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The drama of Majakovskij: A study of tho plays and dramatic elements in the poetry of Vladimir Mnj&kovskU

Boyle, Eloise M., Ph.D. The Ohio State University, 1988

Copyright ©1088 by Boyle, Eloise M. All rights reserved.

UMI 300 N. Zoeb Rd. Ann Atbor, MI 48106

THE DRAMA OF MAJAKOVSKIJ: A STUDY OF

THE PLAYS AND DRAMATIC ELEMENTS IN THE

POETRY OF VLADIMIR MAJAKOVSKIJ

DISSERTATION

Presented In Partial Fulfillment of th e Requirements for

the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate

School of the Ohio State University

By Eloise M. Boyle, B.A., M.A

The Ohio State Univeirsity

1988

Dissertation Committee: Approved by

George Kalbouss

Jerzy Krzyzanowski Advisor Rimvydas Silbajoris Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures Copyright by Eloise M. Boyle 1988 To My Parents

ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to express sincere appreciation to Dr. George Kalbouss for his guidance and insight throughout my research. Thanks also to the other members of my advisory committee, Drs. Jerzy Krzyzanowski and Frank Silbajoris for their valuable suggestions and comments. To my husband, Jim Grams, I offer sincere thanks for his technical assistance in preparing this document, and for his constant encouragement and faith in me.

iil VITA

August 27,1957 ...... Bom - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1979 ...... B.A., University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont

1983...... M.A., Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

1981 - 1987...... Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

FIELDS OF STUDY

Major Field: Russian Literature Studies in Old Russian Literature with Dr. Mateja Matejic Studies in 18th Century Russian Literature with Dr. Frank Silbajoris Studies in 19th Century Russian Literature with Dr. Frank Silbajoris and Dr. Jerzy Krzyzanowski Studies iri 20th Century Russian and Soviet Literature with Dr. Hongor Outanoff, Dr. Frank Silbajoris and Dr. Jerzy Krzyzanowski Studies in 19th and 20th Century Russian and Soviet Drama with Dr. George Kalbouss TABLE OF CONTENTS

DEDICATION...... II

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...... Ill

VITA...... iv

CHAPTER PAGE

I. INTRODUCTION...... 1

II. MAJAKOVSKIJ’S DRAMATIC POETRY...... 7

Introduction...... 7 General Characteristics of the Menippean S atire...... 10 Menippean Satire in Majakovskij's Early P oetry...... 14 The Rhetorical Nature of Majakovskij’s P o e try ...... 30 Dramatic Devices In Majakovskij’s Poetry ...... 42 Conclusions...... 59

III. VLADIMIR MAJAKOVSKIJ - A TRAGEDY ...... 60

Introduction ...... 60 Carnival ...... 61 Animation ...... 68 M onodram a...... 70 The Figure of the Protagonist...... 73 Poetic and Dramatic Devices...... 80

IV. MYSTERY-BOUFFE...... •...... 91

Introduction ...... 91 The Mystery Play ...... 92 The Figure of the Protagonist...... 101 Dramatic and Poetic Devices...... 110 The Question of G e n r e ...... 114

V. THE B E D B U G ...... 117

v Introduction...... 117 D evices...... 118 Menippean S atire...... 125 The Figure of the Protagonist...... 131 Minor C haracters...... 134 The Themes of The Bedbug ...... 138

VI. THE BATHHO USE ...... 146

Introduction...... 146 Poetic and Dramatic Devices...... 147 The Figure of the Protagonist...... 158 Minor Characters ...... 164 The Use of Rhetoric...... 169 The Themes of The Bathhouse ...... 174

VII. CONCLUSION...... 177

NOTES ...... 187

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 191

v i CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this dissertation is three-fold: to formulate a definition of

Majakovskij's theatricaiism as it applies to both his poetry and drama; to analyze the poetry of Majakovskij from the point of view of dramatic devices; and to bring a new appreciation to the plays of Vladimir Majakovskij (1894 — 1930) and their relationship to his poetry.

Majakovskij’s career coincides with the birth and early development of the Soviet

Union. Many of his poetic works celebrate the Revolution and castigate the leaders of the Western World. Majakovskij devoted many lines to glorifying the new nation, and supported the cause by illustrating propaganda posters and giving readings to workers' organizations. This early belief in the Revolution, however, did not prevent him from satirizing it later in his career. This shift coincides with a change in content of

Majakovskij’s literary works from the personal to the social and political. But, despite the changes in his career, one element remains consistent: Majakovskij’s theatricaiism.

Majakovskij’s poetry has been called "dramatic," but what, exactly, does this term mean? It implies a contamination of genres, i.e., the application of devices from two distinct genres, poetry and drama, in the execution of verses. But "contamination" is really the establishment of sets of relationships, for example, between the normative

1 2

aspects of poetry and those of drama in a poetic work, and vice versa in a dramatic work. The network of interconnected poetic and dramatic elements that exists in both

the poetry and the drama is one of the key features of Majakovskij’s theatricaiism.

In works such as "Oblako v Stanax" ("A Cloud in Trousers,") "Pro eto" ("About

That,") and "Cetovek" ("Man,") the lyric nature, the exploration of the poet in his worlds, is frequently supported by the introduction of dramatic devices. These include

dialogue, stage directions, foreshadowing and the use of a deus ex machina (god from'

the machine). Action alternates with purely lyrical passages, and the combination of

such "scenes" in the poetry imparts a theatrical air to the poems.

In addition to purely formal devices, the figure of the protagonist and his

adventures are explored in the long poems of Majakovskij. The protagonist is an

important tool in Majakovskij's writing; he is used in several ways by the poet. The

protagonist embodies truths or ideas that Majakovskij wishes to espouse; he

represents the poet in the symbolic landscapes of the poetry and the drama; and he

acts as a part of the system of devices in the works, by becoming a motivating factor

of the plots. The figure of the protagonist is such an integral part of all Majakovskij's

work that he, too, is identified as an element of Majakovskij’s theatricaiism.

There are several menippean devices found in Majakovskij’s poetry. Among

those discussed are the three-planed adventure, the use of the fantastic and symbolic

combined with a "slum naturalism," scandal scenes and the representation of the

abnormal psychological state of the protagonist. Closely connected with the menippea

is carnival, and it, too, is found in Majakovskij's literary works. 3

The use of rhetoric is the fourth element of Majakovskij's theatricaiism. In his poetry, Majakovskij almost always argues for an ideal. Whether the subject is personal, as in "About That," or political, as is the case with "XoroSo!" ("Goodl,")

Majakovskij creates effective rhetorical arguments out of the language of his poetry.

In many ways, some of them subtle, Majakovskij combines his personal and political selves in his rhetoric.

The elements that make up Majakovskij's theatricaiism have their origins in his poetry and those discussed above continue to be developed in his plays.

In Majakovskij's first dramatic work, Vladimir Majakovskij — Tragedija, ('Vladimir

Majakovskij — A Tragedy) the relationship between poetic and dramatic elements is very strong. It is both a poem on stage and a play in verse, Insomuch as the dramatic and poetic devices are so tightly interwoven that the dramatic becomes poetic and vice versa. Tragedy, in fact, links the early poetry and the later drama of

Majakovskij in the areas of symbolism and imagery, the figure of the protagonist, and social activism.

In addition, Tragedy establishes just what kind of playwright Majakovskij is. He is a "rebel dramatist," to use the term coined by Robert Brustein in his Theatre of

Revolt (Little, Brown, 1962). As Brustein defines the Theatre of revolt," it is a self- conscious drama, in which the dramatist enters his work in a new way. He says:

Whether involved as an idea or a character, the modern dramatist is continually exploring the possibilities of his own personality — not only representing but exhorting, not only dramatizing others but examining theself. (p. 13) 4

Clearly Majakovskij is of this type of modem dramatist, especially in Tragedy, but also, to a lesser degree, in all his other dramatic works.

Menippean devices, carnival and the philosophy of monodrama also appear in

Tragedy, and the work, despite its brevity, is a complex mixture of the poetic and the dramatic.

