
Oh, are you okay? I won’t wedge you, but I’ll tear you apart: why would you die right away - you’re not human? Suffer yourself, lie down - you'll die harder!
In the harsh years of difficult trials that befell the people during the Great Patriotic War, the writer turns to the theme of childhood in order to find and show the most hidden origins in man.
In the stories "Nikita", "Still Mom", " Iron Old Woman", "Flower on the ground", "Cow", " Little soldier", "At the Dawn of Foggy Youth", "Grandfather Soldier", "Dry Bread", creating images of children, the writer consistently conveys the idea that a person is formed as a social, moral being in early childhood.
“Still Mom” was first published in the magazine “Counselor”, 1965, No. 9. “A mother, giving birth to a son, always thinks: aren’t you the one?” Platonov wrote in his notes. Memories of his first teacher A. N. Kulagina acquire in Plato’s prose the inherent high symbolic meaning. “Mother” in the world of Plato’s artistic prose is a symbol of the soul, feelings, “needed homeland,” “salvation from unconsciousness and oblivion.” That is why “still a mother” is the one who introduces the child into the “beautiful and furious” world, teaches him to walk along its roads, and gives moral guidelines.
The writer explains the behavior of an adult as a patriot, a defender of his homeland with this most important and defining childhood experience. For a little person, learning about the world around him turns out to be a complex process of learning about himself. In the course of this cognition, the hero must take a certain position in relation to his social environment. The choice of this position is extremely important, since it determines all subsequent human behavior.
Platonov’s world of childhood is a special cosmos, into which not everyone is allowed to enter on an equal footing. This world is a prototype of the larger universe, its social portrait, blueprint and outline of hopes and great losses. The image of a child in the prose of the 20th century is always deeply symbolic. The image of a child in Platonov’s prose is not only symbolic - it is painfully concrete: it is ourselves, our life, its possibilities and its losses... truly, “the world is great in childhood...”.
“It takes a long time for a child to learn to live,” Platonov writes in his notebooks, “he learns self-taught, but he is also helped by older people who have already learned to live and exist. Observing the development of consciousness in a child and his awareness of the surrounding unknown reality is a joy for us.”
Platonov is a sensitive and attentive researcher of childhood. Sometimes the title of the story itself (“Nikita”) is given by the name of the child - the main character of the work. At the center of “The July Thunderstorm” are nine-year-old Natasha and her brother Antoshka.
“The Origin of the Master” shows the reader in unforgettable detail the childhood, adolescence and youth of Sasha Dvanov, unique children’s images in other Platonic stories. Afonya from the story “Flower on the Earth”, Aidim from the story “Dzhan”, easily remembered, although not named children from the stories “The Motherland of Electricity”, “Fro”, “Moon Bomb”...
Each of these children is endowed from birth with precious properties necessary for harmonious physical and mental growth: an unconscious feeling of the joy of being, greedy curiosity and irrepressible energy, innocence, goodwill, the need to love and act.
“...In youth,” wrote Platonov, “there is always the possibility of the noble greatness of the future life: if only human society does not disfigure, distort, or destroy this gift of nature, inherited by every baby.”
However, not only a special interest in childhood and adolescence as decisive moments human life, preferred image young hero or outright instructiveness, but also by the very essence of his talent, striving to embrace the world as a whole, as if with a single, unprejudiced and all-penetrating gaze, Platonov is close to the young. It is not for nothing that his first books and “ Hidden Man"(1928) in the publishing house "Young Guard", and the last lifetime collections "Soldier's Heart" (1946), "Magic Ring" (1950) and others were published in the publishing house "Children's Literature".
