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Informationen zum Autor Andrey Platonovich Platonov (1899-1951) began publishing poems and articles in 1918, while studying engineering. Between 1927 and 1932 he wrote his most politically controversial works, some of them first published in Russian only in the 1990s. After reading his story 'For Future Use', Stalin referred to Platonov as 'an agent of our enemies'. From September 1942, after being recommended to the chief editor of Red Star by his friend Vasily Grossman, Platonov worked as a war correspondent. He died in 1951, of tuberculosis caught from his son, who had spent three years in the Gulag. Happy Moscow , one of his finest novels, was first published in Russia only in 1991; letters, notebook entries and unfinished stories continue to appear. Robert Chandler 's translations from Russian include works by Alexander Pushkin, Andrey Platonov, Vasily Grossman and Hamid Ismailov. He is the editor and main translator of Russian Short Stories from Pushkin to Buida and Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov , and together with Boris Dralyuk and Irina Mashinski he co-edited The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry . Elizabeth Chandler is a co-translator, with Robert Chandler, of Pushkin's The Captain's Daughter and several works by Andrey Platonov and Vasily Grossman. Klappentext Andrey Platonovich Platonov (1899-1951) was the son of a railway-worker. The eldest of eleven children, he began work at the age of thirteen, eventually becoming an engine-driver's assistant. He began publishing poems and articles in 1918, while studying engineering. Throughout much of the twenties Platonov worked as a land reclamation expert, draining swamps, digging wells and also building three small power stations. Between 1927 and 1932 he wrote his most politically controversial works, some of them first published in the Soviet Union only in the late 1980s. Other stories were published but subjected to vicious criticism. Stalin is reputed to have written scum in the margin of the story For Future Use, and to have said to Fadeyev (later to be secretary of the Writers' Union), Give him a good belting-for future use! During the thirties Platonov made several public confessions of error but went on writing stories only marginally more acceptable to the authorities. His son was sent to the Gulag in 1938, aged fifteen; he was released three years later, only to die of the tuberculosis he had contracted there. From September 1942, after being recommended to the chief editor of Red Star by his friend Vasily Grossman, Platonov worked as a war correspondent and managed to publish several volumes of stories; after the war, however, he was again almost unable to publish. He died in 1951, of tuberculosis caught from his son. Happy Moscow , one of his finest short novels, was first published in 1991; a complete text of Soul was first published only in 1999; letters, notebook entries and unfinished stories continue to appear. Zusammenfassung TRANSLATED BY ROBERT AND ELIZABETH CHANDLER AND OLGA MEERSONPlatonov's dystopian novel describes the lives of a group of Soviet workers who believe they are laying the foundations for a radiant future....
