The Uncensored Boris Godunov: The Case for Pushkin's Original Comedy (Publications of the Wisconsin Center for Pushkin Studies)

Includes the original Russian text and, for the first time, an English translation of that version. “Antony Wood’s translation is fluent and idiomatic; analyses by Dunning et al. are incisive; and the ‘case’ they make is skillfully argued. . . . Highly recommended.”—__Choice__ Boris Godunov has long puzzled readers both Russian and non-Russian. The authors of this study suggest why: because the later version of Boris Godunov came into being not through a process of the writer's own artistic maturation, as is generally assumed, but rather as the result of censorship and "political correctness" in the wake of the Decembrist Rebellion of 1825. Pushkin conceived and wrote this "historical tragedy" for stage performance, but his study of the first popular challenge to the Russian throne proved politically impossible for the theater. Six years later he reshaped the work for publication, putting a different complexion on it. Chester Dunning and his colleagues challenge the canonicity of the published 1831 version of the work, which has long displaced the original 1825 text, to argue in favor of treating the latter, with its sharper, richer dramatic impact, as the version that should be studied, performed, and celebrated.In addition to essays on the historical, biographical, and literary context of Pushkin's play, this book includes both the original Russian text and, for the first time, a rhythmically accurate and superbly performable English translation of that version. Readers familiar with Boris Godunov will find-in addition to scenes and dialogue omitted from the so-called canonical text-several words and phrases not found in previous editions. Detailed endnotes explain the numerous historical references and demonstrate the re-markable historical accuracy of the original version of Pushkin's daring drama set in early modern Russia's darkest hour, the Time of Troubles (1598-1613). Reconsidering history and expanding the canon / Caryl Emerson and Chester Dunning The problem of Boris Godunov : a review of interpretations and the so-called canonical text / Chester Dunning The exiled poet-historian and the creation of his comedy / Chester Dunning The tragic fate of Pushkin's comedy / Chester Dunning The world of laughter in Pushkin's comedy / Sergei Fomichev Tragedy, comedy, carnival, and history on stage / Caryl Emerson The ebb and flow of influence : muffling the comedic in the move toward print / Caryl Emerson Boris Godunov and the Russian literary canon / Caryl Emerson and Chester Dunning. Includes the original Russian text and, for the first time, an English translation of that version. “Antony Wood’s translation is fluent and idiomatic; analyses by Dunning et al. are incisive; and the ‘case’ they make is skillfully argued. . . . Highly recommended.”— Choice