Journey to the ruins of Chevengur
The rebirth of Platonov
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Chevengur is more than an anti-utopia and a grotesque, more than an invented space. Chevengur is a state of the soul. Numerous image references have been woven into the fabric of Andrei Platonov’s novel. These traces provide us with a geographical location for the city of Chevengur. Platonov’s novel, with its magical language, is an augury about human catastrophe which came into the world at the wrong moment.
(Osteuropa 8-10/2016, pp. 195–214)