On the History of Critical Perception of the Story “For Future Use” by Platonov: About a Possible Reason for the “Big Bang”

Abstract

The article uses new materials to clarify the history of publication and the initial stage of criticism of Andrey Platonov’s story “For Future Use.” In particular, it attempts to bring as much clarity as possible as far as the date of the story’s publication in the magazine Krasnaia Nov’ is concerned and also to clarify the date of Stalin’s acquaintance of with this story. It is argued that Stalin’s attention was drawn to this publication due to its mentioning by critic G.V. Adamovich, in a note published in the emigrant newspaper Poslednie Novosti. Based on the evidence of S.I. Kanatchikov and V.A. Sutyrin, the author clarifies the nature of the “Politburo meeting,” at which the editor of Krasnaia nov’ A.A. Fadeev, was assigned the task of launching a critical campaign against For Future Use. The newspaper Poslednie novosti for some time monitored the situation with the novel and reacted to critical publications on this topic in central newspapers such as Pravda and Izvestia. The article is supplemented with documentary materials: excerpts from the diary of the writer I.V. Evdokimov and relevant notes from the newspaper Poslednie novosti.

Keywords

• a.p. platonov
• story “for future use
• ” i.v. stalin
• magazine kransaya nov
• ’ politburo
• g.v. adamovich
• newspaper poslednie novosti
• comment
• dating.