"Andrey Platonov's Novel: ""Chevengur""

The course is dedicated to “Chevengur”, Andrey Platonov's famous and complicated novel about the Russian Revolution. The novel will be interpreted as a compendium and a peculiar philosophical exploration of various forms of utopian thinking and will be used as a perspective to the history of the utopian genre.

After introductory reading of parts of the novel, the first part of the course will juxtapose Platonov’s work to famous literary and philosophical versions of utopian thinking (like Thomas More’s “Utopia”; Fourier’s “Ideal community”; texts of Marx, Engels and Lenin that exemplify the fate of utopia in the communist philosophy and politics, as well as the transformation of the genre into "science-based" project for transformation of society). A following lecture will provide the students with a general overview of the contradictory history of the utopian genre and its branches in the elitist and popular culture. Discussing briefly the birth of anti-utopias and dystopias, the course will pay special attention to the utopian projects of the Russian avant-garde, created during the Revolution and in the times of war communism.

Having this historical context in mind, the second part of the course will focus on close reading of the novel and will handle various problems, such as:

1. The structure of plot, narrative perspective, voice of the narrator, unusual deviations in Platonov’s style and language, structure of metaphors and tropes, etc.

2. The place and meaning of various strange peasant and “stupid” utopias, which are part of the novel’s imaginary world. Here the class will discuss Platonov's attempt to create an absurd meta-utopia (utopia exploring other utopias), which is exemplified in the town of Chevengur – the fictional ‘axis mundi” of sentimental fools.  

3. The novel’s inter-textual references to other important works of the classical Russian literature and to the religious and philosophical/political projects of Russian Cosmism and Biocosmism.  Here the focus of discussion will move toward Platonov’s own metaphysical and “biocosmic” ideas (or illusions) in their dramatic relations to the complex literary work.   

In its third part, the course will return to the present-day and will focus on the critical reception of “Chevengur” in recent decades, paying special attention to some contemporary