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Abstract:

The article presents an overview of previously unknown materials related to the work and fate of Andrey Platonov from the archive of literary critic Fedor Markovich Levin (1901–1972). Among them are diary entries and memoirs of F.M. Levin; materials related to the work of the critic on the release of the first posthumous collection of Andrey Platonov’s prose “Selected Stories” (1958), other editions of Platonov in the 1960s; versions of published and unpublished articles by Levin about the writer, demonstrating how hard they were censored; private documents (letters, scripts, photos); memoirs of the daughter of the critic E.F. Levina. Documents that allow us to see the real scale of F. Levin’s activity in 1955–1958 to preserve and return to readers the creative heritage of Andrey Platonov are proofs of an unknown collection of the writer and the critic’s notes about working on it. The collection was prepared by March 1957 and included the writer’s stories and critical articles. According to the original plan, it also included plays and fairy tales. A number of works were to be published for the first time. In preparing the publication, Levin carried out extensive textual work and compiled the first bibliography of Platonov. However, the release of the collection in such a composition was prohibited, the type matter was decomposed. A small part of the stories prepared for publication formed the book “Selected Stories” (1958), the introductory article to which also underwent numerous censorship edits.