Andrei Platonov, Sredi zhivotnykh i rastenii [Among Animals and Plants]

Robert Chandler (Queen Mary, University of London)

Ed. by Neil Cornwell, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 2.2.2.00: Post-1917 Writing and Culture in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, 1917-present.
Vol. editors: Neil Cornwell (University of Bristol), Roman Koropeckyj (University of California, Los Angeles), Andrei Rogatchevski (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1936

Places

Russia (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story

Resources

In the spring of 1935 Lazar Moiseevich Kaganovich, one of Stalin’s most loyal adjutants, was appointed People’s Commissar for Transport. At a ceremony in the Kremlin in July 1935, he awarded medals to a number of railway workers. Soon afterwards Platonov was invited to contribute to a collective volume in praise of the heroism of Soviet railway workers.

In January 1936 Platonov was sent to the industrial Donbas region, to meet a railway station director who had been awarded the Order of Lenin. This led to him writing “Bessmertie” [“Immortality”], a story that won enthusiastic approval at a Writers’ Union meeting held on 10 March. Platonov then received another commission: in late March he was s…

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2151 words

Citation: Chandler, Robert. "Sredi zhivotnykh i rastenii". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 February 2008 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=14444, accessed 20 April 2024.]

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