Kevin M. F. Platt
Kevin M.F. Platt is Edmund J. and Louise W. Khan Term Professor in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches and writes on Russian literature, culture, and history.
The Slow Onset of Catastrophe in the Russian Summer
By Kevin M. F. PlattIn their seminal work on literary plot, the Russian Formalists described the device of “retardation”—slowing the action by means of digressions, twists, nature descriptions and the like. The plots of all of Chekhov’s great plays retard time excessively before a catastrophic end—following the shape of Russian summers.
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