A Companion to Andrei Platonov's The Foundation PitWritten 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. |
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activist agriculture Andrei Platonov appear bear become began beginning Bolshevik building called campaign Central century Chandler Chandler/Meerson characters collective farm collectivization communal construction critics culture death directives early earth efforts engineer example existence experience fact factory Fedorov Five-Year Plan Foundation Pit future Ginsburg hero human ideas ideology important industrial influence iron journal kind Kornienko Kotlovan kulak labor land language later letters literary literature live Marxism material matter meaning Meerson Moscow nature Nikolai novel October once organization original Party peasant Peter philosophical phrase physical Platonov poems political portrays Press production proletarian Prushevsky published reads reality reference response Revolution Russian sense similar social socialist Soviet speech Stalin Stalinist stories suggests tale theme thought transform turn Union University utopian village Voronezh Voshchev workers writers written wrote Zapisnye knizhki