In a small town shortly after the revolution, workmen and lowlevel bureaucrats work on the foundation for an enormous building intended to house the entire town. Seeking to evoke unspeakable realities, platonov deforms and transforms language. The foundation pit, were turbulent ones for platonov in which his. The book, written in 19291930, is an allegory of the era of collectivization. Voshchev tries to defend himself, saying that he is trying to work out a plan for life. The plot of the novel concerns a group of workers living in the early soviet union.
Andrey platonovs reputation has been growing since the. The management says he just stands around thinking while everyone else is working. The plot of the novel concerns a group of workers living in. In andrey platonovs the foundation pit, a team of workers has been given the job of digging the foundation of an immense edifice, a palatial home for the. In a dusty little town, a worker named voshchev is fired from his job at a small machine factory. Platonovs reputation as one of russias most important twentiethcentury writers is confirmed by this new translation of his novel, the foundation pit.
Get pdf a companion to andrei platonov s the foundation pit. The foundation pit translated by robert and elizabeth. Each morning, he memorizes little formulae, slogans, lines of poetry, quotes from official documents, etc. Andrey platonov, a unique and extraordinary writer, came into russian. The foundation pit is platonovs most overtly political book, written in direct response to the staggering brutalities of stalins collectivization of russian agriculture. Then he goes out and about, uttering these phases in. The foundation pit portrays a group of workmen and local bureaucrats engaged in digging the foundation pit for what is to become a grand general building. The foundation pit beyond irony, beyond satire, to a point. The foundation pit portrays a group of workmen and local bureau. A companion to andrei platonovs the foundation pit on jstor. They attempt to dig out a huge foundation pit on the base of which a gigantic house will be built for the countrys proletarians. Types of foundations foundation systems shallow foundation deep foundation pile foundation pier caisson foundation isolated spread footings wall footings combined footings cantilever or strap footings raft or mat foundation. The foundation pit is a dystopian work a distorted mirror image of the soviet production novel of the 1920s and 30s but it would be wrong to see platonov as an antisoviet writer or a satirist. Indeed, it is hard to believe that platonov believed the book safe to show others, let alone that he would try to see it published.
These are questions which sprang to mind as i read andrey platonov s recently retranslated novel. Written in 192930, it remained unpublished in platonov s russian homeland until 1987 26 years after his death but had previously been published in russian in the usa in 1973. Born in 1899, he came of age with the revolution of october 1917, and remained a true believer in the soviet system, despite his many. A stray young girl, a survivor from a bourgeois family, is takenin and fed by the men. The foundation pit has a complex publishing history. A companion to andrei platonovs the foundation pit oapen. Robert chandler and olga meersons afterword discusses the historical context and style of epub platonovs most haunted and troubling work. The foundation pit is a gloomy symbolic and semisatirical novel by andrei platonov.
Superanno written at the height of stalins first fiveyear 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, while also providing essential background to platonov s parody of the mainstream soviet production novel. The foundation pit is one of the most difficult books ive read in recent years, but its worth the effort if you enjoy dystopia or innovative language. I actually have read and that i am confident that i am going to planning to study once again once more in the future. The paucity of biographical materials in his case is mostly a legacy of the stalin period of soviet history in which he lived most of his life, when private documents.
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