What do you think?
Rate this book
Boris Godunov and Other Dramatic Works
Alexander Pushkin's dramatic work displays a scintillating variety of forms, from the historical to the metaphysical and folkloric. After Boris Godunov , they evolved into Pushkin's own unique, condensed transformations of Western European themes and traditions. The fearful amorality of A Scene
from Faust is followed by the four Little Tragedies , which confront greed, envy, lust, and blasphemy, while Rusalka is a tragedy of a different kind--a lyric fairytale of despair and transformation.
Here, James E. Falen's verse translations are accompanied by a first-rate introduction from Caryl Emerson, an equally distinguished Russianist, which emphasizes the cosmopolitan nature of Pushkin's drama, the position of Russian culture on the European stage, together with excellent analyses of the
individual works in the volume. Falen's translations of Pushkin are widely admired and his OWC translation of Eugene Onegin is considered the best available. This collection is sure to interest both casual readers and students of Russian literature.
from Faust is followed by the four Little Tragedies , which confront greed, envy, lust, and blasphemy, while Rusalka is a tragedy of a different kind--a lyric fairytale of despair and transformation.
Here, James E. Falen's verse translations are accompanied by a first-rate introduction from Caryl Emerson, an equally distinguished Russianist, which emphasizes the cosmopolitan nature of Pushkin's drama, the position of Russian culture on the European stage, together with excellent analyses of the
individual works in the volume. Falen's translations of Pushkin are widely admired and his OWC translation of Eugene Onegin is considered the best available. This collection is sure to interest both casual readers and students of Russian literature.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1831
14 people are currently reading
292 people want to read
About the author
Alexander Pushkin
2,466 books3,378 followersWorks of Russian writer Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin include the verse novel
Eugene Onegin
(1831), the play
Boris Godunov
(1831), and many narrative and lyrical poems and short stories.
See also:
Russian: Александр Сергеевич Пушкин
French: Alexandre Pouchkine
Norwegian: Aleksander Pusjkin
Spanish:Aleksandr Pushkin
People consider this author the greatest poet and the founder of modern literature. Pushkin pioneered the use of vernacular speech in his poems, creating a style of storytelling—mixing drama, romance, and satire—associated ever with greatly influential later literature.
Pushkin published his first poem at the age of 15 years in 1814, and the literary establishment widely recognized him before the time of his graduation from the imperial lyceum in Tsarskoe Selo. Social reform gradually committed Pushkin, who emerged as a spokesman for literary radicals and in the early 1820s clashed with the government, which sent him into exile in southern Russia. Under the strict surveillance of government censors and unable to travel or publish at will, he wrote his most famous drama but ably published it not until years later. People published his verse serially from 1825 to 1832.
Pushkin and his wife Natalya Goncharova, whom he married in 1831, later became regulars of court society. In 1837, while falling into ever greater debt amidst rumors that his wife started conducting a scandalous affair, Pushkin challenged her alleged lover, Georges d'Anthès, to a duel. Pushkin was mortally wounded and died two days later.
Because of his liberal political views and influence on generations of Russian rebels, Pushkin was portrayed by Bolsheviks as an opponent to bourgeois literature and culture and a predecessor of Soviet literature and poetry. Tsarskoe Selo was renamed after him.
See also:
Russian: Александр Сергеевич Пушкин
French: Alexandre Pouchkine
Norwegian: Aleksander Pusjkin
Spanish:Aleksandr Pushkin
People consider this author the greatest poet and the founder of modern literature. Pushkin pioneered the use of vernacular speech in his poems, creating a style of storytelling—mixing drama, romance, and satire—associated ever with greatly influential later literature.
Pushkin published his first poem at the age of 15 years in 1814, and the literary establishment widely recognized him before the time of his graduation from the imperial lyceum in Tsarskoe Selo. Social reform gradually committed Pushkin, who emerged as a spokesman for literary radicals and in the early 1820s clashed with the government, which sent him into exile in southern Russia. Under the strict surveillance of government censors and unable to travel or publish at will, he wrote his most famous drama but ably published it not until years later. People published his verse serially from 1825 to 1832.
