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Yun Yun Sun. Forms of expression of the author's position in the prose of AP Platonov: 10.01.01 Yun Yun Sun Forms of expression of the author's position in the prose of AP Platonov (Based on the novel "Chevengur"): Dis.... kand. ... cand. philol. Sciences: 10.01.01 Moscow, 2005 166 p. RSL OD, 61:05-10/1131

1. Features of narration and speech characteristics in the novel "Chevengur": a monologue in the form of a dialogue 51

1-1. The word as a dominant in the works of A.P. Platonova 54

1-2. Point of view and its carriers 62

2. The system of characters as one of the ways of expressing the author's position 75

2-1. The phenomenon of duality in the system of characters 78

Chapter III. The plot-compositional organization of the novel "Chevengur" as an extra-subjective form of expressing the author's position 100

1. The novel "Chevengur": from myth to reality, or "and so, and back" 100

1-1. Plato's "little trilogy" 103

1-2. Crossing the border: the principle of establishing a chronotope 116

2. The idea of ​​the novel and the "novel idea" 126

Conclusion 132

List of references 143

Literature, in particular Russian literature, cannot be perceived outside the context of time. Among the writers who fully shared the fate of the "harsh and furious" era of the 20th century, Andrey Platonovich Platonov occupies a special place. His work is dedicated to the disclosure of the "crushing universal secret" - the secret of life and death, the very "substance of existence". A.P. Platonov "and perceived the revolution not only politically, but also philosophically - as a manifestation of the general movement, as the most important step towards the transformation of the world and man" 1 . V.V. Vasiliev, characterizing the artist's work, saw in his works not only the image of the tragic fate of the people in the revolutionary era, but also "the painful ideological drama of the artist himself, deeply hidden in the comically foolish style."

In the second half of the 1920s, A.P. Platonov wrote a number of major works in a short period. Among them, the novel "Chevengur" and the story "The Pit", being the creative pinnacle of the young writer, occupy a central place in the heritage of A.P. Platonov 3 . In the novel "Chevengur" the features of the style and artistic thinking of A.P. Platonov. No wonder researchers call this work “precious crystal” (SP Semenova), “creative laboratory” (V.Yu. Vyugin), “artistic result” (E.G.

1 Trubima L.A. Russian literature of the XX century. M., 2002. S. 199.

Vasiliev V.V. Andrey Platonov. Essay on life and creativity. M., 1990. S. 190.

Many Russian and foreign researchers agree that The Pit and Chevengur are the culmination of young Platonov's talent. See, for example, Vyugin V.Yu. "Chevengur" and "Pit": the formation of Platonov's style in the light of textual criticism. SFAP. Issue. 4. M, 2000; Langerak T., Andrey Platonov. Amsterdam, 1995; Seifrid T. Andrei Platonov - Uncertainties ogsprit. Cambridge University Press, 1992; Teskey A. Platonov and Fyodorov, The Influence of Christian Philosophy on a Soviet Writer. Avebury, 1982, etc.

Mushchenko) of the writer's work.

The fate of the novel "Chevengur" was dramatic. As is known, "Chevengur" was not published during the life of the writer. The novel became fully known to a wide range of readers in Russia in the second half of the 1980s. Until that time, only in the early 70s were some fragments and excerpts from the novel published.

Readers in the West got acquainted with this work earlier than in the homeland of the writer. In 1972, in Paris, the novel "Chevengur" was published in Russian with a foreword by M.Ya. Geller. Although this edition did not contain the first part of the novel (“The Origin of the Master”), it can be said that A.P. became famous with this publication. Platonov abroad. The full text of the novel was first published in London in 1978 in English, and only ten years later did it appear in Russia 5 .

Despite the fact that in the Soviet Union readers were deprived of the opportunity to get acquainted with the literary heritage of A.P. Platonov, some researchers had the opportunity to access the author's archive, which preserved many letters, notes, manuscripts known only to the people closest to the writer. Although "Chevengur" was not published in the Soviet Union, it was known, apparently, in a handwritten version, although not to a very wide circle of readers. For example, L.A. Shubin in the article "Andrei Platonov", which appeared in 1967 in the journal "New World", highlights the work of A.P. Platonov, based on specific texts, including those that were not

4 As is known, some fragments of the novel were published during the life of the writer.
For example, "The Origin of the Master"; "Adventure"; "Death of Kopenkin". However, when
with all the efforts of A.P. Platonov (for example, an appeal to A.M. Gorky), the whole novel is not
came out into the light. In the 1970s, the Kuban magazine (1971, No. 4) published one of
final episodes entitled "The Death of Kopenkin", in the same year placed another
one excerpt from Journey with an Open Heart in Literary Gazette
(1971. 6 Oct.).

5 In 1988, "Chevengur" was published in the journal "Friendship of Peoples" (No. 3, 4). AT
In the same year, the full text of the novel was published as a separate edition (with an introduction, Art. S.G.

known to the reader of that time, from early publications to critical notes of the writer. In addition to already published works (stories), L.A. Shubin often mentions the novel "Chevengur". In this article, the scientist asks the question, “whether public consciousness, filling in the gaps and dashes of its knowledge, will be able to perceive this new organically and holistically, as “a chapter between chapters, as an event between events” 6 . It is thanks to the work of L.A. Shubin, a big gap in the history of Russian literature began to be filled. The article "Andrei Platonov" marked the beginning of the "real study" of A.P. Platonov, in particular, the study of the novel "Chevengur".

Following L.A. Shubin in the 70s, many researchers both in Russia and abroad began to actively study the novel "Chevengur". The researchers considered the novel from a variety of perspectives, while two approaches to the study of the work were noted: the first approach is aimed at studying the context of the work (in conjunction with the political situation, philosophical and natural science theories, etc.), the second approach is aimed at studying the poetics of the writer.

At the initial stage, the researchers preferred the first approach, that is, the study of A.P. Platonov in the context of the socio-political situation of the 20s. Particular attention was paid to the philosophical system of the writer, the influence of various Russian and foreign philosophers on its formation. Many in the novel "Chevengur" (not only in the novel, but in general in the artistic system of A.P. Platonov) noted the influence of N.F. Fedorov: his ideas about the transformation of the world, about overcoming death, about immortality, about the victory of man over natural forces, about human brotherhood, about building a “common home” and so on. This trend

Semenova). Shubin L.A. The search for the meaning of separate and common existence. M., 1987. S. 188.

was especially relevant from the early 70s to the mid 80s. The ideological, philosophical context of the writer is studied in the works of N.V. Kornienko, Sh. Lyubushkina, N.M. Malygina, S.G. Semenova, A. Tesky, E. Tolstoy-Segal, V.A. Chalmaeva and others.

Shifting emphasis to the study of the poetics of the novel "Chevengur"
observed relatively later, rather, after the publication of the novel in
Russia. Researchers in this field can be divided into two groups.
groups: the first was interested mainly in thematic
aspects of A.P. Platonov; the second was attracted by the problem
unique form of his work. The first group includes
researchers interested in aesthetic issues,

thematic, mythopoetic, anthropological; to the second - considering, first of all, the problems of linguistic features, narration, point of view, structure and architectonics of the work. Despite the fact that these two groups of researchers had a different starting position, they had one common goal: to reveal and highlight the author's position in the work of A.P. Platonov, who is sometimes even "unknown to himself."

In the 80s, a number of works devoted to the creative biography of A.P. Platonov appeared, not only in Russia, but also abroad. In 1982, two significant works were published, in which separate chapters are devoted to the novel "Chevengur". A book by V.V. Vasilyev "Andrei Platonov: Essay on Life and Work", a monograph by M.Ya. Geller "Andrei Platonov in search of happiness". V.V. Vasiliev analyzes the "secret" utopian ideal of A.P. Platonov, shows the formation of the writer, based on facts from his biography, and the scientist reveals some of the characteristic features of the artist's poetics. As the titles of the chapters (“Platonov vs. Platonov”, “Projects and Reality”) show, the scientist noticed the initial

contradiction and conflict in the artistic conception of the world by A.P. Platonov. V.V. Vasiliev emphasizes the peculiarity of the author's position as follows: A.P. Platonov, as a proletarian writer, "is organically alien to the position "above the people", "above history" 7 - he is moving towards the future from history, with the people." Thus, highly appreciating the nationality of the writer's work, V.V. Vasiliev considers A.P. Platonov "the true heir and continuer of the tradition of Russian

literature".

M.Ya. Geller in the chapters titled "Faith"; "Doubt"; "The Temptation of Utopia"; "Complete collectivization"; "Happiness or Freedom"; "The New Socialist Man", which show the change in the attitude of the writer to his time and ideal, outlines the literary route of A.P. Platonov from a young communist and aspiring writer to a mature master. The scientist showed particular interest in the novel "Chevengur". Referring the novel "Chevengur" to the menippea genre, M.Ya. Geller defines it for the first time as an "adventure novel", for which the "adventure of ideas" is of great importance 9 . The scientist raised a number of questions that relate to the ways and forms of expressing the author's position and are still relevant: the question of the genre, the plot-compositional structure of the novel and its context, etc.

Characterizing the work of A.P. Platonov, literary critics unanimously call him “the most philosophical” (V. Chalmaev), “the most metaphysical” (S.G. Semenova) writer in Russian literature of the 20th century. V.V. Agenosov considers Chevengur "one of the pinnacles of the Soviet

7 Vasiliev V.V. Andrey Platonov. M. 1982 (1990) S. 95.

Vasiliev V.V. Ibid., p. 118. About A.P. Platonov, see also: Malygina N.M. Aesthetics of Andrey Platonov. Irkutsk, 1985, pp. 107-118; Skobelev V.P. On the national character in Platonov's prose of the 20s // Creativity of A. Platonov: Articles and messages. Voronezh, 1970.

Geller M. Ya. Andrey Platonov in search of happiness. Paris, 1982 (M., 1999). S. 188.

philosophical novel” and rightly writes about the polyphonism inherent in the novel: “if this idea” (utopian) were “the main and only one”, then “Platonov would not need to write Chevengur, it would be enough to create the Pit” 11. E.A. Yablokov, supporting this tradition, considers Chevengur as a "novel of questioning", a novel of "last questions". The researcher notes the difficulty of determining the author's position, since often "it is not clear how the author himself relates to what he depicts" 12 .

T. Seyfried defines "Chevengur" not only as a dialogue between the writer and Marxism and Leninism, but also as "a novel about ontological questions" 13 . Emphasizing the ambivalence of the author's position, the scientist refers the novel to the genre of meta-utopia (G.S. Morson's term) 14 . The Dutch researcher T. Langerak also considers the ambivalence of the novel to be a distinctive feature of A.P. Platonov. According to the scientist, A.P. Platonov manifests itself not only at the structural level, but also "penetrates all levels of Chevengur" 15 .

