Literary circles in Russia have traditionally placed Platonov's works under the category of realism. In the West, he is considered a modernist by most literary scholars. This study proves, however, that both of these approaches to Platonov's works are misguided. Through careful analysis and comparison between Platonov's novels and those of Bellamy, Wells, Huxley, and Orwell, this study definitively places Platonov's novels within the framework of the Western utopian tradition. / Significantly, Platonov's prose shares with the above mentioned authors the following main themes: scientific and technological progress, the mentality of a new man, individualism versus collectivism, equality, and the effects of ideology on the collective consciousness. The study argues that the utopian dreams and visions of Platonov's early works derive from his critical reception of the most important motifs and concepts in the works by Bellamy and Wells. It also demonstrates how the author's early optimism, in the face of the tragic historical events of post-Revolutionary Russia, gradually transformed into the same disillusionment that characterizes the works of anti-utopian writers such as Orwell and Huxley. Tracing the parallel dystopian themes and techniques in the works of Platonov, Orwell, and Huxley, this study attempts to lay the foundation for a new interpretation of Platonov's art. / Using a comparative approach, this study not only shows the similarity between Platonov's imagery, conceptualization, and motifs and those of other writers in the utopian tradition, but also demonstrates how Platonov developed and enriched the ideas and literary style within it. / The study concludes that, while Platonov's early works illuminate the existing state of affairs in post-Revolutionary Russia and provide a utopian escape from history, it is his later work which establishes him as an essentially anti-utopian writer, under the strong influence of the novels of Orwell and Huxley. The profound difference between Platonov and his anti-utopian contemporaries, however, is that the Russian writer wrote with the knowledge and experience of having actually lived within the limits of a realized fantasy, that is, in communist Russia. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-08, Section: A, page: 3152. / Major Professor: Nina Efimov. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_77535 |
| Contributors | Novikov, Tatyana Leonid., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 224 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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