World of the Play
Amidst the tremendous political and economic upheaval following the fall of the Soviet Union, people piece together a world from their past in a chaotic present. Nostalgic recreational activities fill the hours as talk of influential poets, Vladimir Mayakovsky and Alexander Pushkin, and playwrights like Anton Chekhov are discussed, explored, and transformed in Russia’s new generation. In this atmosphere, characters reinvent ideas of love and marriage, including the Soviet tradition of Women’s Day, and gender dynamics by bringing together a Russian Orthodox past and a not so distant atheist past and constructing new social patterns. The poetic language of Tanya-Tanya brings out the romantic aspects of the play accompanied by ironic dialogue that comments on the recovering society.
Politics
When Tanya Tanya was written, Russia had been in turmoil for over ten years. It started as a slow burning, underground rumble with the death of hardline Soviet dictator Leonid Brezhnev in 1982, followed by two leaders who both died shortly after gaining office. By 1985, the Soviet Communist party decided that a younger man was needed to ensure stability, and they thought they found the appropriate man in Mikhail Gorbachev. However, Gorbachev quickly made dramatic changes in the Soviet Union, recognizing that the old way of doing things was sending the country into ruin. He raised prices on alcohol, started allowing some small free enterprise, and lifted restrictions on freedoms of speech and the press. Suddenly, Soviet citizens were no longer being fed stories about the greatness of the empire and instead learned the truth - they were economically bankrupt, and mired in political and intellectual confusion. The empire couldn’t afford its clothes any longer and no longer knew which clothes it even wanted.
Soviet citizens spent the next few years watching their European empire crumble, including places considered parts of “Russia.” By 1991’s end, their own country disintegrated, mostly peacefully, and Russia was reborn. Boris Yelstin, a firebrand Russian nationalist, became president, and he faced the difficult task of rebuilding this demoralized country without a consensus on exactly how Russia should be rebuilt or even what Russia was.
One political grouping of nationalists, sometimes referred to as neo-Slavophiles, sought to restore Russian greatness by creating what author Nicolai Petro called a “constrained autocracy,” meaning a strong, single, powerful leader who nonetheless is subject to some democratic mechanisms, such as free speech. For this group, communism was an interruption in Russian history, and they sought to rebuild Russia’s national identity through links with symbols from the past, reestablishing a preeminent place for the Russian orthodox church, and both protecting and utilizing Russia’s environment and natural riches. They did not feel that only adopting Western ways, an old argument harkening to Peter the Great’s reign, was the way for Russia to regain its past glory and power. Indeed, some authors have noted that even the term nationalism does not quite have a direct translation into English, and one, Leonard Shapiro, prefers to instead to translate Russians’ view of nationalism as “one’s own way of being.”
A second group was the Westernizers. They saw everything Russian as backward and wrong and that Russia’s future lay in the political and economic structures of the West, which could be successfully transferred to Russia, a view that Western countries readily encouraged - and funded. This group initially won the fight over Russia’s future, beginning with the imposition of elections and economic liberalization, known as “shock therapy.” Russia, for them was an important part of the West, not its own type of entity.
The third group was comprised of former communists who thought that Western countries were using this moment of Russian weakness to increase their own power at Russia’s expense. They promoted the values of political independence, power, stability, and sovereignty and emphasized political autocracy, state control of all sectors, and the military. Some members of this group argued that certain accommodations to Western ways could be made, mere facets of capitalism, but only if they served to strengthen the Russian state. It was this group that led the revolt against Yeltsin in October 1993.