Misterija-buff (Mystery-Bouffe) is also a play in verse, and it is an exploration not of the self, but of the epic events known as the Russian Revolution and Civil War.

All the elements of Majakovskij's theatricaiism are found in this comedy as well.

The figure of the protagonist is a dual creation in Mystery-Bouffe. He is the

Messiah figure of The Ordinary Man and a new hero, a collective hero, manifested in the depiction of the Unclean. The figure of the protagonist is used in this play to reflect Majakovskij's belief in the revolution as a creative force in Russia, as an event which transformed the workers and peasants into the new Soviet hero.

Mystery-Bouffe is what Brustein would call a "messianic drama" in which 'the messianic dramatist employs his characters to enact his revolt and to embody his vision of salvation." (p. 21) While Majakovskij himself does not appear in this work, he is represented by one of his "masks," The Ordinary Man. This character is encountered in many of Majakovskij's poems, in Tragedy, and, later, in the characters of Zoja Berezkina in K/op [The Bedbug) and Velosipedkin in Banja (The Bathhouse),

While elements of the menippean satire are found* in Mystery-Bouffe, they are less prevalent than before, they are limited to the three-planed adventure and scandal scenes. Elements of the mystery play, specifically, the type of mystery play written by the Russian Symbolists, guide this work. This aspect of Mystery-Bouffe best reflects the combination of the poetic and the dramatic that is again a part of the theatricaiism of Majakovskij's dramatic technique.

Both The Bedbug and The Bathhouse are satires, characterized by the use of stock figures, satiric devices and highly inventive dramatic dialogue. The stock characters are not failings of the plays; rather, they are proof of Majakovskij's desire to

A attack not his characters, but the audiences enjoying their antics.

In both works, the normative aspects of drama are supported by poetic devices.

The parallel scenes in both works are related to the device of repetition that defines many of the characters. Hyperbole of characterization in turn motivates many of the absurd actions of the plots, and so on. The relationship between the poetic and the dramatic, characteristic of Majakovskij's theatricaiism, becomes essential to the last two of his plays.

The protagonist dominates each of these works. Prisypkin (in The Bedbug) and

Pobedonosikov (of The Bathhouse) motivate the plots of their plays, are vehicles illustrating the rhetorical m essages of the play, and are intended as living mirrors for the audiences of the time. In all these ways, they function as the main device of

Majakovskij’s satires. As the other elements of theatricaiism, the menippea, carnival, and the monodrama, subside, the figure of the protagonist grows in importance toward the end of Majakovskij's career.

It Is possible, then, to define Majakovskij's theatricaiism. It consists of four primary elements: the combination of poetic and dramatic devices, the figure of the protagonist, the rhetorical nature of the works, and the Inclusion of menippean devices. These elements are present from the earliest poetry through the last play 6

written by Majakovskij, and they help to identify the formal connections between

Majakovskij's poetry and his drama. This dissertation analyzes how the various elements function and interact, and how they form a separate entity — Majakovskij's theatricaiism. CHAPTER II

MAJAKOVSKIJ'S DRAMATIC POETRY

Introduction

The roots of Majakovskij's theatricaiism can be found in his early poetry.

Although it has often been stated that Majakovskij’s poetry is "dramatic," the source of such drama has been identified only in the declamatory nature of the poems.

Certainly it is true that Majakovskij's poetry is meant to be read aloud; he himself stated that every one of his verses could be enacted on stage1. But the links between the "dramatic" poetry and the plays have not been explored.

Various bridges can be built between the lyrics and the plays. Among the more obvious are the widespread use of the menippean satire and carnival; the rhetorical nature of all Majakovskij's works; and the combination of poetic and dramatic devLes found in them.

Menippean satire pervades Majakovskij's writing. Its sub-genre, carnival, has been identified in this study as the basis of the dramatic work Vladimir Majakovskij —

A Tragedy. But it can also be found in several of Majakovskij's verses and poems. In this analysis, the menippea will be studied in three major works: “Ja" ("I,”) "A vse-taki"

('But After All,") and ’Man," and in other less well-known works.

The rhetorical nature of Majakovskij's poems is manifested In the struggle of the protagonist against, for the most part, intangible enemies such as byt (everyday life) or

7 8

injustice, in the longer poems the poet himself is transformed into a symbol, he stands for an ideal. The poem, then, becomes a creative diatribe in which Majakovskij seeks to justify his position, that is, himself. The poet Is most successfully engaged in rhetorical battle in the poems "Vojna i mir" {'War and the Universe") and "Good!," although his entire body of work is in various ways rhetorical.

The dramatic quality of Majakovskij's poetry derives from the use of the protagonist as the chief instrument for proving the ideological argument in each of his works. Majakovskij’s poems contain a protagonist comparable to those in the plays and, as on the stage, the main argument of the poem is carried by this protagonist.

The core of the argument is elucidated through rhetorical means and the backbone of the argument is the figure of the protagonist. The protagonist, and the situations in which he finds himself serve as the links between the ideological concerns of the work and the concrete realization of these concerns in the poetry. The situations, or plot, are presented in lyrical-dramatic form. The under-ptnnings of drama support the positions taken by the poet in his works.

Majakovskij employs both poetic and dramatic devices in his poetry to strengthen the rhetorical and menippean elements, and also to create an appropriate playing space in which the dramatic situations of his poems can take place. To this end,

Majakovskij constructs his poems along visible plot lines that contain such dramatic devices as dialogue, stage directions, foreshadowing, dramatic irony and flashback.

These are, however, by definition, lyrics, and the devices that characterize that genre are to be found along with the dramatic. In this way Majakovskij infuses the lyric with a theatrical spirit. 9

Many devices from various genres are incorporated into Majakovskij's works, and the way in which he uses them renders them dramatic. In the category of animation, for instance, the personified objects of, say Tragedy or "A Cloud in

Trousers" become real participants in the action of the poem. The poetic device of repetition is used to strengthen the satire of The Bedbug and The Bathhouse. The figure of the protagonist, the most important character in any Majakovskij work, is created out of metaphor, hyperbole, repetition and, sometimes, litote. The protagonist is either a catalyst of action or a principal player himself in the dramas enacted in

Majakovskij's poetry.

Even devices from the menippean satire such as the three-planed adventure function dramatically in the poetry, in the sense that they are part of plot lines filled with dramatic action. The use of devices from the menippea and the construction of poems along the lines of successful rhetoric (i.e., oratorical techniques that convince the audience of the correctness of Majakovskij's assertions) are characteristic of

Majakovskij's work. Majakovskij defends his position in each work by creating the strongest lines of argument possible in a poem.

The philosophical concerns are supported by both poetic and dramatic devices.

The reader's reaction is manipulated in two ways: in the effectiveness of the poetic rendering of the protagonist and his situation, and in the dramatic plausibility of the outcome. In other words, the poetic and dramatic devices work together to elicit an emotional agreement on the part of the reader.

The work below first defines how each of the bridges, the menippean satire, the art of rhetoric, and the dramatic devices, functions in Majakovskij's poetry. Then the 10

network as a whole is demonstrated and the links to the plays are discussed in the chapters dealing with the drama of Majakovskij.

General Characteristics of the Menippean Satire

The body of Majakovskij's literary work is an organic whole based on the features of the menippean satire. It is this serio-comic genre that underlies much of his creation and is found at the heart of his theatricality as well.

Mikhail Bakhtin, in his study of Dostoevsklj's poetics, makes a digression to the history of genres. Within the ancient serio-comic realm, Menippean satire and carnival are the most thoroughly discussed by Bakhtin2.

The most important features of the menippea, out of the fourteen identified by

Bakhtin, are as follows. The creation of extraordinary situations provokes and tests a philosophical idea. The organic combination of the fantastic, the symbolic and "crude slum naturalism" supports this purpose. The three-planed construction of the menippea reflects the philosophical universalism of the genre by opening up the situations into the realms of heaven and hell, and by including all men in the outcome. The representation of the unusual, abnormal moral and psychological states of man, facilitated by a dialogic relationship to oneself is another characteristic of the genre, as are scandal scenes, eccentric behavior, "inappropriate" speeches and performances.