It would seem that the circumstances of the lives of two little poor fellows - Sasha and Proshka Dvanov, living in poverty - are not much different. peasant family. The only difference is that Sasha is an orphan and adopted in Proshkin’s house. But this is enough for little by little to form characters that are basically diametrically opposed: the selfless, honest, recklessly kind and open to all people Sasha and the cunning, predatory, on his own, resourceful Proshka
Of course, the point is not that Sasha is an orphan, but that with the help good people- Proshka's mother, but most of all Zakhar Pavlovich - Sasha overcomes his biographical orphanhood and social orphanhood. He called it “the country of former orphans” Soviet Russia Platonov in the 30s. It’s as if Mikhail Prishvin, looking back from the forties, said about Sasha Dvanov, an independent man who knew the true price of bread and human kindness from a young age, in his fairy tale “ Ship thicket": "The time of our people's orphanhood is over, and new person goes down in history with a feeling of selfless love for his mother - native land- not with full consciousness of one’s cultural world dignity.”
Prishvin's thought is organically close to Platonov. Mother - Motherland - Father - Fatherland - family - home - nature - space - earth - this is another series of supporting concepts characteristic of Plato’s prose. “Mother... is the closest relative of all people,” we read in one of the writer’s articles. What amazingly poignant images of the mother are captured on the pages of his books: Vera and Gyulchatay (“Dzhan”), Lyuba Ivanova (“Return”), the nameless ancient old woman in “The Motherland of Electricity”... It seems that they embody all the hypostases of motherhood, which includes yourself and love, and selflessness, and strength, and wisdom, and forgiveness.
The history of the formation of man as a spiritualized personality is the main theme of A. Platonov’s stories, the heroes of which are children. Analyzing the story "Nikita", where the hero of this story, the peasant boy Nikita, painfully and difficultly overcoming age-related egocentrism, reveals himself in his kindness, is formed as a "Good Whale" (under this title the story was published in the magazine "Murzilka").
A. Platonov’s story “Still Mom” is dedicated to depicting the complex process of a private person’s transition to life “with everyone and for everyone.” The hero of this story, young Artem, through the image of his mother, learns and comprehends the whole world, joins the great community of people of his homeland.
In the stories “The Iron Old Woman” and “Flower on the Earth” the same hero - a little man, but under a different name - Yegor, Afoni, in the process of learning about the world for the first time encounters good and evil, determines for himself the main life tasks and goals - finally defeat the greatest evil - death ("The Iron Old Woman"), discover the secret of the greatest good - eternal life ("Flower on Earth").
The path to feat in the name of life on earth, its moral origins and roots are manifested in wonderful story“At the dawn of a foggy youth”, which testifies to the unity of problematics and detail in the work of the writer of the war and pre-war years.
About the connections of creativity. Both folklorists and ethnographers wrote about A. Platonov with folklore, without focusing on the fact that the narrator’s thoughts are aimed, first of all, at revealing the moral side of the actions of the heroes of the fairy tale. The connection between A. Platonov’s creativity and folklore is much deeper and more organic. In a whole series of stories ("Nikita", "Still Mom", "Ulya", "Fro"). A. Platonov turns to the compositional scheme fairy tale, described in the classic work of V. Ya. Propp. A. Platonov writes not fairy tales, but short stories, but they are based on archaic genre structures. In this genre originality many stories by A. Platonov, which is explained not only by the stability genre forms, but also by the peculiarities of the writer’s artistic thinking, focused on the analysis and depiction of the root causes and fundamental principles of human existence.
Usually like this stylistic means creation artistic expression, as metaphor, metonymy, personification are considered as elements of poetics. In relation to a number of works by A. Platonov ("Nikita", "The Iron Old Woman", "Still Mother", "At the Dawn of Foggy Youth"), talk about the usual use of these techniques as stylistic devices it is forbidden. The unusual nature of their use by A. Platonov is that in stories in which children are the heroes, they have become a natural and organic form of perception of the world. We should be talking not about metaphor, but metaphorization, not about metonymy, but metonymization, not about personification, but about personifying apperception and its varieties. This “stylistics” appears especially clearly in the story “Nikita”. The way of knowing and perceiving the world through one or another emotionally charged and ethically significant image-concept is almost the norm for the heroes of A. Platonov’s works.
