BREAD FOR THE SOUL: ANDREY PLATONOV
The aspiration to create a better, fairer world is a central theme in Platonov’s work. In 1927 Maksim Gorky had praised Platonov’s first collection of stories. In the late 1920s and early 1930s Platonov had asked Gorky for help in getting work published. In early 1934, however, Gorky was able to arr...
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A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:faf4121c47ac4d09be2383ee94c55c26 2023-05-15T18:43:55+02:00 BREAD FOR THE SOUL: ANDREY PLATONOV Robert Chandler 2017-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2017-2-1-244-267 https://doaj.org/article/faf4121c47ac4d09be2383ee94c55c26 EN FR RU eng fre rus A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences http://studlit.ru/2017-2-1/Chandler.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/2500-4247 https://doaj.org/toc/2541-8564 doi:10.22455/2500-4247-2017-2-1-244-267 2500-4247 2541-8564 https://doaj.org/article/faf4121c47ac4d09be2383ee94c55c26 Studia Litterarum, Vol 2, Iss 1, Pp 244-267 (2017) writers’ brigade Central Asia Zoroastrianism Sufism spiritual and cultural traditions ecology deserts White Sea canal Karelia Soviet railways Shklovsky Stalin translation Literature (General) PN1-6790 article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2017-2-1-244-267 2022-12-31T00:28:18Z The aspiration to create a better, fairer world is a central theme in Platonov’s work. In 1927 Maksim Gorky had praised Platonov’s first collection of stories. In the late 1920s and early 1930s Platonov had asked Gorky for help in getting work published. In early 1934, however, Gorky was able to arrange for Platonov to be included in a “brigade” of writers to be sent to Central Asia; the intention was to publish a collective work in celebration of ten years of Soviet Turkmenistan. Platonov first visited Central Asia in 1934 as a member of a “writers’ brigade.” He returned for a longer period in 1935. The main fruit of his visits was the short novel DZHAN, translated into English as SOUL. In terms of plot, the work appears typically Soviet, but Platonov’s concerns are deeper, encompassing profound questions of religion, philosophy, ecology, the importance of tradition and the nature of love. In the story “Among Animals and Plants” (1936) Platonov demonstrates a similar tender concern both for the natural world and for all the oppressed and repressed whose stories will never be told — for those who have been sacrificed in the name of some future utopia. And the story “The Return” (1946) marks Platonov’s renunciation of utopian longing and his most definitive acceptance of the everyday world, with all its imperfections. The article ends with a discussion of some of the difficulties faced by a translator of Platonov — and some of the insights that can arise from the struggle with such difficulties. Article in Journal/Newspaper White Sea Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles White Sea Studia Litterarum 2 1 244 267 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English French Russian |
topic |
writers’ brigade Central Asia Zoroastrianism Sufism spiritual and cultural traditions ecology deserts White Sea canal Karelia Soviet railways Shklovsky Stalin translation Literature (General) PN1-6790 |
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writers’ brigade Central Asia Zoroastrianism Sufism spiritual and cultural traditions ecology deserts White Sea canal Karelia Soviet railways Shklovsky Stalin translation Literature (General) PN1-6790 Robert Chandler BREAD FOR THE SOUL: ANDREY PLATONOV |
topic_facet |
writers’ brigade Central Asia Zoroastrianism Sufism spiritual and cultural traditions ecology deserts White Sea canal Karelia Soviet railways Shklovsky Stalin translation Literature (General) PN1-6790 |
description |
The aspiration to create a better, fairer world is a central theme in Platonov’s work. In 1927 Maksim Gorky had praised Platonov’s first collection of stories. In the late 1920s and early 1930s Platonov had asked Gorky for help in getting work published. In early 1934, however, Gorky was able to arrange for Platonov to be included in a “brigade” of writers to be sent to Central Asia; the intention was to publish a collective work in celebration of ten years of Soviet Turkmenistan. Platonov first visited Central Asia in 1934 as a member of a “writers’ brigade.” He returned for a longer period in 1935. The main fruit of his visits was the short novel DZHAN, translated into English as SOUL. In terms of plot, the work appears typically Soviet, but Platonov’s concerns are deeper, encompassing profound questions of religion, philosophy, ecology, the importance of tradition and the nature of love. In the story “Among Animals and Plants” (1936) Platonov demonstrates a similar tender concern both for the natural world and for all the oppressed and repressed whose stories will never be told — for those who have been sacrificed in the name of some future utopia. And the story “The Return” (1946) marks Platonov’s renunciation of utopian longing and his most definitive acceptance of the everyday world, with all its imperfections. The article ends with a discussion of some of the difficulties faced by a translator of Platonov — and some of the insights that can arise from the struggle with such difficulties. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Robert Chandler |
author_facet |
Robert Chandler |
author_sort |
Robert Chandler |
title |
BREAD FOR THE SOUL: ANDREY PLATONOV |
title_short |
BREAD FOR THE SOUL: ANDREY PLATONOV |
title_full |
BREAD FOR THE SOUL: ANDREY PLATONOV |
title_fullStr |
BREAD FOR THE SOUL: ANDREY PLATONOV |
title_full_unstemmed |
BREAD FOR THE SOUL: ANDREY PLATONOV |
title_sort |
bread for the soul: andrey platonov |
publisher |
A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2017-2-1-244-267 https://doaj.org/article/faf4121c47ac4d09be2383ee94c55c26 |
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White Sea |
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White Sea |
genre |
White Sea |
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White Sea |
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Studia Litterarum, Vol 2, Iss 1, Pp 244-267 (2017) |
op_relation |
http://studlit.ru/2017-2-1/Chandler.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/2500-4247 https://doaj.org/toc/2541-8564 doi:10.22455/2500-4247-2017-2-1-244-267 2500-4247 2541-8564 https://doaj.org/article/faf4121c47ac4d09be2383ee94c55c26 |
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https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2017-2-1-244-267 |
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