Boris Godunov and Other Dramatic Works

Alexander Pushkin

Mar 2007 · OUP Oxford

About this ebook

'The people are silent' So ends Pushkin's great historical drama Boris Godunov, in which Boris's reign as Tsar witnesses civil strife and intrigue, brutality and misery. Its legacy is an uncertain future for the new Tsar whose inauguration is met with devastating silence by the people. Pushkin's dramatic work displays a scintillating variety of forms, from the historical to the metaphysical and folkloric. After Boris Godunov, they evolved into Pushkin's own unique, condensed transformations of Western European themes and traditions. The fearful amorality of A Scene from Faust is followed by the four Little Tragedies which confront greed, envy, lust, and blasphemy , while Rusalka is a tragedy of a different kind - a lyric fairytale of despair and transformation. James E. Falen's verse translations of Pushkin's dramas are here accompanied by an Introduction by Caryl Emerson on Russia's most cosmopolitan playwright. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

About the author

James E. Falen has translated Eugene Onegin for OWC. Caryl Emerson is the author of books on Mikhail Bakhtin, a biography of Musorgsky in CUP's 'Musical Lives' series, and the co-author of The Uncensored Boris Godunov (University of Wisconsin Press, 2006) which includes a new translation of Boris Godunov by Antony Wood. Her Introduction to Russian Literature is due from CUP in 2007.