Шекспировский канон в русской литературе на рубеже XVIII–XIX веков

Abstract

The article is concerned with the problem of formation of the Shakespearean canon in the new Russian literature at the turn of the 18th–19th centuries. We define the Shakespearean canon as a corpus of original works by the British genius and adequate interpretations of his texts in theater, criticism, cinema, art, cultures of different countries and peoples. The author analyzes Alexander Sumarokov’s adaptation of “Hamlet” (1748). It was a typical neoclassical play based on Pierre-Antoine de La Place’s translation of Shakespeare (“Théatre Anglois”, 1745–1748). However, in the author's opinion, it was Sumarokov who introduced “Hamlet” to the Russian theatrical and reading public. The earliest mention of Shakespeare reached Russia via translations and re-translations of French and German publications. Even in the early 19th century his works would frequently be translated to Russian from French Classicist adaptations by Jean-François Ducis (1733–1816): “Lear” by Nikolay Gnedich and “Othello” by Ivan Velyaminov were published in 1808; Stepan Viskovatov translated “Hamlet” in 1811 and Petr Korsakov adapted “Macbeth” in 1815. The influence of Shakespeare on Mikhail Muravyov is a good example of formation of the “cult of Shakespeare” and his canon in the late 18th century. Along with historian Nikolay Karamzin, Muravyov became one of the first serious admirers of Shakespeare and popularizers of his canon in Russia. An interesting example is Vasily Zhukovsky’s studies of Shakespeare’s legacy; his poetic practice paved the way for Russian translators of Shakespeare’s works. From the author’s point of view, Alexander Pushkin remains the most outstanding representative of Russian Shakespeareanism. Pushkin set himself a goal to create a national literature in Russia. “In the manner of our Father Shakespeare” Pushkin wrote his tragedy “Boris Godunov” (1825) and adopted Shakespeare’s principles of play-writing especially when he was depicting the history and characters. Pushkin followed Shakespeare paying much attention to the issues of authority and its influence on man. It was not an imitation, but rather evolution of his own creative approach that was evident in his poem “Angelo” (1833), an adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure”. Pushkin’s Shakespearianism changed the paradigm of the evolution of the new Russian literature in the 19th and 20th centuries.