Thus, the hero of the story “Still Mom” “paves” his way into big world people of his homeland, armed with one single “weapon” - the image-concept of his own mother. The hero, metaphorically and metonymically trying it on to all unknown creatures, things and phenomena of the surrounding world, through this image expands his inner world. This is how A. Platonov depicts the first meeting of a person with his homeland, the complex and difficult path of self-knowledge and socialization of a person.
Andrei Platonovich Platonov began writing very early, but during his lifetime his works were published very rarely. He lived in turning point history of Russia, and his work reflects the first decades of the life of the people after the revolution.
In 1927, the writer gained fame after his book “ Epifanskie locks", and already next year he publishes two more books, actively publishes in magazines, and his numerous satirical stories. And those works that revealed the destructive power of bureaucracy in that society were never published.
Themes of Platonov's stories
His novel Chevergun"was not accepted for publication due to censorship, and his famous work « Pit"was also not published. All that was allowed to be published then was derogatory criticism of his stories and novels.
Andrei Platonovich wrote about many things: about the Great Patriotic War, about the labor of peasants and workers, about the intelligentsia, about science and sports, about the personality of man and his freedom. This theme is especially acute in his work of the 1930s. In his stories " Fro" And " Potudan River“He raises themes of true human freedom and a feeling of complete, albeit quickly passing, happiness. Also in his work, he touched on current social topics that related to the leadership, power of the country and the system that dominates it.
Story " Across the midnight sky"is dedicated specifically to the danger of the idea of National Socialism, and how such ideas turn out in life ordinary people. The theme of war is revealed in the story “ At the grave of Russian soldiers", in which Andrei Platonovich tries to describe all the cruelty and brutality to which the Russian people were subjected during the time of fascism. Platonov boldly expressed his opinion about Stalin's rule with this story, without directly mentioning his name, and thereby angered the ruler. Platonov’s works were banned, they were not published, they were not allowed to be read, like many other writers.
Platonov's language
Platonov, according to the great poet Joseph Brodsky, tested the strength of the Russian language. Pushed him to the limit. Platonov's language, so unusual for the common eye, is not just literary style. Platonov's language is a separate world where its own unique person is created. This man is unique in that he has properties that would hardly be useful to him if he lived in our world.
Platonov - writer-philosopher
And despite the seriousness of the themes that the talented and insightful Platonov raised in his works, he did not forget to write about the most important things in human life - about simple, momentary happiness, about justice and honor, about the problem of the meaning of life and its search, about finding Plato's hero of peace for the soul and harmony for the heart. One of these stories is “ Flower on the ground”, telling the story of little bored Athos, who stayed at home with his grandfather. Platonov's symbolism is simple and clear, his allegories evoke an instant understanding of what is happening, and the light and realistic mood of the story reveals a deep concept with captivating simplicity. Platonov speaks about the harmony of life in an almost childish, sincere language; he shows happiness through the eyes of a small, innocent child.
That's why short stories Platonov are just as rich deep meaning and a philosophical idea, like long, serious novels. Platonov, with his characteristic skill, reveals a wide variety of topics in his works, while speaking about them in simple and accessible language. That is why many called and call this talented writer a philosopher.
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The text is based on the books:
A. Platonov. Notebooks. Materials for the biography. M.: Heritage, 2000.
A Notebook of Others' Ideas, Thoughts and Conversations (1936)
All about Andrey Platonov
Biography
Articles about Andrey Platonov:
Orlov V. Andrey Platonov: Recent years
Nagibin Yu. Fragment of the diary. Platonov's funeral
Rassadin S. Why the tyrant hated Zoshchenko and Platonov
Yuryeva A. The main biographers of Andrei Platonov were NKVD-OGPU informants
Andrey Platonov: Memories of friends and colleagues
The most important dates in the life and work of A. Platonov
Wikipedia
Joseph Brodsky about Andrei Platonov:
“Platonov was born in 1899 and died in 1951 from tuberculosis, having become infected from his son, whose release from prison he, after much effort, achieved, only for the son to die in his arms. A thin face looks at us from the photograph, as simple as countryside, looks patiently and as if willing to accept and overcome everything that befalls.” (Brodsky I. “Disasters in the Air”)
Brief biographical sketch
From the book: Mikheev M.Yu. Into the world of Platonov through his language. Assumptions, facts, interpretations, guesses. M.: Moscow State University Publishing House, 2002. 407 p.
