Cover Osteuropa 8-10/2016

In Osteuropa 8-10/2016

Portrayal of a distorted image
Andrei Platonov’s The Foundation Pit

Natal’ja Dužina


Deutsche Fassung

Abstract

At first sight, Platonov’s novel Kotlovan looks like an absurd, surreal, eccentric text. However, on closer examination, it becomes apparent that in many respects, it comes very close the reality of its time. In The Foundation Pit, pathos, madness and cruelty are here not a literary game, but a mirror of a historical reality that is equally emotive, insane and cruel beyond measure.

(Osteuropa 8-10/2016, pp. 339–348)