DOCSLIB.ORG

Vladimir Mayakovsky: the Language of Revolution

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Vladimir Mayakovsky: the Language of Revolution A University of Sussex PhD thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details Vladimir Mayakovsky: The Language of Revolution By Rosy Patience Carrick PhD The University of Sussex September 2016 I hereby declare that this thesis has not been and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree. Signature: R. Carrick UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX ROSY PATIENCE CARRICK PhD CRITICAL THEORY VLADIMIR MAYAKOVSKY: THE LANGUAGE OF REVOLUTION My thesis addresses two significant misrepresentations in western criticism and translation of Mayakovsky that have developed since his death in 1930: his diminished status as a Marxist poet; and his negative attitude towards everyday life (byt). Part One (‘Mayakovsky and Marxism’) contests the consistent refusal in the west to acknowledge Mayakovsky as a Marxist poet and demonstrates instead, through a close examination of the specific terminology used in certain essays and poems by Mayakovsky in relation to that used by Karl Marx in Capital, not only that the poet is keenly engaged with and influenced by Marxist theory, but that he uses that theory explicitly to describe and imagine the production of ideal communist writing. Part Two (‘Mayakovsky and Byt’) contests the widespread western characterisation of Mayakovsky as a misogynist whose hatred of domesticity in all its forms has long been accepted as fact. At the heart of this characterisation is the Russian concept of byt (everyday life), which has been systematically misunderstood and mistranslated in relation to Mayakovsky. Through a study of the complex cultural, political and social developments of this concept in early Soviet Russia, alongside the collation of my own translations of twenty-nine never-before-translated poems by Mayakovsky on the subject of byt, this part of the thesis presents a radical and feminist perspective of the poet as a vocal proponent of equality and revolution in everyday life. Both contestations represent the first sustained studies of their kind in English, and – in the case of Part Two in particular, which is the first of its kind in any language – constitute significant and challenging contributions to Mayakovsky scholarship. 1 Contents 2 Acknowledgements 3 A Note on Editions and Translations 4 A Note on Transliteration 5 Introduction 13 Part 1: Mayakovsky and Marxism 14 Introduction 28 I: Reserves 28 i. Terminology 37 ii. The Problem of Invisible Reserves – ‘About This’ 50 iii. Political Application – How Are Verses Made? 61 II: Production 75 III: Circulation 86 Final Thoughts 95 Part 2: Mayakovsky and Byt 96 Introduction 99 I: What is Byt? 114 II: Current Representations of Mayakovsky and Byt 165 III: Mayakovsky’s Representation of Byt 203 Moving Forwards 210 Afterword 213 Bibliography 2 Acknowledgements This thesis has been written over the course of six years, and I am enormously grateful to the many people who have helped me in one way or another during that time. Most significantly I am indebted to my friend and supervisor Keston Sutherland, for his rigorous feedback on my work, his many insightful and interesting contributions, and his enthusiam, kindness and care. The director of the Mayakovsky museum, Alexei Lobov, has been very supportive of my work, as have his colleagues Daniel Mukhametov and, in particular, Adolf Aksyonkin. Yelena Vladimirovna Mayakovskaya (aka Patricia Thompson), was instrumental in the direction my work has taken – the many conversations we shared over the last few years of her life opened my eyes to a new way of thinking about Mayakovsky, and I shall forever be grateful for her intelligence and wit, and for the deep generosity of spirit she showed me throughout our friendship. George Hyde’s magnificent translations of Mayakovsky were the first I ever read, and represent the explosive starting point of my interest in the poet, as well as the beginning of our own friendship, which I greatly appreciate. In 2014 Peter Target at Enitharmon invited me to put together my book Volodya: Selected Works and, in doing so, provided a space for me to share my new perspective of Mayakovsky in advance of the completion of my PhD. Throughout the final year of my research I received financial support from Andy Benn. Without it I would have been doomed many times over and I cannot thank him enough for his generosity and his faith in my work. Likewise, Cleria Humphries made me dinner once a week for the whole of my final year (and long may it continue!), and James Burt has supported me in more ways than I know how to count. Rocky Balboa’s consistent motivational force, meanwhile, is no less important for being fictional. There are many other friends besides, who are, happily, too numerous to name but whose support has nevertheless been invaluable – thank you. Finally, I would like to address my thanks directly to my family: in particular to my dad, Norman Leaver, for being so proud of my work and for always helping me in whatever ways you can, and to my extraordinary, intelligent, powerful daughter, Olive. 