Andrei Platonov and Contemporary CriticismRuss 335 Winter
2003 Robert
Bird Foster
411, 4-2179 Class
meets W 3-5:30 Andrei Platonov
has not only been called the greatest Russian prose writer of the twentieth
century, he has also served as the inspiration for many of the most
challenging critical approaches being developed in late- and post-Soviet
literary scholarship, which are stimulated by the many paradoxes in his work: Writing in the tradition of Pushkin, Gogol,
Dostoevsky, Leskov, Turgenev, etc. etc., Platonov deformed the Russian
literary language and cannot spawn direct offspring; Master of the Russian language, revealer of
unsuspected depth of meaning, Platonov’s style sometimes seems semi-literate,
sub-standard, and basically impossible; An engaged observer of political and
ideological life, Platonov developed an ambiguous, indefinable ideological
position between humanism and de-humanization in Soviet society; Author of a cryptic but profound metaphysical
system who can never be systematized. We will
read Platonov’s major works together with a selection of critical responses
by authors ranging from Joseph Brodsky to American Slavists. At issue are the
most basic questions about writing, its relationship to corporeal and social
life, its philosophical import, and its internal structure. Course
objectives: 1. To
gain a familiarity with and appreciation for Platonov’s distinctive literary
voice. 2. To
examine the range of critical responses to this remarkable phenomenon. 3. To
negotiate our own responses to Platonov in light of these responses. Course
requirements: Platonov
is an author to be read and re-read, and so the majority of our time will be
spent discussing our readings from him and his critics (Class Participation
30%). I will ask each credit student to prepare two short presentations or
essays (on the text, on critical approaches, or on some other topic to be approved;
30% each). To ensure a good discussion in a small group, you are asked to
attend all class periods (Attendance 10%). Text: Tentative
schedule: Week 1
(Jan. 8): Introduction Introduction.
Early Platonov and Soviet literature. Natal’ia
Kornienko, “Nasledie A. Platonova – ispytanie dlia filologicheskoi nauki,“ Strana
filosofov 4: 117-37 Week 2
(Jan. 15): Platonov’s language Platonov:
“Epifanskie shliuzy,” 23-60. Critical
reading: Thomas Seifrid, “Learning the Language of Being (1926-1927),” Andrei
Platonov: Uncertainties of Spirit (Cambridge, 1992) 56-98. Week 3
(Jan. 22): Platonov and totalitarianism (1) Platonov:
Kotlovan 507-59. Critical
reading: Mikhail Geller, Andrei Platonov v poiskakh schast’ia, 266-97. Week 4
(Jan. 29): Platonov and totalitarianism (2) Platonov,
Kotlovan 559-614 Critical
reading: Joseph Brodsky, “Catastrophes in the Air,” Less Than One,
268-303. Week 5
(Feb. 5; new time TBA): Platonov as philosopher Platonov,
Kotlovan 614-42 Critical
reading: Elena Tolstaia-Segal, “Ideologicheskie konteksty Platonova,” Andrei
Platonov: Mir tvorchestva 47-83. Week 6
(Feb. 12): Platonov’s creative
universe in Russian literature Platonov,
Chevengur 63-147 Critical
Reading: Sergei Bocharov, “Veshchestvo sushchestvovaniia,” O
khudozhestvennykh mirakh. Week 7 Platonov:
Chevengur 147-290 Critical
reading: David Bethea, The Shape of Apocalypse in Modern Russian Fiction.
Princeton: Princeton UP, 1989: 145-85; Valery Podoroga, “The Eunuch of the
Soul: Positions of Reading and the World of Platonov.” The South Atlantic
quarterly. 90, no. 2, (Spring 1991): 357-408. Week 8 Platonov:
Chevengur 291-382 Critical
Reading: Eliot Borenstein, “Chevengur,” Men without Women:
Masculinity and Revolution in Russian Fiction, 1917-1929 (Durham and
London, 2000) 225-63. Week 9 Platonov:
Chevengur 382-506 Critical
reading: L. V. Karasev, “Dvizhenie po sklonu (veshchestvo i pustota v mire Andreia
Platonova),” Veshchestvo literatury (Moscow, 2001) 127-62. Week 10 Platonov:
“Odukhotvorennye liudi” Critical
reading: Semenova, “Rossiia i russkii chelovek v pogranichnoi situatsii: Voennye rasskazy Andreia Platonova.” Strana filosofov 4: 138-52. |