Literary reception of A. N. Ostrovsky's work in the comedy "Over the Oka River" by A. D. Simukov

Orlova Vasilissa Vladislavovna ORCID: 0009-0006-5038-3849 Postgraduate student; Department of Modern Russian Literature; Gorky Literary Institute 117570, Russia, Moscow, Dnepropetrovsk str., 16k1, sq. 107 Vasilisska007@mail.ru

The subject of the study

A. N. Ostrovsky is a famous Russian playwright of the XIX century, whose plays still occupy not the last place in the repertoires of theaters, television plays and film adaptations have been created for more than a century. A.D. Simukov is a Soviet playwright, teacher and screenwriter of animated and motion pictures. In 1959, on the centenary of the "Thunderstorm" by A. N. Ostrovsky, A. D. Simukov's comedy "Over the Okoy River" was published, in which he turned to one of the most famous plays of his literary predecessor, making it a full-fledged part of his work. The scientific novelty of the study consists in the lack of illumination in modern scientific literature of the work of A. D. Simukov, whose plays were popular in the middle of the XX century.

The purpose of the study

We have to answer the questions of how the drama of the XIX century is transformed into comedies of the XX century, what plot parallels A. D. Simukov draws, what he argues with, what artistic techniques he uses, for what purpose such an intertextual connection is created, i.e. what is the main idea embedded in the new play.

Research methods and material

To carry out the analysis and comparison, we will use cultural-historical and comparative-historical methods, as well as the method of literary hermeneutics. Not only the texts of the works will be considered, but also their archival drafts, as well as reviews by contemporaries.

Literature review

Russian Russian theater. Turning to the work of A. D. Simukov, it should be emphasized that in his comedies he inherits the vaudeville tradition of the Russian theater of the XIX century (for example, "Captain retired" in 1947, "Russian Romance" in 1973) ^{[11, p. 5]}, which had a great influence with its images, plots and techniques not only on comedy in the Russian theater, but also for all drama, and even for the prose of the XIX century ^{[16, pp. 70-71]}. "Over the Okoy River" is a comedy in three acts, four paintings. A.D. Simukov in his work chose the genre of paintings from the first independent play "The Wedding" in 1936, a comedy in six paintings, with a prologue. A. N. Ostrovsky began with the same genre and subsequently worked a lot and fruitfully in it: "Family Picture", plays included in "paintings from Moscow life", etc. Stage plays and picture plays became widespread in the second half of the 19th century. Their difference lies in the fact that the stage plays "depict in detail one episode from the life of the hero, one of the significant moments in his fate, they are characterized by a compressed exposition, the presence of microcenes with a dynamic development of action", the picture plays are characterized by "slow exposure, plot completeness, brightness and expressiveness of everyday details, enhanced epic the beginning. The attention of the playwright in the plays-paintings is directed immediately to the entire space of the image, to all participants in the action" ^{[15, pp. 3-6]}. We can conclude that in the play "Over the Okoy River" the playwright will follow the development of several characters, will try to show us the way of life and lifestyle of a certain circle of people.

The second aspect of interest to us is the depiction of the theater, actors, productions and the audience in their works by playwrights. It is also a certain tradition in Russian literature of the XIX century. N. V. Gogol in the "Theatrical Journey after the presentation of a new comedy" in 1841. "his main goal is to declare the author's position" and introduces a new theme of the theater as "the great shaker of human hearts", A. N. Ostrovsky in his "theatrical" plays shows that "the world of theater and the real world are interpenetrable", separates talents and fans, opposes the audience of the district, giving actors recognition, and the front rows chairs that give content; the theme of love for theatrical art becomes unifying for all such works of the XIX century ^{[13, pp. 14, 29, 30]}. In the analysis of the comedy "Over the Okoy River" by A. D. Simukov and its early editions, we will turn to the issues of the influence of theater on a person of the XX century (both on the viewer and on the actor), the interpenetrability of theatrical and real reality, the ratio of actor's work and recognition.

Russian Russian National Theatre In order to understand the significance of referring to the work of A. N. Ostrovsky in the late 1950s, it is necessary to clarify that the attitude towards the legacy of the creator of Russian household comedy, whom I. Goncharov thanked for founding the Russian National Theatre, was very ambiguous in the first half of the XX century. L. Andreev in his first letter about the theatre dated November 10, 1912, connects the appearance of A. N. Ostrovsky with the "impoverishment of dramatic literature" ^[1]. In the 1920s, "amid fierce disputes about the possibility of using realism for the needs of revolutionary art, Lunacharsky put forward the slogan "Back to Ostrovsky!" (1923), sharply protesting against the scenic distortion of classics..." ^{[12, p. 587]}. This issue is discussed in detail in A. P. Shulpin's book "A.V. Lunacharsky: Theater and Revolution" in the chapter "Back to Ostrovsky!" ^[17]. Yu. V. Babicheva tells about the disputes of the first half of the XX century related to the legacy of A. N. Ostrovsky in the article "Ostrovsky on the eve of the "new drama"" ^[2]. E. Kholodov will title in 1975 a book about the work of A. N. Ostrovsky — "Playwright for all time" ^[14]. A.D. Simukov, including references to the plays "Thunderstorm" and "Talents and Fans" in his play, in the context of disputes about the meaning of the work of the playwright of the XIX century. in his modern era, presents his view on this issue and his interpretation of the works of the playwright-predecessor.

The course of the study

Let's turn to the list of actors "Over the Okoy river". The main character's name is Katya — this is a more modern version of the name Katerina. A.D. Simukov uses a game with the forms of one name to emphasize the influence of art on a person. Alexander Stepanych Lyubimov, Katya's father, who devotes his whole life to working at the factory, tells his wife Olga, who helps her daughter prepare for the play: "It's all Katerina who influences you. You run to her at the rehearsal. You read there about all sorts of ..." ^{[10, p. 268]}, — before and after they mostly call their daughter Katya. Through the reservation of the father of the main character, the playwright shows how the image of the XIX century excites the soul of the reader of the XX century. The words of Alexander Stepanych are also characteristic: "You only confused a little: she is about merchants, but you and I still, thank God, live in Soviet times" ^{[10, p. 268]}, he captures only the temporal context of the play, without delving into its moral and ideological content. "Art, he says, is dearer to me than anything else! <...> I will take on Katerina! I will show her art!" ^{[10, p. 278]}, Alexander Stepanych exclaims in the heat of his prejudices, arguing at the same time with his daughter and with the eternal image of a living searching soul. Nevertheless, already at the level of the surnames of the characters, we understand that we are not talking about the Wild Boars and Wild Ones: we are looking at the Lyubimov family, therefore, viewers and readers will wait for them to see through their misconceptions.

An important detail in the image of Katya A.D. Simukov is that she is looking for her little miracle, unrelated to the large construction sites of communism, the way of life that Vasya offers her, with a strong house, lockers, shelves, etc. is alien to her. Katya defends the human right to choose her path, while at the same time making the mistakes of her youth. But A. D. Simukov shows that she is not a ray of light in the dark kingdom, but a living person in rather favorable circumstances for her. Katya runs away to the city at Kosyakovsky's suggestion to star in a movie, abandoning her amateur club troupe, because due to her age she is looking for easy fame. The plot with the thirst for recognition by a young actress would look organically against the background of the staging of another play by A. N. Ostrovsky — "Talents and fans", but in the play "Over the Oka River" A. D. Simukov chooses "Thunderstorm", pushing the reader to the fact that this is not the most important thing, as well as the choice of the genre of paintings, and not the scenes, it shows us that this play is not only about Katya. At the same time, in one of the draft versions, the theme of the young actress was closer to "Talents and fans": in the finale of the play, Katya quarrels with her father, pushes her mother away, she is kicked out of the circle, but Karelin arranges her to go to a theater university ^[9]. If this version of the finale had been preserved in the final version, then the play would have contradicted itself: The "kingdom" around has become even "darker" than in the last century, if at the end all the characters are divided by enmity, if the error is not forgiven after sincere repentance. At the same time, it is important for the playwright to show that Katya does not have material and class obstacles to success, forcing her to break her life, like Alexandra Negina — a hundred years later, the road is open, but honest work and loyalty to her team are important. That is why a trip to the city with Kosyakovsky fails — Katya, who dreamed of immediately becoming a movie star, in fact, was chosen just as a stand-in for the famous actress to shoot several dangerous scenes. Recognition and fame must be earned through honest work, as in any job. At the end of the play, Katya develops this idea further and concludes: "It's not easy, it turns out, to become a real master... <...> his life!" ^{[10, p. 311]}.

Another female character in the play, Olga, Katya's mother, is obsessed with everyday life and only in contact with the theater through her daughter begins to feel alive, thinks about her relationship with her husband, that in life there is not only a choice: a factory or a kitchen, but also something beautiful. The focus on Katya's parents helps the playwright to show that the spiritual and emotional sphere of life is important at any age.

Another representative of the older generation is Trofim Petrovich Karelin, the head of the factory club of creative amateur performances, who previously worked in the city theater, but left "for the wilderness". This is the image of a silverless creator trying to reach human hearts and make people's lives better. Unlike the inventor of the perpetual motion machine from the "Thunderstorm" Kuligin, who only builds projects to alleviate the fate of philistinism, Karelin is active and aims at the spiritual, not the material. In the last picture he will say: "To be an artist is first of all to be a human being! Clean, whole... A big, winged soul..." ^{[10, p. 309]}. His figure in the play is almost resonant. Trofim Petrovich is strenuously trying to fight the worldview expressed by Alexander Stepanych in his phrase addressed to the young Vasya: "A house for work is all the same as a utility shop!" ^{[10, p. 262]}. In the draft version of the play, the reasoner and philosophical principle in the image of Karelin was too exaggerated. His first appearance was described as follows: he walks alone thoughtfully along the riverbank and, seeing him from afar, Katya says to Olga: "Do you think it's easy? I came to the rehearsal and let's do it? There's so much to change your mind about first. Look — frozen over the river? He looks like that, but in fact his whole soul is now open, every nerve is trembling... He's listening. ... Life. It's necessary. For art." ^{[8, p. 6]}. In the final version of the play, the perception of the image is changed. Karelin was left with key ideological remarks concerning acting and art, but the degree of pathos is reduced on the one hand by his lively reactions: at first he does not believe in Olga and wants to cancel the production — in this episode the important role of the team is manifested, which at a critical moment takes responsibility for solving the problem and supports Olga, which is important for Soviet literature. On the other hand, Trofim Petrovich, with his desire to reach out to people and involve his wards' families and friends in participating in the theater circle, constantly gets into curious situations: then a dress flies out of the window at Karelin when Olga swears with Alexander Stepanych, then Lyubimov almost beats the artistic director because he is jealous of his wife and Thanks to such episodes, Karelin's image becomes more vivid and close to the viewer, does not dissonate with the rest of the characters in the play.

Karelin in the play by A. D. Simukov is opposed by a false cultural figure - Kosyakovsky, who calls Katya to the big city to star in a movie, luring her with a tale about Cinderella. A. D. Simukov does not even give this character a patronymic, leaving only a speaking surname, indicating to us that he generally represents a human type who loves to crumble in beautiful words, but worthless. Katya has two "mentors" in front of her eyes, to evaluate her choice and realize its consequences, we are given the background of each of them — sincere service to art, i.e. the desire to awaken the soul of each person, is opposed to the search for quick and easy fame, which does not end in anything.

The title of the play "Over the Oka River" in the place of action - a provincial town on the banks of a large river — refers us to the Volga and Kalinov from the "Thunderstorm". On the map of Russia, these two large rivers are connected, they merge in Nizhny Novgorod. Note that such a name was not found immediately, in one of the draft versions of the 1957 play, preserved in the RGALI archive, there is the title "Azores Islands"/ "Spring Noise" ^{[8, p. 1]}. The "spring noise" is most likely associated with the movement of ice on the river and the awakening of nature, and, consequently, the soul. "The Azores" may refer to the 1925 poem "Shallow Philosophy in Deep Places" by V. Mayakovsky, written during his journey across the Atlantic Ocean: "... Who did not philosophize over the sea? / Water. <...> I was born, / grew up, / was suckled, —/ lived, / worked, / became too old…/ So life will pass, / as the Azores / islands passed" ^[5]. V. Mayakovsky described the history of creation in this way: "I'm going around the Azores. And, strangely enough, for the first time in my life, I felt sad, never sad. I'm floating here. And then? And the Azores are sailing… And at this very place, I wrote a shallow philosophy in a deep place."^[4] On a journey to another continent, the Azores Islands are just a "trifle", almost a mirage, which seems to have been, but does not seem to be, so they are compared to a fleeting human life. A.D. Simukov, after two years of work on the play, chose a less philosophical title, which does not enrich the play with additional meanings, but organically connects her with the drama by A. N. Ostrovsky.

What is the main thing for A. D. Simukov in the "Thunderstorm"? A similar question is often answered by stage directors: what to highlight in a classic work, what reading to offer to the public. A.D. Simukov in his memoirs discusses the triad "Playwright — Actor — Director" and comes from a historical point of view to the unflattering conclusion that the playwright's theater existed only in the time of Shakespeare and Moliere, the further away, the less important the playwright is ^{[11, p. 505-506]}. Putting a dramatization of another dramatic work into a play creates an interesting game within a game that allows the playwright of the 20th century to take the place of the main person in the theater of his time — the director. He will decide which monologues will be performed, who will play the main role, how the actress will come to the fore, where the production will take place, etc. This is also emphasized by the fact that extremely upset by Katya Karelin's antics, at first he is afraid of replacing the actress: "Do what you want, but I do not participate in this comedy! The “thunderstorm" is upside down! Katerina by the book! In a dress from Mostorg, haha!" ^{[10, p. 300]}. Karelin's remark contains the juxtaposition of dramatic genres: drama — comedy, belittling the importance of the second, which can be interpreted as a contrast between the playwright of the XIX and XX centuries. in the context of the development of the plot in question, but the denouement of the action shows that it is comedy that will help reach the hearts of the audience.

In the play "Over the Oka River" there are only a few replicas of Katerina from "Thunderstorm": from the seventh phenomenon of the first act (Katerina's conversation with Varvara), reflecting the confusion in the heroine's soul, and from the phenomenon of the second fifth act, in which Katerina, left alone, in her thoughts frantically turns to Boris before the last meeting with him. Olga voices most of the lines, and it is her A. D. Simukov who brings her on stage at the last moment as the main character, and then disrupts his own performance when, after admiring his wife, Alexander Stepanych, unable to stand it, rushes from behind the scenes to the stage on his knees in front of his wife: "Don't confuse me — Katya, Olga! I see for myself: we lived nearby, but passed by! (He breaks away from Trofim Petrovich.) Forgive me, Olushka, forgive me!" ^{[10, pp. 306-307]}. This is a game with a theatrical convention: Karelin tried to stop Lyubimov by saying that now it is Katerina — not Olga, but Alexander Stepanovich finally comprehended the beauty of life, not theatrical action, at the performance — they are so closely intertwined that he cannot separate them. When Olga reads Katerina's declaration of love to Boris, the mother-in-law, who accidentally overheard, immediately gets scared if her daughter-in-law has a lover, but Olga always thinks only about her husband and what their life together has turned into. For the characters of A. D. Simukov's play "Thunderstorm" is the desire to live for real, in full force and with full feeling, with joy, with a sense of beauty, this desire to break out of the cycle of plans and quarterly reports, a reminder of how important it is to be people in relation to each other and ourselves. This is also noted in the criticism of the play: "To build communism means to create a person of a communist society, a person of infinitely versatile spiritual development who can work tirelessly, ardently love, dream, rejoice and ... be sad. The playwright fervently defends the right of a Soviet person to a rich spiritual life" ^{[3, p. 22]}.

The review talks about a communist society and a comprehensively developed person, in the first edition of the play there was a scene in which Alexander Stepanych argues with creative youth and says about communism: "Everything needs to be thrown away in order to get to it as soon as possible — everything!", to which he is reasonably objected: "And naked, by the hour, won't we come?", noting that "it is more difficult to become cultured than to turn around with ticks" ^{[8, pp. 31-32]}. This is followed by Katya's unflattering statement: "And how much he is owed if he exceeds this plan by at least one percent — you don't know! Forty percent of the salary! That's what he's rooting for! And he doesn't care about all our dreams, performances, all our subtleties, as you say — he doesn't care! And that's it! And you're all communism... communism..." ^{[8, p. 33]}. By the disappearance of the first dialogue from the play, we see that the playwright overcame the desire to deploy an ideological polemic right inside the play, from which she undoubtedly only benefited, because the unnecessary edification disappeared when the author speaks to the viewer directly through the characters instead of expressing his idea through their actions. Katya's monologue about the award does not fit into the theme of the play, nor into the final characters of the characters, nor into what the critics of that time would approve. The theme of personal benefits from production, hiding behind the desire for communism, will sound seriously and directly already in the perestroika plays of the 1980s by A. D. Simukov: "Babye Tsardom" 1985 and "Wake Me Up" 1987

In the final version of "Over the Okoy River", we see not villains, but erring and somewhat backward heroes correcting themselves, which corresponds to the ideology of fighting the good against the best and varnishing reality. At the same time, it is important to note that A. D. Simukov creates his characters with love, works on the psychologization of images. So, in addition to Alexander Stepanych, to whom the plant overshadowed everything in life at some point, among the actors there is Vasya Sukharkov, whom Katya accuses of being mundane, but, in fact, they just understand beauty differently. Vasya, by no means a production machine, to Katya's question: "Screws... Cogs... This is the whole beauty of life, don't you think?", he replies: "You're an oddball, the point is not in the screws, the main thing is to get things moving! This is the most beautiful thing!" ^{[10, p. 294]}. Vasya confesses his love to Katya in his own way, he dedicates the drawing of the part to her: "Others sing songs or write poetry there, but not for me. I am here. As they say, from the heart. I suffered for you, do you understand?" ^{[10, p. 293]}. The heroine tore up the drawing, not appreciating the impulse of her admirer. Vasya and Katya cannot understand each other, but A. D. Simukov shows that Katya, who looks down on Vasya, is more to blame for this than Vasya, who sees a different beauty in the world than she does, but tries to do everything for his beloved, as he knows how, the first step is to overcome the obstacles between There is no disagreement between them. In the finale of the play, Katya, who has reconsidered her behavior, finally addresses him affectionately, to which he joyfully exclaims: "Do you hear? Vasenka earned it for the first time!" ^{[10, p. 309]}. Thus, A. D. Simukov, speaking about beauty in human life, highlights the beauty of work, shows that you can put your soul into any business, even mechanical production.

Conclusions

In conclusion, we can conclude that the literary reception of A. N. Ostrovsky's work in A. D. Simukov's comedy "Over the Okoy River" is multifaceted and versatile. It is expressed on the plot, figurative, ideological, textual and thematic levels of the work. The drama of the XIX century is transformed into a comedy of the XX century, shown in paintings — a genre in which A. N. Ostrovsky worked a lot, in compliance with the basic criteria of this genre. The toponym in the title of the play connects it with the quoted one. At the level of the surnames of the heroes, A. D. Simukov contrasts his characters with the characters of A. N. Ostrovsky, whose speaking surnames have a negative connotation. We meet with a direct quotation of Katerina's monologues from "Thunderstorm", with the staging of this play on stage, but at the same time, when superimposed on the plot of "Over the Oka River", these quotes are antithetical to the original source: Olga misses her husband, not her lover, Katya's protest, which she wants to express in Katerina's monologue about a dream in In the first picture, this is not a protest of love against the dark kingdom, it is a thirst for a bright extraordinary life. There is an obvious parallel in the plot with "Talents and fans", expressed through the theme of becoming an actress. Using quotes and plot parallels, A.D. Simukov demonstrates the positive changes that have occurred in society over a hundred years by changing the genre and realities of the play. A.D. Simukov, as a stage director, highlights in A. N. Ostrovsky's play the idea of thirst for life in all its beauty and completeness, obligatory spiritual awakening and shows in his play, how it happens in contact with art in the 20th century, demonstrating in parallel the interpenetrability of artistic fiction and reality.