Sharp contrasts, oxymoronic combinations, abrupt transitions and shifts, and other unexpected events are frequently found in the menippea. Social utopia, represented by the fantastic dream or journeys to other lands are characteristic of the genre.

Finally, the menippea displays the author's concern with current and topical issues. 11

Several general characteristics of the serio-comic are found in Majakovskij's poetry. Serio-comic genres include an emphasis on the present, the unrestrained use of personal experience and fantasy as the material of a work, and the mixing of generic characteristics, mainly those of poetry and drama. The important characteristics of the menippea, named above, are also prevalent in Majakovskij's

< \ works.

The menippean satire is a natural genre for the type of poetry written by the zealot Majakovskij. The menippea is always motivated by a purely philosophical end: the exploration of a truth or an idea. The core of Majakovskij’s poetry is rhetoric; the desire to persuade or convince is of the utmost importance to the poet. This rhetorical stance is also the bridge that connects the poetry of Majakovskij to his drama.

The framing device that encloses much of Majakovskij's poetry and all of his plays is the menippean practice of creating fantastic, extraordinary situations in which the truth or idea can be explored. The situations are divided into those that contain adventure, and those that mythologize. Much of Majakovskij's work contains both these aspects. In this context, the protagonist, usually Majakovskij himself, emerges as a multivalent creation. He is both a character in a drama and a symbol of the philosophical concern of the work. His fate has a mythological coloring, it is the fate of the world as well.

The notion of the adventure is intriguing in Majakovskij's work, since the adventure tale presents characters in a series of roles, or masks, each of which is designed to elicit a set response on the part of the reader. This Is the purpose of

Majakovskij's theatrical practice of putting on masks. It allows him to be what he is 12

not, to present, in his lyrics, not his real self, but a number of dramatic creations, acting in a number of theatrical situations.

All of Majakovskij's long poems are situational, that is, made up of specific episodes from the poet's life. Majakovskij explores his own fate and that of the world

(at times the two are indistinguishable) through the creation of extraordinary situations, the only framework that would support such a massive subject. In this way he combines the elements of adventure and mythologization. He accomplishes this through metamorphosis, the ultimate step in mask-wearing.

This device seems to be the poet’s response to finding himself in a hostile or alien world that seeks to rob him of his identity. In "A Cloud in Trousers," for instance, the poet is caught in a small room with objects from his everyday life that threaten and mock him, until he becomes a "mass of sinews." In the poem "I" he becomes the city, his characteristics are fused with those of the urban landscape, a negative place indeed. In "About That" the poet, when scorned, changes into a polar bear, is trapped on an ice fioe and, after escaping that frozen cell, is still shunned and feared by all he encounters. What is common to all these works is the intense exploration of self that occurs within these episodes, an exploration that yet leaves room for the posing and answering of rhetorical questions on the nature of love, on identity, on the existence of a god in a nightmarish universe.

In the poem "Man" Majakovskij lives his life almost completely on fantastic levels. This is yet another example of mythologization. The fantastic includes a description of his earthly life, which is m ade mythological through the liberal use of allusions, and a trip to heaven reminiscent of that in Mystery-Bouffe. His return to 13

earth is cataclysmic, like the return of an epic hero. Of course, lack of verisimilitude is a feature of the menippea and "Man" is an excellent example of this genre.

Other adventures find the poet confident in his rote (as savior or prophet or revolutionary), but struggling to reconcile this to the demands of a changing society.

"War and the Universe" is the story of World War I, but the truth explored in it is mankind's guilt for its own destruction. Majakovskij claims this guilt a s his own, identifying with ail mankind, but at the same time maintaining his independence as an almost supernatural being. (The supernatural plays an important part in Majakovskij's drama as well.) The poem "Good!", on the surface a dramatization of the Revolution and Civil War, contains a parallel plot line that concerns Majakovskij's own role in the events. This poem can be seen as the culmination of the theme of the future, for it exudes an optimistic belief in the future as an affirmation of life. The exploration of the poet that accompanies the work, by extension, also yields a positive conclusion. « By far the most prevalent of menippean aspects found in the works of.

Majakovskij is the representation of the unusual, abnormal moral and psychological states of man. Madness takes many forms in the poems, among them paranoia (in "A

Cloud In Trousers”), split personality (in several works, including "About That"), and delusion. The idea of split personality is frequently encountered, and this thematic concern Is supported by two devices often found in drama: soliloquy and diatribe.

Scandal scenes, eccentric behavior and inappropriate speeches and performances are characteristic of the menippea. They "destroy the epic and tragic wholeness of the world, they make a breach in the stable, normal ('seemly') course of human affairs, they free human behavior from the norms and motivations that 14

predetermine it3.” This function of scandal scenes, along with their camivalistic character had great significance for Majakovskij and the futurists as well. One aspect of this device, the 'Inappropriate word" is used frequently by Majakovskij in his many passages profaning religion and holy things, as, for example, in Tragedy, when he alludes to Christ ("Ljagu,/ svetlyj,/ v odeidax iz leni"— "I lie down, holy, in vestments of laziness") and then adds: "na mjagkoe loie iz nastojaSfiego navoza4." ("in garments of real manure.")

The idea of carnival is closely related to that of the menippea; indeed, Bakhtin maintains that carnival is the aspect that unites the various, seemingly heterogeneous traits of the menippean satire. Carnival and carnival devices hover over many of

Majakovskij’s works, most obviously over Vladimir Majakovskij — A Tragedy. The notion of carnival is so closely linked with the menippea that it will naturally b e included in discussions of menippean devices.

Finally, topical and current issues permeate satire in general and are a feature of the menippea as well. Hidden polemics and allusions to the events of the day are found throughout Majakovskij's works, and this topicality links the 'literature of fact" to many of the themes of Majakovskij’s plays.

Menippean Satire in Majakovskij's Early Poetry

Several traits of the menippea are found in Majakovskij's poetry and identifying them has a two-fold result: it will help to clarify some of the "difficult" passages and lines in Majakovskij's poems; and it will demonstrate the very real, organic connections between the plays and the poetry. 15

The first of the menippean devices found within the frame of extraordinary situations is the organic combination of the fantastic, symbolic and "crude slum naturalism." These terms must be defined in regards to Majakovskij's own poetic technique.

'The fantastic" is a large category in Majakovskij's literary works. It includes the creation of fantastic situations, such as the poet flying above the earth or metamorphosing into a polar bear. Majakovskij's somewhat surreal description of the battlefields of Europe in 'War and the Universe" or his nightmarish rendering of his room in "A Cloud in Trousers" are examples of the fantastic as found in his works. It also includes the device of animation, as when things come to life in Mystery-Bouffe.

The fantastic is also a thematic concern of many of Majakovskij's poems and plays.

In The Bedbug, the scenes of the future include descriptions of plate-sprouting trees and demonstrate science's victory over death through cryogenics. The Bathhouse likewise contains the theme of victory over death, this time through the time machine.

The symbolic in Majakovskij's works is based on the usual poetic practice of combining an Image with a concept. Fetters on his heart symbolize the poet’s enslavement to his Lily. The ice floe in "About That" symbolizes the poet's isolation.

The bedbug is a symbol of Philistinism, as the time machine is of a better future.

Symbols abound in Majakovskij's work, from the view of himself as a poet (or "anti­ poet" as Stahlberger palls him in The Symbolic System of Majakovskij) through his treatment of religious images, the city and the Soviet Union. Majakovskij's symbols exist within the fantastic plane of his poetry and outside it, in the grotesque imagery as well. 16

The well-documented practice of combining high and vulgar words, employing startling rhyme and almost violent imagery was bom out of the tenets of Futurism, but remained a part of Majakovskij’s poetic style even after the futurists had quieted down.