In spring 1993, arguments between President Yelstin and the Russian parliament about Russia’ political and economic direction became quite heated, resulting in what is known as the Russian Constitutional Crisis. A referendum was held on the new constitution in April, and after the constitution passed, Yeltsin used this opportunity to dissolve the troublesome parliament in September. Parliament responded by impeaching Yeltsin and installing Vice President Aleksandr Rutskoi, a statist, as acting president. While still declaring himself as president and with the support of some legislators, Yelstin marshaled his political supporters for protests at the Russian White House, home of the Supreme Soviet branch of the legislature. Tens of thousands of people were out in the streets on one side or the other. By September 30, the White House was barricaded. The Russian government started to fight itself - literally with arms - and eventually the army, which was initially neutral - sided with Yeltsin. Gaining the army’s support was crucial, and shells were lobbed at the building to create confusion and allow crack troops in to arrest the alleged conspirators. Yeltsin regained power, but his control was never complete. In total, the ten-day conflict cost 187 lives and 437 more were wounded, though some unofficial sources (former communists) put the number closer to 2,000 injured/killed. As one of Yeltsin’s prime ministers, Yegor Gaidar, once said “Russia is today not a bad subject for long-term prognostication, and a very inappropriate subject for short-term analysis.” The economic, social, and political upheavals left tomorrow uncertain for everyone, though for the youth, many saw it as a time of opportunity and excitement, not knowing if things would return to the same old ways or a new Russia would really be born from the ashes of communism.
Alison Millett McCartney
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
The Sputnik Generation
Donald J. Raleigh’s interviews with individuals from the Russian baby-boom, or the Sputnik Generation as he refers to the group, include a conversation with Arkdii Olegovich Darchenko, who reports, “our entire generation . . . welcomed Perestroika” (152). Darchenko was born in 1950, which made him an established adult by the time his country experienced drastic social and economic changes in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He describes hardships of the time: “in connection with Perestroika, the institute where I worked practically shut down. Well, it’s still open, but you can’t work there, because they don’t pay a thing” (128). However, unlike many others, he was well prepared with a strong education to be able to switch jobs, in part because he spoke English. Although he says his peers welcomed Perestroika, he also believes that “most likely, our generation didn’t differ at all from our parents . . . But after us came a new generation that was completely different” (129). In Danchenko’s mind, younger Russians might be better prepared to adapt to new social and political conditions.
Work Cited
Raleigh, Donald. Russia’s Sputnik Generation: Soviet Baby Boomers Talk about Their Lives.
Indiana University P, 2006. Print.
Kate Lilley
Senior, Theatre Arts
The Children of Perestroika
Deborah Adelman interviewed teenagers during the reforms of the late 1980s in Russia to capture their views on the economy, the politics and the changes that were happening. She later came back in 1991, initially to just give them a copy of her book, The “Children of Perestroika” Come of Age: Young People of Moscow Talk about Life in the New Russia, but turned out to add a new chapter to it from their recent experiences. She observed that, “The young people express bitterness about failing new economic policies and increasing poverty and crime, but at the same time they still believe that the lives of ordinary Russians can improve and, more important, that they can personally play some role in ensuring that outcome. The excitement and enthusiasm I had found three years earlier were gone, but they had not been replaced with indifference” (xii). These young people had greater levels of ambivalence, revealing a generation “still caught between the old and the new, a generation not yet ready to abandon totally the values and attitudes that are part of the Soviet legacy, yet also not ready or sure how to incorporate themselves fully into a new way of life--especially economic life--in the new Russia” (xii). Over the next few years, their pessimism would increase in the political and economic turmoil of the 1990s.
Work Cited
Adelman , Deborah. The “Children of Perestroika” Come of Age: Young People of Moscow Talk
about Life in New Russia. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1994.
Kate Lilley
Senior, Theatre Arts
In the Meantime: An Examination of Recreation in Russian Culture
Welcome to a world of complex relationships driven by conflicting desires. In this world, lovers co-exist despite the difficulties in their personal lives and what’s happening in the world around them. Providing an escape route from the chaos and simultaneously fueling the romance, are music, drinking, and dancing. Like Russia, the world of the play is full of activities that can be enjoyed in times of hardship and good fortune.
