The Foundation Pit
| Author | Andrei Platonov |
|---|---|
| Original title | Котлован |
| Language | Russian |
| Genre | Historical fiction |
| Publisher |
|
Publication date | 1987 |
| Publication place | Soviet Union |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 141 |
| ISBN | 978-1590173053 |
The Foundation Pit (Russian: Котлован) is a gloomy symbolical and semi-satirical novel by Andrei Platonov.[1] The plot of the novel concerns a group of workers in the early Soviet Union attempting to dig out a huge foundation pit, on the base of which a gigantic House for the whole Proletariat will be built. The workers dig daily, but they slowly cease understanding meaning in their work; the enormous foundation pit sucks out all their energy.
Along with Yevgeny Zamyatin, Platonov created one of the first state-control dystopias of the 20th century on the creative level of works such as Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Huxley's Brave New World. However, both English novels were published long before a translation of The Foundation Pit became available.
The Foundation Pit is a representation of the conflict that occurred between the individual and the collectivized State in the late 1920s. The only existence a person has is being part of a whole. Due to censorship, The Foundation Pit was not published in the Soviet Union until 1987.
External links
References
- ^ Citation: Bullock, Philip Ross. "Andrei Platonov". The Literary Encyclopedia. 5 January 2004. accessed 29 March 2009.
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