Download:

PDF

For citation:

Duzhina N.I. The Building of Socialism in Platonov’s The Foundation Pit. Studia Litterarum, 2019, vol. 4, no 3, pp. 252–267. (In Russ.)

DOI: 10.22455/2500-4247-2019-4-3-252-267

Author: Natalya I. Duzhina
Information about the author:

Natalya I. Duzhina, PhD in Philology, Senior Researcher, А.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya 25 a, 121069 Moscow, Russia.

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4774-0754

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Received: January 15, 2019
Published: September 25, 2019
Issue: 2019 Vol. 4, №3
Department: Russian Literature
Pages: 252-267
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2019-4-3-252-267

UDK: 821.161.1
BBK: 83.3(2Рос=Рус)6
Keywords: Andrey Platonov, The Foundation Pit, building of socialism, Church, Pavel Florensky, The Pillar and The Foundation of The Truth.

Abstract

The article analyzes the sequence of allegorical images in The Foundation Pit associated with the central theme of Platonov’s time, the construction of socialism. These images are united under the concept of the all-proletarian home and form a vibrant whole. The article is an attempt to understand these allegorical images as a system and to pinpoint their possible literary sources. The purpose of these multiple appearances of the all-proletarian home is to show the “building of socialism” in different aspects and from different angles. For example, as a concrete historical form (the tower being constructed in the center of the town) and in its ideal counterpart (the tower in the middle of the world); as the beginning (Nastya) and the archetype (“the shining white buildings”). These different aspects of the all-proletarian home correspond to the image of the Church in Pavel Florensky’s The Pillar and the Foundation of the Truth. In this latter work, the Church has three different incarnations: a very old holy woman (Staritza) whose age symbolizes the creation of the Church before the creation of the world; a tower under construction symbolizing the Church in its historical aspect; and a tower already built, symbolizing the Church as the only reality at the end of times. Thus, we see the Church from several perspectives. The article argues that the images of The Foundation Pit have their literary analogue in The Pillar and the Foundation of the Truth, and that the building of socialism in Platonov’s story is shown as the direct opposite of the divine Providence — God’s plan for the salvation of the world.

References

1 Aleksandrov A. O povesti “Kotlovan” [About the novella The Foundation Pit]. Grani, Frankfurt on the Main, 1970, no 77, pp. 134–143. (In Russ.)

2 Vasil’eva M. Kotlovan i Nebesnyi gorod: Nekotorye aspekty religioznoi tematiki v tvorchestve A. Platonova na rubezhe 1920–1930-kh gg. [The Foundation Pit and Heavenly Jerusalem: some aspects of religious themes in Platonov’s work at the turn of the 1920–1930s]. Dep. v INION RAN, № 52254. Moscow, 1996. 68 p. (In Russ.)

3 Giunter G. Kotlovan i Vavilonskaia bashnia [The Foundation Pit and The Tower of Babel]. “Strana filosofov” Andreia Platonova: Problemy tvorchestva [Andrey Platonov’s “country of philosophers”]. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 1995. pp. 145–151. (In Russ.)

4 Zolotonosov M. A. “Lozhnoe solntse”: “Chevengur” i “Kotlovan” v kontekste sovetskoi kul’tury 1920-kh godov [The Wrong Sun: Chevengur and The Foundation Pit in the Русская литература / Н.И. Дужина context of the early Soviet culture]. Andrei Platonov: Mir tvorchestva [Andrey Platonov’s world]. Moscow, Sovremennyi pisatel’ Publ., 1994, pp. 246–282. (In Russ.)

5 Kiselev A. Odukhotvorenie mira: N. Fedorov i A. Platonov [Spiritualization of the world: Fyodorov and Platonov]. “Strana filosofov” Andreia Platonova: Problemy tvorchestva [Andrey Platonov’s “country of philosophers”]. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 1994, pp. 237–248. (In Russ.)

6 Markshtein E. Dom i kotlovan, ili mnimaia realizatsiia utopii [A House and a Foundation Pit, or The imaginary realization of the utopia]. Andrei Platonov: Mir tvorchestva [Andrey Platonov’s World]. Moscow, Sovremennyi pisatel’ Publ., 1994, pp. 284–302. (In Russ.)

7 Meerson O. Apokalipsis v bytu: Poetika neostraneniia Andreia Platonova [Apocalypse of the everyday life: the poetics of refamiliarization in Andrey Platonov]. Moscow, Granat Publ., 2016. 256 p. (In Russ.)

8 Platonov A. Vzyskanie pogibshikh [Recovery of the lost]. Moscow, ShKOLA-PRESS Publ., 1995. 670 p. (In Russ.)

9 Platonov A. Kotlovan: Tekst, materialy tvorcheskoi istorii [The Foundation Pit: the text and the documents of its history]. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 2000. 379 p. (In Russ.)

10 Florenskii P. A. Stolp i Utverzhdenie Istiny [The Pilar and the foundation of the truth]. T. 1(I). Moscow, Izdatel’stvo “Pravda” Publ., 1990. 490 p. (In Russ.)

11 Sheppard Dzh. Liubov’ k dal’nemu i liubov’ k blizhnemu v tvorchestve A. Platonova [Love for the neighbor and love for the stranger in Andrey Platonov]. “Strana filosofov” Andreia Platonova: Problemy tvorchestva [Andrey Platonov’s “country of philosophers”]. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 1994. pp. 249–254. (In Russ.)