Unforgettable poetics
Andrei Platonov’s Chevengur
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The first chapter of Chevengur is one of the most beautiful texts ever written in Russian literature. Platonov is a great literary figure. He has a gift for goiing into detail, and with him, every sentence appears to be the only one that is possible. The “style of the 1920s” helps him achieve representational perfection, enabling him to create light, vibrant compactness. To this gift is added the patience of the stylist, who leaves nothing to vagueness, but drives everything forward until it has been given the final finishing touch. However, what we have here is not a precise, exact, objective representation of reality. No: Platonov does not place his skill in the service of clarity, the patient painting of colours, the perfect grounding. Quite the contrary: he loves diffuseness and subtle shading.
(Osteuropa 8-10/2016, pp. 405–408)