There are a significant number of encounters in this play that revolve around eating and drinking, which brings us to a popular activity in Russia; mushroom hunting. Mushroom hunting is a seasonal activity that occurs starting in the summer and ending in the fall. It doesn’t require any guns, only a sharp knife, a basket, and knowing what to pick. It’s is an activity that is both free and useful, because once the mushrooms are picked, they are cooked and eaten. They can be found in the forests and the woods throughout Russia and are deeply rooted in Russian history and tradition. According to Irina Sheludkova, the relationship between the Russian people and mushrooms dates back to ancient times. Mushrooms saved lives during periods of famine, and were a staple food of all Slavic people who lived in forested areas with poor agricultural land. Since the 10th century, when Orthodox Christianity was widely introduced, they became an essential part of Russian meals as a substitute for meat during Lent. Some Americans, particularly vegetarians as well as vegans also use mushrooms as a substitute for meat. When cooked thoroughly, they become tough and have somewhat of a meaty texture. More than 200 kinds of edible mushrooms can be found in Russia (“Free Food”).
Drinking is quite popular among the masses in Russia. It often occurs amongst friends and goes hand in hand with a meal. Although vodka is a favorite choice for consumption amongst Russians, the characters in this world consume a significant amount of wine and champagne. Wines made in Russia include, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Aligote, Muscat, Rkatsiteli, Saperavi, Port, Madera, and Sherry (“About Russian Wines”). The fact that the characters are consuming wine or champagne isn’t altogether surprising, as wine and champagne are viewed as aphrodisiacs in some cultures. In this play we see wine being served with chocolate, which is also known as an aphrodisiac. The younger Tanya associates champagne with a clear mind and kissing.
It is more common for a man and a woman who have an intimate relationship to drink wine rather than hard liquor. In a situation where it’s just the guys hanging out, such as the one we see in the scene with Ivanov, Okhlobystin, Uncle Vanya, and the Boy; vodka is usually the drink of choice. Alcohol has several functions in Russian society. One function, as George Bernard Shaw stated so eloquently, is “it makes life bearable to millions of people who could not endure their existence if they were quite sober” (Shaw). It also provides an occasional slip of the tongue and/or lapse in judgment, showing us a bit more of the characters than they were initially intending to reveal.
Music and dancing are at the center of this play, as these characters dance with one another, both literally and figuratively. There are many images of dancing and music, as well as comments on how specific characters feel about music and/or dancing. The atmosphere of music, dancing, and drinking, creates a gateway for romance and opens up the door for relationships beyond platonic to develop. The production’s musical selections range from contemporary Ukrainian folk-rock by Screams of Vidopliasov to classical Russian opera performed by Feodor Chaplain. This range of musical selections sweeps the characters up on a journey that won’t soon be forgotten.
In Russian culture, one way of measuring a person’s intellect is by observing how well they pick up on references to writers and their works. An intelligent person should read literary and philosophic works, be able to quote authors and characters, and even know biographical information about well known writers. We see Zina ironically measure Tanya’s character by this very notion; “She seems like a serious girl to me. Always quoting poetry.” Besides its enjoyable nature, another reason reading is so cherished is that some books (and music) were forbidden during the Soviet era. As a result, an underground network formed amongst Russia’s population, where people would exchange banned books and music. Therefore, is not uncommon to be in a theatre full of people who have read the same books, and know specific references to an author’s work as well as details about their life. For example Ivanov says “GIVE ME A BEAUTIFUL YOUNG WOMAN, I WILL WASTE HER SOUL! I WILL RAPE HER!” The younger Tanya immediately identifies the author as Mayakovsky, whose works she has probably read. In the spirit of Russian quotes, She might have found a similar sentiment in Mayakovsky’s Attitude to a Miss:
That night was to decide
if she and I
were to be lovers.
Under cover
of darkness
no one would see, you see.
I bent over her, it’s the truth,
and as I did,
it’s the truth, I swear it,
I said
like a kindly parent:
“Passion’s a precipice –
so won’t you please
move away?
Move away,
please!
In a world of mixed up emotions, complex relationships, and social and political upheaval,
it would be difficult to survive without a little Russian recreation.
Works Cited
About Russian Wines. Russiawines.com. 2 Sept. 2009. Web. 17 Nov. 2009.