Traditionally, many researchers resort to a mythopoetic approach, paying special attention to the “mythological consciousness” in the novel by A.P. Platonov and the archetypes of Platonic images and motifs. This tradition is still relevant and one of the main ones in the study of the poetics of the writer. The mythopoetic approach received a multifaceted development in the works of N.G. Poltavtseva, M.A. Dmitrovskaya, Yu.G. Pastushenko, X. Günther and others.

0 Agenosov V.V. Soviet philosophical novel. M. 1989. S. 144. 11 Ibid. S. 127.

Yablokov E. A. Hopeless sky (introduction, article) // Platonov A. Chevengur. M., 1991. C.8.

Seifrid T. Andrei Platonov - Uncertainties of sprit. Cambridge University Press, 1992. 14 Ibid. From 131.

Langerak T. Andrei Platonov: Materials for a biography 1899-1929. Amsterdam, 1995, p. 190.

In the 90s, especially after the appearance of the monograph by N.V. Kornienko "Here and Now", the balance of philosophical-historical, linguistic and literary approaches to the study of A.P. Platonov |6 . In this work, N.V. Kornienko, based on textual research, traces the writer's creative path to the novel "Chevengur". Having defined the structure of the novel as "polyphonic", she sees in this the difficulty of determining the author's position.

Many of the writer's texts were reconstructed and published during these years thanks to the efforts of scientists. Dissertation studies have appeared that examine the poetics of the works of A.P. Platonov from different points of view: mythopoetic (V.A. Kolotaev, Ya.V. Soldatkina); language (M.A. Dmitrovskaya, T.B. Radbil); anthropological (K.A. Barsht, O. Moroz), etc. At the same time, serious attempts were made to analyze the textual analysis of the novel "Chevengur". In the thesis of V.Yu. Vyugin's textual analysis is combined with the study of the creative history of the novel "Chevengur" |7 . Comparing the novel in different aspects with its first version "The Builders of the Country", the researcher notes the figurativeness and conciseness of the form and content of "Chevengur" compared to its previous version. Among the works on Chevengur, the monograph by E.A. Yablokov, where materials relating to the novel are presented and systematized.

In addition, not only in Moscow (IMLI), in St. Petersburg (IRLI), but also in Voronezh, the writer's homeland,

16 Kornienko N.V. Text history and biography of A.P. Platonov (1926-1946) // Here and
Now. 1993 No. 1.M, 1993.

17 Vyugin V.Yu. "Chevengur" by Andrei Platonov (to the creative history of the novel). Dis.
...can. philol. Sciences, IRLSchPushkinsky Dom) RAS, St. Petersburg, 1991; also see: Vyugin V.Yu.
From observations on the manuscript of the novel Chevengur // TAP 1. St. Petersburg, 1995; Story A.
Platonov "Builders of the country". To the reconstruction of the work // From the creative
heritage of Russian writers of the XX century. SPb., 1995.

conferences dedicated to the work of A.P. Platonov, as a result of which the collections "Country of Philosophers of Andrey Platonov" were published (issues 1-5); "The Creativity of Andrey Platonov" (issue 1.2) and others. In particular, the conference held at IMLI in 2004 was entirely devoted to the novel "Chevengur". This shows the unrelenting interest of researchers in this novel, which can unconditionally be attributed to the highest artistic achievements of A.P. Platonov.

However, despite the attention of literary critics to the work of A.P. Platonov, many questions still remain unresolved. Firstly, although Platonists have been actively engaged in textual research in recent years, there is still no canonical text of the novel "Chevengur". Therefore, when studying a work, one must keep in mind that there are different versions of the text 19 . Secondly, the opinions of researchers regarding the interpretation of the author's position, individual episodes, even phrases of the work often diverge. For these reasons, the coverage of the author's position in the work of A.P. Platonov deserves special attention and special study. Thus, with all the literary interest in the novel "Chevengur", the problem of the author's position is still one of the most debatable. Understanding this problem opens up new perspectives for understanding a number of fundamental issues of A.P. Platonov, in particular, when studying the so-called chain of novel works of the writer

18 Yablokov E.A. On the shore of the sky Andrey Platonov's novel "Chevengur". SPb., 2001.

19 In this regard, the literary fate of The Pit turned out to be happier than
"Chevengur". In 2000, an academic edition of the story was published,
prepared by the staff of IRLI (Pushkin House). All further links to
the main text of the story "The Pit" is given according to this edition, indicating the pages in
round brackets. Platonov A. Pit, St. Petersburg, Nauka, 2000; If it's about
"Chevengur", then there are two more or less "mass editions": 1) Platonov A.P.
Chevengur. M: Fiction, 1988. 2) Platonov A.P. Chevengur. M.:
Higher School, 1991. Between these editions there are almost no textual
discrepancies. Further, all references to the main text of the novel "Chevengur" are given according to
second edition with page numbers in parentheses.

("Chevengur", "Pit", "Happy Moscow"), which are a trilogy of "utopian project" A.P. Platonov.

In this way, relevance of the dissertation is determined by the increased interest of researchers in the problem of the author's position in works of art and the insufficient study of A.P. Platonov in this theoretical aspect.

The main material of the study served as the novel "Chevengur". The dissertation compares the novel "Chevengur" with the story "The Foundation Pit" and the novel "Happy Moscow", which made it possible to identify typological patterns and emphasize the originality of the main work of A.P. Platonov.

Scientific novelty of the research due to the fact that the text of the novel "Chevengur" is analyzed for the first time as an artistic whole in the chosen theoretical aspect. The dissertation deals syncretically with subjective and non-subjective forms of expressing the author's position and comprehends their relationship with the philosophical and aesthetic position of the author. The works under study (“Chevengur”, “Pit”, “Happy Moscow”) are considered for the first time as a novel trilogy.

Purpose of the dissertation - to reveal the features of the poetics of A.P. Platonov through the study of the specific forms of the artistic embodiment of the ideals of the writer in his work.

To achieve this goal, the following tasks are solved : 1. Theoretically comprehend the problem of the author and the author's position:

Clarify and draw a terminological distinction between the concepts of "author", "image of the author", "author's position", "point of view";

Conventionally, we will attribute three works by A.P. Platonov ("Chevengur", "Pit", "Happy Moscow") to the novel genre.

work.

2. Analyze the novel "Chevengur" in the selected theoretical
aspect, based on the correlation of subjective and non-subjective forms
expressions of the author's position. For this:

consider the forms of narration in the novel "Chevengur";

reveal ways of expressing different "points of view" in the novel;

to characterize the system of characters, with special attention to the phenomenon of "duality" as a form of revealing the author's position, as well as the use of dialogical relations in the work;

To study the plot-compositional structure of the novel as a "small trilogy", to consider the features of the chronotope of the work.

3. consider the artistic forms of expression of the author's position and
identify the relationship between the forms of embodiment of the author's position and
author's ideals.

Methodology and specific research methodology determined by the theoretical aspect and the specific material of the study. The methodological basis of the work is the works of Russian and foreign scientists on the problems of the author and the hero (M.M. Bakhtin, V.V. Vinogradov, V.V. Kozhinov, B.O. Korman, Yu.M. Lotman, N.D. Tamarchenko and others), style, narration, correlation of points of view (N. Kozhevnikova, J. Jennet, B.A. Uspensky, V. Schmid, F, Shtanzel, etc.). The dissertation takes into account the results of research on the problems of the author's position in the work of A.P. Platonov (V.V. Agenosov, JV Bocharova, V.Yu. Vyugin, M.Ya. Geller, M.A. Dmitrovskaya, N.V. Kornienko, V. Rister, T. Seyfried, E. Tolstoy-Segal, A A. Kharitonova, L. A. Shubina, E. A. Yablokova and others).

The work uses comparative-historical and genetic

methods that allow revealing the philosophical and aesthetic basis of the writer's work in the context of the era. The use of the principles of the structural method is due to the need to study the means of expressing the position of the author in the text.

The practical value of the dissertation due to the fact that the materials and results of the study, as well as its methodology, can be used in the development of teaching aids and in conducting classes on the history of Russian literature of the 20th century and the work of A.P. Platonov at the university and school.

Approbation. The main provisions of the study were discussed at
postgraduate seminar of the Department of Russian Literature of the XX century. Moscow State Pedagogical University,
tested in presentations at two international conferences
(“The legacy of V.V. Kozhinov and current problems of criticism,
literary criticism, history of philosophy” (Armavir, 2002), “VI
International scientific conference dedicated to the 105th anniversary of
birth of A.P. Platonov” (Moscow, 2004)) and at the interuniversity
conference (“IX Sheshukov Readings” (2004)). Key points
dissertations are presented in four publications. *

Thesis structure determined by the purpose of the study and the tasks. The dissertation consists of an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion, a list of references and a summary in English. The total volume of work is 166 pages. The list of references includes 230 titles.

The problem of the author and the author's position in modern literary criticism

In antiquity and the Middle Ages, the author played the role of only "a medium, an intermediary, connecting an impersonal creative force with an audience" . According to Yu.M. Lotman, before the era of romanticism, especially in the Middle Ages, each culture created in its model a type of person “whose behavior is completely predetermined by a system of cultural codes”, and the author simply needed to sum up the “general rules of behavior ideally embodied in the actions of a certain person”,2 which has its own biography. If the author performed his role well as a chronicler, then, in principle, it did not matter what personality or position the author of this work had, most importantly, he neutrally and objectively described in his work the general life ideal of that society. Thus, until the 17th-18th centuries. the creative personality of the author “was limited” and “fettered by the requirements (norms, canons) of already established genres and styles.”3 The author had a universal and “common face”, he was present in his work in a hidden and forgotten form, yielding his subjectivity to the canon of the society of that time.

German classical rationalism also emphasized the power of abstract truth over the subject. In Hegel's Aesthetics, one of the most important theses is the coincidence of the author's personality, i.e., subjectivity, with "true objectivity" in the depiction of an object. Hegel substantiates the idea of ​​the unity of the objective and subjective principles of a work of art, therefore the problem of the author in Hegel does not know contradiction.

The flourishing of romanticism, the essence of which lies in the full disclosure of the unique uniqueness of the subject and the endless emphasis on its role, forced to break the long “unequal balance” between the subject and the object, i.e., the author and the subject depicted by him. In the poetics of romanticism, creativity is “realized as the embodiment of the “spirit of authorship””5. Now, in the space of the work, the main, and the only, aesthetic event becomes the "self-realization of the author", as a result of which the work of art acquires the character of a monologue or confession of one subject. So, the emergence of romanticism and sentimentalism radically changed the idea of ​​the role of the author in literature. The work began to be perceived as the realization of individual creative power.

