Non-Working, Communism and Carnival: Reading Andrei Platonov's Chevengur with Bakhtin

Abstract

The article explores practices of (non-)working in Andrei Platonov's Chevengur as expressive of post-revolutionary carnival economy. The concept of 'carnival economy' is analysed in the broader context of both Bakhtin's and Platonov's oeuvre, as well as against the background of cultural realities of the time. It is argued that an unconventional treatment of the idea of 'work' in the novel can be helpful in tracing some key motifs that defined the construction of a post-revolutionary society, while also providing a useful framework for developing further the historical significance of some of Bakhtin's theoretical premises.