Andrei Platonov
Andrei Platonov (Андрей Платонов, 28 August 1899 – 5 January 1951) was the pen name of Andrei Platonovich Klimentov (Андрей Платонович Климентов), a Soviet writer, philosopher, playwright, and poet. Although Platonov regarded himself as a communist, his principal works remained unpublished in his lifetime because of their skeptical attitude toward collectivization of agriculture (1929–1940) and other Stalinist policies, as well as for their experimental, avant-garde form. His famous works include the novels Chevengur [Чевенгур] and The Foundation Pit [Котлован].
Contents
Andrei Platonov was the son of a railway-worker and worked as a land reclamation expert. His most politically controversial works of the late 1920s and early 1930s, including The Foundation Pit and Chevengur, remained unpublished in Russia until the late 1980s. Other stories were published but subjected to vicious criticism. Stalin is reputed to have written “scum” in the margin of the story “For Future Use,” and to have said to Fadeyev (later to be secretary of the Writers’ Union), “Give him a good belting – for future use!” From September 1942, after being recommended to the chief editor of Red Star by his friend Vasily Grossman, Platonov worked as a war correspondent and managed to publish several volumes of stories; after the war, however, he was again almost unable to publish. He died in 1951, of tuberculosis caught from his son whom he had nursed on his return from the Gulag. Happy Moscow, one of his finest short novels, was first published in 1991 and a complete text of Soul was first published only in 1999.
Works[edit]
- Vprok. Bednyatskaya khronika [Впрок. Бедняцкая хроника], 1931; repr. as Vprok: povest [Впрок: повесть], New York: Serebryanyy vek, 1982, 72 pp. [1] (Russian)
- Co nám jde k duhu, trans. Anna Nováková, Prague: Odeon, 1966, 192 pp; repr., Prague: Městská knihovna v Praze, 2022. Trans. of satirical prose: "Kterak Makar zapochyboval", "Město Gradov", "Co nám jde k duhu". (Czech)
- "Dzhan" [Джан], Literaturnaia gazeta (Литературная газета), 1938. Novella. Extracts from the first three chapters. WP-EN. (Russian)
- "Džan", in Ricerca di una terra felice, Einaudi, 1968. (Italian)
- Dżan i inne opowiadania, Warsaw, 1969. (Polish)
- Dzhan, trans. Amaya Lacasa, Madrid: Alianza, 1973. (Spanish)
- Dshan, trans. Maria Riwkin, Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp, 1980, 152 pp. (German)
- Soul, trans. Robert Chandler and Elizabeth Chandler, London: Harvill, 2003. Novella. (English)
- Soul and Other Stories, intro. Robert Chandler, afterw. John Berger, trans. by Robert Chandler and Elizabeth Chandler with Katia Grigoruk, Angela Livingstone, Olga Meerson, and Eric Naiman, New York: New York Review of Books, 2007, 400 pp; repr., Vintage, 2013, 334 pp. Includes "Soul", "The Third Son", "Among Animals and Plants", "Fro", "The River Potudan", "The Cow", "The Motherland of Electricity", and "The Return". Publisher. (English)
- Džan oder Die erste sozialistische Tragödie, trans. Michael Leetz, Berlin: Quintus, 2019. (German)
- Żołnierskie serce, trans. E. Czekalski, Warsaw, 1950. Incl. "Szturm labiryntu", "Iwan Tołokno – ofiarny wojak", "Na Horyniu", "Na urodzajnej ziemi". (Polish)
- Volshebnoye koltso i drugiye skazki [Волшебное кольцо и другие сказки], Moscow: Goslitizdat, 1954, 116 pp. (Russian)
- Izbrannyye rasskazy [Избранные рассказы], intro. Fedor Levin (Федор Левин), Moscow: Sovetskiy pisatel, 1958, 288 pp. (Russian)
