Andrei Platonov, Russian author and poet (d. 1951)
Andrei Platonov (Russian: Андре́й Плато́нов, IPA: [ɐnˈdrʲej pɫɐˈtonəf]; 28 August [O.S. 16 August] 1899 – 5 January 1951) was the pen name of Andrei Platonovich Klimentov (Russian: Андре́й Плато́нович Климе́нтов), a Soviet Russian writer, philosopher, playwright, and poet, whose works anticipate existentialism. Although Platonov regarded himself as a communist, his principal works remained unpublished in his lifetime because of their skeptical attitude toward collectivization of agriculture (1929–1940) and other Stalinist policies, as well as for their experimental, avant-garde form. His famous works include the novels Chevengur (1928) and The Foundation Pit (1930).
The short story collection The Fierce and Beautiful World was published in 1970 with an introduction by Yevgeny Yevtushenko and became Platonov's first book in English. During 1970s, Ardis published translations of his major works, such as The Foundation Pit and Chevengur. In 2000, the New York Review Books Classics series issued a collection of short stories, including his most famous story, "The Potudan River" (1937), with an introduction by Tatyana Tolstaya. In 2007, New York Review Books reissued a collection of Platonov's work including the novella Soul (1934), the short story "The Return" (1946), and six other stories. This was followed by a reissue of The Foundation Pit in 2009, and in 2012 by Happy Moscow, an unfinished novel (not published in Platonov's lifetime).