“At the end of 1929, the writer was subjected to “ideological flogging” for publishing (together with B. Pilnyak) the essay “Che-Che-O”, and then, in 1931, for his own story “Doubting Makar” (published in the magazine “October” by A. Fadeev, for which the editor-in-chief immediately publicly repented and apologized, calling the story “ideologically unrestrained, anarchist,” for which, they say, he “got it right from Stalin.”
Insarov M. Andrey Platonovich Platonov (1899–1951). Life and creative path
Bolot N. Platonov Andrey Platonovich
Mikheev M.Yu. Notebooks and diaries (30s): Mikhail Prishvin, Pavel Filonov, Andrey Platonov, ...
The text is compiled from a lecture course given at the Faculty of History and Philology of the Russian State University for the Humanities in 2002.
“When reading Plato’s notebooks to a reader familiar with his main key themes, sometimes the skeleton of a recognizable plot will flash, and sometimes an unknown variation of some already known character will suddenly appear. Or a thought that is not developed anywhere further, immediately torn off, will rush through, which in the future could be useful to the author and, in the event of a new return to it, would result, perhaps, in a story, tale, etc. But more often than not it happens that notebook Platonov’s thought, not completed (as if “not thought out” to us, the readers, and not presented, not understandable due to our lack of awareness), as if stopped by the author halfway.”
Kozhemyakin A. New pages in the life and work of writer Andrei Platonov
“As I see it, we should compare the activities of the hydromeliorator and electrifier Andrei Platonov with his first literary works.”
Simonov K. Through the eyes of a man of my generation. Reflections on I.V. Stalin
Fragment of the book by Konstantin Simonov (M., APN, 1989).
Kovrov M. Mystic of Russian victory (To the 100th anniversary of the birth of Andrei Platonov)
Dystopia is no worse than life
Conversation between correspondent G. Litvintsev and professor of Voronezh state university Vladislav Svitelsky, author of the collection of articles “Andrei Platonov Yesterday and Today.”
“It seems that if the author had ready-made answers, his works would not be so compelling and would not have such depth and power. He searched for the truth along with his heroes and his time. The crossroads of his thoughts are no less complex and tragic than the crossroads of history itself. Platonov lived in his questions and doubts. At the turn of the 20-30s, he made the necessary rethinking of ideology and practice Soviet era, to which we have only broken through on a large scale today.”
Iovanovic M. Genius at the fork in the road
From the notes of a literary critic.
“The most painful thing for the “impatient” Platonov and his heroes was the question of questions - the search for happiness (universal happiness). Russian literature, following Kant, who placed the moral law above eudaimonia (the desire for happiness), did not know this category; her heroes behaved like Pushkin, seeking not happiness, but peace and freedom. Platonov wanted to evade this tradition, to “invent” happiness both for individual, and for entire nations.”
Gumilevsky L.I. "Fate and Life"
“It’s not difficult to assume that readers’ assessments will be different. Some will be attracted by colorful pictures of the past, recreated using seemingly mundane, but artistically meaningful details. Others will be more interested in portraits of writers (we especially note the pages dedicated to Andrei Platonov).”
Basinsky P. No violinist needed
“Someday, of course, it will be modern. Someday... a day Last Judgment. When material grievances become meaningless, when it doesn’t matter where this day finds you, in a Merc or a Zaporozhets, when a shrimp seems no sweeter than a stale crust, and a luxurious car no smoother than a country road. When money won’t be needed.”
Malaya S. Platonov Andrey Platonovich
Works of Platonov
Electronic library "Librusek"
Most full meeting works by A. Platonov.
