THE FOUNDATION PIT

by Andrey Platonov ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 25, 1996

A new, full translation of Platonov's brilliant satire (written in 1929-30) on Soviet collectivization, and a work whose substance eerily anticipated later historical events. Platonov's grimly sardonic tale of idealistic workers digging a pit for the foundation of a promised high-rise apartment building was followed, a few years later, by the grandiose announcement of the construction of a magnificent Palace of Soviets--a structure, like its fictional counterpart, that was never completed. The novel's caustic irony is unforgettably varied and deepened by the characterizations of its several hauntingly disturbed and disillusioned major figures, and by its author's almost Orwellian concentration on the ways in which language is distorted and reshaped to serve political ends. A masterpiece.

Pub Date: Nov. 25, 1996

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 192

Publisher: Harvill/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1996

Categories: FICTION