--- product_id: 24414846 title: "The Foundation Pit (New York Review Books Classics) Paperback – Illustrated, April 21, 2009" brand: "andrey platonovrobert chandler" price: "936585₫" currency: VND in_stock: true reviews_count: 7 url: https://www.desertcart.vn/products/24414846-the-foundation-pit-new-york-review-books-classics-paperback-illustrated store_origin: VN region: Vietnam --- # The Foundation Pit (New York Review Books Classics) Paperback – Illustrated, April 21, 2009 **Brand:** andrey platonovrobert chandler **Price:** 936585₫ **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Foundation Pit (New York Review Books Classics) Paperback – Illustrated, April 21, 2009 by andrey platonovrobert chandler - **How much does it cost?** 936585₫ with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.vn](https://www.desertcart.vn/products/24414846-the-foundation-pit-new-york-review-books-classics-paperback-illustrated) ## Best For - andrey platonovrobert chandler enthusiasts ## Why This Product - Trusted andrey platonovrobert chandler brand quality - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Full description not available ## Images ![The Foundation Pit (New York Review Books Classics) Paperback – Illustrated, April 21, 2009 - Image 1](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51iyQenttzL.jpg) ![The Foundation Pit (New York Review Books Classics) Paperback – Illustrated, April 21, 2009 - Image 2](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/511MvgZ3NaL.jpg) ![The Foundation Pit (New York Review Books Classics) Paperback – Illustrated, April 21, 2009 - Image 3](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41TvpFObsML.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Great Book...but read the notes *by J***N on Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2010* This short novel was written in 1930 in response to the collectivization movement. The main character loses his job and wanders to a neighboring town where he joins a crew that is digging a foundation pit for a massive building for the proletariat to live in. Surrounded by an odd group of hapless characters, he soon realizes that the project will never be finished. They are joined by a young girl who spouts revolutionary slogans and reports on counter-revolutionaries.Half way through the book, he and several other diggers move to a village which still contains peasants who own their own land and even peasants who have servants of their own. They participate in the removal of these owners and the collectivization of the farms in the area. Once the have succeeded in their quest they go back to the pit where the novel ends.Foundation Pit describes an era that was hidden from those outside the Soviet Union, hidden from many inside that country and remains hidden to most today. It describes the blind and stupid dogmatism of Stalin's efforts, the violence of the reforms that were instituted and the dehumanization that resulted. The world described in this book seems surrealistic, but that is because of the strange language of propaganda that Platonov uses to narrate the tale. Actually, once you finish you realize this is not surrealism, but frightening realism. Platonov worked as an engineer in rural Russia and Ukraine and witnessed much of what he describes. It was much worse that we imagined.This is a great book, only recently rediscovered. Thanks to NYRB for making it available! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Great Book with an Editorial Error *by M***R on Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2011* There is nothing I can add to the earlier reviews except to forewarn you that there is no hint of endnotes in the text itself. You have to search in the back of the text for the endnotes, which are listed by page number. I was more than halfway through the book before I found them. The endnotes are very important to understanding the many implications of the Platonov's unique use of the Russian language and use of Communist cliches. The Afterward is also very important. I've read some of it, and it increased my appreciation of what I've read so far.I have decided to add to my comment because this is the most brilliant book I've ever read, and I read it three times in three weeks. I don't think I'll ever tire of reading it. It's the only example of verbal experimentalism from the era we call "modern" that makes sense to me. Platonov didn't so much write his book but sculpted it to show the horror of Total Collectivization and the liquidation of the kulak, that is the class of peasants who both owned property and hired labor, that is they were "rich" and therefore "parasites." He makes the author of "Ulysses" and "Finnegans Wake" appear to have been playing self-indulgent games. I highly recommend this book. You will never forget it. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Readers of the world get organized! With enthusiasm! *by T***E on Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2010* For anyone new to world literature or to Platonov, I suggest first reading _Soul and Other Stories_, also published in the NYRB Classics series. _The Foundation Pit_ is more complex, and it can also be depressing; in other words, in my own reading past I have started but not finished novels which were too hard to read. More specifically, what I mean is that this period in Russian or Soviet history, 1929 to the late `30s--during the consolidation of farm property and industrialization of farm work--was a violent time, and violence against farmers is hard for the (American) reader to understand who doesn't know the events which Andrey Platonov was writing about. The translators make it easier to understand _The Foundation Pit_ with their comprehensive "Afterward", "Further Reading", and "Appendix" at the end of Platonov's novel. I thought I knew what a "kulak" was--a kind of wealthy farmer--but Chandler and Meerson clarify the various types of poor, landless peasants, and poor or rich farmers. But still, don't be surprised if this novel has you heading for an encyclopedia. (After all, even Jane Austen has to be researched to be fully enjoyed.)In brief, regarding the background history of the novel, the wealthy farmers might have exploited their workers in a master-slave relationship, and Stalin's government believed that property had to be divided as equally as possible, but even backers of the revolution were disgusted by the process of killing farmers just to divide up their land. (While reading this novel, I couldn't help thinking of how what became Canada and the U.S. went from 100 percent Native American ownership to 1 percent. That process of property reallocation can't be done without some systematic government policy including violence--but, perhaps, that's another story.)Regarding Platonov's style (and the translators'), nearly every sentence is an astonishing combination of absurdist-lyrical or mechanical-lyrical words. I noticed that the key to making a noun absurd is the adjective attached to it: "various inevitable institutions," ". . . we lived cruelly," ". . . issued an oral directive." A "city sweet" seems to be candy. Even "foundation pit" becomes absurd. And, it's almost as though everyone is in a day-camp where they must act the same, and they've been ordered to speak with only certain words: "Get organized! Be enthusiastic!"From time to time, I felt like this was Samuel Beckett before "Beckett." And yes, the Irish Times called this novel an "absurdist parable." But, Beckett was writing absurdist drama at a time when Europe was basically a stable society (working for a corporation, though, is a kind of collectivization, both rational and absurd). But, for Platonov, without a stable society and with no hope, absurdity is realism.In the midst of this hopelessly absurd world, Platonov gives us two characters who keep the novel grounded in some future. One is Voshchev. I knew I was going to like this novel when Voshchev was punished for thinking: "Administration says that you stood and thought in the midst of production. What were you thinking about comrade, Voshchev?" (3). And, my favorite character (if that were not an absurdity in this novel) is the construction engineer, Prushevsky. He is able to feel delight, wistfulness, and a lyrical sense of the human soul--all considered bourgeois excesses of individuality. What saves Prushevsky--and anyone in this situation--is the memory of a young woman's face from a chance meeting; "Eternal matter [his engineering work], needing neither movement, nor life, nor extinction, had come to take the place, for Prushevsky, of something forgotten and necessary, like the being of a lost sweetheart" (27).I highly recommend investigating Russian history; much of it is a harsh reminder of American periods of over-the-top manias, like the HUAC witch hunts and McCarthyism and domestic spying on Americans. I suggest two books reviewed in the February 8, 2008, Times Literary Supplement, _The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia_ by Orlando Figes, and _Revolution on my Mind: Writing a Diary Under Stalin_ by Jochen Hellbeck. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.vn/products/24414846-the-foundation-pit-new-york-review-books-classics-paperback-illustrated](https://www.desertcart.vn/products/24414846-the-foundation-pit-new-york-review-books-classics-paperback-illustrated) --- *Product available on Desertcart Vietnam* *Store origin: VN* *Last updated: 2026-06-03*