Shaw, Bernard. Major Barbara. Penguin Books, 2000. New York. Print.
Mayakovsky, Vladimir. “Attitude to a Miss”, Marxist Internet Archive. Web. 20 Nov. 2009.
Sheludkova, Irina. “Free Food.” Passport Magazine. Web. 11 Nov. 2009.
Qituwra Anderson
Senior, Theatre Arts
Love and Marriage
Developments in Russia
She throws the purple vase from the
table and it smashes to the ground.(9)
Zina and Okhlobystin pick up the shards
of the vase.
(Tanya Tanya)
Whether one is married, engaged, single, dating, younger, or older, love draws people to one another. But the way that people pursue romantic partnerships and the form they expect such relationships to take may be informed by their individual impulses and society’s influence. In response to shifting social forces, men and women of all stages of life in Russia faced major challenges that affected many aspects of their lives. By the early 1990s, ideas of love and marriage were once again transforming in reaction to a new and uncertain time.
Many ideas of love and marriage in Russia are deeply rooted in a Russian Orthodox past. Relations between men and women were influenced by the interpretation of scripture and a predominant patriarchal tradition. This tradition upheld the belief that the man should lead the household and be the breadwinner of the family and the woman should help her husband and allow him to lead her and the family (Kay 158).
Amidst all of the social and political changes that came after the revolution of 1917, was the promise of gender equality. Soviet authorities sought to abolish the patriarchal family structure, not only because this idea was rooted in religious doctrine, but also because it promoted a form of social division:
Marxist-Leninist doctrine proclaimed that couples should marry for love only and without regard to economic considerations […] And, having been protected for 70 years from unemployment and other fluctuations that normally occur in a market economy, many youth and their parents perceived the future to be stable and predictable. (Cartwright 2)
Men and women were to be esteemed equally; both sexes supposedly worked and provided for their families. Even though the Soviet Union sought to establish equality among all social groups, some traditional notions of male and female roles in the family still carried from one generation to the next. After the fall of the Soviet Union, both ideologies were part of the conversation as people considered what new mosaics might be created out of the fragments of the past.
Works Cited
Cartwright, Kimberly D. “Shotgun Weddings and the Meaning of Marriage in Russia: An Event History Analysis.” Academic Search Premier. EBSCO, 2000. Web. 20 Sept. 2009.
Kay, Rebecca. Men in contemporary Russia the fallen heroes of post-Soviet change? Burlington, Vt: ASHGATE, 2005. Print.
Lauren Guy
Senior, Pre-Early Childhood Education
Anton Chekhov
Physician Anton Chekhov (1860 – 1904) created short stories and dramatic works that have been praised for their ability to capture both the everyday behavior and the essential longings of human beings. His plays have held the world stage since the time they were written. But Chekhov maintains a particularly important place in Russian theatre, as his statue’s position overlooking the Moscow Art Theatre and the emblem of his play The Seagull on that building might suggest. Playwright Olga Mukhina credits her countryman with creating archetypes of the Russian people that serve as ancient Greek myths did for that civilization. She notes that his characters “live in us. This is our culture. These people are like family to us” (Freedman, “Olga Mukhina”).
A Russian audience – or an American one familiar with the work of the earlier playwright -- may well recognize in her plays, what John Freedman refers to as fragments or debris of Chekhov. In Tanya Tanya, the characters Uncle Vanya and Ivanov may have little in common with Chekhov’s plays and characters of the same names. But Mukhina evokes the earlier playwright’s creations in order to craft them anew. Freedman mentions the strings “humming in the air” in Tanya Tanya as Mukina’s response to and reversal of the mournful and disturbing broken string heard in The Cherry Orchard (Freedman, Introduction xviii). That Chekhov play also offers a reflection on the present in relationship to the past that director Yury Urnov finds resonating in Tanya Tanya:
Firs: Back in the old days, forty, fifty years ago, they used to make dried cherries, pickled cherries, preserved cherries, cherry jam, and sometimes –
Gayev: Oh, Firs, just shut up.
