In this month’s Online Reading Group we will discuss Soul and Other Stories, a collection of eight works by Andrey Platonov centred around the title novella, Soul. This prizewinning English translation was the first to be based on the newly available, uncensored texts of Platonov’s short fiction, and reveals a rediscovered master of twentieth century Russian literature at his wisest, most symbolic and humane.
The Online Reading Group will help to improve inclusivity and accessibility, giving the opportunity for those who cannot attend in person to join us for discussion. We encourage you to join us in person if you can, and leave the online places to those who would benefit from them. The meeting will be facilitated by our bookshop co-curator Sasha Padziarei and engagement curator Alisa Oleva.
“For the mind, everything is in the future“, Platonov once wrote; “for the heart, everything is in the past”. The protagonist of Soul is a young man torn between these opposing desires, sent as a kind of missionary to bring the values of modern Russia to his childhood home town in Central Asia, an impoverished place where people have nothing but their own souls. The story was inspired by Platonov’s trip to the Turkmen Republic in the 1930s, at the end of the national delimitation process that resulted in the formation of the Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, and Uzbek SSRs in Central Asia, and is imbued with Platonov’s fascination with the natural world and different cultures.
Among the other stories are ‘The River Potudan’, a moving depiction of a troubled marriage; ‘The Third Son’, a lyrical account of a family in mourning; ‘Of Animals and Plants’, inspired by Platonov’s meeting with an honoured railway worker at a remote Karelian train station; ‘Fro’, which explores how love enables us to engage more deeply with the world around us; and ‘The Motherland of Electricity’, a vivid evocation of Russian village life at a time of great despair, but also great hope.
2021 saw the opening of Pushkin House’s very own physical bookshop in addition to our online store. While it is still being honed and developed, we are keen to highlight literature that inspires, encourages, moves and validates our readers. We also want to amplify the voices, writers and readers that historically didn’t get and, perhaps, still don’t get the visibility, power and appreciation they deserve. Most of all, we want to create a physical (and an online) place for connection where people can come and share their views.