The Foundation Pit
 |
|
| Author | Andrei Platonov |
|---|---|
| Original title | Котлован |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Language | Russian |
| Genre | (Meta)Dystopian |
| Publisher |
|
|
Publication date
|
1987 (finished 1930) |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 150 |
| ISBN | |
The Foundation Pit (Russian: Котлован, kotlovan) is a gloomy symbolic and semi-satirical novel by Andrei Platonov. The plot of the novel concerns a group of workers living in the early Soviet Union. They attempt to dig out a huge foundation pit on the base of which a gigantic house will be built for the country's proletarians. The workers dig each day but slowly cease to understand the meaning of their work. The enormous foundation pit sucks out all of their physical and mental energy.
In terms of creative works, Platonov depicted one of the first state-controlled dystopias of the 20th century. The novel is often compared to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. However, both English novels were published long before a translation of The Foundation Pit became available.
Platonov's work is a representation of the conflict that arose between Russian individuals and the increasingly collectivized Soviet state in the late 1920s. The Foundation Pit critiques Joseph Stalin's domestic policies and questions the validity of any regime advocating the belief that the only existence a person can have is being one part of a whole. Finished in 1930, the novel was not published in the Soviet Union until 1987 due to censorship.
Voschev, a machine factory worker, is berated by management for sitting around on the job. When asked why he stands idly for hours when he should be working, Voschev responds that he is trying to find the true meaning of life and that, if he succeeds, his happiness will raise productivity. They don't buy the excuse. Management asks rhetorically, "What if we all get lost in thought — who'll be left to act?" Voschev is subsequently fired. He leaves the factory in search of new work.
Along the way, Voschev comes across a couple fighting in front of their children. He yells at them for not respecting the ideals of youth, but they tell him to go away. He then sees a cripple named Zhachev, who Voschev thinks is about to harass a group of Pioneer girls. Zhachev responds, "I look at children for memory." He claims that Voschev is "soft in the head" due to never having been at war.
...
Wikipedia