With the development of realism in the 19th century. The problem of the author as a subject has entered a new stage. The goal of a realistic work is a complete reproduction of the life and reality of the new time, in contrast to romanticism or sentimentalism, in the center of which is the extreme expansion of the personal principle. The variety of depicted life did not give the author the opportunity to delve into his own experience and stay there. In this complex and confusing world of a realistic work, the author-subject could not find a suitable place for himself, the author "with his voice and position was somehow lost"6. Therefore, the dominant feature of the work is not the author's genius, not his personal beginning, but the generality, abstractness and lifelikeness of the work itself. This is the non-authorial, purely objective nature of realistic literature. But on the other hand, any work of art is the creation of the author, as a result of which it is inevitably connected in one way or another with the personality of the author. Thus, the author's principle recedes into the background, and the problem of the author as a literary criticism acquires a new (more precisely, modern) sound in a more complex semiotic sense.

Against this historical background, the question is raised about the “presence” of the author in the work, or vice versa, his “disappearance” from the work: the idea of ​​“immanent” authorship arises, “that is, e. the possibility and necessity of the reader's and researcher's reconstruction of the "organizing artistic will" from the composition and structure of the aesthetic reality created by it"7. This means that there is a need to clarify the difference between a real and an abstract author (the image of the author or other subjects), i.e. masked by the real author and the author as a historical figure. Thus, at the beginning of the 20th century, the problem of the author (and the hero) becomes relevant again. This is closely connected with those epoch-making crisis problems of our time, which are reflected in all areas of science and culture. The intelligentsia faced the fundamental problem for the philosophy of the 20th century of "man" as a "subject", the problem of alienation and dehumanization of man as an individual. Against such a dramatic historical background, interest arises in the author's principle, which is perceived as an omnipotent and creative being, at least in the artistic world.

In Russian literary criticism, interest in the problem of the author's principle developed intensively in the 1920s. The revolution destroyed the existing social system and made us turn again to the problem of man as the only being who independently acts and answers to History. The role of the author and the character in literary works also changes. People are "thrown out of their biographies", the personality as the main face of the plot seems to have disappeared. In this regard, the hero as a subject loses its meaning in the space of the work, the role of the author is also weakened.

The category “image of the author”, which, unlike the real author, is present in the work as “normative linguistic consciousness”, was first introduced into literary criticism by V.V. Vinogradov. Based on the well-known system of F. Saussure "language - speech (langue - parole)", assuming that each speech reflects the general structure of the language, V.V. Vinogradov argues that “in each individual creativity, the general properties and processes of language development are revealed more fully and sharper”9. Therefore, any fiction, according to Vinogradov, is a normative linguistic microcosm, reflecting the general essence of the development of the normative linguistic macrocosm of a given era. In this macrocosm (that is, in a common language) there is a common normative linguistic consciousness that prevails over every speaker. The language of fiction as a “microcosm of the macrocosm of a common language” must have such a linguistic “normative consciousness” that it is more static and more abstract than the casual speaking subject of a given work (the real author). The bearer of this consciousness has no subjective ideas and experiences of the speaker.

Forms of embodiment of the author's position: subjective and non-subjective

In fiction, especially in prose, except for an autobiographical work (often in it), the author cannot be directly in the text. The essence of the author is determined by his "externality", as a result of which he is always "mediated" in the text - by subjective or non-subjective forms. As for the forms of the presence of the author in the work, they are very diverse. The main "depicting" subjective forms of expressing the author's position in a prose work are the "image of the author", the narrator, the narrator, or, using the terms of modern Western (especially German) literary criticism, the "implicit author", the narrator 29, etc. With these different "speaking" Forms are closely related to the problem of point of view (B.A. Uspensky), the words “one’s own and someone else’s” (M.M. Bakhtin), that is, the problem of narration and style.

“The image of the author”, “narrator”, “narrator” - until now, literary critics interpret these terms ambiguously, sometimes even contradictory. Often the very concept of "author" is confused with these concepts. For example, B.O. Korman "author" is the subject (carrier) of consciousness, "the expression of which is the whole work or their totality" 30 . The main position of the researcher is formulated as follows: "the subject of consciousness is the closer to the author, the more it is dissolved in the text and invisible in it" . Here, the limits between the real author and the rest of the “subjects of consciousness” are not clearly demarcated. According to B.O. Korman, “as the subject becomes the object of consciousness, it moves away from the author” (but in our opinion, it moves away only in the external plan). In other words, according to B.O. Korman, "the more the subject of consciousness becomes a certain personality with its own special way of speech, character, biography, the less it expresses the author's position"32. As we can see, one important point in terms of "aesthetic distance" is allowed here: only external distance and dissimilarity between the author and other subjects of consciousness are meant here. It seems to us that the author's artistic intention, or its intentional "outside location", is not taken into account.

The concept of “the image of the author”, which was introduced into literary criticism by V.V. Vinogradov, different scientists invest different content. So, the interpretation of M.M. Bakhtin can be applied not only to fiction. “The image of the author” is one of the forms of existence of the author in his creation, but “unlike the real author, the image of the author created by him is deprived of direct participation in the real dialogue (He can participate in it only through the whole work), but he can participate in the plot of the work and act in the depicted dialogue with the characters "(our italics). Here the secondary nature of this image and its difference from the real author are emphasized. This means that there is a certain hierarchical system: a “real author”, who cannot express direct speech and cannot exist as an image; "author image" created by the primary author. This image can be located in the space of the work, it is freer and more mobile than the real author; The "hero" created by the real author can deal with the image of the author. The desire of the “primary, formal author” “to intervene in the conversation of the characters” and to contact the depicted world “makes it possible for the author’s image to appear in the field of depiction”34.

In contrast to the concept of "author image", the terms "narrator" and "narrator" receive a more specific definition, although they are also used and interpreted differently in connection with different types of storytelling. Traditionally, researchers believe that the fundamental difference between these two terms lies in the world to which this depicting subject belongs. If he lives in the same world as these characters, then he is the “I-narrator”35. And if the narrator lives outside that world, then “he is the narrator”36. But this definition requires a reservation, since the “I-narrator” can be divided into two categories: the first is the one who lives in the same world and actively participates in events, while his horizons are limited to his own emotions and assessment, the second is simply watching everything that happens from the outside, this time he becomes just a chronicler.

By definition, V.E. Khalizeva, the narrator tells the events from the third person, the narrator - from the first. B.O. Korman defines these concepts according to the degree of their revelation (or solubility) in the text: “the narrator is a speaker who is not identified, not named, dissolved in the text, the “narrator” is a speaker who openly organizes the entire text with his personality.”

Opinion V.V. Kozhinov differs from researchers who see the narrator and the narrator as opposite or different concepts in that for him the narrator is one of the variants of the narrator's existence 8 . The scientist defines the narrator as “a conditional image of a person on behalf of whom the narration is conducted in a literary work”, thanks to which “a “neutral”, “objective” narration is possible, in which the author himself, as it were, steps aside and directly creates pictures of life in front of us. In fiction, according to the researcher, one can find different versions of the existence of the image of the narrator. This, perhaps, is “the image of the author himself, which directly appeals to the mind of the reader” and, of course, this is “the artistic image of the author, which is created in the process of creativity, like all other images of the work.” Very often, a work introduces “a special image of the narrator, who acts as a person separate from the author. This image may be close to the author, or may be very far from him in character and social position.

Features of narration and speech characteristics in the novel "Chevengur": a monologue in the form of a dialogue

Traditionally, in Platonic studies, the author's position is characterized by such terms as "polarity", "ambivalence", "duality", "dichotomy", etc. This assessment of researchers largely depends on the characteristics of the author's attitude to the depicted world. A well-known remark by A.M. Gorky about the nature of the novel "Chevengur" ("lyric-satirical")1 gave direction to the search. The very antinomy of the phrase "lyrical-satirical" explains the difficulty in determining the author's position of this work.

The difficulty of interpreting the text of A.P. Platonov and the definition of the author's position, first of all, lies in the unique language of the writer. Unlike his contemporaries (I.E. Babel, M.M. Zoshchenko, B.A. Pilnyak, E.I. Zamyatin, etc.), according to I.A. Brodsky, A.P. Platonov wrote in "the language of his time". He plunged into the depths of the consciousness of his era, completely subordinating "himself to the language of the era"2. Thanks to the peculiar language and its “wrong charm” (N.I. Gumilevsky), A.P. Platonov was able to achieve his characteristic ambivalence and "excess" of meaning.

The fundamental features of the unique language of the young writer are present in the novel "Chevengur". Firstly, as rightly noted by the first reader of "Chevengur" - G.Z. Litvin-Molotov, the novel is "full of conversations", especially the actual "Chevengur" part of the novel, which consists of dialogues between characters. No wonder A.M. Gorky, after reading the manuscript, offered to remake the novel into a play. This is the thought of A.M. Gorky was "inspired" by the language of A.P. Platonov. According to the great writer, from the stage, from “the lips of intelligent artists, it (the novel) would have sounded excellent”3.

Secondly, despite the fact that the novel is "full of conversations" of the characters, the characters think and speak absolutely "Platonic". In the novel, according to many researchers, the linguistic characteristics of each character, including the narrator, is one of the varieties of the author's own language. The language of the author dominates everything: the language of the characters, the storyline, even the spatio-temporal structure. Or, on the contrary, as L.A. Shubin, the author's speech in the works of A.P. Platonova strives, as to her limit, to the speech of the heroes. In any case, in the novel the language of the different subjects is essentially the same. In other words, the novel could become a monologue of a young writer.

But this is a monologue of a special kind, since the author's position, varying, is embodied in the linguistic dialogue of different characters. The basis for such an interpretation is given by the author himself in the following statement: “My ideals are monotonous and constant. I will not be a writer, if I express only my unchanging ideas, they will not read me. I have to trivialize and vary my thoughts in order to get acceptable works.

Another important feature of the language is the "redundancy" of the meaning: "to live the main life"; "think in your thoughts"; "think in your head"; “to know in the mind”, etc. 5. Perhaps, as E.A. Yablokov, A.P. Platonov is not a given - "it is a process: therefore, every word about the world is true, at best, in part." Because of this, one gets the impression that "not only the characters suffer, but the very language of Platonic prose from the inability to 'speak out'"6. From the inability to "pronounce" there is a "redundancy" of language in A.P. Platonov. Opposite phenomena - "silence" or "lack of words" - occur for the same reason.

In addition to "redundancy", in the language of A.P. Platonov, there is still a well-known antinomic phenomenon - combinations of the incompatible: “words come together that seem to pull in different directions”7, as in the following expressions: “poor but necessary pleasure”; "substance of existence"; "cruel miserable force." It is this phenomenon that contributes to the expression of the "lyrical-satirical" attitude of the author to the depicted.

We must not lose sight of the fact that in the novel not only the oral, but also the "written word" also plays an important role. The forms of written text in "Chevengur" are very diverse and productive: these are documents, protocols, letters, signs, slogans, songs, excerpts from books and even inscriptions on the grave. All these "inserted elements" make the compositional unity of the novel rather conditional, determined primarily by the unity of the author's position. Thus, a kind of fusion of written and oral speech arises as different, albeit closely related, forms of expression of the artist's ideal, his philosophical aesthetic position.