- Rasskazy [Рассказы], intro. V. P. Dorofeev (В. П. Дорофеев), Moscow: Goslitizdat, 1954, 116 pp. (Russian)
- Odukhotvorennyye lyudi: Voyennyye rasskazy [Одухотворенные люди: Военные рассказы], Moscow: Voyenizdat, 1963, 238 pp. (Russian)
- V prekrasnom i yarostnom mire: Povesti i rasskazy [В прекрасном и яростном мире: Повести и рассказы], intro. V. Dorofeyev (В. Дорофеев), Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya literatura, 1965, 630 pp. [2] (Russian)
- In der schönen und grimmigen Welt, Ausgewählte Prosa, 2 vols., Berlin: Kultur und Fortschritt, 1969. (German)
- The Fierce and Beautiful World. Stories, trans. Joseph Barnes, intro. Yevgeny Yevtushenko, New York: Dutton, 1970, 252 pp. Incl. "Dzhan" (Soul), "Fro", "The Potudan River", "Homecoming", "The Third Son", "Aphrodite", "The Fierce and Beautiful World". (English)
- Fierce, Fine World, trans. Laura Beraha and Kathleen Cook, Raduga Publishers, 1983. (English)
- 美好而粗暴的世界, 上海译文出版社, 2022, EPUB. (Chinese)
- Utwory wybrane, Warsaw, 1965. (Polish)
- Izbrannoye povesti, rasskazy [Избранное: Повести, рассказы], intro. Fedot Suchkov (Федот Сучков), Moscow: Moskovskiy rabochiy, 1966, 541 pp. (Russian)
- Die Kutschervorstadt: gesammelte Erzählungen, ed. & afterw. Alexander Kaempfe, trans. Agathe Jais, Munich: Hanser, 1968, 377 pp. (German)
- Osada pocztyliońska, Warsaw, 1968. (Polish)
- Kotlovan. Povest [Котлован. Повесть] [1930], Student (Студент) 13-14, London: Flegon Press, 1969, 113 pp. Novel. WP-RU. (Russian)
- The Foundation Pit / Kotlovan [Котлован], trans. Thomas P. Whitney, pref. Joseph Brodsky, Ann Arbor, MI: Ardis, 1973, 284 pp. (English)/(Russian)
- Nel grande cantiere, trans. Maria Olsufieva, Milan: Il Saggiatore, 1969, 158 pp. (Italian)
- Die Baugrube: Dezember 1929 - April 1930, trans. Aggy Jais, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1971, 167 pp. (German)
- The Foundation Pit, trans. Mirra Ginsburg, New York: Dutton, 1975. (English)
- "Kotlovan. Povest" [Котлован. Повесть], ed. & notes M.A. Platonova (М. А. Платонова), intro. S. Zalygin (С. Залыгин), Novyy mir (Новый мир) 5, 1987. (Russian)
- Kotlovan: Povesti, roman [Котлован: Повести, роман], afterw. N. Ivanov (Н. Иванов), Izhevsk: Udmurtiya, 1989, 590 pp. (Russian)
- Die Baugrube. Das Juvenilmeer. Dshan. Romane, ed. Lola Debüser, trans. Alfred Frank and Werner Kaempfe, Munich: Hanser, 1990, 458 pp. (German)
- La excavación, trans. Helena Kriúkova a Vicente Cazcarra, Madrid: Alfaguara, 1990. (Spanish)
- Lo sterro, trans. Ivan Verc, Venice: Marsilio, 1993, 379 pp. (Italian)
- The Foundation Pit, trans. Robert Chandler and Geoffrey Smith, London: Harvill, 1996. (English)
- Kotlovan: Tekst, materialy tvor. istorii [Котлован: Текст, материалы творческой истории], St Petersburg: Nauka, 2000, 380 pp. (Russian)
- Kotlovan: Povest, St Peterburg: Azbuka-klassika, 2006, 188 pp. (Russian)
- The Foundation Pit, trans. Robert Chandler, Elizabeth Chandler and Olga Meerson, notes & afterw. Robert Chandler and Olga Meerson, New York: New York Review of Books, 2009, 208 pp; repr., London: Vintage, 2010. Based on the edition published by Pushkin House in Leningrad. Publisher. Review: Figes. (English)
- Die Baugrube. Roman, trans., comm. & afterw. Gabriele Leupold, Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2016, 238 pp. (German)
- La zanja, trans. Marta Sánchez-Nieves, Madrid: Armaenia, 2019. (Spanish)
