Article

Name: Socialism as fascism: the story by Andrei Platonov «Musornyj weter»

Authors: E.N. Proskurina

Institute of Philology, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Abstract: The article analyses the artistic method of identification of socialism and fascism in a short story “The Rubbish Wind” by A. Platonov. “The Decline of the West” by O. Spengler with its idea of degeneration of culture into civilisation served as the most important philosophical pretext for the story. Beyond the pictures of existential collapse of fascist Germany which signal of the inhumanity of civilizing initiatives by the leading tyrant the author skillfully conceals the reality of totalitarian Soviet lifestyle with its starvation, misery, and lack of civil liberties. The stern grotesque poetic manner, the lack of ironical writing style, which is typical of Platonov, indicate his utter disillusionment in communist ideas.

Keywords: Creativity Platonov, twinning (duplicity), intertextuality, the Faustian tradition, totalitarianism, the poetics of the absurd

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