The novel "Chevengur": from myth to reality, or "and so, and back"

Despite the fact that the novel "Chevengur" is in the area of ​​constant attention of researchers, many issues still remain unresolved, including such as the definition of the canonical author's text, the characteristics of the genre, the principles of constructing the chronotope, etc. As rightly noted by V.P. Skobelev, since it is “the plot-forming genus-genre structure that sets the first impetus for artistic activity” 2 , the plot-compositional structure associated with the genre features of the work is of key importance in the study of the author's position.

When studying genre features, it must be borne in mind that the novel as a genre is considered one of the most non-canonical and incomplete in the history of literature, that is, “not built as a reproduction of ready-made, already existing types of the artistic whole,” however, it is precisely because of this that the novel can actively borrow in terms of both form and content in other narrative genres3.

Researchers believe that the "crisis of the novel genre" begins at the end of the 19th century. It has a close relationship with the destruction of the achieved balance in the system "I - the other." At the beginning of the 20th century, this phenomenon "led to the destruction of the 'traditional novel' as an autonomously existing work of art." As is known, in the 1920s, O.E. Mandelstam proclaimed "the end of the novel." By the word “novel”, the writer meant “a compositional, closed, extended and complete narrative about the fate of one person or a whole group of people”5. Therefore, for O.E. Mandelstam "the compositional measure of the novel is a human biography"6. However, the writer's contemporaries could not become the "thematic core" of the novel, since they were "thrown out of their biographies."

Most often, in the works of writers of the 20s, there is a so-called “crisis” of the novel genre, noticed by O.E. Mandelstam. For example, as is known, in the work of B.A. Pilnyak and E.I. Zamyatin's biography of a person does not constitute the compositional structure of the work, it no longer excites the author, now, first of all, the image of the mass becomes the dominant of the work. In their works there is no plot as such, often a novel is a collection of fragments that are not connected with each other. Or, for example, in the works of M. Proust, J. Joyce, J. P. Sartre, not the biography of the hero, but his inner world and "stream of consciousness" become the plot of the novel. However, no matter how paradoxical it may sound, in the 20th century, it was with the “death” and “end of the novel” (i.e., a certain, “classical” stage in its development) that a new era of this genre began, one of the most significant “narrative genres” modernity. Thanks to the artistic experiments of Russian and foreign writers who wanted to create an ideal form for a person who "lost" his biography, the novel in the 20th century. blossomed again as one of the major narrative genres. Now, acquiring new life, the novel is an open genre in its infancy; the essence of the novel genre is not limited to traditional qualities, that is, eventfulness and plot.

In the above context, "Chevengur" as a novel is an interesting object of study, because at first it was written in fragments, and only then designed by the author as a whole, and therefore it seems unconventional in terms of form and content of the novel genre. The chronotope and plot structure of the work are not continuous, but discrete, not linear, but fragmentary, not event-based, but anecdotal. In this regard, the novel is dominated by the cyclical world order characteristic of the mythological worldview: a repeating beginning; the absence of the concept of "beginning and end" not only in the space-time construction, but also in the perception of the characters. Thus, a number of elements of the mythological text are observed in the novel7.

Assuming that the novel "Chevengur" is a small trilogy that has its own artistic patterns in terms of form and content, we will consider its plot and compositional structure in different ways (especially in relation to genre features). Further, we will reveal the role of the novel "Chevengur" in an evolutionary perspective: from "Chevengur" (from a small trilogy) to a large novel trilogy ("Chevengur", "Pit", "Happy Moscow").

Features of the novel "Chevengur"

Platonov is not like anyone else. Everyone who opens his books for the first time is immediately forced to abandon the usual fluency of reading: the eye is ready to glide over the familiar outlines of words, but the mind refuses to keep up with the times. Some force delays the perception of the reader on every word, every combination of words.

And here is not the secret of mastery, but the secret of man, the solution of which, according to Dostoevsky, is the only thing worthy of devoting one's life to it. The heroes of Platonov speak of "proletarian substance" (Platonov himself spoke of "socialist substance"). In these terms, he includes living people. Platonov's idea and man do not merge. The idea does not close the person tightly.

In his works we see precisely the "socialist substance" which strives to build an absolute ideal out of itself. Of what does Platonov's living "socialist substance" consist? Of the romantics of life in the fullest sense of the word. They think in large-scale universal categories, and are free from any manifestations of egoism.

At first glance, it may seem that these are people with asocial thinking, since their mind does not know any social and administrative restrictions. They are unpretentious, they endure the inconveniences of everyday life easily, as if not noticing them at all. Where these people come from, what their past is, it is not always possible to establish, since for Platonov this is not the most important thing. All of them are world changers.

The humanism of these people and the quite definite social orientation of their aspirations lies in the set goal of subordinating the forces of nature to man. It is from them that we must expect the achievement of a dream. It is they who will someday be able to turn fantasy into reality and will not notice it themselves. This type of people is represented by engineers, mechanics, inventors, philosophers, dreamers - people of liberated thought.

Romantic heroes of Platonov are not involved in politics, as such. They regard the completed revolution as a settled political issue. All who did not want it were defeated and swept away. And also because they are not involved in politics, because in the early 1920s the new Soviet state had not yet taken shape, the power and the apparatus of power had taken shape.

The second group of characters are the romantics of the battle, people who formed on the fronts of the civil war. Fighters. Extremely limited natures, such as the era of battles usually produces in droves. Fearless, disinterested, honest, extremely frank. Everything in them is programmed for action. For obvious reasons, it was they, who returned from the front, who enjoyed unconditional trust in the victorious republic and the moral right to leadership positions. They get down to business with the best of intentions and with their inherent energy, but it soon turns out that most of them, in the new conditions, lead in a purely automatic way, as they commanded regiments and squadrons in the war.

Having received posts in management, they did not know how to dispose of them. Lack of understanding of what was happening gave rise to heightened suspicion in them. They are entangled in deviations, excesses, distortions, slopes.

Illiteracy was the soil in which violence flourished. In the novel "Chevengur" Andrei Platonov portrayed just such people.

Having received unlimited power over the county, they decided by order to abolish labor. They reasoned something like this: labor is the cause of people's suffering. Since labor creates material values ​​that lead to property inequality. Therefore, it is necessary to eliminate the root cause of inequality: work. You should feed on what nature gives birth to.

Thus, due to their illiteracy, they come to substantiate the theory of primitive communism. The heroes of Platonov had no knowledge and no past, so they were replaced by faith. Since the thirties, Platonov has been calling us with his special, honest and bitter, talented voice, reminding us that the path of a person, no matter what social and political system he lives in, is always difficult, full of gains and losses.

For Platonov, it is important that man is not destroyed. The writer Andrei Platonov has a lot in common with his characters - truth-seekers: the same belief in the existence of some kind of "plan for a common life", the same dreams of a revolutionary reorganization of all life and no less, as on the scale of all mankind, the universe; the same utopia of the universal collective creativity of life, in the process of which the "new man" and the "new world" are born.

We invite you to get acquainted with one of the most famous works of Andrei Platonovich Platonov. We are talking about a socio-philosophical novel, in the first edition entitled "The Builders of Spring". Today this work is known as "Chevengur". In 1928 Platonov completed "Chevengur". A summary of this novel is presented in our article. Some researchers believe that this work can be included in the "philosophical trilogy", which includes, in addition to it, the stories "Dzhan" and "The Pit".

"Chevengur" begins with a story that every 5 years people had to leave villages for cities or forests due to crop failure. At this time, Zakhar Pavlovich remained alone in the village. Many items passed through his hands during his long life - from frying pans to alarm clocks. However, the hero himself had nothing: no home, no family. One night Zakhar Pavlovich heard the distant whistle of a locomotive. The next morning he went to the city.

Service in the locomotive depot became a new page in the life of Zakhar Pavlovich. Once again, the artful world, which he had long loved, became open to him. The hero decided to stay in this world forever.

Dvanov family

We turn to acquaintance with the Dvanov family, describing a summary. "Chevengur" by Platonov is a work in which some of its members play an important role. In total, 16 children were born in this family, of which only 7 survived. The eighth child was adopted by Sasha. His father, a fisherman, drowned out of interest. He just wanted to find out what happens after death. Adopted Sasha is the same age as Proshka Dvanov. When another twin was born in this family in a famine year, Dvanov sewed a begging bag for the adopted child and sent him to beg.

Sasha went to the cemetery to say goodbye to his father. The adoptee decided that he would pick up a bag of bread, and then dig a dugout for himself near the grave of his father and settle in it, since he did not have a house.

Sasha becomes the son of Zakhar Pavlovich

Let us briefly outline the content of the further events of the novel "Chevengur", the plot of which, as you can see, is quite interesting. After some time, Zakhar Pavlovich asks his son, Proshka, to find Sasha. He announces that he is taking the adopted child as his son.

Zakhar Pavlovich loves his adopted child with all the devotion of old age. Sasha is a trainee at the depot, studying to be a locksmith. He reads a lot in the evenings, and then writes, because at the age of 17 he does not want to leave this world unnamed. However, Sasha feels empty inside her body. Life enters and exits through this void without stopping. Watching his son, Zakhar Pavlovich advises him not to torment himself, because he is already weak.

Zakhar Pavlovich and Sasha become Bolsheviks

Further, in the work, which was created by Andrey Platonov ("Chevengur"), it is said that after a while the war begins, and then the revolution. One night, gunfire is heard in the city. In the morning, Zakhar Pavlovich, together with Sasha, go to the city to find the most serious party and sign up for it. All parties are placed in one building. Zakhar Pavlovich, choosing the best option, walks around the offices. Behind the last door, located at the end of the corridor, only one person is sitting, since the others have gone away to rule. Zakhar Pavlovich asks him if the end of everything will come soon. He replies that socialism will be in a year. Zakhar Pavlovich rejoices and asks to record them with Sasha in this game. Returning home, he explains to the adopted child how he understands Bolshevism. In his opinion, the Bolshevik has an empty heart, because of which everything can fit in it.

Sasha's departure

Six months pass. Sasha enters the railway courses, after which he studies at the Polytechnic. However, soon his teaching ceased for a long time. The novel "Chevengur" (summary) continues with the fact that the party sends Alexander Dvanov to the front of the Civil War - to the city of Novokhopersk, located in the steppe. Zakhar Pavlovich sits at the station for days with his son, waiting for a passing train. They have already talked about everything, but not about love. When Alexander leaves, his father returns home and begins to read algebra word by word, not understanding anything. In this he gradually finds solace.

Dvanov in Novokhopersk joins the warring revolution. From the province soon comes an order for the return of Alexander. On the way, Dvanov is driving a steam locomotive instead of the runaway driver. The composition collides with the counter. Only by a miracle Sasha remains alive.