Pushkin and his wife Natalya Goncharova, whom he married in 1831, later became regulars of court society. In 1837, while falling into ever greater debt amidst rumors that his wife started conducting a scandalous affair, Pushkin challenged her alleged lover, Georges d'Anthès, to a duel. Pushkin was mortally wounded and died two days later.
Because of his liberal political views and influence on generations of Russian rebels, Pushkin was portrayed by Bolsheviks as an opponent to bourgeois literature and culture and a predecessor of Soviet literature and poetry. Tsarskoe Selo was renamed after him.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 21, 2019
That one of the most famous lines in this play is the stage direction The People are silent with which the play closes, is enough indication of the complexities raised by this work. For how do you stage an ending silence? May be that is why the play called for an opera, for silences are as important and measured as the notes in a musical score. For even if several of Pushkin’s other plays and works became operas, may be this is the one that requires an operatic dimension to blossom into full flower.
This final line ought to be suspicious to us anyway, since it was the closing note of the second and censored edition of the play. Pushkin wrote it originally in 1825, when he was under house arrest, but it was not until 1831 that the edition was pruned. Some sections were cut, a romance was added (originally it had no female characters) and the optimistic final line of Long live Tsar Dimitry Ivanovich! disappeared. The Silent People though appealed both to the Church, during its time, and later, to the Soviet era. And today it is often heard that the main protagonist of this work is ‘the People’.
Reading this play reminded me of another unstageable drama, Musset’s Lorenzaccio. Both require many hours of reading and Pushkin’s, in particular, a theatre with modern cinematic dimension. Battle scenes with cavalry are supposed to run on the stage. And the list of thirty-two ‘named’ characters (many more with boyars, servants, soldiers, etc) at the beginning of my edition was enough of a warning of what was waiting for me.
Pushkin based the historical aspects on the writing of his friend the historian Nikolai Karamzin, who between 1821 and 1824 published the volumes of his extensive "History of Russia" that dealt with the ‘Troubled Times’, that is, the period in between the Rurik and Romanov dynasties. In Pushkin’s play Boris Godunov is guilty of the death of the young Dimitry in 1591. Modern historians have not accepted this notion, but the fictional representation has gained the upper hand and Boris Godunov is, for us all, a black character. This presents a similar case to Verdi’s beautiful opera Don Carlo, which I have been lucky to see recently. Based on Schiller’s play, the Prince is a misunderstood hero and the love between him, and his stepmother, is a true romance. In reality Don Carlos was a cruel brute and there is no evidence of any romantic attachment between him and Elisabetta of Valois.
What has been frustrating for me in this read was not being able to read the play in Russian as well as not knowing enough of Russian drama during Pushkin’s time so as to appreciate better what he was trying to do. His dramatic efforts formed part of the overall change in continental drama when Shakespeare was revived during the Romantic period. This turn around was extraordinarily strong in France, where the three classical unities of Time, Place and Plot were turned on their heads. Pushkin also seems to have opposed a declamatory style on the stage, and in this I wish he would come to Madrid and give a shake to our current actors.
In difference to Glinka’s operatic version of Ruslan and Ludmila, which was composed almost at the same time (since the plan was for Pushkin to write the libretto) Mussorgsky’s opera, his only finished one, was written four decades later. The composer also wrote the libretto. This opera also presents complexities, since there are two versions, from 1868 and 1872. And then as in many other Russian operas, Rimsky-Korsakov, and in this case also Shostakovich, also intervened later in the orchestration. I have been watching the production of the Covent Garden and the Kirov Opera, conducted by Valery Gergiev in the Mariinsky Theatre and I believe it is the second edition.
As many of the male roles are for Basses, this is a much sterner opera than Glinka’s Ruslan. And with its historical plot the recitatives also constitute a significant portion of the work. May be that is why I have greatly enjoyed the orchestra sections, such as the overture and the preludes to each act. A very refreshing music.
