A Companion to Andrei Platonov's "The Foundation Pit"
Studies in Russian and Slavic Literatures, Cultures and History
Author(s)
Seifrid, Thomas
Collection
Knowledge Unlatched (KU)Number
101823Language
EnglishAbstract
Written at the height of Stalin's first "five-year plan" for the industrialization of Soviet Russia and the parallel campaign to collectivize Soviet agriculture, Andrei Platonov's The Foundation Pit registers a dissonant mixture of utopian longings and despair. Furthermore, it provides essential background to Platonov's parody of the mainstream Soviet "production" novel, which is widely recognized as one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century Russian prose. In addition to an overview of the work's key themes, it discusses their place within Platonov's oeuvre as a whole, his troubled relations with literary officialdom, the work's ideological and political background, and key critical responses since the work's first publication in the West in 1973.
Keywords
Arts; Literary Criticism; Andrei Platonov; Collective farming; Joseph Stalin; Platonov (play); Proletariat; Soviet Union; UtopiaDOI
10.2307/j.ctt1zxsjhvISBN
9781934843574;9781618116970;9781618119377OCN
769188621Publisher
Academic Studies PressPublisher website
https://www.academicstudiespress.com/Publication date and place
Boston, MA, 2009-04-01Grantor
Imprint
Academic Studies PressSeries
Studies in Russian and Slavic Literatures, Cultures, and History,Classification
Literature: history and criticism