Alexander's return home, illness and meeting with Sonya

Dvanov, after a difficult and long journey, finally returns home. The hero immediately falls ill. For 8 months, he is turned off from life due to typhus. Desperate, Zakhar Pavlovich makes a coffin for his son. However, Sasha recovers in the summer. In the evenings, their neighbor Sonya, an orphan, comes to visit them. Zakhar Pavlovich decides to split the coffin into a furnace. He thinks that now it's time to make a crib, since Sonya will grow up soon, and then they can have children with Sasha.

Acquaintance with Kopenkin and Chepurny

Alexander, on the instructions of the provincial committee, is sent to "search for communism" in the province. He gets to the anarchists, but a small detachment, led by Stepan Kopenkin, beats him off. The reason for Stepan's participation in the revolution is his love for In the village where Dvanov and Kopenkin visit, they find Sonya. It turns out that she teaches children at a local school.

Wandering around the province, Kopenkin and Dvanov meet many people, and each of them in his own way imagines a new life and its construction. Alexander meets Chepurny, a man who serves as chairman of the revolutionary committee in the city of Chevengur. Dvanov likes the word "Chevengur". It reminds this hero of the enticing rumble of an unknown country. Chepurny speaks of Chevengur as a place where the accuracy of truth, the good of life, and the sorrow of existence happen as needed, by themselves. Although Alexander dreams of returning home to continue his studies at the Polytechnic, he is fascinated by stories about the socialism of Chevengur. He decides to go to this city, the description of which continues the summary.

Chevengur

The city wakes up late, as its inhabitants rest from centuries of oppression. The revolution conquered Chevengur's dreams, made the soul the main profession in the city. Kopenkin, having locked the Proletarian Power (that is the name of his horse) in the barn, is walking through the city. He meets strangers in the face, pale in appearance. Kopenkin asks Chepurny what these people do during the day. He replies that the main profession is the soul of a person, and its product is camaraderie and friendship. Kopenkin proposes to organize a little grief so that Chevengur does not feel very good. He believes that for good taste, communism must be caustic.

The heroes appoint a special commission tasked with compiling lists of bourgeois who survived the revolution. These bourgeois are shot by Chekists. Chepurny, after the execution, rejoices that peace has now come.

Kopenkin, after the massacre, still does not feel communism, which Chevengur is so proud of. The summary of the chapters continues with the fact that the Chekists begin to identify semi-bourgeois from whom life should be freed. They are gathered into a crowd, and then driven out into the steppe. The proletarians who remained in the city, as well as the proletarians who arrived at the call of the communists, soon eat up the remnants of food that belonged to the bourgeoisie. They destroy all chickens in Chevengur, after which they eat only plant food in the steppe. Chepurny is waiting for the final happiness to develop by itself, since the happiness of life is a necessity and a fact. Only Kopenkin walks around the city in sadness. He is waiting for the arrival of Alexander and his assessment of the communism built in Chevengur.

Useless inventions

Next, you should talk about two inventions, describing a summary. "Chevengur" continues with the fact that Dvanov arrives, but he does not see a new life outside: probably, communism has hidden in people. Alexander guesses why the Chevengur Bolsheviks so desire this system: communism is the end of time, the end of history. Only in nature time passes, but in man there is longing. Alexander invents a special device that can turn sunlight into electricity. To do this, mirrors are taken out of all frames in the city, and all glass is also collected. However, this device does not work. They build a tower, light a fire on it so that it shows the way to those wandering in the steppe. However, no one comes to the light of the lighthouse.

Checking, the arrival of women

Comrade Serbinov comes from Moscow to check the activities of the Chevengurs. He notes that their labors are useless. In justification, Chepurny says that they work for each other, and not for good. Serbinov writes in his report that there are many happy things in the city, but at the same time useless.

Women are brought to Chevengur to continue life. Young residents of the city only warm themselves with them, as if with their mothers, since autumn has already come and the air is quite cold.

The news of Sophia's fate

Serbinov tells Alexander how he met Sofia Alexandrovna in Moscow. This is the same Sonya that Dvanov remembered before Chevengur. The girl now lives in Moscow, works in a factory. Serbinov reports that Sophia remembers Alexander as an idea. Serbinov himself does not say that he loves this girl.

Cossacks occupy the city, Dvanov's departure

A man comes running into the city and says that Cossacks on horseback are heading to Chevengur. A battle begins, in which Serbinov dies, thinking about Sofya Alexandrovna. Chepurny also perishes, like other Bolsheviks. The Cossacks occupy the city.

Alexander remains in the steppe near Kopenkin, who is dying. When he dies, Alexander mounts the Proletarian Power and rides away from the city, into the open steppe. Dvanov is driving for a long time. He passes the village where he was once born. The hero arrives at the lake where his father once died. He notices a fishing rod, forgotten by him as a child on the shore. Dvanov makes the horse go chest-deep into the water, after which he gets off the saddle in search of the road that his father once walked.

The final

Zakhar Pavlovich arrives in Chevengur. He is looking for Alexander. There are no people in the city, only a crying Proshka is sitting by the brick house. Zakhar Pavlovich asks him to bring Sasha to him for money, but Prokofy promises to do it for nothing and sets off to look for Dvanov.

This concludes the summary. "Chevengur" is a work first published in the USSR only in 1988. Today, finally, we have the opportunity to get acquainted with the work of the remarkable writer Andrei Platonovich Platonov. One of his best works is the novel "Chevengur". Reading the summary is not as interesting as reading the original of this novel. Undoubtedly, Andrei Platonov is an outstanding artist of the word.

© A. Khudzinska-Parkosadze, 2007

GENRE FEATURES OF ANDREI PLATONOV'S NOVEL "CHEVENGUR"

A. Khudzinska-Parkosadze

The work of Andrei Platonov constantly arouses the keen interest of literary critics and lovers of literature. Literary criticism is trying to find answers to the most basic questions regarding Plato's poetics, such as the definition of the genre of the only completed novel of the writer "Chevengur". When solving this problem, scientists were divided into two main groups: the first considers this novel a dystopia, the second - a utopia. However, there is a third group that tries to classify this genre as both dystopian and utopian, despite their opposites.

On the one hand, critics emphasize that Chevengur, “an eerie place-mystery”, being outside of real space and time, meets the main feature of a utopian city: that is, a place that does not exist. This definition is supported by the utopian nature of the very idea of ​​communism 2, utopian time, which Platonov 3 embodied. Other terms are also used to define the genre of the novel: meta-utopia 4, trans-utopia 5, etc. A. Pomorsky calls the work “Chevengur” a pre-Orwellian dystopia along with “We” by E. Zamyatin6.

On the other hand, critics note that in Chevengur's novel, the features inherent in dystopia are clearly distinguished: the idea of ​​socialism and universal happiness on earth, faced with a specific human fate, leads to a tragic ending7. O. Lazarenko sees the essential feature of dystopia in Chevengur in Platonov's recognition of the priority of eternal and natural life over the idea 8.

How adequate are such readings of Chevengur? In this regard, we agree with the opinion of V. Svitelsky, who notes that Platonov in Chevengur revealed the inevitability of a meeting between utopia and reality, expressed it in a "new, unprecedented, artistic synthesis." Platonov in the work,

the sacred real life, together with utopia gave its discussion, its correction by reality. V. Svitelsky calls the novel Chevengur a tragic utopia of Platonov 9.

So, if Chevengur cannot be unequivocally called a utopia or a dystopia, then the question

about the genre remains open. Maybe Platonov played some kind of joke with the reader "and so and vice versa." Perhaps it is no coincidence that Andrei Klimentov chose for himself a pseudonym similar to the name of one of his favorite philosophers - Plato 10. After all, the picture of Chevengur in a strange way resembles the ideal state that Plato wrote about in his treatise. The philosopher believed that in an ideal state there is no place for what is useless and harmful (including the sick, crippled, "pests" of society, etc.). This approach is reminiscent of the approach of the Chevengur Bolsheviks to the old Chevengurs and gives grounds to assert that the author of Chevengur's genre orientation is towards Plato's State.

Plato believes that in an ideal state, power should be concentrated in the hands of wise philosophers, "saviors", who know best what is good and what is bad. Here there is an avant-garde, and the guards of the borders and the guardians of order. This is a kind of version of Fedorov's "guards", that is, a true reflection of the image of the Chevengur Bolsheviks. They constitute the power elite and, according to Plato, must give up property and live in a Spartan way. Representatives of the authorities understand the needs and requirements of others best of all. Those who are enemies of the new order, and the very state and the gods, will face a death sentence. For the sake of the good of the state, it is necessary to restrict freedom of thought and action.

Plato knew that in a non-ideal world it is impossible to create an ideal state, but he was convinced that people should strive to realize the ideal. He founded his

the project of an ideal state based on the belief that the ideal world (that is, the world of perfect ideas) has as its ultimate goal the realization in matter. Matter in the Cosmos becomes more perfect as it approaches the world of pure ideas, that is, the Universe. This desire for perfection through beauty Plato calls love 12. Plato writes about the need to unite all people with one goal for the sake of creating a just state and educating a perfect person 13. However, as scientists note, in its details and methods of implementation, Plato's theory scorns freedom and happiness of a person as a person 14.

The ideal state of Plato is considered a utopia 15, since it embodies the model of the “best” earthly device. At the same time, the image of the Platonic state also corresponds to the model of the totalitarian system of power 16. From this we can conclude: the definition of Chevengur as a utopia or anti-utopia is connected with the mystery of the definition of the Platonic State. After all, utopias created in antiquity are myths that turned into anti-utopias in the 20th century. Utopia is a project of a rationally organized society. The sphere of dystopia is the private existence of a person, something intimate and deeply individual. Its hero is a person who tries to build his existence according to the ideas of spiritual harmony 17.

The influence of Plato's ideas on Platonov's worldview has been repeatedly noted by critics 18. It was emphasized precisely the fact that Plato is the ancestor of utopia, and the fact that Platonov criticized idealism in one of his earliest articles in the newspaper "Voronezh Commune" dated 17 and October 20, 1920 under the title "Culture of the proletariat"19. Plato's philosophy shines through not only through Chevengur's genre form. As Ya. Shimak-Reiferova rightly noted, the influence of Plato also affected the ideas of the heroes of the novel about the soul and body. They "feel" and "formulate" the world according to Plato 20. In our opinion, Platonic philosophy is largely based on the Platonic myth, the core of which is the dualistic model of the world order.

The mythologism of thinking is directly related to the question of human perception of the world and the process of its comprehension 21. Myth is a model for other literary genres. Researchers have long noted the connection of some rituals, tribal customs, beliefs with the fairy tale genre. Most researchers do not doubt the fact of the origin of the fairy tale from the primitive myth 22.

