Boris Godunov

"Boris Godunov (1825), Pushkin's great history play, recounts the tragic conflict between Tsar Boris and the pretender Dimitri. Following the death of Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov became regent for the feebleminded Tsar Fyodor. Dimitri, the heir to Fyodor's throne, died mysteriously, and Boris was suspected of murdering him. When a renegade monk later claims to be Dimitri, he soon becomes a focus for widespread revolt. Pushkin's dramatic account is filled with dazzling poetry and an earthy realism." The Little Tragedies were written in an extraordinary burst of creativity in the autumn of 1830. The four plays are short, highly-charged episodes, each a study in obsession. In The Miserly Knight a father and son are so infatuated with wealth that each would welcome the other's death. Mozart and Salieri presents an elaborate rationalisation of a murder committed in the name of art. In The Stone Guest, Pushkin's Don Juan invites his own destruction by confessing his true identity to his dead rival's widow. A Feast in Time of Plague features a group of survivors celebrating life in the midst of death, with a banquet among the corpses.

Author(s): Alexander Pushkin  

ISBN 10: 1406803804
ISBN 13: 9781406803808
Pages: 84
Format: Hardcover
Publication: 12/20/2012