From responses by Andrei Platonov (1899–1951) to authors who submitted manuscripts in 1920 to The Red Village, a newspaper that he edited. Platonov’s novels include Chevengur and The Foundation Pit; a collection of his letters was recently published by Redakziya Eleny Shubinoi, in Moscow. Translated from the Russian by Maya Dukmasova.

Comrade, if you want to be a poet — be yourself, that’s all. You puffed up, expanded outside yourself, and wrote filth, though perhaps you were guided by sincere feelings and honest thoughts.

Your poems “Spring” and “Autumn” don’t fit our newspaper. They are composed of old, chewed-up words…