What do you think?
Rate this book
Река Потудань
Андрей Платонов был подлинным сыном революции, принял ее сразу и без малейшего сомнения. Он тогда занимался всем сразу: мелиорацией, электротехникой, партийной работой. И писал, смущаясь — потому что страсть к слову не умерла с приходом революции, — он ведь не был уверен, что искусство должно исчезнуть, его обязан сменить «сущий энтузиазм жизни». Он монашески ограничивал себя, стыдясь любви к слову, как греха. И от этого его слово становилось особенно цельным, плотным, вещественным, фраза казалась тяжелой и неповоротливой, как будто мысль еще только рождается, «примеривается» к действительности. Произведения Андрея Платонова не были оценены по достоинству при ж
39 pages, Kindle Edition
1 person is currently reading
248 people want to read
About the author
Andrei Platonov
268 books455 followersAndrei Platonov, August 28, 1899 – January 5, 1951, was the pen name of Andrei Platonovich Klimentov, a Soviet author whose works anticipate existentialism. Although Platonov was a Communist, his works were banned in his own lifetime for their skeptical attitude toward collectivization and other Stalinist policies.
From 1918 through 1921, his most intensive period as a writer, he published dozens of poems (an anthology appeared in 1922), several stories, and hundreds of articles and essays, adopting in 1920 the Platonov pen-name by which he is best-known. With remarkably high energy and intellectual precocity he wrote confidently across a wide range of topics including literature, art, cultural life, science, philosophy, religion, education, politics, the civil war, foreign relations, economics, technology, famine, and land reclamation, amongst others.
His famous works include the novels The Foundation Pit and Chevengur.
From 1918 through 1921, his most intensive period as a writer, he published dozens of poems (an anthology appeared in 1922), several stories, and hundreds of articles and essays, adopting in 1920 the Platonov pen-name by which he is best-known. With remarkably high energy and intellectual precocity he wrote confidently across a wide range of topics including literature, art, cultural life, science, philosophy, religion, education, politics, the civil war, foreign relations, economics, technology, famine, and land reclamation, amongst others.
His famous works include the novels The Foundation Pit and Chevengur.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
September 10, 2015
This is one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read. Perhaps my favorite short story of all time. I have no idea why. I don't understand what makes it so fantastic. It isn't even about anything, but it is just simply wonderful.
November 25, 2013
Никогда не могла преподавать нормально Платонова, потому что какое преподавание, когда только читать?
"Люба попросила Никиту, -- может быть, он затопит печку, ведь на дворе
еще долго будет темно. Пусть огонь светит в комнате, все равно спать она
больше не хочет, она станет ожидать рассвета и глядеть на Никиту.
Но в сенях больше не оказалось дров. Поэтому Никита оторвал на дворе от
сарая две доски, поколол их на части и на щепки и растопил железную печь.
Когда огонь прогрелся, Никита отворил печную дверцу, чтобы свет выходил
наружу. Люба сошла с кровати и села на полу против Никиты, где было светло.
-- Тебе ничего сейчас, не жалко со мной жить? -- спросила она.
-- Нет, мне ничего, -- ответил Никита. -- Я уже привык быть счастливым
с тобой".
"Люба попросила Никиту, -- может быть, он затопит печку, ведь на дворе
еще долго будет темно. Пусть огонь светит в комнате, все равно спать она
больше не хочет, она станет ожидать рассвета и глядеть на Никиту.
Но в сенях больше не оказалось дров. Поэтому Никита оторвал на дворе от
сарая две доски, поколол их на части и на щепки и растопил железную печь.
Когда огонь прогрелся, Никита отворил печную дверцу, чтобы свет выходил
наружу. Люба сошла с кровати и села на полу против Никиты, где было светло.
-- Тебе ничего сейчас, не жалко со мной жить? -- спросила она.
-- Нет, мне ничего, -- ответил Никита. -- Я уже привык быть счастливым
с тобой".
August 3, 2020
The most beautifully sad story in the whole of Russian literature, imho.
May 29, 2024
Clarence Brown in The Portable Twentieth-Century Russian Reader writes that it was Ernest Hemingway who in the mid-60s “happened to be enjoying an enormous vogue in Russia” and “had praised (Platonov’s stories) in an interview with Soviet journalists. None of the Soviet journalists had ever heard of Platonov. It is nekulturny (uncultured) to be flagrantly unaware of a native author praised by a world-famous foreign writer. Thus Hemingway is in no doubt in part responsible for his Russian colleague’s return to print…”
“There is a natural affinity between the two writers. Each found his central theme in the prosaic heroism of enduring at the furthest edge of physical and emotional existence, at the place where the line between life and death seems to fade and even to lose all interest. Each was fascinated by death. Platonov appears to have thought it the natural condition of man, life being an evanescent and transient arrangement.”
