#1) “Kotlovan” – V. Zhdan

Zhdan drew a series of drawings as illustrations for the characters in the novel “Kotlovan” or “The Foundation Pit” as it’s translated. It’s a heartbreaking story based on what the author witnessed during Stalin’s forced collectivization that features ordinary people and the strength of the human spirit. Platonov finished the book in 1930. To be exact he wrote the book between December 1929 and April 1930. If Stalin or the Soviet authorities had been aware of the novel it would have meant certain imprisonment if not death. The novel remained unpublished until 1969 when it was first published in the West, 18 years after Platonov’s death. It wasn’t published in the USSR until 1987. Platonov or Andrei Platonovich Kilmentov as was his real name is considered by Russian writers and scholars as one of the greatest Russian authors of the early 20th century.