Firs: -- sometimes they sent them off to Moscow by the wagonload. People paid a lot for them! Back then the dried cherries were soft and juicy and sweet, and they smelled just lovely; back then they knew how to fix them . . .
Liubov Andreyevna: Does anybody know how to fix them nowadays?
Firs: Nope. They all forgot that.
Works Cited
Chekhov, Anton. The Cherry Orchard. The Plays of Anton Chekhov. Trans. Paul Schmidt. New York: Harper, 1999. Print.
Freedman, John. “Olga Mukhina on Anton Chekhov.” The Moscow Times 16 April 2009. Web. 17 Nov. 2009.
---. Introduction. Two Plays by Olga Mukhina. London: Routledge, 1998. Print.
The Quandary of Post-Soviet Social Hierarchy and Class
Traditionally, the Russian people have been shifted from one authoritarian regime to another. In the age of the Tsars, society was organized according to a strictly stratified hierarchy in which social class, as defined by heredity and economics, determined one’s relative level of power over others and over one’s own destiny. Even in the “classless” society that the Bolsheviks attempted to make, there were informal social structures that distinguished certain groups of people from others. Though this system may not have operated upon the former hierarchy of privilege according to social class, people belonging to certain groups may have attained a certain status as a result of achievement or association that accorded them special regard or treatment in society. In the aftermath of the Soviet Union, many people retained their sense of belonging to a particular category of individuals within society, but the relationship among those groups was opened to new negotiations.
L. A. Sedov believes that Russian citizens are particularly noted for their lack of trust in the government and institutions (Sedov 54). Given this distrust, Sedov suggests people create groups among themselves irrelevant to social class and outside of government surveillance. The characters in Tanya Tanya belong to one of those groups. Critic and translator John Freedman, notes that they “are members of that nebulous category, the Russian intelligentsia, cultured people of learning, upbringing and conscience. They are more than a little eccentric, and their eccentricities make them all the more vulnerable and endearing” (Freedman xxvii). In Russian society, the intelligentsia tends to comprise a minority group of “cultured” people who have traditionally been critics of the government. They are most often the opponents to the authoritarian style of rule that has characterized that country’s history (Bashkirova 20). After the collapse of the Soviet Union, right around the time Tanya Tanya was written, most people in Russia focused their attention on making money and gaining economic stability rather than the artistic and intellectual pursuits of the intelligentsia (Chukhrov 238). The values that this group held closest were replaced with “values necessary for survival” (Bashkirova 8). This fact may have helped lead the characters’ real-life counterparts, to feel disenfranchised from the rest of society. Members of the intelligentsia were always on the perimeter, but then they became even further removed.
In the Soviet era “socialist ideology denied status differences between non-manual and manual workers, at least at the level of official rhetorics” (Bessudnov 1). Even though publicly the Russian people may not have been allowed to express if they felt that one profession carried more prestige than another, people still retained the ability to view one profession as having a higher social status than another profession. The worker in Tanya Tanya, whom the other characters refer to as Uncle Vanya, is clearly treated as a person of low social status. When he makes his entrance in the play, his concerns are ignored by the rest of the characters. After unfounded accusations against Uncle Vanya for poisoning their milk, Okhlobystin and Ivanov proceed to tie him up and disregard his proclamations that he is innocent. They do not take him as seriously as they do the other characters and seem to treat this lone worker in the play with a lack of respect. At the same time, ironically, Uncle Vanya is the character who offers touching stories of mutual love, understanding and permanent satisfaction among couples – a state that continually eludes the other characters in the play.
The relationships between groups as determined by intellectual interests or occupational category would soon undergo another transformation through the 1990s, as economic stratification and a hierarchy based upon social class slowly returned. In the Russia of this decade, many quipped that the social structure now consisted of two groups: the rich and everyone else.
Works Cited
Bashkirova, E.I. “Transformation of the Values of Russian Society.” Russian Politics
and Law. 39.6 (2001): 6-24. Web. 10 November 2009.
