ILLUSION AND UTOPIA IN THE COMEDY OF V.SOLLOGUB “THE NIGHT BEFORE THE WEDDING OR GEORGIA IN A THOUSAND YEARS”
The article deals with the conditionality of style and genre of a dramatic work, depending on the audience. V. Sollogub is an author of the two plays on Caucasian topic. One of them – “Night at dukhan” (“dukhan” – Caucasian avern) is adressed to the Russian public and represents a kind of the comic sketch close to a vaudeville. The other – “The Night before Wedding or Georgia in Thousand Years” is adressed to the Tiflis's audience and is written in genre of comedy-utopia. The playwright came to utopia in connection with his views on the future development of Caucasus. He saw the mission of Russian Empire in cultural conquering of the region and in interpenetration of Russian and Caucasian cultures. This was something like ongoing of peacemaking attitude of the Caucasian governor M.S.Vorontsov who practised a very wide politicy of enlightment. The plotline of the play is based on events contemporary for the author, and the illusion emerges due to plexus of the recognizable and straightly visionary episodes. The comic story does not prevent the playwright from giving deep characteristics of the present and the future. Sollogub touches upon a subject of the Western civilization, the Age of Enlightenment, the problem of nationalities in future, the women status. The comedy is written in the refined language involving Russian-Georgian bilingualism.
Keywords: V. Sollogub, utopia, illusion, Caucasus, comedy, multicultural, genre, style, audience, historical reality
References:
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Issue: 11, 2014
Series of issue: Issue 11
Rubric: HISTORICAL POTENTIALS AND MANIFESTATIONS OF CONVENTIONALITY
Pages: 29 — 35
Downloads: 1298