The fairy-tale plot reinterpreted mythological representations, sometimes reproducing them in a literal sense. The most stable mythological motifs and themes that the fairy tale absorbed include the theme of paradise, the search for “another kingdom” (“the next world”), the theme of the hero’s initiation and trials during his wanderings. Vladimir Propp traced the plot scheme of a fairy tale to two main cycles of mythological representations. The first is associated with the rite of initiation, that is, the transition of the hero to a new status, and the second reflects ancient ideas about the place of the afterlife of souls and the journey to another world 23. It should be emphasized here that it is difficult to draw a clear line between these cycles, since the rite of initiation and presentation "other world" is inherent in many beliefs. The rite of initiation was associated with the subsequent resurrection.

According to W. Propp, a fairy tale is distinguished primarily by the repetition of functions, that is, the homogeneous actions of the characters, which are important for the development of the plot.24 Hence the homogeneity of the composition. The scientist names several main motifs that define the genre of a fairy tale. Chevengur as a novel, which means a more complex genre in its structure, has two storylines, one relates to the father, a fisherman, and the other to Sasha. Nevertheless, both storylines meet the compositional requirements of a fairy tale.

Let's start with Sasha's father: a temporary departure from home can be understood as a departure from this world to the world of death. Therefore, the impermissibility of depriving oneself of one's life appears here as a prohibition. Interestingly, in relation to Sasha, this prohibition does not apply to him directly, but to other persons, that is, the prohibition of taking the life of other people refers to the murder of old Chevengurians by the Bolsheviks, but to

the murder of them by a gang of nomads. Although Sasha is not a violator of this prohibition, it is he who seeks to overcome its sinister power - the element of death.

V. Propp considered the violation of the prohibition to be the main element of the plot of the action and the beginning of the intrigue. Accordingly, the suicide of Sasha's father represents the beginning of the action and the beginning of Sasha's journey. According to the requirements of the fairy tale genre, her hero must become a type of seeker who is forced to leave the house and go in an indefinite direction. Sasha is a seeker of the truth of life, he is forced to first leave the house of his adoptive father, Prokhor Abramovich Dvanov, then the grave of his father, a fisherman, and, finally, the house of Zakhar Pavlovich. The hero of the novel goes first to beg, and then to look for communism.

Sasha Dvanov is, like the hero of a fairy tale, a type of peasant, he is the son of a fisherman. In the novel, his external characteristics are practically absent. The main feature of Sasha is nobility, which is based on his desire to help others. He also possesses another basic quality of a magical hero - the ability to sympathize with others. It is curious that in Russian fairy tales, the character personifies love for his father, whose last request he fulfills as a sacred duty. Recall that Sasha decided to go to Chevengur after he saw his father in a dream and he told him: “Do something in Chevengur: why are we going to lie dead ...”25. It is this episode of the novel that combines the fabulous function of a connecting moment and mediation.

It is symptomatic that in Platonov's novel the function of a magical assistant and antagonist is performed by one hero - Sasha Dvanov's adopted brother - Prosha Dvanov. The leading feature of the magical helper is greater activity than the protagonist's passivity. For us, the fact that Sasha is guided in life by the call of his open heart, and Prosha, in contrast to him, by a cold-blooded mind, is of essential importance. It is this circumstance that formed the basis of the antagonistic relationship between these two characters.

By the same principle, the compositional axis of a fairy tale is made up of two antagonistic realms. In Chevengur, these kingdoms acquire a truly ontological content - firstly, the earthly kingdom, that is, this world, and secondly, the kingdom of darkness, that is, that light. The city of Chevengur itself also refers to the symbolism of the kingdom of darkness, since it is in opposition to the "outside" world around it. There, “time was hopelessly slipping back to life” (Ch., p. 225), it was “difficult to enter Chevengur<...>and it is difficult to get out of it” (Ch., p. 231). Therefore, Chevengur turned out to be the place where the protagonist was tested.

The main functional feature of the test is that only one who possesses a magical agent can pass it. In Sasha's case, the motif of an open heart performs the function of a magic tool. Among all the heroes, only he feels true love for all the people he meets, saturated with compassion and ready for self-sacrifice.

Characteristically, according to the compositional requirements of the fairy tale genre, the plot of the action is realized through an episode of absence, that is, one of the family members must leave home. The story of Sasha Dvanov begins with the death of his father, a fisherman who wanted to “live in death and return” (Ch., p. 8). However, despite his intentions, he violated the ban on suicide, as he died “not because of weakness, but because of his curious mind” (Ch., p. 9). By his death, he created a shortage in the life of his son, who has since experienced a lack of happiness, understood in terms of Platonic "warmth". Sasha hopes to find this "warmth" first in the house of Prokhor Abramovich Dvanov, but unsuccessfully. His fate changes when the antagonist Prosha agrees to bring the begging foster brother to Zakhar Pavlovich under the pretext of alms. The function of complicity is realized by Sasha's obedient submission to the will of Prosha, despite the fact that he had previously committed an act of sabotage, calling him a "parasite" and driving his father Prokhor Abramovich out of the house. For the second time, Prosha caused the lack experienced by Sasha, a feeling of loneliness, longing for his own father and human “warmth”.

The function of trial and sacrifice is realized at two levels: preparatory and final. The first test refers to the first part of the novel, in which Sasha goes on a business trip to Russia and meets a squad of anarchists. As a result of an anarchist attack, Sasha was wounded in his right leg. The symbolism of this wound is of great importance for an adequate understanding of this scene and the finale of the novel. A wound in the right leg means that the hero is at the very beginning of the spiritual path 26 and, having given part of himself as a self-sacrifice, he became a demigod and acquired knowledge. Moreover, this symbolic scene of injury brings the image of the hero closer to the image of Jesus Christ, since, aiming at Sasha, the anarchist says: “On the scrotum of Jesus Christ” (Ch., p. 69). Having been wounded, Sasha “rolled off the edge of the ravine to the bottom” (Ch., p. 69). Falling to the bottom is a symbolic descent into hell and symbolic death. Just as Satan “tested the strength of the spirit” of Christ in the desert for forty days (Luke 4, 1-15), so the incident with the anarchists was a test of Sasha’s strength of spirit and preparing him for the main sacrifice at the end of the novel. The fact that Sasha was stripped naked and that at the same time he does not feel any anger, shame or humiliation seems to be significant. For him, this turned out to be only a physical humiliation, which, in its essence, should prepare the hero for the final spiritual test and sacrifice. This scene of the first test and the first victim is also connected with the birth of the "magic tool" - a sympathetic heart. It must be emphasized that the parallel Sasha-Christ that we have outlined should be understood in a philosophical, but not in a religious-dogmatic framework.

Sasha's path to Chevengur corresponds to the spatial movement of the hero of a fairy tale between two kingdoms. As we have said, the pattern of two antagonistic realms in the Platonic novel is the world of life and the world of death. The hero of the novel comes to Chevengur to see if it is really the only place on earth where the ultimate happiness of all mankind is located - communism. In Chevengur, the struggle between the protagonist and his antagonist will take place. Sasha, the owner of an "open heart", and Prosha, a supporter of re-

solving life issues with the help of the mind, are arguing about what is truth and how people can find happiness. Prosha believed that truth should be sacrificed for the sake of general moderate happiness, which the chosen ones would allocate to the rest as rations. According to the hero, “every truth should be a little and only in the very end” (Ch., p. 247). Sasha, however, convinced him by proving the opposite.

The function of a stigma, a mark, is performed by a kiss on the lips, which Prosha received from Sasha at the beginning of their conversation about the truth. Sasha kissed him as a sign of forgiveness, "noticing in him conscientious shame for his childhood past" (Ch., p. 245). This act of mercy turned Prosha from an antagonist into Sasha's helper and follower. Immediately after the fateful conversation with his brother, Prosha sets off in search of wives for "others", for the first time wanting to do something disinterestedly for others, and at the end of the novel he sets off to look for Sasha because of longing for his disappeared brother.

Sasha wants to stay in Chevengur to live with the "others", because only here he felt happy. This fact testifies to the elimination of the shortage experienced earlier by the hero. However, Sasha's favorable stay in Chevengur is interrupted by a sudden invasion of a gang of nomads, which exterminated all the Chevengurs except for Sasha. He miraculously escapes the chase and escapes. On a horse, called by Kopenkin the Proletarian Force, he returns to the beginning of his journey - to his native village. There his unrecognizable arrival will take place, since the only old man he met in the village, Pyotr Fedorovich Kondaev, does not recognize him.

The denouement of the novel has a purely mystical character. It is impossible to understand the final scene without referring to its meaning encoded in mythological symbols. The main symbolic images in this episode are the lake as a chronotope of the kingdom of death and a ritual of self-sacrifice in the name of the common good. Consequently, the function of the usurper is assigned to the image of water in Lake Mutevo, which “once calmed<...>father in her depths” (Ch., p. 306), but now she was worried and attracted Sasha to her. He remembered that there was still “the living substance of the body” in it.

his father, and it is there that “the whole homeland of life and friendliness” is located (Ch., p. 306). The unfounded claim of the usurper is explained by the fact that a person must, in the Platonic manner, “make himself” and create in life and through life.

The essence of the difficult task facing Sasha lies in the fact that he must find the road “on which his father once walked in the curiosity of death” (Ch., p. 306), but go through it not into death, but into eternal life, while he must still expose the usurper. In order to fulfill the intended, his death should not be an act of suicide, but, on the contrary, a sacred act of love and mercy. Therefore, an important role is played in this context by the motif of the stigma-mark, that is, the kiss, understood as an act of mercy in relation to the antagonist. It is with the help of this act that the main dualism of the novel is overcome: heart / mind, life / death. Sasha "continues his life" (Ch., p. 306), plunging into the water of Lake Mutevo, because he dies "by virtue" of love. Thus, the transformation of the hero takes place and he defeats the main enemy - death. The act of Sasha's self-sacrifice to overcome the elements of death (the circle of death: the murder of old Chevengurs, the death of a child, the murder of new Chevengurs, etc.) acquires the meaning of ascension into the sphere of sacrum and unification with the absolute, and therefore performs the function of a wedding and ascension to the throne.

Yu.M. Lotman denies the possibility of applying to the novel the model developed by

V.Ya. Propp for a fairy tale. The literary critic sees a fundamental difference between fairy tale and novel texts. The main ones are: strict hierarchical closure of levels (the sum of the functions of a fairy tale), the detail-reality of the plot in a fairy tale is included only in the surface layer of the text (the exception is a "magic object", that is, a tool with which a certain function is realized). But, on the other hand, Lotman admits that a characteristic feature of the Russian novel is the "mythology" of plots.27 It seems that Chevengur Platonov's novel is an exception to Lotman's rule.

