The Fierce and Beautiful World (New York Review Books Classics) [Paperback]

Andrey Platonov (Author), Tatyana Tolstaya (Translator, Introduction), Joseph Barnes (Author)

Book Description

Series: New York Review Books Classics | Publication Date: May 31, 2000

This collection of Platonov's short fiction brings together seven works drawn from the whole of his career. It includes the harrowing novella Dzahn ("Soul"), in which a young man returns to his Asian birthplace to find his people deprived not only of food and dwelling, but of memory and speech, and "The Potudan River," Platonov's most celebrated story.

In December 2007 The Fierce and Beautiful World will be superseded by Soul (978-159017-254-4), a new translation of eight of Platonov's stories.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

While his work was suppressed by the Russian/Soviet governments during his lifetime (1899-1951), Platonov has emerged as a major influence on current Russian writers. This collection sports a catalog of work from his entire career, including the novella Dzahn and his best short story, The Potudan River. This edition also includes an introduction to the author by Tatyana Tolstaya.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"In Russia it is Platonov who is increasingly described as the best writer of the post-revolutionary epoch." -- Victor Erofeyev, The Times Literary Supplement

"Platonov is a realist as only the Russians can be realists, unsparing and utterly without any literary device except the exact and telling detail. The result seems . . . more myth than reality, as Platonov's Russia is incredibly strange." -- Guy Davenport

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: NYRB Classics (May 31, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0940322331
• ISBN-13: 978-0940322332
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,676,136 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A disappointing volume of the work of a great writer, June 24, 2000

By 

R. H. Chandler (London England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Fierce and Beautiful World (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

Platonov is the finest Russian prose-writer of the last century, but this republication of a volume first published around 1970 is a disappointment. Firstly, the translation is mediocre; secondly, the short novel "Dzhan", the longest and greatest work in this volume, was translated from a heavily censored Soviet text. Many of the most striking, most unusual or most subversive passages of the original have been cut out.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I highly recommended this book!, October 20, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Fierce and Beautiful World (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

Except Anton Chekhov, I have never read any book so subtlely investigating the human nature from the well-tailored short stories. The best one among them is "The Third Son", which was highly praised by Hemingway, exposed a highly dramatic scene and shaken my heart in its lowest and humblest sound. Platonov is among the best short stories writers almost as great as Chekhov. This is my bias that he was even better than James Joyce and Guy Maupassant because he never use too cynical, satirical or poignant attitude to his subject (even to the ugliest side of the human nature). He accept the "most" good and the "most" bad one too. Unlike Chekhov, he showed us the straightness and rustlessness of the Russians, his nation-people and the influence of Soviet Union on Russian culture. So he could deal with the essential problem of human beings in his era, under its own cultural atmosphere.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Uneven Collection, April 10, 2009

By 

dizzy dean (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fierce and Beautiful World (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

If I could give stars by the stories, I'd definitely give five to some (Homecoming, Potudan River and The Fierce and Beautiful World) and less or much less (Dzhan) to others. However, even in the lesser stories, Platonov's writing is able to shine through, be it in a description a simile/metaphor or simply in a turn of the phrase. The translation seems to capture this in English, though a better introduction of the content of each story might have been useful. Worth buying, especially if you have a taste for Russian literature.