Bessudnov, Alexey. “An Occupational Status Scale for Russia.” University of Oxford
Sociology Working Papers 2009-02. (August 2009): 1-25. Web. 7
November 2009.
Chukhrov, Keti. “Glamour as a Form of Culture on Post-Soviet Russia.” Sarai Reader 07:
Frontiers. (2007): 236-248. Web. 11 November 2009.
Freedman, John. Introduction. Two Plays by Olga Mukhina. London: Routledge,
1998. Print.
Sedov, L.A. “Traditional Features of Russian Political Culture in their Current
Perspective.” Russian Social Science Review. 48.6 ( 2007): 47-63. Web.
10 November 2009.
April Baldwin
Senior, Political Science
“Hello Morning Hello:” The Catastrophic Economic Situation in Russia after the Fall
The official collapse of the Soviet Union occurred on December 31, 1991. However, by 1985, Gorbachev’s reforms known as Perestroika (restructuring) and Glasnost (openness) were the beginning of the end for the socialist government. These policies were meant to “reform” the ailing Soviet system; instead they led to its complete demise. When Boris Yeltsin came into office, there was the promise of a “new” market-based system that would bring Russia’s economy up to the level of the Western powers. “Most ordinary people had anticipated the onset of American-style affluence, combined with European-style social welfare” (Kotkin 115). Instead, Yeltsin’s “shock therapy” program sent the Russian nation into an economic depression far worse than could ever be imagined. Unfortunately, many Russian citizens were forced to go without the necessities for everyday survival. Tanya Tanya by Olga Mukhina, takes place during the worst of these times.
By 1991, the annual measured economy declined 17% on top of the previous year’s 6% decline. During the height of the American Great Depression, the decline peaked at 9% (Kotkin 119). During this time, it is believed that up to half of Russia’s economy was from unregistered activity, which was accompanied by a steady rise in the presence of organized crime (Kotkin). This is also when the hand-full of predatory businessmen known as the “Oligarchs,” who controlled most of Russia’s wealth, rose to power (Hoffman). Average people were forced to turn to the black market, or “shadow economy,” for what they needed. Between the years 1992 and 1995, it is believed that up to 25% of the annual GDP was from this informal economy (Kotkin). Those who lacked employment or full employment, as many did, could be seen on the streets selling homemade food and goods for money. In 1998 the economy completely collapsed. By this point, over 18% of Russians were considered to be in utter poverty (Kotkin).
Despite the troubling economic situation surrounding the characters in Tanya Tanya, they make little reference to this aspect of their lives. Instead, they simply live for each moment because they do not know what will happen in the next. Their world changes constantly and without apparent warning. Almost every scene takes place in a different season with no regard to actual timing of the play. One minute it is day, the next it is night. In the course of a day characters may love each other, and then hate one another. At one point, the character Zina, disoriented by the changes surrounding her, suddenly pronounces: “Nothing smells real anymore.” For Zina, as perhaps for many Russians at the time, something she had known her entire life all of a sudden seems completely unfamiliar.
Works Cited
Chukhrov, Keti. “Glamour as a Form of Culture on Post-Soviet Russia.” Sarai Reader 07:
Frontiers. (2007): 236-248. Web. 11 November 2009.
Hoffman, David. The Oligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia. New York: Public
Affairs, 2003. Print.
Kotkin, Stephen. Armageddon Averted:
The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2008. Print.
Sedov, L.A. “Traditional Features of Russian Political Culture in their Current Perspective.”
Russian Social Science Review. 48.6 ( 2007): 47-63. Web. 10 November 2009.
April Baldwin
Senior, Political Science
Women’s Day
In a 1932 Soviet poster celebrating the federal holiday known as “International Women’s Day” the text reads: 8th of March is the day of rebellion of the working women against kitchen slavery and Down with the oppression and narrow-mindedness of household work!