3 A Note on Editions and Translations There are three major Russian editions of Mayakovsky’s collected works. These are: Полное собрание сочинений [Complete Collected Works] (12 volumes), edited by L.Y. Brik and I. Bespolav, ГОСЛИТИЗДАТ, Moscow, 1934-8. Полное собрание сочинений (12 volumes), edited by N. Aseyev, L.V. Mayakovskaya, V.O. Pertsov and M.N. Serebryansky, ГОСЛИТИЗДАТ, Moscow, 1939-49. Полное собрание сочинений (13 volumes), edited by V.A. Katanyan and A.V. Fevralsky, Gos. Izd. Khud. Lit., Moscow, 1955-61. Not all English translations state from which Russian text their source material came. However, of those that do, the 1955-1961 edition is credited most frequently in My Discovery of America, Listen! and The Bedbug (with the exception of one poem, ‘Past One O’Clock’, which comes from the 1939-1949 version). How Are Verses Made also uses this earlier edition of 1939-1949. Hyde and Gureyeva have taken the Russian text of Pro Eto from the site of its first publication in Vol. 1 of Lef magazine, published in Moscow in 1923, and Love is the Heart of Everything is the English language edition of В. В. Маяковский и Л. Ю. Брик: Переписка 1915-1930 which, like its English counterpart, is edited by Jangfeldt. In his preface to the English translation, Jangdeldt clarifies his sources for this collection of correspondence: All Lili Brik’s letters, postcards and telegrams are published in this book [the Russian version] for the first time, as are the telegrams from Osip Brik […]. Of Mayakovsky’s letters and telegrams, 129 (125 to Lili and four to Osip Brik) were published in the USSR in 1958 (Literaturnoye nasledstvo, No. 65), though some passages were deleted. [… The other] letters and telegrams […] are published for the first time.1 Unless specified otherwise, I will use the most recent Russian edition of Mayakovsky’s collected works (1955-61), which is also the most comprehensive of the three, as my primary source of his works. 4 A Note on Transliteration I have transliterated all Russian text from Cyrillic into Latin script, with the exception of titles of Russian poems, articles and books, and in cases where I directly quote English language excerpts that use Cyrillic in the originals. Soft signs (ь) are represented in transliteration with a comma. For example, on page 99 when I note the difference between the Russian words Быт [daily life] and Быть [to be], the only lexical difference between which is the soft sign, I distinguish between them in transliteration thus: byt and byt’. The difference in pronunciation is minor – the soft sign simply indicates the palatisation of its preceeding consonant. 1 Bengt Jangfeldt, Love Is The Heart Of Everything: Correspondence Between Vladimir Mayakovsky and Lili Brik 1915-1930, trans. Julian Graffy (New York: Grove Press, 1987), p. 1. 5 Introduction If the Mayakovsky who has, since his death, been constructed by generations of critics and translators in the western world were to rise up off the pages of their books and stand before us today, what kind of a man would we be faced with? This Mayakovsky, though he may have lived through the politically and culturally tumultuous years of the revolution and the early Soviet period, would nevertheless be politically immature, a man whose ‘understanding of Marx was elementary’2, useful only insofar as it offered him an explosive context for his own ego-centric interests – ‘a way out of his personal dilemma’3. Creatively, he would stand for the most part a lone rebel, spurning Soviet demands for a collective ‘proletarian’ poetry in favour of highly individualistic, romantically passionate, avant-garde love poems such as ‘The Backbone Flute’, and would consider his concessions to agitprop work something akin to self-harm, of ‘setting his heel on the throat of his own song.’4 His ‘glowering’ face would reveal his ‘proto- punk ferocity, a still-burning aura of tough-guy tenderness [and] soulful defiance.’5 He would be machismo personified – a womaniser,6 a misogynist7 and a hater of children,8 whose poetry makes frequent reference to his unwavering opinion that domesticity in all its incarnations is disgusting and antithetical to the thrusting force of revolution.9 He would be characterised largely by his numerous love affairs, his gambling addiction and his obsessive and brooding nature, and we would speak of his suicide as one performed 2 Edward Brown, Russian Literature Since the Revolution, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England: Harvard University Press, 1982), p.