My next opera-fiction exploration will probably be The Queen of Spades
May 23, 2017
Introduction
Translator's Note
Select Bibliography
A Chronology of Alexander Pushkin
Historical Introduction
--Boris Godunov
--A Scene from Faust
The Little Tragedies
--I. The Miserly Knight
--II. Mozart and Salieri
--III. The Stone Guest
--IV. A Feast in Time of Plague
--Rusalka (The Water-Nymph)
Explanatory Notes
Translator's Note
Select Bibliography
A Chronology of Alexander Pushkin
Historical Introduction
--Boris Godunov
--A Scene from Faust
The Little Tragedies
--I. The Miserly Knight
--II. Mozart and Salieri
--III. The Stone Guest
--IV. A Feast in Time of Plague
--Rusalka (The Water-Nymph)
Explanatory Notes
September 23, 2011
El ‘Eugene Onegin’ de Alexander Pushkin es probablemente mi libro favorito. Lo leí hace bastantes años. Desde entonces lo he vuelto a releer en un par de ocasiones. Pero no ha sido hasta este año que me he animado a leer algo más de Pushkin. Primero fueron unos pocos cuentos, que me gustaron pero no me entusiasmaron, y ahora me he atrevido con el teatro, que me ha gustado más que los cuentos pero aún queda muy lejos del ‘Eugene Onegin’.
Del teatro de Pushkin lo mejor es el ‘Boris Godunov’, que pretende ser una adaptación a la literatura rusa de las tragedias históricas de William Shakespeare. Aunque no queda a la altura del mejor Shakespeare, sí que está muy por encima del peor Shakespeare (sí, yo estoy dispuesta a argumentar cualquier día que Shakespeare no es infalible y que escribió obras verdaderamente mediocres). Ambientada a finales del siglo XVI, narra el ascenso y caída de Boris Godunov, un tipo listo y sin escrúpulos, que supo estar en el lugar y el momento adecuados y llegó a ser zar, pero que no tuvo un muy buen fin. Las escenas se suceden con un ritmo y una eficacia impecables. Hay fragmentos bellamente escritos, como cuando el zar o el impostor que pretende ser zar, en un arrebato de spleen, sueltan monólogos llenos de quejas y lamentos, en los que se ve la influencia romántica que siempre hay en Pushkin.
El problema del ‘Boris Godunov’ es que para querer ser una tragedia no es especialmente trágica: Godunov muere enfermo en la cama y en toda la obra no hay un verdadero héroe que nos despierte empatía. Es como si Pushkin pareciera más preocupado en ser fiel a la historia que en crear grandes personajes que puedan pasar a la historia de la literatura. Aún así, la estructura de la obra es perfecta, está bellamente escrita y de fondo tiene un tema que siempre será válido: un impostor derroca otro impostor, pero no importa porque el pueblo sigue siendo mandado como siempre ha estado.
Luego están las “escenas dramáticas” o “pequeñas tragedias”, cuatro piezas muy breves que Pushkin escribió en poco más de dos semanas y, si me propusiera ser mala, diría que se nota. Hay (otra) revisión del mito de Don Juan (un mito que nunca me ha interesado especialmente), una sobre un caballero avaro que sería mejor si fuera una simple comedia y no tuviera un final trágico que no casa con el tono cómico del principio, otra algo rara sobre un banquete durante una epidemia de peste, y finalmente la mejor con diferencia: una protagonizada por Mozart y Salieri. Supongo que porque en ésta el protagonista sí que encarna una emoción con la que todos podemos empatizar. Yo creo que todos nos hemos sentido Salieri alguna vez, todos alguna vez hemos visto como nos esforzábamos por conseguir algo pero luego venía otro y, sin ningún esfuerzo, se llevaba todos los premios. Es una pieza breve pero realmente grande.