“He reminds one also of Becket in certain terms of phrase that reverse our normal perception of living and dying. ‘I was on my way to my mother,’ says Molloy, ‘whose charity kept me dying.’ To live, in Beckett, is to ‘finish dying.’ In “The Potudan River,” Nikita inquires about his wife, ‘And she’s alive now?’ His father answers, ‘So far, she hasn’t died.’”
I’d written elsewhere recently about how the Russians could write about death; they can also write about love.
I think Nikita in this story is severely depressed; perhaps even suffering from PTSD (though that term didn’t exist at the time this story was written)
I’d been thinking maybe 4 stars, but there’s something about the ending that just resonates and makes you revisit this story in you mind.
“There is a natural affinity between the two writers. Each found his central theme in the prosaic heroism of enduring at the furthest edge of physical and emotional existence, at the place where the line between life and death seems to fade and even to lose all interest. Each was fascinated by death. Platonov appears to have thought it the natural condition of man, life being an evanescent and transient arrangement.”
“He reminds one also of Becket in certain terms of phrase that reverse our normal perception of living and dying. ‘I was on my way to my mother,’ says Molloy, ‘whose charity kept me dying.’ To live, in Beckett, is to ‘finish dying.’ In “The Potudan River,” Nikita inquires about his wife, ‘And she’s alive now?’ His father answers, ‘So far, she hasn’t died.’”
I’d written elsewhere recently about how the Russians could write about death; they can also write about love.
I think Nikita in this story is severely depressed; perhaps even suffering from PTSD (though that term didn’t exist at the time this story was written)
I’d been thinking maybe 4 stars, but there’s something about the ending that just resonates and makes you revisit this story in you mind.
February 4, 2018
delicate, beautiful, devastating. i'm left with a feeling i've been meaning to touch, but has never been in reach.
February 28, 2008
It hurts...my soul aches.
August 1, 2021
молодожёны пытаются преодолеть семейные проблемы по отдельности. они не общаются, не дают друг-другу обратную связь, а только "морозятся", стесняются и этим всё усложняют.
вполне допускаю реалистичность происходящего, там налицо недостаток образования, да и время было сложное, голодное, послевоенное.
впечатляет язык написания, в современной литературе такого не встретишь, певучесть какая-то есть и в прямой речи и в ритмике текста в целом.
"Более молодые обычно смеялись и близко глядели лица друг другу, воодушевленные и доверчивые, точно они были накануне вечного счастья."
не пожалел потраченного на прочтение времени. на последок хочется сказать, не ведите себя как главные герои. любите близких, не принимайте поспешных решений и будьте открыты - обсуждайте проблемы, вместо того, чтобы гонять и убиваться горем втихомолку.
вполне допускаю реалистичность происходящего, там налицо недостаток образования, да и время было сложное, голодное, послевоенное.
впечатляет язык написания, в современной литературе такого не встретишь, певучесть какая-то есть и в прямой речи и в ритмике текста в целом.
"Более молодые обычно смеялись и близко глядели лица друг другу, воодушевленные и доверчивые, точно они были накануне вечного счастья."
не пожалел потраченного на прочтение времени. на последок хочется сказать, не ведите себя как главные герои. любите близких, не принимайте поспешных решений и будьте открыты - обсуждайте проблемы, вместо того, чтобы гонять и убиваться горем втихомолку.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 8, 2021
A short but great story about a young man who got back from war to his home village and is learning to feel and see the world properly. The situation in the country is dire, there is not much to eat, diseases are rampant and the life is as poor as it gets. He tries to survive and live a normal human life an falls in love with a neighbour girl who studies medicine at the local med school and eventually gets married only to understand that his ability to love and be loved is trampled by the early adulthood he was forced to gain in the conditions of chaos and war. Saying anything more would be spoiling the pleasure from this book which is a great insight into the issues of sexuality, growing up and learning to feel and communicate the feelings to the other human beings.
October 18, 2017
A very unusual turn of events.
Characters beyond conventional comprehension.
Jubilant but sinister, thoughtful but irrational.
