Soul: And Other Stories (New York Review Books Classics) Paperback – December 4, 2007

The back cover description and the Publisher's Weekly paragraphs will give you the main plot lines of the title novella, _Soul_, and the other stories, but I want to say that Platonov is astonishing. How could anyone--in such a short life--have felt and known so much and also had time to master the craft of story-telling? Truly a genius. Platonov loved life so much that he had to write it out, and if he stopped writing, his life would have been too painful. His combination of harsh objectivity and lyricism could be accounted for by, perhaps, considering the mix of pain in his own life. He invested the simplest human act with a sense of wonder. Sitting on a bench waiting for a friend becomes a spiritual moment. A character who hears a cricket chirping as he approaches a friend's door would be sentimental or precious if written by a lesser artist or someone with fewer hard edges than Platonov, or in a setting less deprived than Russia in the 1930s.While the novella, _Soul_, isn't autobiographical, there is a line about the protagonist, Chagataev, that suggests to me the key to Platonov himself: "He felt as if he belonged to others, as if he were the last possession of those who have no possessions, about to be squandered to no purpose, and he was seized by the greatest, most vital fury of his life" (p. 94).These stories and the _Soul_ novella are proof that literature transcends ideology and politics at the same time that politics conditions people's lives. Platonov and other writers might have been suppressed by men who wanted to dictate what literary art should be, but writers and readers in comfortable, "democratic" nations are persecuted by a silent enemy: mediocrity. Platonov was a total stranger to the "m" word. He never knew complacency.While death and disaster seem to condition the intensity of Platonov's work, it is from out of his vision of humanity that his writing comes; he has a way of getting to the human truth of a scene or conversation in just a sentence, with exactly the right words. With every carefully constructed sentence, he trained my senses to the point where I was ready to expect the unexpected. In other words, in every sentence there is a kind of tension that has an undercurrent of doom or despair; every moment I expected the characters to be dealt some horrible blow, or some bitter ending, but inside each character is a kind of heroism that turned everything around. Most surprising, in the final story, "The Return," is a nearly 12-year-old boy whose courage saves his family and brings a spiritual epiphany to his father, a returning war veteran. With real boys like that no one needs magic or special effects.And, I never knew a story about railway workers could be so gripping, so impossible to put down, until I read Platonov's "Among Plants and Animals." I didn't know a man could write so well about women until "Fro." "The River Potudan" is invested with such weightiness that I could sense the huge body of water flowing.In closing, I'd like the reader to know that this translation of Andrey Platonov's _Soul and Other Stories_ reminds me again how NYRB has reinvented the paperback, winning me away from the Penguin and the Oxford classic paperbacks (which I collected for years). The book covers are well-chosen, and the typeset and spacing between the lines make an easier reading experience, and each page is visually pleasing. A paperback reading experience does not get better than this. And now this incredible translation by a team of experts led by Robert Chandler! Of course, the Platonov we get is due to these translators, and Chandler wrote a remarkable Introduction on Platonov's life and on the art of translating from the Russian and why a group of translators was necessary. But the unsung heroes are the women and men who (miraculously!) preserved all Platonov's manuscripts until the right translators could be found. What a work for humanity. Bravo!

As a student of Soviet history I highly recommend this book. There are many Gulag memoirs available but many of Platonov's stories give a unique view- that of the disillusioned apparatchik working for the mirage that is Socialism. While they are fiction and not history they still add flesh to the bones left by Stalin in the 30's. However, if you are looking for a fun book to read by the beach this is probably not for you. When my wife asked me for a synopsis it came out something like this- "Well, a starving child is rejected by his mother, is sent to Moscow to be educated, enters into an unconsummated marriage out of pity (wife dies), returns to homeland to build Socialism, finds everyone starving to death, manages to keep them from being sold into slavery, at one point is being eaten alive by birds.....". That was as far as I got before she waved me off and shook her head- "How can you read such depressing books?".

great book but kind of difficult to read in the way that it is rather sad

Beautifully written novel that was tragically sad and happy at the same time.

I purchased this book after discovering Andrei Platonov in an anthology of Russian writers - his story, "The River Potudan", is included in The Portable Twentieth-Century Russian Reader, Penguin Classics. That same story is part of this book, Soul. Platonov is a wonderful writer, but I am left disappointed by the translations in this edition, by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler. The translation of "The River Potudan" I had previously read, and which seeded in me an appetite for more by Platonov, was by Joseph Barnes, and much more to my liking.To be clear, I know not a word of Russian, and it is not as a linguist or Russian speaker that I am disappointed by the Chandler translations in this book - it is simply as a lover of good prose and well crafted syntax that I found them wanting. The translation of fine literature demands more than just a competent bilinguist, it begs for someone who on top of being a competent translator is also a fine writer. Someone in possession of that rare translator's alembic that converts accurately without maligning style.

One of the best books of the twentieth century. The meaning is the same as current crises ( the cause is the same-imperial wars) and wanderings/death of the people. How poor can you get and have nothing to sell but your SOUL.

The main story in the collection, "Soul" is a bleak and heart wrenching story that has stayed with me long after I've read it. And I re-read it. And will probably read it again. Powerful and moving, but most likely the bleakest story I've ever read.

Most of the stories in here didn't resonate too well with me. The exception being 'The Return' which I liked a lot, but more for anecdotal moments in the story than as a well constructed whole.

Andrey Platonov, a Russian writer from the Soviet Era rests between the philosophical and emotional grandeur and gravitas of Solzhenitsyn and the whimsy and satirical and silly and profound Bulgakov. If you love either Solzhenitsyn or Bulgakov, I'd recommend Platonov as he is the least discussed and least read in the west. His books are getting more exposure in the Vintage trade paperbacks, and Chandler and Co. are responsible for the wonderful translations.Soul and Other Stories is a perfect introduction to Platonov, though, instead of starting with the novel, I would advise readers to jump into the stories first. Platonov crafts touching and efficient stories. I have read 'The Return' and 'Third Son' numerous times, regarding them as some of the greatest short stories written in the twentieth century. I dearly and absolutely love them both. The former features a Russian soldier returning from his time at war to a family that has been living and surviving without him. The soldier's son has become the surrogate father, and there are definite tensions between him and the prodigal dad. Meanwhile, 'Third Son' evokes the feeling of standstill in the wake of a matriarch's death. Her adult sons return for her burial. What is remarkable is the sense of grief described and the awkward moments before emotions are expressed is so universal, so touching, I would compare it to the best in cinema. Fantastic writing. Fantastic and so impeccably written. They are nearly flawless.In this collection, two other gems are 'The Cow' and 'The River Potudan'. I enjoyed them and will return to them again and again. Platonov captures loss and trauma in such poignant sentences. He is a painter of interior anguish and wonder at the human condition. I am in awe of his ability to make you feel so moved and so struck by the painful transience of existence.I said Platonov writes efficient stories. His novels, I feel, are lacking in structure. Some people are better working out miniature forms. Platonov is not a novelist the way the two aforementioned authors were. Soul is an interesting, curious and yet unpleasant read and while the themes of abandonment and struggle are apparent in the story of a man being tasked with bringing the Soviet ideals to his childhood home in Central Asia, there is no real thrust to the novel. Once the character arrives and tries to bring his people together, it becomes fairly boring. There is no real momentum as one scene shifts to another... to another. To another. Over the years, I've read this novel three times and upon the third, recent revisiting, I found myself, this time, skimming through sections. The narrative is okay and there are some moving scenes as you feel for the people in their dire and deserted world. The evocation of the hopelessness and the resolve is moving but, with no real tenable goal and no true stakes, the reader is left with a fairy limp narrative.Again, the stories are worth the price of admission. They make up the second half of the book and, they, they alone are the true reason to own this book. The novel, Soul, take it over leave it.

The most striking discourse into humanity at its most desolate and helpless. Platonov's prose bites at the heart, the purity of the emotions he conveys is unlike anything I've ever had the pleasure to come across.Reading through the stories, I think one would be quick to assume that Platonov was pro-Soviet, given the rather subtle pro-Stalin mentions, but there is some debate to this. Loyal communism or simply dark sarcasm? Considering Platonov's circumstances I would stick to the latter. Soul was only released years after Platonov's death following suppression under the Soviet state.The other stories featured were not always as engaging, and there are a couple of which I skipped through, however, it is nonetheless difficult not to admire his work, oftentimes like poetry - deserving of sentence-by-sentence dissection.

Soul is a brilliant collection of very moving stories. It reminded me of Pushkin and Tolstoy, and is essential reading for anyone who likes Russian Lit.in my opinion. The author's ability to create deep and believable characters, using only a few words, has rarely been bettered. If you buy it from the translator, via Amazon Sellers, it comes with added value.