Y finalmente están las dos obras inacabadas, que apuntan maneras, te enganchan y luego te hacen lamentar que no estén terminadas. Está una obrita aventuresca sobre un burgués que quiere ser caballero, pero luego cuando ve cómo es el mundillo, decide que mejor enfrentarse a los nobles, y luego lo atrapan, y luego se termina. Aún es mejor otra sobre príncipes que seducen hijas de molineros y hadas que viven en el fondo de un río, muy del gusto romántico y realmente preciosa. Y hasta aquí llega el teatro de Pushkin, que yo recomendaría a los que tienen curiosidad por todo lo ruso, los que gustan de la literatura con influencia del romanticismo, y los que aman los escritores capaces de crear belleza con las palabras.
Del teatro de Pushkin lo mejor es el ‘Boris Godunov’, que pretende ser una adaptación a la literatura rusa de las tragedias históricas de William Shakespeare. Aunque no queda a la altura del mejor Shakespeare, sí que está muy por encima del peor Shakespeare (sí, yo estoy dispuesta a argumentar cualquier día que Shakespeare no es infalible y que escribió obras verdaderamente mediocres). Ambientada a finales del siglo XVI, narra el ascenso y caída de Boris Godunov, un tipo listo y sin escrúpulos, que supo estar en el lugar y el momento adecuados y llegó a ser zar, pero que no tuvo un muy buen fin. Las escenas se suceden con un ritmo y una eficacia impecables. Hay fragmentos bellamente escritos, como cuando el zar o el impostor que pretende ser zar, en un arrebato de spleen, sueltan monólogos llenos de quejas y lamentos, en los que se ve la influencia romántica que siempre hay en Pushkin.
El problema del ‘Boris Godunov’ es que para querer ser una tragedia no es especialmente trágica: Godunov muere enfermo en la cama y en toda la obra no hay un verdadero héroe que nos despierte empatía. Es como si Pushkin pareciera más preocupado en ser fiel a la historia que en crear grandes personajes que puedan pasar a la historia de la literatura. Aún así, la estructura de la obra es perfecta, está bellamente escrita y de fondo tiene un tema que siempre será válido: un impostor derroca otro impostor, pero no importa porque el pueblo sigue siendo mandado como siempre ha estado.
Luego están las “escenas dramáticas” o “pequeñas tragedias”, cuatro piezas muy breves que Pushkin escribió en poco más de dos semanas y, si me propusiera ser mala, diría que se nota. Hay (otra) revisión del mito de Don Juan (un mito que nunca me ha interesado especialmente), una sobre un caballero avaro que sería mejor si fuera una simple comedia y no tuviera un final trágico que no casa con el tono cómico del principio, otra algo rara sobre un banquete durante una epidemia de peste, y finalmente la mejor con diferencia: una protagonizada por Mozart y Salieri. Supongo que porque en ésta el protagonista sí que encarna una emoción con la que todos podemos empatizar. Yo creo que todos nos hemos sentido Salieri alguna vez, todos alguna vez hemos visto como nos esforzábamos por conseguir algo pero luego venía otro y, sin ningún esfuerzo, se llevaba todos los premios. Es una pieza breve pero realmente grande.
Y finalmente están las dos obras inacabadas, que apuntan maneras, te enganchan y luego te hacen lamentar que no estén terminadas. Está una obrita aventuresca sobre un burgués que quiere ser caballero, pero luego cuando ve cómo es el mundillo, decide que mejor enfrentarse a los nobles, y luego lo atrapan, y luego se termina. Aún es mejor otra sobre príncipes que seducen hijas de molineros y hadas que viven en el fondo de un río, muy del gusto romántico y realmente preciosa. Y hasta aquí llega el teatro de Pushkin, que yo recomendaría a los que tienen curiosidad por todo lo ruso, los que gustan de la literatura con influencia del romanticismo, y los que aman los escritores capaces de crear belleza con las palabras.
December 31, 2020
good enough
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 13, 2022
As with most collections, this was a rather uneven read.
