Demiurges and apocalyptics of A. Platonov (on the problem of Platonov and gnosticism)

The key question in the discussion about Platonov is the evolution of the writer's worldview, the correlation of utopia and dystopia in it. Platonov's early works show the influence of N. Fedorov's progressivist utopia, whose gnostic origin has been proved. The tragic irony of the middle period can be interpreted as a dialogue of the utopian and anti-utopian thinking types; later the writer turns to traditionalism. Classifying Platonov's novels to the novel- myth is to ignore their basis: the dialogue of utopia and dystopia. The mature Platonov uses myths and utopias as a material for building an original artistic world. The pathos of the novels Chevengur and Schastlivaya Moskva [Happy Moscow], the stories "Kotlovan" [Pit] and "Yuvenil'noye more" [Juvenile Sea] is in demythologiza-tion. The "Fedorov key" cannot be applied to the late Platonov: utopian consciousness is a monologue, it is incompatible with tragic irony and existential lyricism. Classifying the late Platonov to Russian gnostics seems doubtful. Platonov overcame the gnostic matrix on which Fedorov's project rests. Fedorov's way is from religion to utopia, Platonov's way is quite the opposite. Bringing excess "charm" to uniformity is the Promethean complex of the youth, "wounds of irony" are the middle of the way, regret is a sign of wisdom, of acquired experience. The motives and the characters of Platonov's mature works create the meta-plot of a break-splitting, of an impaired life cycle and frustration.

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