“Oaky maple” and the ritual of reconciliation
Biblical and liturgical subtexts in The Foundation Pit
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Platonov’s novel contains numerous hidden quotes from the Bible and other Christian sources. Often, they appear incomprehensible to the reader. However, for the text, they are of key importance. The absence of God in the world Platonov describes is made even more manifest by the Bible motifs, which are in part parodistically alienated. At the same time, they are used by Platonov to set the events of his time against a background of Christian salvation. The partially incompatible subjective perspectives of his protagonists on revolution and belief form a polyphonic, ambivalent whole.
(Osteuropa 8-10/2016, pp. 395–403)