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Abstract: The article deals with Platonov’s critical writing about the works of Richard Aldington, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Karel Čapek, Washington Irving, and Grey Owl (in total, eight articles). Their ideas, including in comparison with the concept of socialist realism, and their particular (or “secret”) language allowed the writer to talk about the political situation in his own country and develop additional meanings (in other words, their “hidden” themes). Platonov’s language and ideas in these articles allow us to pull back the curtain on his reading circle, which clarifies his own fiction. The article aims to answer modern critics of Platonov, accusing the writer of standing up for Stalin’s policy, and founded on some critical works of his contemporaries and archival materials as well as modern research about the writers whose work Platonov viewed — where the analysis of his ideas required it.