Evgeny Schwartz’s fairy tale play “The Emperor’s New Clothes”: a satirical comedy or an anti-fascist pamphlet?

Abstract

The play-tale “The Emperor’s New Clothes” by Evgeny Schwartz was created in 1934, when serious historical and political processes started in the world, associated with the establishment of a despotic, totalitarian regime in a number of countries, as well as with the spread of fascist ideology in Western Europe, which eventually would lead to World War II. In the article, the fairy tale play “The Emperor’s New Clothes” is considered from the point of view of its genre originality. On the one hand, in this work, reflecting the political processes that took place in the world, there are signs of the genre of an anti-fascist pamphlet (accusatory pathos, socio-political orientation, aphoristic style, irony bordering on sarcasm, etc.). Ideologically, Evgeny Schwartz’s fairy tale is directed against German fascism, as evidenced by the scattered replicas of characters in the play, in which a merciless satire on the reality of Nazi Germany is heard. On the other hand, the genre of the play “The Emperor's New Clothes” is much broader than the framework of an anti-fascist pamphlet, it is a satirical comedy aiming at exposure and debunk of social vices; in this it is close to farce, comedy of manners and character comedy. Thus, behind the external simplicity of the plot of the fairy tale “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, one can guess the diversity and hidden meaning inherent in the satirical work.