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Everyday Life of Jews in Mariampole, Lithuania (1894–1911)1
    Chapter 1 Everyday Life of Jews in Mariampole, Lithuania 1 (1894–1911) INTRODUCTION The urge to discover one‘s roots is universal. This desire inspired me to reconstruct stories about my ancestors in Mariampole, Lithuania, for my grandchildren and generations to come. These stories tell the daily lives and culture of Jewish families who lived in northeastern Europe within Russian-dominated Lithuania at the turn of the twentieth century. The town name has been spelled in various ways. In YIVO, the formal Yiddish transliteration, the town name would be ―Maryampol.‖ In Lithuanian, the name is Marijampolė (with a dot over the ―e‖). In Polish, the name is written as Marjampol, and in Yiddish with Hebrew characters, the name is written from and pronounced ―Mariampol.‖ In English spelling, the town name ‖מאַריאַמפּאָל― right to left as is ―Marijampol.‖ From 1956 until the end of Soviet control in 1989, the town was called ―Kapsukas,‖ after one of the founders of the Lithuanian Communist party. The former name, Mariampole, was restored shortly before Lithuania regained independence.2 For consistency, I refer to the town in the English-friendly Yiddish, ―Mariampole.‖3 My paternal grandparents, Dvore Shilobolsky/Jacobson4 and Moyshe Zundel Trivasch, moved there around 1886 shortly after their marriage. They had previously lived in Przerośl, a town about 35 miles southwest of Mariampole. Both Przerośl and Mariampole were part of the Pale of Settlement, a place where the Russian empire forced its Jews to live 1791–1917. It is likely that Mariampole promised to offer Jews a better life than the crowded conditions of the section of the Pale where my grandparents had lived.
    [Show full text]
  • The Poet Takes Himself Apart on Stage: Vladimir Mayakovsky's
    The Poet Takes Himself Apart on Stage: Vladimir Mayakovsky’s Poetic Personae in Vladimir Mayakovsky: Tragediia and Misteriia-buff By Jasmine Trinks Senior Honors Thesis Department of Germanic & Slavic Languages and Literatures University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill March 2015 Approved: ____________________________ Kevin Reese, Thesis Advisor Radislav Lapushin, Reader CONTENTS INTRODUCTION………………………………………………1 CHAPTER I: Mayakovsky’s Superfluous Sacrifice: The Poetic Persona in Vladimir Mayakovsky: Tragediia………………….....4 CHAPTER II: The Poet-Prophet Confronts the Collective: The Poetic Persona in Two Versions of Misteriia-buff………………25 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………47 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………50 ii INTRODUCTION In his biography of Vladimir Mayakovsky, Edward J. Brown describes the poet’s body of work as a “regular alternation of lyric with political or historical themes,” noting that Mayakovsky’s long lyric poems, like Человек [Man, 1916] and Про это [About That, 1923] are followed by the propagandistic Мистерия-буфф [Mystery-Bouffe, 1918] and Владимир Ильич Ленин [Vladimir Il’ich Lenin, 1924], respectively (Brown 109). While Brown’s assessment of Mayakovsky’s work is correct in general, it does not allow for adequate consideration of the development of his poetic persona over the course of his career, which is difficult to pinpoint, due in part to the complex interplay of the lyrical and historical in his poetry. In order to investigate the problem of Mayakovsky’s ever-changing and contradictory poetic persona, I have chosen to examine two of his plays: Владимир Маяковский: Трагедия [Vladimir Mayakovsky: A Tragedy, 1913] and both the 1918 and 1921 versions of Mystery- Bouffe. My decision to focus on Mayakovsky's plays arose from my desire to examine what I termed the “spectacle-ization” of the poet’s ego—that is, the representation of the poetic persona in a physical form alive and on stage.
