While anticipating the work of Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco,
14 Krasnykh izbushek[
The Fourteen Little Red Huts, 1933] is as bold in its political satire as Bertolt Brecht at his best. Along with the short novel
Kotlovan[
The Foundation Pit, 1930] and the play
Sharmanka[
The Hurdy-Gurdy, 1930] it is one of Platonov’s most impassioned, and penetrating, responses to Stalin’s assault on the Soviet peasantry – the catastrophes of the collectivization of agriculture (1930) and the ensuing Terror Famine (1932-33).
Between 1929 and 1932, along with other writers, Platonov was sent on a number of journeys through central and southern Russia. Unlike his colleagues, he wrote honestly about what he saw. In August 1931, for example, he was asked to report on the progress of collectivization
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Citation: Chandler, Robert. "14 Krasnykh izbushek". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 July 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=14449, accessed 04 December 2024.]