Library of Maxim Moshkov
Stories. Stories. Inhabitant of the State. Blue Depth (Book of Poems).
Classica.ru
Stories.
Stories: “The Pit”, “The Potudan River”, “The Hidden Man”, “The Juvenile Sea”.
Novels: “Happy Moscow”, “Chevengur”.
Fiction: online collection of works
“Anti-sexus”, “For future use”, “City of Gradov”, “State Resident”, “The Pit”, “Meadow Masters”, “Moscow Violin”, “Inanimate Enemy”, “Once in Love”, “Father-Mother” (script) , “Potudan River”, “Semyon”, “The Hidden Man”, “Happy Moscow”, “Doubting Makar”, “Fro”, “Chevengur”, “Juvenile Sea”.
Collection of rare texts
Once loved
Andrei Platonov in the documents of the OGPU-NKVD-NKGB.19301945 (Publication by Vladimir Goncharov and Vladimir Nekhotin)
Machinist (libretto)
Father-Mother (script)
In beauty and furious world(Machinist Maltsev)
Return (Ivanov Family)
City of Gradov
Pit
“Voshchev grabbed his bag and went into the night. The questioning sky shone over Voshchev with the tormenting power of the stars, but in the city the lights had already been extinguished, and whoever had the opportunity slept, having eaten his fill of dinner. Voshchev went down the crumbs of earth into the ravine and lay down there with his stomach down to fall asleep and part with himself. But sleep required peace of mind, trust in life, forgiveness of past grief, and Voshchev lay in the dry tension of consciousness and did not know whether he was useful in the world or whether everything would work out well without him? A wind blew from an unknown place so that people would not suffocate, and with a weak voice of doubt a suburban dog made its service known.”
Sandy teacher
“Four years have passed, the most indescribable years in a person’s life, when the buds burst in a young chest and femininity, consciousness blossoms, and the idea of life is born. It's strange that no one ever helps at this age young man overcome the anxieties that torment him; no one will support the thin trunk, which is torn by the wind of doubt and shaken by the earthquake of growth. Someday youth will not be defenseless.
Mary, of course, had both love and a thirst for suicide, and this bitter moisture waters every growing life.”
Hidden Man
Happy Moscow
“The clear and ascending life of Moscow Chestnova began with that autumn day, when she was sitting at school by the window, already in the second group, she looked into the death of leaves on the boulevard and read with interest the sign of the opposite house: Workers' and Peasants' Library and Reading Room named after A.V. Koltsova".
Doubting Makar
Fro
“The young woman stopped in surprise in the midst of such a strange light: in the twenty years of her life, she did not remember such an empty, shining, silent space, she felt that her heart was weakening from the lightness of the air, from the hope that her loved one would come back.”
Chevengur (in the first edition - “Builders of the Country”)
“A man appears with that vigilant and sadly emaciated face who can fix and equip everything, but he himself lived his life unequipped. Any product, from a frying pan to an alarm clock, has not escaped the hands of this man. He also did not refuse to throw out soles, pour wolf shot and stamp fake medals for sale at rural antique fairs. He never made anything for himself, neither a family nor a home.”
Juvenile Sea
Sea of Youth
Articles about creativity
Section “Platonic Studies” on the website of the CHRONOS project
Articles about Andrey Platonov
Bobrova O. Andrei Platonov is a great Russian writer of the twentieth century. To the 100th anniversary of his birth
“What is there in Platonov’s prose? There is life: its pain and blood, greatness and strangeness, logic and absurdity, its fragility and infinity. This prose seems to push a person into an open, uncomfortable world. Makes you feel loneliness, suffer along with the heroes and struggle to find the truth, the meaning of all things.”
Mikheev M.Yu. Into the world of Platonov - through his language. Assumptions, facts, interpretations, guesses
Platonov created in his works, in fact, something like a religion of new times, trying to resist both traditional forms of religious cult and the fusion of heterogeneous mythologies that formed within the framework of socialist realism.
Lyuty V. About the language of Andrei Platonov
Tarasov A.B. “The Third Kingdom” as an attempt to model the world of “new” righteousness: A. Platonov and M. Tsvetaeva
Surikov V. Free thing by Andrei Platonov
About the works "Chevengur", "Pit".
“It’s a little disgusting, but then it will be good... Who doesn’t know this simplest deception, the elementary exchange of mental suffering for mental comfort, that happens every second in the myriads of human thoughts and actions? Who knows how unbearably difficult it is to resist it in everyday, insignificant things and not to be seduced by the availability of peace? Is it through this exchange that in every act, in every thought, the unsteady, elusive line between good and evil passes? Is this where the danger of mass “temptation” lurks—when some superidea, teasing universal happiness, combines these elementary movements into a mad leap?
Andrei Platonov found himself in a different role - in the role of a doubting participant in the events, who did not want, did not allow himself to step aside and desperately rushed into the very thick of events, into the hottest and most dangerous place.
“You can’t come here, here is an abyss, here is unprecedented bloody suffering, here is brutality, you can only get out of here on four paws.” All this had to be not said, but shouted out - to go against the enraged idea, breaking free from the leash of common sense.
What was required was no longer dissent, but code of action.”
Ordynskaya I.N. “Chevengur” by Andrei Platonov is a symbol of love for his people
This is a very thankless task - to write the truth about one’s time; as a rule, no one is forgiven for such attempts, especially talented writers, whose works themselves seem to begin to live. After all, destroying a book is often more difficult than real person. And the images fiction they often remain immortal altogether.
About the novel “Chevengur”
A number of terrible sacrifices were made by the commune in order to increase the “stuff of existence”, “stuff of life” repeatedly mentioned in the novel, which is the key concept of the novel.
Joseph Brodsky. Afterword to “The Pit” by A. Platonov
“In our time, it is not customary to consider a writer outside the social context, and Platonov would be the most suitable object for such an analysis if what he does with language did not go far beyond the framework of that utopia (building socialism in Russia), a witness and chronicler which he appears in “The pit”.
About the works “Epiphanian Gateways”, “Ethereal Route”, “City of Grads”
Barsht K.A. Truth in round and liquid form. Henri Bergson in “The Pit” by Andrei Platonov // Questions of Philosophy. – 2007. – No. 4. – P. 144–157.
The idea that A. Platonov’s “Pit” describes shock socialist construction is not so indisputable. The construction theme only covers, in the form of packaging material, what is hidden inside - a philosophical mystery filled with tension.
Olga Meyerson. Undefamiliarization of Andrei Platonov: danger and the power of inertia of perception
Review of a collection of two special issues of the journal “Essays in Poetics”, which published materials from a conference on the study of Plato’s creative heritage, held in 2001 in Oxford.
Loginov V. “Happy Moscow” by A. Platonov from the point of view of an inexperienced computer user
Henryk Chlystowski. Afterword to the translation of “Happy Moscow” by Andrei Platonov
“What kind of world is created in Platonov’s works? This world (especially in “Happy Moscow”) is completely devoid of history, memory and religion, a world that wants to build everything anew, but deprived of the main foundation is forced to constantly run into the future, into delirious unrealistic fantasies, and place its hopes there. This future is beautiful, wonderful and problem-free, but you need to somehow get to it, break through the inertia of matter and human vices.”
Bulygin A., Gushchin A. “Extraneous space”. Anthroponymy of the “Pit” (fragment)
Pin L.A. Andrey Platonovich Platonov. "Revolution is like a locomotive"
Gracheva E. “Inspiration”: The Unmade Film of Andrei Platonov
This was very important for Platonov. He had just begun to recover from the brutal pogrom that the Rappovites staged for his “poor peasant chronicle” “For Future Use” (“Krasnaya Nov”, 1931, No. 9). Stalin himself decorated the margins of the chronicle with the notes “Bastard!” and “Scoundrel!”, the frightened Fadeev declared that Platonov is “a kulak agent of the latest formation,” and off we go...