The Soviet government established March 8th as a federal holiday to celebrate women as equals in that society. The strength and beauty of women as well as their fight for equality was to be acknowledged through little notes that young boys would write to their female comrades. Husbands and lovers would buy the first flowers of spring, tulips and mimosas, as well as other tokens of affection. These tokens of affection would cost as much, if not more than, gifts for larger holidays (Mamchur). Accounts vary of the holiday’s precise origins in Russia and elsewhere around the globe. But one significant event in its history seems to be the day in 1917 when Russian women protested against the world-wide war. With 2 million of t
heir men dead, women went on strike for “bread and peace.” Four days later, the tsar was forced to abdicate the throne and the new government granted women universal suffrage (UN).
Even though today not many other countries celebrate this day, Russia upholds the tradition. However, when Russian people do decide to celebrate this day, it is similar to Valentine’s Day where personal affections are expressed rather than a general celebration of women’s victorious past.
Works Cited
“International Women’s Day.” Welcome to the United Nations: It’s Your World.
Web. 18 Nov. 2009.
Mamchur, Yuri. “March 8 - Older than Lilith Fair.” Weblog post. www.russiablog.org.
8 Mar. 2007. Web. 20 Sept. 2009.
Lauren Guy
Senior, Pre-Early Childhood Education
Alexander Sergeivich Pushkin (1799-1837)
Dubbed Russia’s greatest poet, Alexander Sergeivich Pushkin has received great admiration across all generations as his work continues to inspire new artists. Pushkin ushered in new forms and styles of literary writing to break with the many prevailing classical forms of the time. His major works include the novel Eugene Onegin , the play Boris Godunov, and numerous lyrics and poems. As a nobleman, romanticism flowed not only in his writing, but in his life; he died at the age of 37 in a duel over his wife.
His work has influenced many writers in the 19th and 20th centuries in Russia, but has not made a significant international appearance because it is very complex and difficult to translate. One of the most obvious signs of Russian admiration for the poet is the number of streets and statues named after him; as Lenin had a street in every city named after him, so it is with Pushkin, as well as statues celebrating the author.
In his short dramatic dialogue A Feast During the Plague, Vladimir Pushkin captures the spirit of Russians embracing the joy of life in the face of impending doom with this refrain from the Chairman of the gathering:
Old Man Winter we’ve beat back;
That’s how we’ll meet the Plague’s attack!
We’ll light the fire and fill the cup
And pass it round—a merry scene!
And after we have all drunk up,
We’ll sing: all hail to thee, dread queen! (101)
Work Cited
“Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2nd ed. Vol. 12.
Detroit: Gale, 2004. 489-91. Web. 20 Sept. 2009.
Pushkin, Alexander K. The Little Tragedies. Trans. Nancy K. Anderson. New Haven: Yale UP, 2001. Print.
Lauren Guy
Senior, Pre-Early Childhood Education
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (1893-1930)
Mayakovsky believed strongly in the changes that were happening during the Russian revolution in the early 20th century and wanted to support the work of the Bolshevik party. As his radical political ideas fueled him, Mayakovsky experimented with the Russian literary form during futuristic and Dadaistic shifts in art. His focus was to free Russian people from past literary constraints and usher in a new kind of art that is free from the past. He also used these new styles to spread the new political ideas to the general public. However, his personal literary endeavors in relation to the public and governmental efforts began to conflict. The society he had fought to put in place was taking a turn he did not support; this as well as personal strains and artistic conflicts are rumored to be the cause of his suicide in 1930 at the age of 36.
Work Cited
“Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2nd ed. Vol. 10. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 364-365. Web. 20 Sept. 2009.
Lauren Guy
Senior, Pre-Early Childhood Education
Matt Shea as Uncle Vanya in Tanya Tanya by Olga Mukhina at Towson University. December 2010. Photo: Jay Herzog
Shannon McPhee as Tanya and David Gregory as Ivanov in Tanya Tanya. Photo: Jay Herzog
Joseph Ritsch as Okhlobystin and Caroline Reck as Zina in Tanya Tanya. Photo: Jay Herzog