- with Natalja Dužinová, Jáma / Průvodce Jámou, trans. Bruno Solařík, Dauphin, 2022, 360 pp. [3] (Czech)
- Razmyshleniya chitatelya. Stati [Размышления читателя: Статьи], Moscow: Sov. pisatel, 1970, 232 pp. (Russian)
- Gedanken eines Lesers. Essays, trans. Roland Erb, Hans-Joachim Lambrecht, Christel Růžička, and Waltraud Schroeder, afterw. Lola Debüser, Leipzig/Weimar: Kiepenheuer, 1979. (German)
- Chevengur [Чевенгур] [1928], intro. Mikhail Geller, Paris: YMCA-press, 1972, 375 pp; repr. in Druzhba narodov [Дружба народов], 1988; repr., Sovremennik (Современник), 1988. Novel. (Russian)
- Il villaggio della nuova vita, trans. Maria Olsufieva, Mondadori, 1972, 439 pp; new ed. as Da un villaggio in memoria del futuro, Rome: Theoria, 1990, 381 pp. (Italian)
- Chevengur, trans. & forew. Anthony Olcott, Ann Arbor, MI: Ardis, 1978. (English)
- Tschewengur: die Wanderung mit offenem Herzen. Roman, trans. Renate Landa, Berlin: Volk und Welt, 1990, 525 pp. (German)
- Čevengur, trans. Anna Nováková, Prague: Argo, 1995, 448 pp. (Czech)
- Tαξίδι με ανοιχτή καρδιά, Λιβάνης, 1996. (Greek)
- Chevengur, trans. Helena Kriúkova and Vicente Cazcarra, Madrid: Cátedra, 1999. (Spanish)
- Chevengur: Roman [Чевенгур: Роман], Moscow: Sinergiya: Mosk. ucheb., 2002, 494 pp. (Russian)
- Chevengur, ills. S. Filippova, St Peterburg: Vita Nova, 2008, 560 pp. (Russian)
- Cevengur, Editura All, 2012. (Italian)
- Čevengur, trans. Ornella Discacciati, Einaudi, 2015, xxiv+512 pp. (Italian)
- Tschewengur: die Wanderung mit offenem Herzen. Roman, trans. Renate Reschke, afterw. Hans Günther, Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2018, 579 pp. (Russian)
- Tchevengur, trans. Maria Vragova and Graziela Schneider, pref. Maria Vragova, Ars et Vita, 2021, 584 pp. Publisher. (Brazilian Portuguese)
- Czarodziejski pierścień, trans. R. Śliwowski, Warsaw, 1974. (Polish)
- Sharmanka [Шарманка], Ann Arbor, MI: Ardis, 1975, 59 pp. (Russian)
- Powrót, Warsaw, 1975. (Polish)
- Velichiye prostykh serdets: Izbrannoye [Величие простых сердец: Избранное], intro. Vl. Vasil'yev, Moscow: Moskovskiy rabochiy, 1976, 408 pp. (Russian)
- Izbrannoye [Избранное], ed. M.A. Platonova, Moscow: Sovremennik, 1977, 445 pp. (Russian)
- Collected Works, pref. Joseph Brodsky, trans. Thomas P. Whitney, Carl R. Proffer, Alexey A. Kiselev, Marion Jordan, and Friederike Snyder, Ann Arbor, MI: Ardis, 1978. (English)
- "Antiseksus" [Антисексус] [1926], Russian Literature 9:3, notes Thomas Langerak, 1981, pp 281-296; repr., Novyy mir 9, 1989, pp 124-136. (Russian)
- De Antisexus, Amsterdam: Pegasus, 1986. (Dutch)
- Antiseksus [Антисексус], Moscow: Agentstvo pechati imeni Sabashnikovykh, 1991, 32 pp. [4] (Russian)
- "Antisiexus", trans. J. Gondowicz, Brulion 17-18, 1991, pp 114-120. (Polish)
- "Der Antisexus", in Am Nullpunkt: Positionen der russischen Avantgarde, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 2005. (German)
- Avtiσέξouς, Athens: Armos, 2009. (Greek)
- "The Anti-Sexus", trans. Anne O. Fisher, intro. Aaron Schuster, Cabinet 51: "Wheels", Fall 2013, pp 41-53. Introduction. [5] [6] [7] [8] (English)
- "Antisexus", trans. Arthur Clech and Fabien Rothey, Comment S’en Sortir? 5, Winter 2017, pp 27-50. (French)
- Volshebnoye koltso: Russkiye narodnyye skazki [Волшебное кольцо: Русские народные сказки], ed. M. Sholokhov, Moscow: Sovetskaya Rossiya, 1981, 160 pp. (Russian)
- Sokrovennyy chelovek: Rasskazy. Povesti [Сокровенный человек: Рассказы. Повести], Kishinov: Literatura artistike, 1981, 640 pp. (Russian)