    [Show full text]
  • UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Staging Mysteries
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Staging Mysteries: Transnational Medievalist Performance in the Twentieth Century A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Theater and Performance Studies by Carla Neuss 2021 ã Copyright by Carla Neuss 2021 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Staging Mysteries: Transnational Medievalist Performance in the Twentieth Century by Carla Neuss Doctor of Philosophy in Theatre and Performance Studies University of California, Los Angeles, 2021 Professor Sean Metzger, Chair This dissertation traces adapted forms of the medieval mystery cycle tradition within different transnational moments of social, political, and cultural crisis. In redirecting the spiritually didactic aims of medieval performance, the modern mysteries that constitute this project illuminate how medieval theatre functions as an historical imaginary for the transformative potential of performance. This project investigates three twentieth-century adaptations of the medieval mystery cycle tradition: Alexander Scriabin’s unfinished multi-genre performance, Mysterium (c. 1910); Jean Paul Sartre’s first play, Bariona (1940); and a South African production of the Chester Mystery Cycle, Yiimimangaliso (2000). Chapter 2 demonstrates how Mysterium sought to enact a distinctly medieval imaginary of spiritual unity epitomized by the Russian religious value of sobornost.’ In analyzing its Russian Symbolist aesthetics, I argue that the Mysterium was designed phenomenologically to enact social transformation on the eve of the Soviet revolution ii through "affective atmosphere.” Chapter 3 discusses Jean-Paul Sartre's relatively unknown play Bariona as an adaptation of the medieval French nativity play tradition produced during World War II. This chapter situates Bariona within the longstanding tradition of French medievalist performance as a contested political site within the national consciousness.
    [Show full text]
  • The Great Unwashed Public Baths in Urban America, 1840-1920
    Washiîi! The Great Unwashed Public Baths in Urban America, 1840-1920 a\TH5 FOR Marilyn Thornton Williams Washing "The Great Unwashed" examines the almost forgotten public bath movement of the nineteenth and early twentieth cen­ turies—its origins, its leaders and their motives, and its achievements. Marilyn Williams surveys the development of the American obsession with cleanliness in the nineteenth century and discusses the pub­ lic bath movement in the context of urban reform in New York, Baltimore, Philadel­ phia, Chicago, and Boston. During the nineteenth century, personal cleanliness had become a necessity, not only for social acceptability and public health, but as a symbol of middle-class sta­ tus, good character, and membership in the civic community. American reformers believed that public baths were an impor­ tant amenity that progressive cities should provide for their poorer citizens. The bur­ geoning of urban slums of Irish immi­ grants, the water cure craze and other health reforms that associated cleanliness with health, the threat of epidemics—es­ pecially cholera—all contributed to the growing demand for public baths. New waves of southern and eastern European immigrants, who reformers perceived as unclean and therefore unhealthy, and in­ creasing acceptance of the germ theory of disease in the 1880s added new impetus to the movement. During the Progressive Era, these fac­ tors coalesced and the public bath move­ ment achieved its peak of success. Between 1890 and 1915 more than forty cities constructed systems of public baths. City WASHING "THE GREAT UNWASHED" URBAN LIFE AND URBAN LANDSCAPE SERIES Zane L. Miller and Henry D.
    [Show full text]
  • „Lef“ and the Left Front of the Arts
    Slavistische Beiträge ∙ Band 142 (eBook - Digi20-Retro) Halina Stephan „Lef“ and the Left Front of the Arts Verlag Otto Sagner München ∙ Berlin ∙ Washington D.C. Digitalisiert im Rahmen der Kooperation mit dem DFG-Projekt „Digi20“ der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek, München. OCR-Bearbeitung und Erstellung des eBooks durch den Verlag Otto Sagner: http://verlag.kubon-sagner.de © bei Verlag Otto Sagner. Eine Verwertung oder Weitergabe der Texte und Abbildungen, insbesondere durch Vervielfältigung, ist ohne vorherige schriftliche Genehmigung des Verlages unzulässig. «Verlag Otto Sagner» ist ein Imprint der Kubon & Sagner GmbH. Halina Stephan - 9783954792801 Downloaded from PubFactory at 01/10/2019 05:25:44AM via free access S la v istich e B eiträge BEGRÜNDET VON ALOIS SCHMAUS HERAUSGEGEBEN VON JOHANNES HOLTHUSEN • HEINRICH KUNSTMANN PETER REHDER JOSEF SCHRENK REDAKTION PETER REHDER Band 142 VERLAG OTTO SAGNER MÜNCHEN Halina Stephan - 9783954792801 Downloaded from PubFactory at 01/10/2019 05:25:44AM via free access 00060802 HALINA STEPHAN LEF” AND THE LEFT FRONT OF THE ARTS״ « VERLAG OTTO SAGNER ■ MÜNCHEN 1981 Halina Stephan - 9783954792801 Downloaded from PubFactory at 01/10/2019 05:25:44AM via free access Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München ISBN 3-87690-186-3 Copyright by Verlag Otto Sagner, München 1981 Abteilung der Firma Kubon & Sagner, München Druck: Alexander Grossmann Fäustlestr. 1, D -8000 München 2 Halina Stephan - 9783954792801 Downloaded from PubFactory at 01/10/2019 05:25:44AM via free access 00060802 To Axel Halina Stephan - 9783954792801 Downloaded from PubFactory at 01/10/2019 05:25:44AM via free access Halina Stephan - 9783954792801 Downloaded from PubFactory at 01/10/2019 05:25:44AM via free access 00060802 CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Utopia and Reality in the Art of the October Revolution HISTOREIN
    HISTOREIN VOLUME 7 (2007) A critical examination of the artistic tools of Utopia and Reality the October Revolution, particularly in the crucial early years of the civil war up until in the Art of the the establishment of the USSR, promotes a reconsideration of the relation between October Revolution reality and utopian thought in the field of representation. The Revolution naturally encountered many obstacles before finally prevailing. From April 1918 to November 1920 the Bolsheviks fought against foreign mili- tary intervention and the domestic coun- ter-revolution, striving to secure the nec- essary resources that would enable them to achieve their goals. Their military supe- riority was largely based on the organi- sation of the Red Army, while, economi- cally speaking, the militarisation of the economy and the army’s seizure of crops – leading to the impoverishment of the ru- ral population – played a decisive role. On an ideological level, the Bolsheviks strove to spread socialist ideas in order to mobi- lise the population and lead them to join Syrago Tsiara the revolution. State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki Red propaganda was largely directed at il- literate peasants1 and its effectiveness was dependent on the internal organisation and leadership of the Bolshevik party over the working classes and peasants, social forc- es on which Lenin especially relied during the harsh years of the civil war. An attempt to approach the ideologies and emotions of the weaker masses through the strict- ly scientific terms of dialectical material- ism would not have been wise at all. Visual propaganda – with deep routes in Russian culture – did not require the ability to com- 87 HISTOREIN VOLUME 7 (2007) prehend the written word, thus offering an adequate means of attracting broader strata of the population with revolutionary messages.
    [Show full text]
  • Leaves of Grass
    Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman AN ELECTRONIC CLASSICS SERIES PUBLICATION Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman is a publication of The Electronic Classics Series. This Portable Document file is furnished free and without any charge of any kind. Any person using this document file, for any pur- pose, and in any way does so at his or her own risk. Neither the Pennsylvania State University nor Jim Manis, Editor, nor anyone associated with the Pennsylvania State University assumes any responsibility for the material contained within the document or for the file as an electronic transmission, in any way. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, The Electronic Clas- sics Series, Jim Manis, Editor, PSU-Hazleton, Hazleton, PA 18202 is a Portable Document File produced as part of an ongoing publication project to bring classical works of literature, in English, to free and easy access of those wishing to make use of them. Jim Manis is a faculty member of the English Depart- ment of The Pennsylvania State University. This page and any preceding page(s) are restricted by copyright. The text of the following pages are not copyrighted within the United States; however, the fonts used may be. Cover Design: Jim Manis; image: Walt Whitman, age 37, frontispiece to Leaves of Grass, Fulton St., Brooklyn, N.Y., steel engraving by Samuel Hollyer from a lost da- guerreotype by Gabriel Harrison. Copyright © 2007 - 2013 The Pennsylvania State University is an equal opportunity university. Walt Whitman Contents LEAVES OF GRASS ............................................................... 13 BOOK I. INSCRIPTIONS..................................................... 14 One’s-Self I Sing .......................................................................................... 14 As I Ponder’d in Silence...............................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • [email protected]