But this is part of the menippean framework of Majakovskij's poetry. As Bakhtin stated, "The idea fears no slum, is not afraid of any of the world's filth5." Majakovskij's ideas certainly had no fear of the vulgar; one need only recall how many of his works mention brothels, taverns and the slums of the city. The concept of "crude slum naturalism" is found among the grotesque and hyperbolic descriptions used by

Majakovskij to emotional effect in many of his works. The poet does not merely shout but, ’'wriggling legs of a scream" stick out of his mouth. The bourgeoisie is not a mere parasite but "a hundred-headed louse." Sexual imagery in Majakovskij is always grotesque, and there are images of disease, destruction, violence and twisted deformities in many of his works, especially the pre-revolutionary poems. All of these qualities together form the Majakvosklan "crude slum naturalism."

The first published verses contain the devices that are closely related to the above-mentioned combination. These devices move from the material of the poems, i.e., the poetic line and syntactic arrangements, to the themes of the works, in "Utro"

("Morning,") and "Iz ulicy v ullcu" ("From Street to Street,") for instance, the abrupt division of the poetic lines reflects the discordant imagery, which is at once fantastic and grotesque:

Ugrjumyj doW skozil glaza. A za re&etkoj 17

6etkoj Seleznoj mysll provodov — perina. (PSS, I, p. 34)

The gloomy rain squinted And behind The sharp Grillwork Of the wires' iron thought A featherbed.

U- lica. Uca u dogov godov rez- to . 6e- rez... (p. 36)

Street. The faces Of Dogs Are sharp­ er Than years. Be­ hind...

Of course, the most important factor in these lines is not the imagery, or even the discordancy of the lines, but, rather, the very texture of the words and word combinations themselves. These are experimental poems, based on the "tricks" of language favored by Majakovskij such a s punning and the novel rhyme. There is another category of logic at work in these lines, the logic of sound overrides that of image. Still, Majakovskij chose to work out his experiment using purposely prosaic 18

imagery.

Majakovskij uses several poetic devices in order to make the fantastic an integral part of his world. In "Morning" we encounter oxymoron (bouquets of prostitutes), grotesque (poisoned yellow roses), and personification (The East throws out the dawn, stars rest, etc.). "From Street to Street" contains so many animated objects that it brings to mind Vladimir Majakovskij — A Tragedy. Many of these devices were employed for shock value, but they also are a part of the camivalization of life that is evident in so many futurist works.

The combination of the symbolic and crude imagery is found in other poems as well. In "ESfce Peterburg" ("Still Petersburg") Lev Tolstoj is evoked as the symbol of the "old" literature, and the use of the phrase "grubaja bran'" ("rude language") right afterwards reinforces the intent of tearing down the idols of literature. Dawn, long a poetic cliche, is described in fZa ienSfiinoj" ("After a Woman") as being tom out of a black handbag and hurled with malice along the rooftops. The. sun, in fact, is a particularly frequent target in futurist poetry, as it was in carnival.

The sun is a part of an elaborate metaphor in the verse "Adi§6e goroda” ("Great

Big Hell of a City.") The metaphor of the city a s hell is carefully sustained through four

"traditionally" structured stanzas. "Ryiie d'javoly" ("red devils") in the first stanza,

"smerfce" ("tornado") in stanza two and "gorela" ("burned") in the third are supported by the lines "kriknul aeroplan i upal tuda,/ gde u ranenogo solnca vytekal glaz" ("An airplane screamed and fell there/ where the sun's injured eye was leaking out" p. 55)

The element that seeps out of the sun’s eye must be fire, the fire that transforms the city into the great big hell. The nightmarish landscape of the city, metamorphosed into 19

a hell, contrasts with the lewd abandon of the moon in the final stanza.

Majakovskij uses the symbol of the sun (a favorite symbol of the Russian

Symbolists) to new effect in this work: he degrades any romantic notion of it. He deliberately strove to poeticize "crude" language by drawing it into the context of what had been accepted as "poetic" before, namely, into the context of Symbolism. This feature of Majakovskij's poetry is to be found in many places in his work, including in the plays.

"Natel” ('You!,") and "PosluSajt" ("Ustenl") (PSS, I, pp. 55, 60) are tightly constructed diatribes on the poet's calling to identify and condemn the bourgeois audiences of his day. This mission will be glimpsed in other works, including

Mystery-Bouffe and The Bathhouse. It is also the beginning of the exploration of the most important theme of Majakovskij's life work, namely, his own identity and purpose for being. Majakovskij treated his own self symbolically, or mythologically in all his works, and this is an area in which the poetic technique being discussed here combines with the dramatic overtones of the poetry. It is as if the poems are on-going acts in the drama of the hero — Vladimir Majakovskij.

In ’You!" the opposition of the symbolic fbabo&ka poetiteskogo serdca" — 'the butterfly of the poet's heart") and the crude ('Vzgromozdites', grjaznye v kaloSax I bez kaloS," "stoglavaja vo§"' — "you climb up, dirty, in galoshes and without them," "one* hundred-headed louse") supports the poet's attack on his audiences, mentioned in the work. In this diatribe, all parties are clearly identified. The poem "Ustenl," on the other hand, is a one-sided polemic, the second party of which is the reader. The work serves as a tearing down of poetic conventions the stars are merely heavenly orbs to 20

be seen and appreciated. Majakovskij asks the question "Who needs them?" and through this rhetorical question conducts a debate with the unseen literary establishment, a debate that surfaces in many of his works. The poet concludes his side of the argument by calling the stars "plevotki iemfcuiinoj," ("pearl-like spittle") combining the symbolic and the crude in one scant phrase.

Edward J. Brown identifies this work as the first instance of the poet transcending the city0. Until this time he had been earth-bound by gravity and mundane worries. He now has gone to heaven and involved God directly in his diatribe. But the poem "Ustenl" is important in another respect. It is the beginning of the multi-planed adventure — the travels of Majakovskij to heaven, hell or some other non-earthly world. This is a vital part of the menippean satire, and a prevalent theme in Majakovskij's poetic and dramatic works.

Even a cursory glance at other early poems is enough to discover menippean devices in many of them. The scandal scene, characterized by eccentric behavior or inappropriate speech is found in the actions of inanimate objects in "Mama i ubityj nemcami vefier" ('Mama and the Evening Killed by the Germans.") The stars scream, the evening itself yells, dances and twirls its moustache, even as the Germans attack.

The implied scandal is that crowds of people will gather to watch the amputated evening go on trying to dance. The passing of an evening Is thus made dramatic:

Majakovskij relates the evening to the bloody events of the war and renders the ordinary a dramatic event through the connections he makes in the imagery of the two planes. 21

The entire work "Vot tak ja sdelalsja sobakoj" ("That's How I Made Myself a

Dog") is an extended scandal scene: the poet cannot express his love and longing,

and gradually changes into a dog. Further scandal ensues when he tries to hide this

fact from passersby. The poem is full of action; when Majakovskij muses on love or

rejection, it is not a quiet reflection, but a raucous scene. This further emphasizes the dramatization of the poet's entire life. The seemingly straightforward drama, however,

often masks a complexity in the situation or argument that emerges through the poetic

technique. This is discussed in the section below on dramatic devices.

Examples of the 'Inappropriate word" are legion, as are combinations of the

symbolic, fantastic and crude. These are, after all, the building blocks of Majakovskij's

technique. Madness, or other psychological aberrations appear in the two works

named above, and In "Lilitka!" ("LilyI,") "Sebe, ljubimomu, posveSfcaet eti stroki avtor"

('To His Beloved Self, the Author Dedicates These Lines,") "Neobytajnoe prikljutenie..." ("An Extraordinary Adventure...") and so on. Majakovskij's concern

with the issues of his day is also obvious from his verse. He works the names and

images of the most famous political and cultural figures of the day into the plots of his own adventures.

It becomes clear that Majakovskij used the menippean satire as the basis of his work from the very beginning of his career. The devices and themes found in the

poetry will recur, in somewhat altered, guise, in all the plays of Majakovskij. The

techniques found in the early works of Majakovskij are here interpreted as menippean.

