“This… is written for pundits” (Alexander Ostrovsky’s play “It's Not All Shrovetide for the Cat”)

Abstract

The article considers some specific artistic features of Alexander Ostrovsky’s play “It's Not All Shrovetide for the Cat”. Special attention is paid to the character of the conflict and to the peculiarities of the drama action development. In this connection some new things in the poetics and the system of personages are underlined, and this refutes the existing critical opinion that Alexander Ostrovsky repeats himself in his themes and images, that the play manifests the recline of the playwright’s talent. First and foremost, the article pays attention to the fact how the play reflects the Russian mode of life, morals and manners after the Serfdom Abolition reform when freedom of thought is displayed by common uneducated people who are striving for their human happiness. Comic situations in the scenes from Moscow life “It's Not All Shrovetide for the Cat” as well as in other Alexander Ostrovsky’s plays go with uneasy, dramatic in their essence moments and the combination is absolutely organic. The article points to the play’s pronounced theatricality and also to the role of those personages who do not appear on the stage directly but act in the situations which happen beyond the stage limits.