Collective Authorship and Platonov's Socialist Realism

Katharine Mansfield Holt

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This article argues that Platonov’s relationship to collective authorship is a rich and productive line of inquiry for Platonov studies because: 1) he spent much of his career negotiating his position vis-à-vis the theory and practices of literary collectives; and 2) this approach offers insight into texts that were produced spe- cifically for collectively authored volumes or republished in them during Platonov’s lifetime. The article then presents readings of two such texts, ‘Takyr’ and ‘Odukhotvorennye liudi’, against the collectively authored volumes in which they appeared, Aiding-Giunler: Al’manakh k desiatiletiiu Turkmenistana, 1924-1934 (1934) and Stalinskoe plemia (1944). Ultimately the article suggests that when these so-called “socialist realist” texts are read synchronically, rather than just dia- chronically against the wholes of Platonov’s oeuvre or the Russian canon, they take on extra life, as the uniqueness of Platonov’s voice within the collective emerges. Keywords: A.P. Platonov; Socialist Realism; ‘Takyr’; ‘Odukhotvorennye liudi’; Collective Authorship; Aiding-Giunler
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)57-83
JournalRussian Literature
Volume73
Issue number1/2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013

Keywords

  • A.P. Platonov; Socialist Realism; ‘Takyr’; ‘Odukhotvorennye liudi’; Collective Authorship; Aiding-Giunler

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