Functioning of Shakespeare’s Plays in Russian Culture

Abstract

The object of my research is screen and theatre adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays in the Russian culture. Works of Shakespeare are no longer the domain of only the British. Thanks to the adaptations and translations into different languages people in most corners of the globe are familiar with Shakespeare’s body of work. The purpose of this work is to explore the adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays in Russian culture, the main features of their functioning on the theatre scene and cinema, and translations in the context of the epoch. To achieve this goal in the thesis the following tasks should be resolved: - systemize, summarize and comment on adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays; - represent the creative interpretation of Shakespeare’s legacy in the literary and historical context of the era in Russia; - carry out a review by comparing translations of the original text and screen adaptations, to identify the similarities and differences of English and Russian texts; to define peculiarities of interpretation. The resource of the thesis are films, based on Shakespeare’s plays, theatre adaptations, the translations in the Russian language of Shakespeare, theoretical, historical and literary-critical works. The first acquaintance of the Russian reader with Shakespeare was due to translations. Shakespeare has been translated into Russian over two hundred and fifty years. For the first time in Russia the name of Shakespeare was mentioned in the Epistle of versification (1748) by A.P. Sumarokov among the names of famous poets of the past. He published Hamlet the same year - classical tragedy, created on the basis of the French translation-paraphrase of Laplace (1745). Early information about Shakespeare came into Russia mainly through the French and German press. Even at the beginning of the ninetieth century the works of Shakespeare shifted into the Russian language through the French classical adaptations of Jean-François Ducis. The romantic cult of Shakespeare in Russia at the beginning of the nineteenth century was entirely prepared by pre-romantic influence of European literature. Such Russian writers like V.K. Küchelbecker, A.S. Pushkin, A.S. Griboyedov, O.M. Somov relied on the example of Shakespeare and created a distinctive national literature, filled with the spirit of nationality. After the Decembrist uprising in 1825 dramas and historical chronicles of Shakespeare helped to understand the historical and political tragedy of the participants. Imprisoned V.K. Küchelbecker, translated Macbeth and historical chronicles from 1828 to 1832. He also wrote Discourse on eight historical dramas of Shakespeare and especially of Richard III (1832). The most interesting representative of the number of Russian admirers was and remains Alexander Pushkin. ‘In a fateful coincidence, the Father of English literature was an important influence on the Father of Russian literature.’(John Givens) Following the Decembrists Pushkin worked on the creation of a national literature, and succeeded in doing it more than any other. The Shakespearism of the poet became something more than blind adherence to the literary fashion of the English playwright, which was widespread in Western Europe at that time. The functioning of the tragedy Hamlet in Russian art began in the forties of the twentieth century, thanks to the translation of Pasternak, which the Moscow Art Theatre became interested in. After a successful performance, on the basis of this translation G. Kozintsev created his famous movie in 1964, which received numerous international awards and nominations. It is worth mentioning, that apart from triumph of Hamlet in the Russian theatre, the most popular foreign screen adaptations in Russia were Romeo and Juliet (1968) and The Taming of the Shrew (1967).