Andrey Platonov

Tora Lane is as researcher at Södertörn University.

Lane (Södertörn Univ., Sweden) should be commended for taking on a subject as complex as Andrey Platonov (1899–1951), whose ideas, language, and views of history—whether taken individually or together—have challenged readers for decades. Lane examines Platonov's works to see how he reconciles the disastrous effects of the Russian Revolution with its Utopian promise. . . Accordingly, this welcome exegesis of Platonov's works will appeal to those well-acquainted with Platonov and philosophers such as Heidegger, Blanchot, and Bataille and to less-sophisticated students of Russian literature. Her translations are good as are her notes, which appear at the end of each chapter. The ample list of references will lead anyone interested in Platonov to fertile ground for further study. Lane's study will be invaluable to Russianists, historians of the Russian Revolution, and anyone interested in Utopian ideals and their hidden capacity for tyranny. Summing Up: Recommended. Ambitious upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, researchers, and faculty.

• IntroductionA Proletarian Existentialist RealismChevengur and the Movement of the RevolutionThe Foundation Pit and the Problem of TimeHappy Moscow and Universal Love Dzhan: Retrieving the InnerReka Potudan: Love in Existential PovertyThe Ecstasy of Common Being and the Ecstasy of Existence in Common: “Inspired People” and “The Return” Afterword: The Memory of Utopia and the Utopia of MemoryBibliographyAbout the Author