    President, Kasia Metkowski Editor-in-Chief, John Dethlefsen Lead Designer, Leo Elyon Editor, Anashe Barton Editor, Ionela Maria Ciolan Editor, Caitlin Cozine Designer, Alexandra Dubinin Designer, Kylen Gensurowsky Editor, Alexandru Groza Administrative Assistant, Kevin Lasek Editor, Elizabeth Levinson Interested in submitting? Contact us at: [email protected] 1 now, Before We Begin a Letter from the President, This publication is ate career. Our grad- curacy of the content. made possible by sup- uate students partic- The opinions and Dear reader, port from the Institute ipate in the life of the views expressed in of Slavic, East Europe- Department (study- this publication are For this edition, we at Troika distinguished ourselves by picking a an, and Eurasian Stud- ing, teaching, run- those of the authors, theme that directly addresses the embittered temperament that, over ies at the University ning the library, and do not necessarily the past year, has crept into our lives. By “celebrating disillusion- of California, Berkeley, organizing film reflect the opinions ment,” we challenge this temperament. with funding from series, perfor- and views of the Troi- the US Department mances, colloquia, ka editors. Troika of Education Title conferences), in the does not endorse any This year, Berkeley students have grown especially weary, faced VI National Resource life of the Universi- opinions expressed by with constant protests and security measures surrounding both con- Centers Program. ty, and in the pro- the authors in this troversial speakers and unpopular election results, as well as the fession (reading pa- journal and shall not continual struggle against an unresponsive bureaucracy. Additionally, University of Cal- pers at national and be held liable for any millennials across the country have continued to experience decreas- ifornia, Berkeley, international- losses, claims, expens- ing job prospects, increasing debt, and a political system that is dis- Graduate Program conferences).
    [Show full text]
  • Language Policy in Switzerland
    STUDIES IN LOGIC, GRAMMAR AND RHETORIC 45 (58) 2016 DOI: 10.1515/slgr-2016-0020 Elżbieta Kużelewska University of Bialystok Poland LANGUAGE POLICY IN SWITZERLAND Abstract. Switzerland is often referred to as a success story for handling its linguistic and cultural diversity. Traditionally four languages have been spo- ken in relatively homogeneous territories: German, French, Italian and Rhaeto– Romanic (Romansh). The first three have been national languages since the foundation of the Confederation in 1848; the fourth became a national language in 1938. In effect, The Law on Languages, in effect since 2010, has regulated the use and promotion of languages and enhanced the status of Romansh as one of the official languages since 2010. While Swiss language policy is determined at the federal level, it is in the actual practice a matter for cantonal implementation. Article 70 of the Swiss Federal Constitution, titled “Languages”, enshrines the principle of mul- tilingualism. A recent project to create legislation to implement multilingual- ism across the cantons, however, has failed. Thus Switzerland remains de jure quadrilingual, but de facto bilingual at best, with only a handful of cantons recognizing more than one official language (Newman, 2006: 2). Cantonal bor- ders are not based on language: the French-German language border runs across cantons during most of its course from north to south, and such is also the case for Italian. Keywords: language, linguistic, policy, Switzerland Even though Switzerland takes pride in its multilingualism, it does not necessarily mean that the Swiss are multilingual. The use of the territoriality principle has resulted in the homogenization of the different cantons and a decreased language contact.
    [Show full text]
  • 574100 Itunes Shostakovich
    SHOSTAKOVICH The Bedbug • Love and Hate WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz Mark Fitz-Gerald Mannheim Opera Choir • Dani Juris Dmitry Shostakovich (1906–1975) Dmitry Shostakovich (1906–1975) The Bedbug, Op. 19 on this production also brought him into a close, but The Bedbug, Op. 19 (1929) somewhat unbalanced friendship with Meyerhold himself, Incidental Music to the comedy The Bedbug by Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893–1930) The first performance of The Bedbug , sarcastically who adored his new young protégé but always wanted to entitled a ‘faerie comedy in nine scenes’ (anything further dominate the relationship, as hilariously documented by Part One – The Year 1929 Part Two – Fifty Years Later: The Year 1979 1 0 from ‘faerie’ than this knockabout farce it would be hard to Shostakovich in several letters of the period. 2 March 2:33 ! Scene in the Public Garden 2:50 imagine), took place on 12 February 1929 at the By his own account, the composer was less Meyerhold Theatre in Moscow. The occasion was an impressed by the flamboyant figure of Mayakovsky, 3 Foxtrot (orch. M. Fitz-Gerald) 2:26 @ March of the Pioneers 2:12 Galop (orch. M. Fitz-Gerald) 2:22 Flourish 0:09 event, not least because it involved the collaboration of privately telling friends later in life that he couldn’t bear the 4 # some of the most prominent Soviet artists of the time. The famous poet’s vanity and hypocrisy. In public, he Waltz No. 1 (orch. M. Fitz-Gerald) 0:58 March of the City Elders 0:49 5 $ author, Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893–1930), was the most contented himself with a well-honed anecdote about how 6 Intermezzo 3:11 % Waltz No.