Welcome to Platonov's world.
Characters beyond conventional comprehension.
Jubilant but sinister, thoughtful but irrational.
Welcome to Platonov's world.
April 2, 2023
3.5
It just touched me how people try to survive and move forward with life despite everything, but how sometimes the problems and difficulties remain. The writing is not very philoshopical or donnish, it's rather written around everyday life, but it amazingly shows the hopelessness, fragility, and the efforts of the characters. You will feel it all.
I read an e-copy because I couldn't get my hands on a physical copy, my rating would probably be higher if I read the story with actual pages. It just feels more.
It just touched me how people try to survive and move forward with life despite everything, but how sometimes the problems and difficulties remain. The writing is not very philoshopical or donnish, it's rather written around everyday life, but it amazingly shows the hopelessness, fragility, and the efforts of the characters. You will feel it all.
I read an e-copy because I couldn't get my hands on a physical copy, my rating would probably be higher if I read the story with actual pages. It just feels more.
November 3, 2024
Lasīju tikko iznākušo latviešu valodas izdevumu, ko tulkojis Sergejs Moreino. Latviski "Upe Potūdaņa" (goodreads izvēlne šo izdevumu nepiedāvāja).Platonova teksti pat labam krievu valodas pratējam sagādā problēmas. Tas nav viegli lasāms arī oriģinālā. Tik klamzīgs tas ir, pieblīvēts ar revolucionārā un padomju laika valodu. Jāsaka, ka Moreino brīnumainā kārtā izdevies saglabāt šo valodas nepareizības sajūtu Izlasīju to kā reālistisku vēstījumu, bet uztveres augstākā līmenī tas ir stāsts-teiksma. Ar atsaucēm uz kristīgiem motīviem.
October 16, 2023
(read for russian lit of the 20th century)
really …. interesting and strange and beautiful and sad story
really …. interesting and strange and beautiful and sad story
January 31, 2024
beautiful and good complement to eros the bittersweet
March 2, 2025
Really sad. Unfulfilled in the pursuit of individualism and disheartened by limits of the collective? Jump in the river.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 10, 2025
complete existential darkness in a very short story
October 30, 2025
Such a heartbreakingly beautiful depiction of
hunger and desire, mental anguish and war, and masculinity and labour; all wrapped up in a tender love story.
hunger and desire, mental anguish and war, and masculinity and labour; all wrapped up in a tender love story.
October 11, 2021
История любви времён запрета любви и расчеловечения человека. Партия и правительство отменили человеческую душу как пережиток прошлого, но осталась тяга плоти к существу противоположного пола. Платоновские персонажи часто напоминают роботов, запрограммированных студентом-двоечником. Но эти мысли - видимо, побочный эффект от сопоставления истории России и описываемых в произведении событий. Главное в прозе Платонова - уникальный язык и неповторимая оптика.
December 10, 2021
Compact and highly resonant story that evokes such bittersweet emotions about love and life.
Protagonist struggles with depression and suicidality, which leads him to leave his job and his wife, but he returns after he sees what pain he has caused her.
It's a highly quotable story since it's so dense, and also because the main character is young and emotive. But one aspect that amped up the beauty of the story was Platonov's description of nature and also the way he intertwines it with characters and sensory description.
Here's a small excerpt to give you an idea:
"In the sky outside the window a vague kind of growing started - it was not yet dawn but only a movement in the darkness, a slow stripping away of empty space, and all the things in the room and the child's furniture, too, began to be visible, but after the dark night they had lived through they looked miserable and exhausted, as if they were calling out for help."
Protagonist struggles with depression and suicidality, which leads him to leave his job and his wife, but he returns after he sees what pain he has caused her.
It's a highly quotable story since it's so dense, and also because the main character is young and emotive. But one aspect that amped up the beauty of the story was Platonov's description of nature and also the way he intertwines it with characters and sensory description.
Here's a small excerpt to give you an idea:
"In the sky outside the window a vague kind of growing started - it was not yet dawn but only a movement in the darkness, a slow stripping away of empty space, and all the things in the room and the child's furniture, too, began to be visible, but after the dark night they had lived through they looked miserable and exhausted, as if they were calling out for help."
August 21, 2014
E wahrhaft außegewöhnliche Liebesgeschichte, ohne jedweden Kitsch und in gebührender Kürze, über einen Heimkehrer, dessen einziger Halt im Leben diese eine Frau ist.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews