Dystopia in works of Harry Martinson and Andrei Platonov

Abstract

The paper presents a comparative study of two literary works which are basically different in their forms of expression: the poem “Aniara” by Harry Martinson, and the novel The Foundation Pit by Andrei Platonov. The common ground of the two authors’ literary philosophy is emphasized, as well as their common themes and the similarity of ideas, which is determined both by the personal experience and the ways of mankind’s evolution in the first half of the 20th century. The analysis shows that the existence improvement concept lies at the bottom of the studied works. Though this concept has reached the ultimate stage of absurdity where the initially positive ideas to build a house for the country’s proletarians (Platonov) and to save the mankind in the space (Martinson) lead to a negative result: death. While the Platonov’s novel is well-known for a wide audience, the poem of the Swedish author is a revelation for the majority as an example of post-apocalyptic dystopia written in an elegant poetic language. The present article introduces what these two literary works have in common in relation to genre (both the poem and the novel represent failed utopia — dystopia) and architectonics. The story lines are based on such motifs as motif of traveling, motif of searching for happiness and truth, and motif of death, a key-motif for both literary works.

Keywords:

dystopia, Martinson, Aniara, Platonov, The Foundation Pit