Organization of action in the play “Telemachus” by V. Mass and N. Erdman
DOI: 10.23951/1609-624X-2023-3-120-127
The relevance of the study is due to the need to study the creative heritage of N. Erdman, a world-famous playwright, in full. The article examines for the first time the unpublished text of the “representation in one act” “Telemachus”, created with the participation of N. Erdman. The purpose of this work is to identify the features of the organization of the action of the play, the expressive possibilities of the comic, actualizing the problems of Soviet society at the turn of the 1920s-30s. The text of the play “Telemachus” by V. Mass and N. Erdman as a research material was studied based on the works of V. Ya. Propp, V. M. Zhirmunsky. General scientific methods of analysis, synthesis, generalization were used, as well as such specifically literary criticism methods as typological, phenomenological, historical-functional methods and the method of descriptive poetics. The analysis of the play “Telemachus” in the context of the review of “The Odyssey” by the same authors reveals the authors’ travesty development of not only a fragment of Homer’s story, as indicated by the title, but also the story of the choice of the groom in the version of Gogol’s “Marriage” as well-known cultural models. The characters of V. Massa and N. Erdman with ancient names in Telemachus speak in hexameter, the sharper and more obvious in the actions of the protagonist, in the speech formulation of his requirements, in the means of achieving the goal, the manifestation of domestic socio-political reality at the turn of the 1920s and 30s. The travesty of fragments of the Homeric poem makes it possible to actualize the processes taking place both in the individual consciousness and in modern society. The dramatic action of the play of 1930 reveals the unrestrained desire of the main character to command, to subjugate others to direct events in a direction favorable to himself. As a result, the private is transformed into the state, the personal into the ideological, the foundations for creating a family and the normal existence of people are being destroyed. An analysis of the behavior of the characters and events of the play “Telemachus” reveals the logic of the changing and accepted by others demands of the main character to the mother and her suitors as a process of unstoppable assertion of an authoritarian ruler. Consistent development, transformation-travesty of a well-known plot - fragments of the Homeric poem in “The Odyssey”, “Telemachus” and other works by V. Mass and N. Erdman of the late 1920s – early 1930s. allows us to see these authors among the first creators of the epic drama of a conventionally metaphorical direction.
Keywords: N. Erdman, V. Mass, “Telemachus”, N. Gogol, “Marriage”, Homer, “The Odyssey”, action, travestying, famous plot, conventionality, comicality, epic, non-classical drama
References:
1. Guterts A., Freedman D. Osnovnyye daty zhizni i tvorchestva Nikolaya Erdmana [The main dates of life and art of Nikolai Erdman]. N. Erdman. P’yesy. Intermedii. Pis’ma. Dokumenty. Vospominaniya sovremennikov [The plays. The interludes. The letters. The documents. The memoirs of contemporaries]. Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1990. Pp. 513–523 (in Russian).
2. Uvarova E. D. Nikolay Erdman, Vladimir Mass, Mikhail Chervinskiy. Moskva s tochki zreniya: Estradnaya dramaturgiya 20–60-kh godov [Moscow from a Point of View: Variety Drama from the ‘20s to the ‘60s]. Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1991. Pp. 62–100 (in Russian).
3. Golovchiner V. E., Freedman J. Transformatsii “Muzykal’nogo magazinа” V. Massa i N. Erdmana [Transformation of the “Music store” by V. Mass and N. Erdman]. Golovchiner V. Ye. (compiler). Transformatsiya i funktsionirovaniye kul’turnykh modeley v russkoy literature: мaterialy III Vserossiyskoy s mezhdunarodnym uchastiyem nauchnoy konferentsii (7–8 fevr. 2008 g.) [Transformation and functioning of cultural models in the Russian literature. Materials of III National Scientific Conference with the International Participation]. Tomsk, TSPU Publ., 2008, pp. 294–304 (in Russian).
4. Golovchiner V. E. «Prekrasnaya Elena»: problema identifikatsii “leningradskogo” teksta V. Massa i N. Erdmana [Helen of Troy: Problem of Identification of “Leningrad Text” by Vladimir Mass and Nikolay Erdman]. Teatron, 2013, no. 1 (11), pp. 43–53 (in Russian).
5. Yurchenkova O. N. Genealogiya zhanra «Prekrasnoy Eleny» V. Massa i N. Erdmana [Genealogy of the genre of “Helen of Troy” by V. Mass and N. Erdman]. Dohnal J. (ed.) The proceedingce of the 13th interrnational conference held jn June 4, 2021 in Brno, Czec Republic, pp. 359–368 (in Russian).
