Title of the article:

HISTORY AND POETICS OF DASHKOVA`S COMEDY “TOISIOKOV, OR THE MAN OF NO CHARACTER”

Author(s):

Sergei N. Travnikov

Elena G. Iulskaya

Еlena K. Petrivnyaya

Information about the author/authors

Sergei N. Travnikov — DSc in Philology, Professor, Federal State Budget Educational Institution of Higher Education “Pushkin State Russian Language Institute”, Akademika Volgina St. 6, 117485 Moscow, Russia. E-mail: SNTravnikov@pushkin.institute

Elena G. Iyulskaya — PhD in Philology, Associate professor, Federal State Budget Educational Institution of Higher Education “Pushkin State Russian Language Institute”, Akademika Volgina St. 6, 117485 Moscow, Russia. E-mail: EGIjulskaja@pushkin.institute

Elena K. Petrivnyaya — PhD in Philology, Associate professor, Federal State Budget Educational Institution of Higher Education “Pushkin State Russian Language Institute”, Akademika Volgina St. 6, 117485 Moscow, Russia. E-mail: EKPetrivnyaya@pushkin.institute

Section

Philological sciences

Year

2020

Volume

Vol. 55

Pages

pp. 109–124

Received

May 13, 2019

Date of publication

March 28, 2020

DOI:

10.37816/2073-9567-2020-55-109-124

Index UDK

821.161.1

Index BBK

83.3(2Рос=Рус)5

Abstract

The paper is to explore poetics of the famous dramatic work by E. R. Dashkova “Toisiokov”. The reason of its appearance is associated with publication of bright satirical works by D. I. Fonvizin, with Ivan Shuvalov being their initiator as deemed the Empress Catherine II. At the request of the Empress Dashkova wrote a Comedy of the Elizabethan favorite, whom she knew well from her youth, borrowing the character`s main outlines from the ironic work of Catherine II “True and bedtime stories”. The play is a complex genre conglomerate, including educational, domestic, romantic comedy; it seems as though the work is getting back to the roots of Russian drama, to 50–60s of the 18th century, dominated by didactic comedy of the early A. P. Sumarokov, I. P. Elagin, V. I. Lukin and others. The essay of E. R. Dashkova has more to do with the genre of tearful drama, where in the center of the play we find generally a nice person, which, surrounded by unworthy people, is therefore unable to oppose them due to the weakness of nature. The main task of writing this work by E. R. Dashkova was an attempt to answer the question about the role and power of contemporary nobility and how typical are the images presented in the Comedy. The study showed that the author strongly doubts the ability of nobles like Toisiokov to govern a state, and sees their indecision and weakness as a danger to the country's prosperity.

Keywords

E. R. Dashkova, Comedy, poetics, artistic image, Toisiokov, anti-Shuvalov plays.

References

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