Platonov and Paustovskii: unsuspected affinities and predictable differences between two povesti

This article is a comparative study of two “Soviet” stories based on historical material and focused on the contribution of British experts to the building of Imperial Russia. Chronologically close, the two works (Epifanskie shliuzy by Andrei Platonov and Sud'ba Sharlia Lonsevilia by Konstantin Paustovskii, dated respectively 1926 and 1932) show a number of affinities on a compositional level and with regard to the use of sources. These common aspects notwithstanding, narrative development leads to two radically different “ideological” results.