Malygina, N. (2018). Andrey Platonov and literary Moscow: А. К. Voronsky, A. M. Gorky, В. А. Pilnyak, B. L. Pasternak, Artyom Vesyoly, S. F. Budantsev, V. S. Grossman. Moscow; St. Petersburg: Nestor-Istoriya. (In Russ.)

Abstract

Malygina’s book portrays Andrey Platonov in the context of the literary period in which he was active. Malygina also summarizes the history of the journal Krasnaya Nov, the Krug Publishers, and the Pereval Group. While depicted as particularly close to Pilnyak due to his expressionist tendencies, Platonov, however, remained faithful to the utopian ideal of ‘proletarian literature’ and reserved tongue-incheek comments for Soviet literary aristocrats. Although a fi   ce critic of Soviet reality, Platonov cherished his own ‘Soviet project’ – he envisaged a truly revolutionary, progressive ideal of a genuinely democratic nature. The literary period in question is shown to have a complex structure, unyielding to ideological abstractions.