I enjoyed Boris Godunov, and the explanatory notes were quite useful there. I like historical fiction in general, especially political machinations - and there was plenty of that. A lot was packed in very little - and the "closet play" nature of the work made it more enjoyable IMO. Plays meant to be staged often don't translate too well to the page - that wasn't a problem here.
The Tragedies were a bit too short for my liking, and the explanatory notes didn't add much to my reading experience (not like there were many of those to begin with). But they were okay, overall. The Stone Guest was probably my favourite of the 4, but the others were fine too. If I were a short story person, I probably would have enjoyed them more - they all had that "sting in the tail" and "abrupt, open ending" thing. But at least I could appreciate why they're read till date.
Scenes from Faust and Rusalka were my least favourites. I don't see why anyone who is reading only for pleasure would bother with either. I'm sure reading "the complete works" has some value in school work - but I'm not here for school. At least if I had more context on why these works are considered important, maybe I would have cared. There was some discussions around this in the introductory notes, to be fair. But that, along with the explanatory and footnotes were too focused on the titular play. Which left me feeling these were just filler material, here because they fit nowhere else.
All in all, aggresively average is my verdict.
I enjoyed Boris Godunov, and the explanatory notes were quite useful there. I like historical fiction in general, especially political machinations - and there was plenty of that. A lot was packed in very little - and the "closet play" nature of the work made it more enjoyable IMO. Plays meant to be staged often don't translate too well to the page - that wasn't a problem here.
The Tragedies were a bit too short for my liking, and the explanatory notes didn't add much to my reading experience (not like there were many of those to begin with). But they were okay, overall. The Stone Guest was probably my favourite of the 4, but the others were fine too. If I were a short story person, I probably would have enjoyed them more - they all had that "sting in the tail" and "abrupt, open ending" thing. But at least I could appreciate why they're read till date.
Scenes from Faust and Rusalka were my least favourites. I don't see why anyone who is reading only for pleasure would bother with either. I'm sure reading "the complete works" has some value in school work - but I'm not here for school. At least if I had more context on why these works are considered important, maybe I would have cared. There was some discussions around this in the introductory notes, to be fair. But that, along with the explanatory and footnotes were too focused on the titular play. Which left me feeling these were just filler material, here because they fit nowhere else.
All in all, aggresively average is my verdict.
July 7, 2021
Very engaging plays. Short and very brilliant.
February 10, 2024
pushkin’s prose is unfortunately mid most of the time
March 12, 2025
"and with my zealous soul aflame, I wept, so sweetly that my blindness seemed to flow, along with all my tears, out of my eyes."
January 16, 2024
Early Pushkin is not quite the archetype that Russian literature idolizes. Boris Godunov, his first substantial and serious work, is based on an amazing historical record. His narrative version was enjoyable, but could have sped along just fine without the slightly-too-careful dialogue and clever phrases like “Herod-tsar”. Being poetry, however, one does appreciate lines such as “He looks serenely at both right and wrong/Sees good and evil with indifferent eyes/Expressing neither pity nor his wrath.” (5.44) The Little Tragedies are playful, with a clear artistic and popular development. The beginning of “Mozart and Salieri”, for instance, is a simply fabulous monoluge; and the narrative itself (albeit based on another legend, like A Scene from Faust) is as sharp as anything Pushkin ever wrote. “If only all could feel as you, Salieri… The world itself would crumble into dust, For all would seek the freedom to create, and none would then attend to petty needs.” (60) “A Feast” continues to shows a breadth of style, that makes Pushkin's corpus so different from other classic authors. A choice line: “Our homes are sad—youth treasures mirth.” (196) Rusalka is a bit silly, jaded and uncomfortable to read (for a single man with a single history, at least), although the opening lines are brilliant, the conclusion masterful, and the end of the first scene is great for a Joseph Conrad fan.
