Sin and Sorrow Are Common to All
| Sin and Sorrow Are Common to All | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Aleksander Ostrovsky |
| Date premiered | 21 January 1863 |
| Place premiered | Maly Theatre in Moscow |
| Original language | Russian |
| Genre | Social drama |
Sin and Sorrow Are Common to All (Grekh da beda na kovo ne zhiviot, Грех да беда на кого не живёт)[1] is a drama in four acts by Alexander Ostrovsky, written in 1852 and published by No. 1, 1863 issue of Vremya magazine, edited by the Dostoyevsky brothers. It was premiered in Maly Theatre, Moscow, on January 21, 1863, as a benefit for actor A. F. Bogdanov. Later that year, Ostrovsky was awarded the Uvarov Prize for it.[2]
Background
In mid-1862, Ostrovsky returned from his European voyage which, according to biographer Vladimir Lakshin, made him "more enlightened and wise" but only strengthened "his love-hate relations with Russian nature... Love for all of our wideness, impracticality, tolerance, openness to goodness. Hatred for Russian backwardness, moral ignorance, samodurstvo (domestic tyranny) and eagerness to follow darkest of passions."[2]
History
Ostrovsky started working on the new play on October 25, 1862, in his house at Nikolo-Vorobyinsky Lane. He was friends with young merchant Goryachev, whose father had a transporting business moving goods to and for the Nizhny Novgorod market. Ostrovsky admired Goryachev Jr. for his energy, moral strength and physical power. The young man, soon a theatre fan, worshipped Ostrovsky and once told him the story of his life, "as if it were a confession". This story became the foundation for this drama.[3] "This is a true nature, not samodurstvo. This man doesn't want things in halves," wrote Fyodor Dostoyevsky of the main hero, Lev Krasnov. According to biographer Vladimir Lakshin, Rogozhin in Dostoyevsky's The Idiot was created along the similar lines.[4]
The play was premiered in Moscow's Maly Theatre on January 21, 1853, with Prov Sadovsky as Lev Krasnov. On January 23, it was performed in Saint Petersburg's Alexandrinsky Theatre with Pavel Vasiliev in the main role. Both actors provided high quality, inspirational work, and critics seriously started to mention Ostrovsky alongside Shakespeare.[5]
Sin and Grief Are Common to All was published by Vremya (No. 1, 1863). Ostrovsky's intention was to keep loyal to Sovremennik, but after his return from Europe Nikolai Chernyshevsky was imprisoned and Nekrasov's magazine got closed for eight months.[2]
References
- ↑ The Russian proverb that's given the play its title is never used in the text directly but one of the characters describes things that were happening in a way, semantically similar to it: "Never expected or even guessed at - but grief came. Grief was not in the woods, but among people" (Kuritsyn, the miller).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lakshin, Vladimir (1982). "Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky". Iskusstvo, Moscow. Life in Art series. Retrieved 2012-03-01.
- ↑ V.M. Minorsky’s memoirs. A.N. Ostrovsky. Remembered by Contemporaries. M. p. 312.
- ↑ Literaturnoye Nasledstvo, 1973, vol. 86, p. 63.
- ↑ Alexander Koni. Things Long Gone. 100 Years of Maly Theatre. 1824-1924. М., 1924, p. 92.
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