    [Show full text]
  • Theatrical Spectatorship in the United States and Soviet Union, 1921-1936: a Cognitive Approach to Comedy, Identity, and Nation
    Theatrical Spectatorship in the United States and Soviet Union, 1921-1936: A Cognitive Approach to Comedy, Identity, and Nation Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Pamela Decker, MA Graduate Program in Theatre The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Lesley Ferris, Advisor Jennifer Schlueter Frederick Luis Aldama Copyright by Pamela Decker 2013 Abstract Comedy is uniquely suited to reveal a specific culture’s values and identities; we understand who we are by what and whom we laugh at. This dissertation explores how comic spectatorship reflects modern national identity in four theatre productions from the twentieth century’s two rising superpowers: from the Soviet Union, Evgeny Vakhtangov’s production of Princess Turandot (1922) and Vsevolod Meyerhold’s production of The Bedbug (1929); from the United States, Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle’s Broadway production of Shuffle Along (1921) and Orson Welles’ Federal Theatre Project production of Horse Eats Hat (1936). I undertake a historical and cognitive analysis of each production, revealing that spectatorship plays a participatory role in the creation of live theatre, which in turn illuminates moments of emergent national identities. By investigating these productions for their impact on spectatorship rather than the literary merit of the dramatic text, I examine what the spectator’s role in theatre can reveal about the construction of national identity, and what cognitive studies can tell us about the spectator’s participation in live theatre performance. Theatre scholarship often marginalizes the contribution of the spectator; this dissertation privileges the body as the first filter of meaning and offers new insights into how spectators contribute and shape live theatre, as opposed to being passive observers of an ii already-completed production.
    [Show full text]
  • This Article Analyzes the Use of Color in the Poetic Works of Vladimir
    Vitaly V. Goncharov This article analyzes the use of color in the poetic Candidate of Legal Sciences, Associate Professor of the works of Vladimir Mayakovsky as a symbolic Department of State and International Law of the Kuban State Agrarian University Named after I. T. Trubilin, 350004, actualization of the most important aspects of Krasnodar, Kalinina Street, 13, Russian Federation. both the reality surrounding the poet and the ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3029-4727 world of his inner experiences. E-mail: [email protected] Marina R. Zheltukhina Doctor of Philology, Professor of the Department of the English Philology, Scientific Research Laboratory “Discourse Linguistics” of the Institute of Foreign Languages, Volgograd State Socio-Pedagogical University, 400066, Volgograd, The work of Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky - Lenin Ave, 27, Russian Federation. one of the brightest and most famous Russian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7680-4003 poets of the twentieth century - is the object of E-mail: [email protected] close research in numerous works of philologists, Gennady G. Slyshkin historians, linguists, in particular: V. Shevchenko Dr. of Philology, professor, Head of the Departament of (2012, p. 33-37); S. Zainab (2015, p. 149-151); Yu. Law Methodology and Legal Communication, Law Institute, Russian University of Transport, 9b9 Obrazcova Str., Moscow Mineralova (2005, p. 3-16); A. Gorbachev (2010, 127994, Russian Federation. p. 17-27); M. Steinberg (2018, p. 83-91); O. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8121-0250 Kultysheva (2010, p. 57-62); O. Kuzovleva (2010, E-mail: [email protected] p. 48-56). The constant relevance of the study of Zaineta R.
    [Show full text]