The style of Chevengur also contains the characteristic properties of a fairy tale. In the light

In this article, the difference between myth and fairy tale is also important. V. Propp emphasizes that the myth, having lost its sociological significance, has turned into a fairy tale. Outwardly, the beginning of this process is marked by the separation of the plot from ritual. Consequently, the fairy tale loses the religious function of myth 28.

In the novel Chevengur, in our opinion, the composition and style of a fairy tale is enriched with philosophical and ontological content. Platonov raises questions about the meaning of life, about truth, about happiness. The answers and results of his search are captured in universal mythological symbols that create a single picture of the world. The purpose of the novel is not religious, but philosophical, since there are no obvious answers. The reader must find them. It seems that the fairy tale genre, which grew out of myth, can more adequately express the ideological and philosophical searches of the writer than others.

It is also significant that some of the main qualities of Platonic stylistics are called lyricism. R. Chandler emphasizes that Platonov does not offer the reader a confident and clear perspective of the events described. The writer reconciles and heals his heroes with words of love 29.

The similarity of Chevengur with a fairy tale was already noted by Yu. Pastushenko, pointing to the similarity of Sasha Dvanov to the hero of a fairy tale, when he goes on a journey not by himself, but fulfilling the task of the ruler. Moreover, the researcher emphasizes that Sasha is a special hero in special circumstances, similar to fairy tales. Dvanov is a type of hero whose roots go back to the ancient Russian cultural tradition associated with the lives of saints, utopian legends and fairy tales 30.

M. Zolotonosov also drew attention to the complex transformation of folk fairy-tale ideas about the ideal arrangement in the “otherworldly kingdom”. According to the critic, in Chevengur one can clearly see the mutual influence of knowledge and faith on the example of the description of the economic system of “Chevengur communism”31.

Undoubtedly, A. Platonov consciously turned to the fairy tale genre and rethought it, giving it an ontological character. It is significant that after

mobilization from the army in 1946, A. Platonov worked on fairy tales all the last years of his life (Magic Ring, 1950; Bashkir folk tales, 1949; Two crumbs, 1948). The writer believed that a true artist, translating a work of folklore, recreates and thereby affirms in the people's mind the best version of all the available versions of this plot. Platonov wrote about the role of the writer processing folk tales in the following way: “Writers further enrich and shape the folk tale with the power of their creativity and give it that final, ideal combination of meaning and form in which the tale remains for a long time or forever”32. It is also natural that Platonov created his own individual genre - an ontological fairy tale, in which he combined the form of a fairy tale with ontological content.

Plato's heroes are fabulous philosophers. They walk barefoot on the road, but touch "not road dust and dirt, but directly the globe"33. They are the children of the universe. With the help of the fairy tale genre, the writer fills the text with philosophical content. It is worth noting, however, that if a fairy tale usually told about some past events (“once upon a time”), then Platonov concentrates on the present and tells his contemporaries about their life, exposing lies and pointing to the essence - truth. After all, a fairy tale is the most accessible literary form of address to the people, to the most widely understood listener, not distorted by the experience of life.

The peculiar "poetics" of the name of the city, which is included in the title of A. Platonov's novel, is closely connected with the category of space. One of the first researchers who made an “approach” to clarifying its source was O.Yu. Aleinikov. The critic suggests that this name can be deciphered as CheVeNGUR - Extraordinary Military Invincible (Independent) Heroic Fortified Region, adjusted "for the writer's disguised grin"34. The author of the above article argues that this abbreviation was compiled taking into account the word-formation models common in post-revolutionary times, which gravitated “to the formation of words

according to the pronunciation of the initial syllables or the initial letters of several syllables. As an example, the researcher cites the following: Vikzhedor - the All-Russian Executive Committee of the Railway Trade Union, Vsekoles - the All-Russian Committee for Forestry, etc.36

However, the method of forming the names of other works of the writer shows that the above version of decoding is not typical for A. Platonov, since the writer sought nominative simplicity. These titles are often a kind of slogans, that is, concise but meaningful information: Pit, Doubting Makar, Symphony of Consciousness, etc.). Naturally, these names are often symbolic, two-dimensional, ambiguous, like the most Platonic works, in their origins simple.

A. Platonov already in 1922 (six years before Chevengur’s plan) wrote about himself “I am a singer, a wanderer and a bridegroom of the universe” in the poem Lunar Rumble, which, for reasons unknown to the end, was not included in the collection Blue Depth 37. In this The poem contains the following lines:

moon rumble,

The ringing groan of torn molecules, - The universal battle of resistance and fire. By the way, when Sasha Dvanov first heard the word "Chevengur", he liked it because it "looked like an enticing rumble of an unknown country" (Ch., p. 138). In the poem Lunar Rumble, Platonov also writes: In the world I heard a deep breath, Underground movement of water.

As a result, it should be noted that Platonov looks at space and man's place in it not on the scale of the Earth alone, but on the scale of the entire Universe. We add that some researchers also drew attention to this feature of the "Platonic artistic universe." For example, N.P. Khryashcheva in her book “The Boiling Universe” by A. Platonova claims that the writer initially thought in terms of cosmic categories (meaning, first of all, the works of the “pre-Chevengur” period). As subtly noted in the work, it is no coincidence that projects of transforming

developments on a planetary and even galactic scale. The researcher emphasizes that the writer believes so deeply in the immediate practical expansion of earthly life to the limits of the Cosmos that in his works the temporal boundaries between the possibilities of earthly human consciousness are actually removed. N.P. Khryashcheva considers the ways and means of artistic design by the writer of a new model of the Universe and the results of its testing for the possibility of becoming a happy home for mankind 38. N.M. Malygina also emphasizes that thoughts about man - "an inhabitant of the Universe", a conqueror of the Cosmos, are embodied in Platonic poetic formulas (man is the "beloved child" of the sky, people are "descendants of the sun"), reflecting the essential features of A. Platonov's philosophy of nature 39.

We believe that the name of the novel Chevengur can be deciphered as: Che-ven-gur, that is, Che - through, ven - universal, gur - province, or Through-universal-rumble. This method of decoding is also suggested by the title of another work by A. Platonov (Che-che-o), which, by the way, was published in 1928, that is, when the author was intensively working on Chevengur. The title Che-che-o means: Through the Chernozem Okrug, that is, the area through which the writer made a trip, and then placed his impressions in the above-mentioned essay.

We assume that the last syllable "gur" means the word "province". When explaining this judgment, we refer to the conclusions of M.A. Dmitrovskaya, who connects the image of Chevengur with the symbolic image of the "underwater" world and draws a parallel between this image and the scene of the death of Dvanov's father in Lake Mutevo. The researcher emphasizes that Father Dvanov’s ideas about death coincide with the description of Chevengur, flooded with moonlight: “... he saw death as another province, which is located under the sky, as if at the bottom of cool water, and it attracted him” (Ch., p. eight). We add that some researchers drew attention to the fact that the motive of the call is constant in Chevengur as the motive of labor. E.G. Mushchenko sees the call not as a cause, but as a consequence of the call - work, case 40. The researcher notes that Sasha Dvanov

feels the attraction of the earthly distance, as if all distant and invisible things were “calling to him”41.

A. Livingston claims that Sasha is primarily a "listener of the universe." The literary critic is convinced that “Platonov himself wanted in some sense to discover his own language of the world (universe)”42. And the name "Chevengur" in the text of the novel can be perceived as the first known word of a song or language that Sasha Dvanov is looking for, that is, the own language of the Universe.

B.A. Chalmaev deciphered the name "Chevengur" as a word formed from two words "cheva" - bast shoes and "gur" (grumbling) - hum, vanity, roar. The result is a “rumble from paws”43. However, it is worth remembering that the name "Chevengur" has an internal syllable "ven" and not "va". Based on this decoding, the name “Chevagur” is obtained, and not “Chevengur”. In addition, the “rumble of bast shoes” refers more to the subject than to the problems and idea of ​​the novel. In other words, to earthly reality, which does not exhaust the content of the work. In our opinion, A. Platonov was too attentive to the titles of his works in order to suspect him of such a superficial syllable. In a similar way, the name "Chevengur" is interpreted by V.V. Vasiliev, who understands this word as a “grave of bast shoes” (from “cheva” - a paw, a cast-off of bast shoes; “gur” - a grave, a tomb, a crypt) - a symbol of the end of the original, Russian truth-seeking, because in Chevengur, according to the Bolsheviks, it has come the end of history and the time of universal happiness 44. Naturally, our approach to trying to unravel the name "Chevengur" is only one of the options for deciphering the title of the novel, in our opinion, the most plausible, taking into account the "stylistics" of Plato's works.

Platonov wanted to be understandable to everyone, he wrote with the thought of humanity as a whole, therefore it seems appropriate to use the fairy tale genre. After all, the fabulous "surface", which to some extent is inherent in parables, hides in its depths a truly philosophical depth. Platonov tried to extract from this depth the truth of human existence, to reveal the meaning of life to his contemporaries, to force them to

think about the fact that they are involved in and responsible for the life that is happening before their eyes and that they themselves (consciously or unconsciously) create. These are not just fairy tales about the struggle between good and evil in the distant past, but an understanding of what is happening, the essence of which is in the genre of an ontological fairy tale.

NOTES

2 Vasiliev V. Andrey Platonov. Essay on life and creativity. M., 1990. S. 141, 152.

3 Aleinikov O. The story of A. Platonov "Juvenile Sea" in the social and literary context of the 30s // Platonov A. Research and materials / Ed. T.A. Nikonov. Voronezh, 1993. S. 72.

4 Günther H. Genre problems of utopia and "Chevengur" by A. Platonov // Utopia and utopian thinking. M., 1991. S. 252.

5 Kovalenko V.A. "Demiurges" and "tricksters" in Platonov's creative universe // Andrey Platonov. Problems of interpretation / Ed. T.A. Nikonov. Voronezh, 1995. S. 74.

6 Pomorski A. Duchowy proletariusz: przyczyne k do dziejów lamarkizmu spolecznego

i rosyjskiego komunizmu XIX-XX wieku (na marginesie antyutopii Andrieja Platonowa). Warszawa, 1996. S. 30.

7 Lazarenko O. The problem of the ideal in anti-utopia. "We" by E. Zamyatin and "Chevengur" by A. Platonov // Platonov A. Research and materials. S. 39.

8 Ibid. pp. 45-46.

9 Svitelsky V. Facts and conjectures: On the problems of mastering the Platonic heritage // Ibid. pp. 87-88.

10 Sliwowscy W.R. Andrzej Platonow. Warszawa, 1983. S. 40. Of course, we are not trying to refute the fact that this pseudonym was also formed on behalf of the writer's father, Platon Firsovich Klimentov. See: Vasiliev V.V. Decree. op. C. 3.