(re-read July 2015)
(re-read July 2015)
January 29, 2013
Emerson's introduction was brilliant and gave me a good idea of what to expect in this collection. Falen's translation is very readable. My reactions to each play varied greatly.
Boris Godunov - historically interesting but emotionally flat
A scene from Faust - So jaded it made me feel like Pollyanna in comparison, so short that feeling was more invigorating than overwhelming. I've put off reading Faust for a long time, but may actually attempt it now.
The miserly knight - Grossly antisemitic. Even imagining the Baron as played by Scrooge McDuck couldn't make me enjoy it.
Mozart and Salieri - Bubbly and malicious. Enjoyed it more than I anticipated.
The stone guest - I mostly rolled my eyes. I've never found the legend of Don Juan particularly interesting.
A feast in time of plague - *blank stare*
Rusalka (The water-nymph) - Gave me chills and left me wanting more.
Boris Godunov - historically interesting but emotionally flat
A scene from Faust - So jaded it made me feel like Pollyanna in comparison, so short that feeling was more invigorating than overwhelming. I've put off reading Faust for a long time, but may actually attempt it now.
The miserly knight - Grossly antisemitic. Even imagining the Baron as played by Scrooge McDuck couldn't make me enjoy it.
Mozart and Salieri - Bubbly and malicious. Enjoyed it more than I anticipated.
The stone guest - I mostly rolled my eyes. I've never found the legend of Don Juan particularly interesting.
A feast in time of plague - *blank stare*
Rusalka (The water-nymph) - Gave me chills and left me wanting more.
Read
January 20, 2016Za mladih dana tako žudimo
utehu slatku svojoj ljubavi,
al' onog časa kad utolimo
ljubavnu žudnju, mi se hladimo!
Ah, jasno mi je: ništa ne može
u zemnom jadu da nas umiri,
baš ništa... savest samo spokojna.
Jedino ona pobednica je
nad zlobom i nad mračnom klevetom...
.
Ah, teško onom, teško bedniku,
kom dušu peče savest nečista!
Suza
S husarom uz čašu punča
Sjedio sam mrk i ljut,
Pa sam nijemo s mračnom dušom
Gledao na dalek put.
'Reci, zašto na put gledaš?'
Zapita me junak taj.
'Još njim nisi prijatelje
Pratio u strani kraj!'
Spustio sam na grud glavu,
Pa sam tiho reko tad:
- Ah, nje više sa mnom nema!...
I umukno, krijuć jad.
Suza kanu iz mog oka
I u pehar pade baš.
'Dijete! Ti za djevom plačeš,
Stid te bilo, stid, da znaš!'
- Šuti! Mene srce boli,
A ti ne znaš, što je vaj!
I jedna je suza dosta,
Da otruje pehar taj!...
February 3, 2016
Pushkin can do no wrong. This is an excellent historical play based during the Time of Troubles in Russia after the death of Ivan the Terrible and his heirs. He really takes his place beside Shakespeare as he documents the taking of power by Boris through the murder of Ivan's son, Dmitry. Boris capitalizes on the public's gullibility and yearning for a strong ruler. They know Boris during his years as "regent" for Ivan's other son, Fyodor. But this is a Shakespearean tragedy so Boris does not enjoy the fruits of his labour for long. Enjoyable play!
May 5, 2023
Caryl Emerson's introduction did much to help me appreciate these stories, thanks to the fact that Pushkin's life is well recorded, unlike that of other geniuses like Shakespeare's.
May 31, 2017
MPL Read More Challenge #2: A Play
Read
July 27, 2011read for a class
April 18, 2017
Boris Godunov 3/30
Scene from Faust, Four Little Tragedies 4/5
Rusalka 4/15
Scene from Faust, Four Little Tragedies 4/5
Rusalka 4/15
February 15, 2018
for a tragedy its got some hijinks
Read
June 6, 2018The translation seems a little flat, better in the short dramas than Boris Godunov itself, but what do I know; Russian prose in translation always delights, Russian verse makes me mourn my ignorance.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews