The Foundation Pit

The Foundation Pit

infobox Book |
name = The Foundation Pit
title_orig = Котлован (Kotlovan)
translator =


image_caption =
author = Andrei Platonov
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = Soviet Union
language = Russian
series =
genre =
publisher =
release_date = 1929–1930 (written); 1969(pub'd in London); 1987(pub'd in USSR)
english_release_date =
media_type =
pages = 141
isbn = 1860460496, 0810111454
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Foundation Pit" (1929–1930) ("Kotlovan") is a gloomy symbolical and satirical novel by Andrei Platonov. The plot of the novel concerns a group of workers in the early Soviet Union attempting to dig out a huge foundation pit, on the base of which a gigantic House for all Proletariat will be built. The workers dig daily, but they slowly cease understanding meaning in their work; the enormous foundation pit sucks out all their energy.

Along with Zamyatin, Platonov created one of the first state-control dystopias of the 20th century that had influence on such consequent masterpieces as Orwell's "1984" and Huxley's "Brave New World".

The Foundation Pit is a representation of the conflict that occurred between the individual and the collectivized State in the late 1920s. The only existence one has is being part of a whole.

Due to censorship, "The Foundation Pit" was not published in the Soviet Union until 1987.


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