- Gliniany dom i inne opowiadania, trans. R. Śliwowski, S. Pollak, and I. Bajkowska, Warsaw, 1981. (Polish)
- Povesti, rasskazy, stat'ya, iz pisem [Повести, рассказы, статья, из писем], ed. M.A. Platonova (М. А. Платонова), intro. V.A. Svitelsky, Voronezh: Tsentr.-Chernozom. kn. izd-vo, 1982, 453 pp. (Russian)
- Povesti i rasskazy [Повести и рассказы], Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya literatura, 1983, 510 pp. (Russian)
- Na zare tumannoy yunosti [На заре туманной юности], Irkutsk: Vost.-Sib. kn. izd-vo, 1986, 96 pp. For children. (Russian)
- Ivan-chudo: Rasskazy, skazki [Иван-чудо: Рассказы, сказки], Chelyabinsk: Yuzh.-Ural. kn. izd-vo, 1986, 224 pp. For children. (Russian)
- Die Epiphaner Schleusen: frühe Novellen, ed. Lola Debüser, Munich: Hanser, 1987, 511 pp. (German)
- Gosudarstvennyy zhitel: Proza, pisma [Государственный житель: Проза, письма], ed. M. A. Platonova (М. А. Платонова), intro. & comm. V.A. Chalmayeva (В. А. Чалмаева), Moscow: Sov. pisatel', 1988, 608 pp. (Russian)
- Potomki Solntsa: Rasskazy [Потомки Солнца: Рассказы], Tbilisi: Merani, 1988, 544 pp.
- Proiskhozhdeniye mastera: Roman, povesti [Происхождение мастера: Роман, повести], Sverdlovsk: Sred.-Ural. kn. izd-vo, 1989, 494 pp. (Russian)
- "Schastlivaya Moskva" [Счастливая Москва] [1936], Novyy mir (Новый мир) 9, 1991; repr., ed. Natalya Kornienko, in Strana Filosofov 3, Sep 1999. Novel; unfinished. (Russian)
- Die glückliche Moskwa. Roman, trans. Renate Landa and Lola Debüser, Berlin: Volk und Welt, 1993, 198 pp; new ed., afterw. Lola Debüser, comm. Natalja Kornienko, Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2019, 219 pp. (German)
- Szczęśliwa Moskwa, trans. H. Chłystowski, Warsaw, 1997. Incl. "Szczęśliwa Moskwa", "Spor", "Powieść techniczna". (Polish)
- Happy Moscow, trans. Robert Chandler and Elizabeth Chandler, with Angela Livingstone, Nadya Bourova, and Eric Naiman, intro. Eric Naiman, London: Harvill, 2001. Based on the 1999 Russian edition. (English)
- Happy Moscow, trans., rev., Robert Chandler and Elizabeth Chandler, New York: New York Review of Books, 2012, 280 pp. Publisher. (English)
- Moscova Cea Fericita Si Alte Nuvele, 2014. (Romanian)
- Šťastná Moskva, trans. Alena Machoninová, ills. Juraj Horváth, Prague: Baobab, 2022, 176 pp. [9] (Czech)
- Das Volk Džan. Der Takyr. Die Baugrube, trans. Kay Borowsky, Berlin: Oberbaum, 1992, 431 pp. (German)
- Die Tragödie der 14 Roten Hütten. Stücke, Prosa, Briefe, Notizen, ed. Lola Debüser, Berlin: Oberbaum, 1992. (German)
- "Fabrika literatury (O koren. uluchshenii sposobov lit. tvorchestva)" [Фабрика литературы (О корен. улучшении способов лит. творчества)], in Vzyskaniye pogibshikh. Povesti. Rasskazy, Pyesa. Stati [Взыскание погибших. Повести. Рассказы, Пьеса. Статьи], Moscow, 1995; 2011. (Russian) [10]
- The River Potudan, trans. Marilyn Minto, Bristol Classical Press, 1998. (English)
- Proza [Проза], Moscow: Slovo, 1999, 646 pp. (Russian)
- The Return and Other Stories, trans. Robert Chandler and Angela Livingstone, London: Harvill, 1999; repr., Random House, 2016. (English)
- The Portable Platonov, trans. Robert Chandler, Elizabeth Chandler, et al., Moscow: Glas, 1999. Incl. "Chevengur" (three chapters from the novel), "The Foundation Pit" (two excerpts from the novel), "Fourteen Little Red Huts" (a play), "Among Animals and Plants" (a short story), "Tales: No-Arms", "Wool Over the Eyes", and "The Chevengur Poems".
- Zapisnyye knizhki. Materialy k biografii [Записные книжки. Материалы к биографии], ed. N. V. Kornienko (Н. В. Корниенко), Moscow: Naslediye, 2000, 421 pp; 2nd ed., Moscow: IMLI RAN, 2006. (Russian)
- Fourteen Little Red Huts and Other Plays, ed. Robert Chandler, trans. Robert Chandler, Jesse Irwin, and Susan Larsen, notes Robert Chandler and Natalya Duzhina, Columbia University Press, 2016, 244 pp, EPUB. (English)
Literature[edit]
- Lev Anninsky, "Otkrovenie i sokrovenie (Gorky i Platonov)", Literaturnoe obozrenie 9, 1989, pp 3-21. (Russian)
- Thomas Seifrid, Andrei Platonov: Uncertainties of Spirit, Cambridge University Press, 1992. (English)
- N. V. Kornienko, E. D. Shubina (eds.), Andrey Platonov: Vospominaniya sovremennikov: Materialy k biografii, Moscow: Sovremenniy pisatel, 1994. (Russian)
- Robert Hodel, Jan Peter Locher (eds.), Sprache und Erzählhaltung bei Andrej Platonov, Peter Lang, 1998, 373 pp. (German)
- Pia-Susan Berger-Bügel, Andrej Platonov: der Roman "Sčastlivaja Moskva" im Kontext seines Schaffens und seiner Philosophie, Munich: Sagner, 1999, 243 pp. (German)
- Keith Livers, "Scatology and Eschatology: The Recovery of the Flesh in Andrei Platonov’s Happy Moscow", Slavic Review 59:1, 2000, pp 154-182. (English)
- Kamila Chlupáčová, Miluše Zadražilová, Texty a kontexty Andreje Platonova, Prague: Karolinum, 2005, 190 pp. (Czech)
- Michaela Pešková, Mytologémata v prózách Andreje Platonova, Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2007, 247 pp. PhD dissertation. (Czech)
- И.И. Матвеева, "«Фабрика литературы» А. Платонова как проект литературного «производства»", Vestnik 1 (2008), Moscow: MGOU, pp 82-87. (Russian)
- Thomas Seifrid, A Companion to Andrei Platonov's "The Foundation Pit", Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2009, 204 pp. (English)
- Georg Witte, "Between the Forge and the Assembly Line: The Time of the Tool in the Work of Andrei Platonov", Configurations 18:3, Johns Hopkins University Press, Fall 2010, pp 345-362. [11] (English)
- Chiara Mayer-Rieckh, Memory and Wholeness in the Work of Andrei Platonov, Valentin Rasputin and Andrei Tarkovskii, London: University College London, 2011, 297 pp. PhD dissertation.
- Dennis Ioffe, "Andrej Platonov and the Pragmatics of Radical Modernism", Russian Literature 73:1-2, Jan-Feb 2013, pp 323-340. [12]
- McKenzie Wark, Molecular Red: Theory for the Anthropocene, London: Verso, 2015, xxiv+280 pp.
- Hans Günther, Andrej Platonow: Leben, Werk, Wirkung, Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2016, 148 pp. (German)
- Maria Chehonadskih, Soviet Epistemologies and the Materialist Ontology of Poor Life: Andrei Platonov, Alexander Bogdanov and Lev Vygotsky, London: Kingston University, 2017, 273 pp. PhD dissertation.
- Tora Lane, Andrey Platonov: The Forgotten Dream of the Revolution, Lexington Books, 2018, 160 pp.
- Maria Chehonadskih, The Encyclopaedia of Poor Life: Andrei Platonov’s Philosophical Prose and Alexander Bogdanov’s Tektology, forthcoming. [13]