11 Parniewski W. Szkice z dziejów mysli utopijnej (od Platona do Zinowjewa). - Lodz, 2000. S. 27.

14 Tatarkiewicz W. Historia filozofii. T. 1. Warszawa, 2002. S. 101. It is significant that Plato chose the Sun as a symbol reflecting the idea of ​​good, that is, the eternal principle. Sun, co-

According to Plato, it illuminates things and makes their life and development possible.

15 Ibid. See also: Parniewski W. Op. cit. S. 27.

16 See: Popper K.R. The Open Society and Its Enemies. L., 1945. S. 140; Pieszczachowicz J. Wyspa Utopia i jej przeciwnicy // Literatura. 1990. No. 2. S. 45.

17 Zverev A. Mirrors of anti-utopias // Anti-utopias of the XX century. M., 1989. S. 337.

18 See: Semenova S.G. Ordeals of the ideal. To the publication of Andrey Platonov's "Chevengur" // Novy Mir. 1988. No. 5. S. 219; Kantor K.M. It's a shame to live without truth // Questions of Philosophy. 1989. No. 3. S. 14-16; Zolotonosov M. False sun. "Chevengur" and "Pit" in the context of the Soviet culture of the 1920s // Questions of Literature. 1994. Issue. 5. P. 12.

19 Zolotonosov M. Decree. op.

20 Szymak-Reiferowa J. Rycerze Rózy Luksemburg // Andrzej Píatonow. Czewengur. Bialystok, 1996. S. 355.

21 Eliade M. Traktat on historii religii. -Lódz, 1993. S. 416. Eliade argues that at all levels of human perception of the world, the archetype is always used to comprehend human existence and cultural values ​​are created with its help.

22 Wujcicka U From the history of Russian culture. Bydgoszcz, 2002, p. 211.

23 Propp V.Ya. The historical roots of fairy tales. L., 1986. P. 18. See also: Propp W. Morfologia bajki. Warszawa, 1976, pp. 67-123.

24 Propp W. Nie tylko bajka. Warszawa, 2000. S. 91. All names of fairy tale functions are indicated in the text in italics.

25 Platonov A. Chevengur // Platonov A. Sobr. cit.: In 5 vols. T. 2. M., 1998. S. 181. Further citations are based on this edition.

26 Julien N. Dictionary of symbols. Chelyabinsk, 1999, p. 448.

27 Lotman Yu.M. The plot space of the Russian novel of the 19th century // On Russian literature. Articles and studies: history of Russian prose, theory of literature. SPb., 1997. S. 712-729.

28 Propp W. Nie tylko bajka. Warszawa, 2000. S. 179-180.

29 See: Chandler R Between faith and insight // Philological Notes. 1999. No. 13. S. 77; Pod-shivalova E.A. On the generic nature of A. Platonov's prose of the late 20s - early 30s // Platonov A. Research and materials / Ed. T.A. Nikonov. Voronezh, 1993; Orlitsky Yu.B. Verse beginning in A. Platonov's prose // Andrey Platonov. Problems of interpretation / Ed. T.A. Nikonov. Voronezh, 1995; Kedrovsky A.E. Christian and socialist ideals in A. Platonov's story "Jan" // Realized opportunity: A. Platonov

tones and the twentieth century / Ed. E.G. Mushchenko. Voronezh, 2001; and etc.

30 Pastushenko Y. Mythological symbols in the novel "Chevengur" // Philological Notes. 1999. No. 13. S. 30, 3S.

31 Zolotonosov M. Decree. op. S. 6.

33 Ibid. pp. 124-125.

34 Aleinikov A.Yu. On the approaches to "Chevengur" (about one of the possible sources of the name) // Filologicheskie zapiski. 1999. No. 13. S. 182.

36 Ibid. pp. 182-183.

37 Platonov A. Blue depth // Platonov A. Collected works: In 5 vols. T. i. M., 1998. S. 79.

38 Khryashcheva N.P. "The Boiling Universe" by A. Platonov: The Dynamics of Image Creation and World Understanding in the Works of the 1920s. Yekaterinburg, 1998.

39 Malygina N.M. Aesthetics of Andrey Platonov. Irkutsk, 1985. S. 23.

40 Mushchenko E.G. A. Platonov's philosophy of "business" // Realized opportunity: A. Platonov and the XX century / Ed. E.G. Mushchenko. Voronezh, 2001, p. 19.

41 Ibid. S. 20.

42 Livingston A. Platonov and the tongue-tied motif // A realized opportunity. S. 209.

43 Chalmaeva V.A. Andrei Platonov: (Comments) // Platonov A. Collected Works. T. 2. S. 534.

44 Vasiliev V.V. Decree. op. S. 147.

The words of L. Tolstoy that "without an ideal there is no life" also apply to people whose ideals are false, inspired by those in power, reminiscent of zombies, in which the vital principle is replaced by a fanatical faith in ideas alien to them.

A. Platonov emphasizes the unconscious state of a person who has forgotten about his existence, a person without an idea: "... as if everything living was somewhere in the middle of time and its movement: its beginning is forgotten by everyone and the end is unknown, only the direction remains." expresses doubt as to whether a beautiful future life is justified by so many sacrifices, and indeed can it be built on such a shaky foundation? ..

The question posed by Platonov has a long tradition in Russian literature. In terms of plot, he implements Dostoevsky's idea about the inadmissibility of building the most beautiful building if a "tear of a child" is laid in its foundation (the reminiscence is so obvious and transparent that it is read by all researchers of the story). The image of the girl Nastya carries a deep semantic load. As you know, in the artistic world of Plato, the theme of the child is closely connected with the concept of the future. "The Pit" ends with the death of a girl, symbolizing the loss of cultural continuity in the first place.

His attitude to the problem of culture, the oblivion of which leads to the death of the nation, unambiguously expressed in the novel "Chevengur". Reflections" of the main character about the revolution and culture, reflecting the revolutionary consciousness in the 20s, were given an obvious parodic coloring: "... Dvanov was pleased that in Russia the revolution completely weeded out those rare places of thickets where there was culture, and how the people were , and remained a clean field - not a cornfield, but an empty fertile place. And Dvanov was in no hurry to sow anything: he believed that good soil would not last long and would arbitrarily be born into something that had never been and was precious, unless the wind of war brought the seeds of capitalist weeds from "Western Europe." Platonov brings the idea of ​​destroying the old culture to the point of absurdity, concretizing the well-known proletarian slogan about "clearing space" for building a new society. This idea receives plot realization in the chapters that describe Chevengur communism.

Chevengur is a symbolic image of the Future, its exaggerated and grotesque model built by materializing abstract concepts. It is noteworthy that the ideological structure of this image has a double basis - the philosophical teachings of N. Fedorov and communist ideas. It was these two principles, as noted earlier, that had a significant impact on the formation of the worldview of the early Platonov. However, life made its own adjustments. It has already been pointed out above that the artist's ironic rethinking of his own views. In "Chevengur" one of the most "violent" heroes of the novel, Chepurny, whose attitude to the revolution is close to the young Platonov, builds communism in the city for several days - (reconstruction of the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe instant building of a communist society with a projection on the biblical plot), destroying the old world "to the bottom". The writer either parodies or somehow ironically sneers at the communist consciousness of the hero, resorting to the method of reification of the metaphor: "It would be better to destroy the entire well-ordered world, but to gain each other in the bare order, and therefore, the proletarians of all countries, unite as soon as possible!" Further in the novel, the tragic consequences of the deeds of a person who neglected the laws of nature and history are drawn. The existence of a society built from scratch is impossible.

The element of self-parody is indicated by the tragic farcical interpretations of Fedorov's closest ideas to Platonov - love and equality, kinship and brotherhood, renunciation of earthly goods. Platonov tragicomically depicts Chevengur society, in which the proletarians "instead of the steppe, houses, food and clothing had" each other, because every person needs to have something.

Chevengur communism, built by the idealist Chepurny with the support of the demagogue Prokofy Dvanov, with the joyful consent of Kopenkin, Pashintsev and the others, deceived by the "idea", is doomed to perish, because it is based only on abstractions divorced from real life. The critical pathos of the writer is expressed in his desire to give comic features to the Chevengur activists who live in accordance with straightforwardly understood slogans. Often the author's position is also manifested in the speech of the characters. Many heroes, including Kopenkin, an active fighter for socialism, "for whom Rosa Luxemburg once decided everything," begin to doubt the correctness of Chevengur life. After the death of the child, Kopenkin's faith in communism was shaken: "What kind of communism is this? .. From him the child could never breathe, with him a person appeared and died. This is an infection, not communism." Thus, the motive of death, one of the most important in the artist's work, is closely connected in the novel with the theme of Chevengur. It becomes a symbol of dead life, originating in the primitive assimilation of the philosophy of social rationalism by an uneducated people. This accelerated the process of mythologization of consciousness, the last stage of which Platonov reflected in the story "The Juvenile Sea", written in the mid-30s.

A. Platonov during the years of the Civil War worked as a locomotive driver, so in the story "In a beautiful and furious world" he skillfully tells about the difficulties of this work.

The machinist of the courier train Maltsev devoted his whole life to work, no one knew and felt the car the way he did. Therefore, when an emergency occurred on the next trip on the road - a lightning bolt blinded Maltsev - he confidently continued to drive. Blinded, he saw the road along which he constantly cruised, the semaphores worked, the car obeyed, although ahead, in the path of a rushing courier train, there was another train. The inevitable catastrophe was avoided, Maltsev's assistant Konstantin, on behalf of whom Platonov tells, stopped the train.

Alexander Vasilyevich ... why didn't you call me for help when you were blind? ..

Everything: the line, signals, wheat in the steppe, the work of the right machine - I saw everything ... "

Maltsev was convicted for "knowingly" risking the lives of hundreds of people on the train.

It was practically impossible to prove that Maltsev was temporarily blind, since the driver said: “I was used to seeing the light, and I thought I saw it, but then I saw it only in my mind, in my imagination. In fact, I was blind, but I didn't know that..." By a happy coincidence, Maltsev gets his freedom. But how? An experiment is being carried out with him: they are blinded by lightning with an artificially created Tesla installation. Maltsev gets freedom and goes blind, it seems forever.

And here Konstantin helps him - he takes him on the road, allows the blind Maltsev to drive the car and - a miracle! Maltsev has matured.

You can talk a lot about man and work, about Maltsev, who quietly perished without work. But I just consider Konstantin to be the main character. A person who sought freedom for an innocently convicted person, who said: "What is better - a free blind person or a sighted, but innocently imprisoned one?", who "was fierce against the fatal forces that accidentally and indifferently destroy a person." He said: “I decided not to give up, because I felt something in myself that could not be in the external forces of nature and in our fate - I felt my peculiarity of a person. how to do it."

That's why this story was written. Man is a child of nature, but no life process can condemn him, and man of man can. Trample, destroy, deprive of freedom. Circumstances that have turned up in time add up to facts and "crush the chosen, exalted people." It should not be like this, there is no point in fighting against circumstances, but you must always fight against injustice!