This does not assume that Majakovskij consciously used these devices; but the

inherent theatricality of his life and work, and the camivalistic aspects of much of his 22

futurist work rather lend themselves to such an interpretation.

T and But After All"

Majakovskij does not limit his planes of existence to heaven, hell and the earth, but expands the notion of the three-plane adventure to include parallel "stages" within the earthly realm. The contrast between the ice floe, Moscow and St. Petersburg in

"About that," for instance, is an example of this. Two works in which this idea is expanded, and used in combination with other menippean devices, are the cycle of poems "I," and the short masterpiece 'But After All."

The cycle of poems "I" contains many menippean features. In it the poet creates extraordinary situations, he combines the fantastic with details of reality, and he is caught somewhere between the poetic layers of the heavens and the city.

At the beginning of the work the poet has already become the city; he himself is a separate plane of existence, the sphere uniting heaven and earth. This is the extraordinary situation around which the poems revolve. Within this setting the three planes of earth, poet and heaven constantly mingle and separate.

In the first part of the work the poet defines himself, and as the city he bleeds, suffers and weeps. Everything that occurs in the poem takes place in the poet-city and from his point of view. This is, then, an example of monodrama: the dramatic representation in which there is one central character. That character's varying, subjective perceptions of himself and the world around him constitute the plot of monodrama. The cycle "I" relates, in poetic form, the monodrama of Majakovskij's 23

early life (as does the later work "Ljublju" — "I Love").

In the second part, "Neskot'ko slov o moej iene" ("A Few Words About My

Wife,") Majakovskij is elevated into the second plane, the sky, through marriage with the moon. The attendant details, however, form a crude counterpoint to the fantastic marriage. The moon weds a garage, kisses kiosks, in general behaves scandalously.

The scandal scene is a very important part of the menippea, and the image created of the moon contrasts with the usual romantic view of it. This is, of course, one of

Majakovskij’s goals. He describes his relationship to his wife:

A ja? Neslo 2e, palimomu, brovej koromyslo iz glaz kolodcev studenye vedra. V Selkax ozernyx ty visla, jantamoj skripkoj peli bedra? (PSS, I, p. 46)

And I? The yoke of brows brought to the scorched one Freezing-cold buckets from the eyes of wells. Did you hang in lake-like silks, Your thighs singing like an amber violin? and illustrates the effect the moon and the city have on each other. The total effect of the imagery is to pull the moon down to a debauched, earthly level. The poet, too, has returned to his earthly state: 'V bul’varax ja tonu" ("I drown in the boulevards').

Majakovskij is not content to merely set the action on three separate levels; they must also merge. The result of this mingling is the poet and the moon's daughter, his song, who is no more than a streetwalker.

"Neskol'ko slov o moej mame" ("A Few Words About My Mama') continues the 24

metaphoric association of the poet with the city. The poet's motheris wallpaper, she is as closely identified with the house as her son is with the city streets. The heavenly dimension once again enters the poet's plane of existence through the image of the cloud that is resting on the house: "sev&uju/ na dom/ tutu." ("the cloud/ sitting/ on the house" p. 47) The reader cannot help but remember Majakovskij's own description of himself as "a cloud in trousers."

In that work, Majakovskij rendered himself a rather epherneral character, an

"oblako." In the cycle "I" there is a related image of "tuta," a notion more readily connected with a landscape. Thus, in comparing these two images, it can be seen that Majakovskij exists on several levels in his poetry, he is both above the landscape and a part of it, and this is related to the menippean idea of three-planed adventure.

The extraordinary situation of the son is reflected in his mother's natural concern over his mental state. This episode takes place entirely in the real world; it is supported by references to Majakovskij's felt hat, the Sustov factory and the shop windows of Avanco.

The introduction of the hero's mental state (another menippean detail) clarifies not only all the episodes that have preceded this one, but those that follow also. The poem arises out of the poet's madness — "mysli suma&ed&ej voroxi," ('piles of mad thoughts" p. 47) and the underlying device supporting the work is the menippean representation of the abnormal psychic state as a way to highlight what is wrong with the world.

If the poem Is founded on Majakovskij’s madness, this explains the first line of the fourth section: "Ja ljublju smotret', kak umirajut deti." ("I love to watch children 25

dying," p. 48) This is not the statement of a sane person. Further, it is a typical

scandal scene, marked in the menippean satire by inappropriate or eccentric behavior

or eccentric speeches and actions. The line about children dying is a manifestation of

this phenomenon, as are the subsequent images of hidden laughter, being pawed by the "soaked hands" of midnight and the re*animation of the city. They are united within this scandal scene, and express that side of Majakovskij that led to the "slap in the face" felt across Russia.

In the final lines, the boundary between the earth and heaven is again breached when Christ runs away from an icon and is seen wandering the streets. The heavenly is thus rendered earthly, just as the earthly was and continues to be raised into the sky. For when the poet addresses his father, he is exhorting the sun, in words that foreshadow Majakovskij's paraphrase of Christ in Tragedy: "Solncel/ Otec mojl/

S ial’sja xot’ ty i ne mu6aj!/ Eto toboju prolitaja krov’ moja I’etsja dorogoju dol'nej."

("Sunt/ My father!/ If at least you would stop torturing met/ It is because of you that my blood is pouring down this long road" p. 48)

The final blending of the three planes of existence comes in the image of the poet's soul as tatters of a tom cloud resting on the rusty cross of a bell-tower. The soul, the cloud, the cross, the church sum up, in their combination, the image of the poet explored in this cycle. He is the city itself, the new Christ figure and a rebel. He transcends mere earthly existence, and whether he does this through his insanity or because he is the personification of ideas is not important. It is enough that the poet has the extraordinary power to run into heaven and marry the moon. This work is, as the title suggests, a celebration of Majakovskij's self. 26

These poems contain many menippean devices: the combination of the fantastic

and the grotesque; the presentation of the abnormal psychological states of the poet; extraordinary adventure on three planes of existence. Interwoven among these devices are the themes of Majakovskij's works: the poet in the masks of victim, savior and rebel; the denunciation of romanticism; the profanation of ecclesiastic topics. The themes of Majakovskij's poetry, and those of his plays, are indivisible from the motifs and devices used to express them.

"But After All" combines the elements of the fantastic and ordinary, sacred and profane, heaven and earth, and the entire work is constructed on the device of

"inappropriate speech," a part of the menippean scandal scene.

The shocking, grotesque use of the inappropriate word opens the poem: "Ulica provalilas', kak nos sifilitika." ('The street caved in, like the nose of a syphilitic." PSS,

I, p. 62) This simile develops into a metaphor: "Reka — sladostrast'e," ('the river — is lust") and ultimately the city is personified: "otbrosiv bel'e do poslednego listika."

('thrown off its underclothes to the last piece.") The progression of the devices from simile to metaphor to personification is a manifestation of the poetic logic that holds this work together within the seemingly heterogeneous menippean features.

The slum imagery is prevalent: the syphilitic's nose; burnt out city blocks; prostitutes; a saloon. These are combined with symbolic images: the poet, wearing the block as a crown, is a prophet; the prostitutes bring God flowers; the saloon is compared with the Last Judgement. All these motifs combine to form a scandal scene of their own that culminates in the last stanza: God Himself runs around heaven with

Majakovskij's book under His arm and reads the verses to His friends. The poem is 27

an attempt to pull down religious ideas through eccentric or inappropriate behavior.

This device is not limited to Majakovskij; Dostoevskij used it to great effect in The

Brothers Karamazov, among other works.

