ПОСЛЕДНИЕ ДНИ ПУШКИНА В ИНТЕРПРЕТАЦИИ АМЕРИКАНСКОГО ДРАМАТУРГА: ДОН НИГРО «ПУШКИН»

Abstract

The paper discusses the play “Pushkin” by the modern American playwright Don Nigro, which is dedicated to the last days of the poet’s life, his marriage to Natalie, their relationship, and the duel with Dantes. This is one of his several plays focused on the figures of Russian writers. Don Nigro treats Russian culture with great love and respect. At the same time, the playwright, as a rule, pays more attention to the circumstances of the personal life of great people than to their creative writing. Nigro does not seek to introduce his own alternative version of what is happening but, as it is shown in this paper, follows fairly accurately the documentary account set forth in the memoirs of Pushkin’s contemporaries, which, in turn, testifies his scrupulous work with historical documents and personal research devoted to the poet. At the same time, the American playwright gives these facts a vivid stage interpretation, which is also discussed in the essay. The bizarre artistic form of his play (the interweaving of the past and the present, intertextual references, a system of mutually reflecting images and situations) allows to raise timeless questions about the connection between artistic creativity and life, the fate of a doomed artist, who ultimately remains misunderstood both by his closest ones and by society.