The making of a hero. Pushkin’s problematic comedy <i>Boris Godunov</i> through the prism of Veselovsky’s differentiation of poetic genres

Abstract

Relying on A. Veselovsky’s definition of drama as being centred on a character rather than action, the author reexamines the Aristotelian definition of comedy and uncovers the innovative nature of Pushkin’s comedy. The study aims to demonstrate the close semblance between Pushkin’s and Veselovsky’s understanding of drama, using the comedy Boris Godunov as an example. Founded in Veselovsky’s works in its theoretical and analytical premises, the article also references contemporary scholarly apparatus, including the latest findings of general systems theory. In her analysis, the author offers a new classification of the dramatic genre and identifies the characteristics of the Pushkinian comedy that make it ‘problematic,’ in the sense of I. Shaytanov’s interpretation of the term. The article also addresses Pushkin’s use of ambiguity about Godunov’s involvement in the assassination of the young prince Dimitry. The author draws a parallel with wave-particle duality, where the decision of whether a particle or a wave is observed depends on the experimenter’s intentions. The poet’s use of ambiguity as a narrative device implies a hidden subplot of a coup d’état.