Toponymic space of A. Platonov’s novel “Chevengur”

We make an attempt to consider the title of novel “Chevengur” by Andrei Platonovich Platonov, a prominent representative of Russian literature of the Soviet and post-Soviet period. We provide evidence that the title of A. Platonov’s novel “Chevengur” is an occasional mythoponym, the meaning of this onomastic unit in the structure of the literary text is established. We present the researchers’ points of view on the etymology of the word “chevengur”, the scientists’ arguments based on the topography of the novel and the localization of the city space being created in the south of the Voronezh Region are proposed. We substantiate that the actions in the novel, described by A. Platonov, take place on the territory of the Voronezh Region on the border with the Saratov Region; it is noted that the tendency to use mythoponyms as names of settlements is generally characteristic of A. Platonov’s handwriting. We analyze the real toponyms and hydronyms of the Voronezh Region allows us to form an idea of the world of reality with an emphasis on the fact that A. Platonov emphasizes the scale of the country, creating a vast toponymic space. In A. Platonov’s texts appear references to religious texts, first of all, to the Bible, which are completely atypical for a Soviet writer. We establish that the mythical toponym Chevengur reflects the main world-forming and world-forming ideas of the author, expresses the specifics of his language and style.