LECTURE

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WORK OF ANDREY PLATONOV

Robert Chandler, Translator, on 15 November 2003

The speaker believes that the Russian author Andrey Platonov is one of the great writers of the 20^th century but that little is known of him in this country. Joseph Brodsky has acknowledged Platonov as a modern classic.

His work, some of which was held in secret files by the former Soviet Union, has been slowly emerging during the last 20 years. The fact that 1999 was the centenary of his birth provided an opportunity for more attention to be focused on his writings.

The speaker, has in collaboration with others, translated several of Platonov's books. He gave a short outline of Platonov's life and a summary of his works and also read selections from some of his publications.

Platonov was born in 1899 in the provincial city of Voronezh. Shocked by the Russian famine of 1921, Platonov, although trained as an electrical engineer, became involved in land reclamation. After 1926, he began to write seriously using his extensive travels and the suffering he observed as the basis for his work.

Chandler calls him "the bard of the workers and peasants of the Central Russian steppe, of the inarticulate and dispossessed."

Platonov witnessed the changes in Russia, particularly the centralisation and standardisation. He was especially disturbed by the suppression in music of the folk solo tradition and the soft musical instruments. In his book entitled Soul he highlights the importance of music.

The speaker explained some of the difficulties associated with translating Platonov. This was partly due to the fact that he hid 'his sophistication behind an appearance of awkwardness.' "Because Platonov is basically a poet every word and line can pose problems for the translator", he said. There is also a breath of knowledge required since Platonov was an engineer hence the translator must deal with passages on the workings of a steam engine as well as details of the world of nature and particular aspects of human emotions. Furthermore, there is the unusual usage of language. Chandler maintains "Platonov reflects the chaos of his own time by creating a language that is an incongruous, yet remarkably expressive, blend of opposites…"

Chandler explained why Platonov had had such difficulty over his work. "Much of Platovov's writing is deeply subversive…" consequently Chevengur and The Foundation Pit were not published in Russia until 1988. The thrust of the work, although it dealt frequently with failure and suffering, was the goal of a better world.

Betty Suchar