Information about the author:
Konstantin A. Barsht
Konstantin A. Barsht, DSc in Philology, Leading Research Fellow, Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Makarova Emb., 4, 199034 St. Petersburg, Russia.
Abstract: The article examines the ways of reflecting the life path and creative activity of the philosopher Grigory Borisovich Itelson (1852–1926), a translator of A. Einstein’s works in Russian, emigrated from Russia, in Platonov’s story “Garbage Wind” and the novella “The Ethereal Tract.” The author of the article argues the hypothesis that Itelson was the prototype of Albert Lichtenberg from “Garbage Wind,” which describes the tragic fate of the “physicist of outer spaces.” The creative grounds of Platonov’s appeal to the personality of Itelson, an outstanding philosopher who left a noticeable mark in the history of science, are at the center of attention. Thanks to his translations in the 1920s, Platonov got acquainted with the General and Special Theory of Relativity, the Theory of Ether, and other scientific concepts that strongly influenced his worldview and largely shaped the poetics of his works. This suggests a significant impact of A. Einstein’s works translated by Itelson on a number of Platonov’s works, especially on the plot formation and ideology of the story “The Ethereal Tract.” The article points out some allusions linking Einstein’s books translated by Itelson and Platonov’s works.