The duality of carnival is also present in ’But After All." The co*existence of disharmony and unity is analogous to the combination of the crude and symbolic present in the work, and has the same effect. The disharmony Is introduced through the combinations described above. It is sustained through the rhyme and sound combinations. In the first stanza the distinctive words "sifilitika" and "sljuni" ("slobber") are rhymed with "listika" and 'V ijuni" ("in June”). June represents a season normally full of life, yet the description of the city is of a bumt-out shell. The leaves of the gardens are connected with the decay of syphilis. There is an affiliation between the human inhabitants and the city itself in the second stanza, when the poet puts the city block on his head. This is a mock crowning. The motif of identification, of the merging of city dwellers and the city, is echoed in the third stanza when Majakovskij evokes "vse eti, provalivSlesja nosami” ("all these, with caved-in noses"). The repetition of the verb "provallt'sja" ("to cave in") thus fuses the humans and the street of the metropolis.

Disharmony of motifs continues In the line "Kak traktir, mne stra&en, va£ stra&nyj sud" ('Your Last Judgement is as terrible to me as a saloon"). The oxymoronic combination of a tavern and the Last Judgement is, conversely, made a unified entity by the consonance and assonance. So, while the sharp contrasts in imagery and mixture of symbolic and crude are heterogeneous devices of the menippea, the poem is nonetheless made a whole, seamless work by its system of devices. 28

Sound repetition and rhyme are two areas of poetic unity in the work. Although in the first stanza the images seem to be random, they are connected through assonance {a/o, i/e/y) and alliteration ((c/s/st): sladostrast'e/ rastekSeesja/ sljuni).

This is echoed by the hushers in the subsequent stanzas (vySel na ploStad’; vyiennij;

ryiij; strafino; Sevelit; va§ straSnyj). All the sounds are repeated in the last four lines.

The most important unifying feature of the poem is also a menippean

manifestation: the figure of the poet. The menippea is a genre that explores philosophical ideas, and in Majakovskij's version of the menippea it is the poet himself who is the instrument of this exploration. In 'But After All" he advances from a prophet to an object of adoration, to an identification with God. He functions within the three-planed construction of the work: the earth is set in opposition to heaven, and the link between them is the poet. His function as a plane of action in the poem elevates him to a status comparable to that of God. There is textual evidence for this assumption.

The rhyme scheme, "perekrestnaja," is broken only once, with the line "Ja vySel na ploSdad'" ("I went out onto the square"). This marks the first appearance of the poet and the break in the rhyme pattern sets off this particular line, in the only stanza containing five lines. Thus, the poet’s importance is supported by the verse construction itself. A final opposition that, conversely, unites the poet and God, is found between the longest and shortest lines of the work.

The final lines are comically long at 16 and 15 syllables:

i pobeiit po nebu s moimi stixami pod my&koj, 29

I budet, zadyxajas’, that’ ix svoim znakomym.

And [God] will run around heaven with my verses under his arm, And, out of breath, He'll read them to his friends.

They represent the "de-crowning" of God, and stand in sharp contrast to the shortest

lines in the work in which the poet appears and states his mission:

Ja vySel na plo&fcad’ (I went out onto the square.)

Ja — vaS poet. (I am your poet.)

These lines are punched out amidst longer lines and the content is elevated by setting them apart.

'But After All" is built on the creation of an extraordinary situation (the poet meeting God) that explores the idea of rebellion against religion. The combination of the fantastic and prosaic, the three-planed construction and the use of the

'Inappropriate" support the superb verse techniques of the work.

The significance of this early work is great. It is clearly the most menippean verse of this period of Majakovskij's career, and the motifs and themes in it recur later, in the longer poems and in the plays Vladimir Majakovskij — A Tragedy, and

Mystery-Bouffe. It is also a good example of how the menippean functions in

Majakovskij's work, of how the devices of that genre combine with the poetic devices.

The preceding discussion shows how prevalent the menippea is in Majakovskij’s poetry. It is a link between the poetry and the drama of Majakovskij that has been tittle explored. In order to show the connection between the poetry and plays, the 30

dramatic elements of the poetry must first be established.

The Rhetorical Nature of Majakovskij’s Poetry

The art of rhetoric, of stirring emotions, proving a truth and using language for persuasion, is a feature of Majakovskij's poetry and plays. As a method for proving the truth of an idea, rhetoric is linked to the menippean satire. In Majakovskij's works, the devices of rhetoric and menippea act in union to give them an emotional power and philosophical tenor.

In the first drama he wrote, Tragedy, Majakovskij blatantly uses devices and methods of carnival and menippea to explore the chief concern of Majakovskij's early poetry, i.e., himself. Mystery-Bouffe likewise contains the devices of menippea to support the contention that the Revolution and Civil War "redeemed" Russia.

Since each of his works has an ideological position to defend, Majakovskij strives to formulate the most convincing argument he can to defend those positions.

This involves the devices of rhetoric, the correct construction and delivery of one or more lines of argument. Majakovskij always takes sides in his work; the poems and plays are presented as his proof of his argument. The cause to be defended is usually personal, sometimes it is politically or ideologically motivated, and often the arguments contain both aspects.

In his famous "Conversations," for example, Majakovskij presents a case to silent prosecutors, as in "Razgovor s fininspektorom o poezii" ("A Conversation with A

Tax Collector About Poetry.") This work is an extended metaphor, an explanation of the nature of poetry, and its exclusion from the dictates of social usefulness. 31

Majakovskij cannot, it seems, find a perfect balance between his political and his

ideological self.

For this reason he turns to the use of masks in his poetry. As stated before, the

mask is a substitute for the real Majakovskij; his characters can speak and act in a

manner that befits them; they are dramatically complete creations. They are not,

however, the real Majakovskij, for in all his works we find only fictional Majakovskijs

behind the masks of the various characters.

The general categories into which Majakovskij places himself in his poetry are

the personal and the political being. This treatment of the protagonist echoes other

parallels embedded in the works. In providing two selves in some of his poems,

Majakovskij solves the problem of dialogue; there is almost always a discussion or even a struggle going on between the two halves of the poet. Even in the most private lyric passages of the works there is an implied dialogue. The poem, then, becomes a creative diatribe in which Majakovskij seeks to justify his position through his own rhetorical style.

Lyrically, he uses masks to explore the topic of himself. Majakovskij is a true modernist in that the subject and object of his art is himself. Whether he is trying to t find ways to justify his life and action, or declaring his need for love, or defending the regime of the day, Majakovskij utilizes his fictional self (one of his masks) as a prop in his rhetorical arguments. This is why the role of prophet or savior is so prevalent in his works; the prophet also uses rhetoric to further a cause, and the savior is the ultimate manifestation of some of Majakovskij's hopes for mankind. 32

In the dramas, the questions of virtue and vice, wrongdoing, its perpetrators and

victims are explored in The Bedbug and The Bathhouse, and the author's opinion is

evident in every case. The position to be defended dictates the choice of form and

devices in the poems and the plays.

The plays contain oppositions, and these translate into dramatic conflicts. The

plot is motivated by the beliefs of the author, just as the "plots" of the poems are. The

enemy to be defeated in "About That," for instance, also appears in The Bedbug and

The Bathhouse: it Is byt, the status quo. Overcoming this opponent will lead to a better future. This is also the message of the works "150,000,000," "Good!," and

•Vladimir ll’ifc Lenin."

Majakovskij's style is well-suited to rhetoric. His poetic style is really a highly specialized use of some of the devices of rhetoric.

Metaphor, hyperbole, shocking lexicon and quick shifts in content are employed to deepen the emotional coloring of all Majakovskij’s arguments. He induces the reader to anger against his [the poet's] enemies. Maxims, general statements about questions of conduct that produce the effect of moral character, are also found in the works. The lines of argument draw strength from the poetic and dramatic devices in

Majakovskij's works, and this is one aspect that sets these works off from "classical" rhetoric. The effectiveness of the proofs arises out of Majakovskij's handling of everyday speech. He employs dramatic dialogue consistently, and he re-works turns of speech to render colloquialisms unfamiliar and striking. He also engages in what

Aristotle would consider ‘bad taste" in language by using compound words, "strange" words and 'inappropriate" metaphors in his works. But these are the very elements 33

that give Majakovskij's poetry its essential power, the power to convert his readers to

his own philosophy.

The result of the stylistic particularities named above is a liveliness of language.

