How did the poet Platonov understand the type of Soviet ‘new man’, which the journalist Platonov promoted as a product of an “intellectual revolution”? The journalist envisioned the ‘new man’ as an instance of intellect, will and working power, thus implying the ‘new man’s’ conformity with the modern concept of ‘subject’. An analysis of the novellas Ėfirnyj trakt, Satana mysli and Lunnye izyskanija shows that Platonov’s characters bear the traits of the excessively rational ‘new man’, but the poet Platonov is far from promoting them. Instead, he provides a subtle understanding for the failing of the ‘new man’. Platonov’s science fiction can be regarded as an allegory for the critical term of ‘instrumental reason’ and as the beginning of his turn to ‘narodnostʹ’.

The article is written in German.