6. Babenko N. A., Golovchiner V. E. Teksty pomoshchnika rezhissera v obozrenii V. Massa i N. Erdmana «Odisseya»: priroda i funktsii [Texts of the assistant director in the review “The Odyssey” by V. Mass and N. Erdman: nature and functions]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta – TSPU Bulletin, 2016, vol. 11 (176), pp. 124–130 (in Russian).
7. Barinova K. B. Yumor kak osnovnaya tonal’nost’ intermediy N. Erdmana k p’ese U. Shekspira «Dva verontsa» [Humor as the main tone of N. Erdman’s interludes to W. Shakespeare’s play “Two Veronians”]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta – TSPU Bulletin, 2011, vol. 7 (109), pp. 41–46 (in Russian).
8. Shelenok M. A. Put’ k «Mandatu». Zhanrovo-stilevye iskaniya v ranney dramaturgii N. Erdmana: uchebno-metodicheskoye posobiye [The path to “The Mandate”. Genre-style searches in the early dramaturgy of N. Erdman: teaching aid]. Saratov, 2017. 52 p. (in Russian).
9. Mass V., Erdman N. Telemakh: [Rukopis’]: predstavleniye v odnom akte [Telemachus: [Manuscript]: the performance in one act]. From the personal archive of Professor V. E. Golovchiner. 17 p. (in Russian).
10. Propp V. Ya. Fol’klor i deystvitel’nost’: izbrannye stat’i [Folklore and reality: selected articles]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1976. 328 p. (in Russian).
11. Zhirmunskiy V. M. Epicheskoye skazaniye ob Alpamyshe i «Odisseya» Gomera [An epic legend about Alpamysh and Homer’s “The Odyssey”]. Izvestiya AN SSSR. Otdeleniye literatury i yazyka,1957, vol. 16, issue 2, pp. 97–113 (in Russian).
12. Mass V., Erdman N. Odisseya [The Odyssey]. Moskva s tochki zreniya: Estradnaya dramaturgiya 20–60-kh godov [Moscow from a Point of View: Variety Drama from the ‘20s to the ‘60s]. Moscow, Art Publ., 1991. Pp. 278–325 (in Russian).
13. Uvarova E. D. Estradnyy teatr: miniatyury, obozreniya, m’yuzik-kholly [Variety Theater: short piece, revues, music halls]. Moscow, Art Publ., 1983. 320 p. (in Russian).
14. Broyde M. Kak zhe byt’ s myuzik-khollom? [What about the music hall?]. Tsirk i estrada, 1929, no. 17–18, p. 15 (in Russian).
15. Yankovskiy M. Operetta. Vozniknoveniye i razvitiye zhanra na Zapade i v SSSR [Operetta. The emergence and development of the genre in the West and in the USSR]. Leningrad, Moscow, Art Publ., 1937. 456 p. (in Russian).
16. Gomer. Odisseya [The Odyssey]. Evropeyskiy epos Antichnosti i Srednikh vekov [European epic of Antiquity and the Middle Ages]. Moscow, 1989. Pp. 201–306 (in Russian).
17. Markov P. Tretiy front. Posle «Mandata» [Third front. After “Mandate”]. Markov P. O teatre: v 4 tomakh. Tom 3. Dnevnik teatral’nogo kritika [About theater. In 4 volumes. Vol. 3]. Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1976, vol. 3. Pp. 278–293 (in Russian).
18. Gogol N. V. Zhenit’ba [Marriage]. In: Gogol’ N. V. Sobraniye sochineniy: v 8 tomakh. Tom. 4 [Collected works. In 8 volumes. Vol. 2]. Moscow, 1984. Pp. 94–50 (in Russian).
19. Golovchiner V. E. Ispol’zovaniye izvestnykh syuzhetov v russkoy epicheskoy drame ХХ veka [The Use of Famous Plots in Russian Epic Drama of the 20th Century]. Folia Litteraria Rossica. Zeszyt specjalny. Pod red. Olgi Główko i Małgorzaty Leyko, Wydawnictwo UŁ, 2013. The Use of Famous Plots in Russian Epic Drama of the 20th Century. Pp. 79–93 (in Russian).
( 419.88 kB ) 
( 412.15 kB )
Issue: 3, 2023
Series of issue: Issue 3
Rubric: RUSSIAN LITERATURE AND LITERATURE OF THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD
Pages: 120 — 127
Downloads: 401