Majakovskij's extended metaphors and hyperbole make his reader see things, they are

used to graphic effect. • r In a rhetorical argument the author must state his case and prove it.

Majakovskij’s major positions fall into four categories: the right of man to love; the fate

of the poet (and, by extension, of all mankind); the war against byt and the resulting

'beautiful future"; and the political life and mission of the poet.

The case to be proven in "A Cloud in Trousers" and "Flejta*pozvono6nik" (’The

Backbone Flute") is that man deserves love, and if he is not given love he has the right to revolt against the powers of the universe. A complicated route must be followed in order to end up at this conclusion.

In "A Cloud in Trousers," the progression of actions leading to the proof of

Majakovskij's ideas is this: man (the poet) needs love. Man must fight for what he needs if it is withheld from him. God is the creator of man's beloved (the woman), if the woman fails to love the poet, it is because God is controlling and withholding her love. Man must rebel against God in order to get what he needs, i.e., love. Once he rebels, he then takes over heaven and, by extension, the universe.

This line of reasoning seem s tortuous at best, yet this type of plot progression occurs quite often in Majakovskij's work, especially in his plays. But plausibility is not the issue in Majakovskij's poetry; poetic exploration is the guiding logic of almost all the plots in his works. 34

The unique progression of the plot in Majakovskij's drama actually developed in

his early poetry. The dramatic plots move from the status quo (lack of action) to

chaotic upheaval (real action), and the result is a new order of things. In Mystery-

Bouffe, the status quo prevails until the flood and rebellion. After the flood the

workers’ paradise is established. In The Bedbug the old order (associated with

Prisypkin) is destroyed in a catastrophic fire that puts the status quo on ice

(suspended animation is the ultimate state of non-action). When Prisypkin is thawed out, he finds a completely new world. The status quo reigns supreme in the

bureaucratic nightmare of The Bathhouse until the fiery appearance of the

Phosphorous Woman. She takes the deserving into the communist millennia, i.e., the

new order.

The element of consistency In all these plots, and in Majakovskij's poetry as well, is that, despite the extremely violent change that takes place in the plays, the negative characters stay the same. The underlying m essage seems to be that there will always be a status quo for those who want it. The poetry bears out this conclusion by concentrating all rhetorical and poetic energy on the protagonist. He carries the plot lines forward and is the main support for the lines of argument in the poems.

The first contention (man needs love) is proven in the first part of "A Cloud in

Trousers” (PSS, I, pp. 173-196). Majakovskij begins his argument with a series of hyperbolic images designed to produce empathy in the reader. Perhaps the poet is desperately ill: 'Vy dumaete, eto bredit maljarija?" ("Do you think it's malaria?" p. 176).

In any case, he is grotesquely transformed by the withholding of love ("Menja sejfcas uznat' ne mogli by 'J iilistaja gromadina/ stonet,/ korfcitsja." — 'You would not 35

recognize me:/ a sinewy hulk/ groaning,/ convulsing.") His torment is wrenchingly

portrayed, first in a series of personifications that reveal the poet's mental state:

V drjaxluju spinu xoxofcut i riut kandeljabry. (p. 176)

Behind my decrepit spine The candelabras guffaw and chuckle.

Polnoft’, s noiom medaS', dognala, zarezala, — von egol

Midnight, with knife drawn, Stalked, Knifed, — There — him!

Upal dvenadcatyj 6as, kak s plaxi golova kaznennogo. (p. 177)

Midnight fell, Like a condemned man’s head from the executioner's block.

The torment is immediately transferred into the poet's own body:

SlySu: tixo, kak bol'noj s krovati, sprygnul nerv. I vot, — snatala proSelsja edva-edva, potom zabegal, vzvolnovannyj, fietkij. Teper' i on, i novye dva 36

mefiutsja otfcajannoj fceietkoj.

I hear it, Quietly, A nerve jumped Like a sick man from his bed. And then, — At first it moved Only a little, Then it started running, Disturbed, Distinct. Then it and two more Hurl themselves around in a desperate tap-dance.

Nervy — bol'&le, maien’kie, mnogie! — ska&ut beSenye, i uie u nervov podkaSivajutsja nogil (pp. 177-178)

Nerves — Big ones, Little ones, Lots of them I — Leap around madly, And already The nerves' legs are giving outl

The purpose of such hyperbolic verse is to establish the reader's sympathy for the poet before the appearance of the beloved. It makes her rejection of him seem all the more dreadful. The result of her spuming is expressed in yet another extended metaphor: the poet's body Is on fire, his heart is a burning building on which fireman trample. The final image of the section is of the doomed Lusitania where, like the nerves in the poet’s body, the passengers panic and collapse. 37

The second section of the poem illustrates Majakovskij's assertion that since he

has been denied love he can revolt (man must fight for what he needs). He refuses to

read or write anything more, thus denying his God-given talent. He induces the city to

rebellion, and exhorts his own characteristics for leadership: "Ja,/ zlatoustej&ii,/ fc'e

kaidoe slovo/ duSu novorodit..." ("I am the golden-tongued/ whose every word/ gives

new life to the soul..." p. 183) Then, in a lightning-fast series of transitions, the poet

identifies himself with the prophets: "A ja u vas — ego predteta;/ ja — gde bol' —

vezde:/ na kaidoj kaple slezovoj teCi/ raspjal sebja na kreste." ("And I am his prophet

among you;/1 am where pain is — everywhere:/ on every flowing teardrop/1 crucified

myself" p. 185)

Just as the hyperbole and metaphoric situations of the first section were

designed to elicit sympathy from the reader, so, too, are they used in the third section to paint a negative picture of the enemy. First, Majakovskij introduces descriptions of the victims of the tyranny of such people as Bismarck, General Galliffet, and

Rothschild. The reader infers that Majakovskij is acting not for himself atone, but for all the downtrodden. The use of vivid imagery adds to the evidence Majakovskij presents, but at times it threatens to become self parody. The following images are effective, and give the sense that something catastrophic is about to break:

Grom iz-za tu6i, zvereja, vylez, gromadnye nozdri zadomo vysmorkal, I neb'e lico sekundu krivilos' surovoj grimasoj ieleznogo Bismarka.

Thunder clambered out from behind a cloud, brutal, Blew his nose fervently, 38

And, for a second, the sky's dace was twisted Like the stem grimace of The Iron Chancellor.

Iditel Ponedel’niki i vtomiki okrasim krov'ju v prazdnikil (p. 168)

Comet Mondays and Tuesdays We shall paint into holidays with blood.

When Majakovskij stays on the level of attacking his enemies or defending the

helpless, his argument runs smoothly. When, in this section, he tries to justify himself,

only the shock of such images as: "moiet byt’, lisus Xristos njuxaet/ moej du&i

nezabudki" ("maybe Jesus Christ will sniff/ the forget-me-nots of my soul" p. 190),

imparts enough power to overcome the bathos of his self-justification. It is out of

place in this section of the work, and therefore, it weakens the argument.

God enters the debate in the final section of the poem from the lines

Imja tvoe ja bojus' zabyt’, kak poet boitsja zabyt' kakoe-to v mukax no£ej roidennoe slovo, velifclem rovnoe bogu. (p. 193)

I am afraid of forgetting your name, As the poet is afraid of forgetting A word Bom in the suffering of nights, Mighty as God himself. and continues to be a target of attack until the end of the work. The beloved, who was already briefly but effectively portrayed In a negative light, continues to appear so. 39

The hero is once more devastated, and the devices used here, simile ("serdce

voz’mu...kak sobaka, kotoraja v konuru neset pereexannuju poezdom lapu" — 'Til take

my heart.Jike a dog carries to the kennel his paw, run over by a train" p. 194),

metaphor ("V utlcax/ ljudi iir" — "In the streets/ the grease of people" p. 190),

repetition (of the name Maria, of the question "XofieS’?" — "Do you want it?",

addressed to both Maria and God) and litote ("a ja Celovek, Marija,/ prostoj" — "I am

but a simple man, Maria" p. 192), combine tb impart a sense of elevated thought to

the argument. This is needed at this point in the poem for here the author turns and

directly challenges God on the nature of love. This encounter is a shocking contrast to

the very serious evocation earlier of the prophet and savior images. God is addressed

as "ty," is called "kudlastyj" ("curly-head") and "boiik" ("godlet"). The poet, who

anointed himself earlier in the work, finally shows what he has become without love,

and by appearing as a murderous pimp he uses the Image of himself as the proof of

his argument that lack of love is fatal to a man.

