“Huge Tactfulness of the Writer and the Artist”: Andrei Platonov on “The Story of My Life” by Akaki Tsereteli

Abstract

The Russian writer Andrei Platonov (1899-1951), after years of severe Soviet-Stalinist censorship against him, begins to review new publications in the Russian language for the literary magazine “Literaturnoe Obozrenie”. The April issue of the magazine contains A. Klimentov’s article (Klimentov was Platonov’s real name) on “The Story of My Life” by Akaki Tsereteli (1840-1915). The work by the prominent Georgian writer and poet was translated into Russian and published in Moscow in 1940 on the occasion of his 100th birthday anniversary.

Platonov analyzes the book, discovering in it the spirit of the epoch, the paradigmatic language and the classical traditions of the Georgian literature.
He respects the moral character and cultural significance of the Georgian writer, but at the same time points out that Tsereteli’s literary world is far from Platonov’s.