The use of the image of the poet as a means of proving a point is a part of the

menippean satire as well. In that genre the hero is a device utilized in order to

uncover a truth. In rhetoric he is used to prove the correctness of that truth.

Majakovskij’s heroes are always rendered in this way, whether they appear in the poetry or in the plays.

The argument for love is conducted In much the same manner in 'The Backbone

Flute." The poet takes pains to reveal himself as a lonely soul, worthy of sympathy.

His suffering is detailed, and the poet evinces a personal character that makes his speech believable. Then God is revealed as the enemy, and he is both spiteful 40

("Dumaet bog: pogodi, Vladimir!" — "God thinks: 'Just you wait, Vladimir" p. 200) and vengeful ("ty,/ Mletnyj Put' perekinuv viselicej,/ voz'mi i vzdemi menja, prestupnika."

— 'You,/ Throwing a gallows over the Milky Way,/ take and hang me, a criminal" p.

202) The opposition is set up between the poet in his search for love and God, the wreaker of vengeance. The outcome of the work Is again bleak, and Majakovskij presents this as proof enough that he (read: mankind) needs love above all things.

Loneliness and despair are heard in the howl of the polar bear in "About That."

Majakovskij again uses extended metaphor and hyperbole to draw an emotional picture of his life without his beloved. The enemy in this work is faceless, it is byt,

Majakovskij does not triumph in this work, he Is defeated by the forces of byt in conjunction with the people he loves. The rhetorical argument in this poem Is subordinated to the exploration of the crushing desolation of the poet; nonetheless, the same oppositions (the poet vs. God, the lover vs. the beloved, Majakovskij vs. society) are set up in this work that are found in the previous poems.

The devices Majakovskij uses in defending his arguments are the sam e poetic devices found in the plays. Hyperbole of characterization, repetition of the significant word or lines of the defense, and the free use of maxims are the aspects of

Majakovskij's plays that make the satire in them successful. Thematically, it is the idea of the political life and mission of a poet and citizen that also connects the works of both genres.

In the poem 'Vladimir H'I6 Lenin" the defense of Lenin as a leader and as a man

Is conducted along two lines. The title character Is completely mythologized, as those around him are reduced to caricatures. This style of argument Is also used, with much 41

less success in the work "150,000,000." The descriptions of Wilson and the rich

citizens of Chicago (which stands for the United States) are diametrically opposed to the homey, yet invincible portrait of the "Ivans" of Russia. The long poem "GoodI" contains all of Majakovskij's rhetorical stances. It is the story of the Revolution and

Civil War, told in episodic style, in which the ultimate belief in the future as affirmation of the present life is defended. In this work there are two plot lines, the poet is explored along with the other ideas. He is a much more humble figure than that found in the youthful works, yet still possessed by the need for love that drove the earlier poems. Only now the poet is willing to settle for the love of the m asses. Majakovskij serves once more as a linking device, this time between the new regime and the people, and in so doing he merges the two divergent lines of his personality, the personal and the political.

If one poetic device controls all the rhetorical works of Majakovskij, it is the

"realized trope," when a poetic image, extended in time, becomes a poetic event. The metaphor of the polar bear In "About That" is just such a device. From the isolated nightmare of the poet in the first part emerges a series of action connected with the metamorphosis: the poet floats down the rivers, frightens his mother's guests and in « the end becomes the constellation Ursa Major. The poetic image is used to propel the action of the poem. This device explains how the protagonist can be used as an instrument for proving a truth, not only in the poetry, but also in all the plays of

Majakovskij. The links between the works of Majakovskij always turn out to be poetic devices. As a poet, a rhetorician, and as a playwright, Majakovskij relied on this aspect of his creation more than any other. 42

Dramatic Devices In Majakovsklj’s Poetry

Several of the elements that constitute Majakovskij's plays are found in his poetry. The manner in which the poetic and dramatic devices are combined is unique. Majakovskij's poetry has an integrity, a sense of unity despite, for example, the various, heterogeneous devices of the menippea. In this discussion, the interlocking features of poetry and drama, as assembled by Majakovskij, will be discussed in regard to his poetry in general, with several examples from specific works.

Plot

Plot is an important element in Majakovskij's longer poems. Poetic language lends itself very well to the deliberate selection and ordering of events that constitutes plot. Poetic language is also a specific, highly intense ordering of elements.

Within the plot Majakovskij employs dramatic devices such as foreshadowing, dramatic irony and flashback to make his plots more dramatic, to let the reader in on what is, or will be happening in the poem.'

Within the plot lines of Majakovskij's poetry, action and lyric passages alternate; indeed, all of Majakovskij's poems are built on a complex network of dualities. The action in a poem can be psychological or physical, implied or described, and the poetic language itself Is alive with some of the most expressive words in the Russian language. Emotion springs from some definite occasion or attitude and we often must look backward or forward in the text to find the source for many of the lyric 43

outpourings in the poetry.

In "A Cloud in Trousers," the poet's miserable state in the beginning of the work

is explained only through flashbacks that help characterize both Maria and the

protagonist. Even the extended metaphors describing his suffering are full of action.

Although part two of the work Is almost completely a rhetorical argument, the rest of

the poem continues the plot line.

In part three the protagonist returns from the streets of rebellion to the two-

person, many-object drama. The scene abruptly changes from that set in the present

with Maria, to scenes involving Burijuk and Severjanln, to more images of rebellion

and back to "that night." The switches are made without warning. The juxtaposition of

the actual and the dreaming or reminiscence of the poet all along reveal his attitudes

toward people and things. The truth about each scene is revealed in its mirror image,

much like Acts two and five of The Bathhouse. The abrupt changes in scene are

somewhat more cinematic than dramatic, but swift contrasts are a feature of the

menippean satire, on which so much of Majakovskij's work is based, and which is

supported by theatrical devices such as this one.

The dramatic features of "The Backbone Flute" are more internalized, less ostentatious than those in "Cloud." For the most part, the reader witnesses a two-

person drama, with the players Majakovskij and God. The fact that the conversation

is reported almost totally from Majakovskij's point of view, though, renders this poem

more a monodrama than a real encounter.

"War and the Universe” opens with another one-sided dialogue with the executioner, then proceeds to move back and forth between episodes that take place 44

in the city's bars and on the battlefield. The language is purposely ambiguous, at

times one cannot tell where the action is really set. Many specific settings of time are

given in this work, Majakovskij wanted the reader to have no doubts which conflict was

being discussed. But since the setting of World War I was so vast, and the action so

cataclysmic, only the most flexible of plot lines could hold it. This is what Majakovskij

has constructed; the several scenes of war's horrors read like the recounting of a

nightmare. The specific countries mentioned are only very vaguely represented, their

most stereotypical features are highlighted.

The most interesting aspect of Majakovskij's plot construction is that of binary

oppositions at work in many of the poems. There is often a conflict between

Majakovskij, always placed "outside" the action, whether physically or metaphorically,

and those who are comfortably ensconced in a world he cannot enter.

The most obvious example of this idea is found in the poem "About That."

Majakovskij, the lonely "bear" frightens off all he would love and they retreat to houses

and apartments to which he has no access. His plane of existence Is, as it is in

several of his poems, in that area outside other people, between the heavens and the

earth. In "About That" he flies above the earth several times, looking down at the various countries and places he cannot enter. On the earthly plane, he frightens his

mother’s Christmas guests, is reduced to eavesdropping outside his beloved's door

(and this is an example of an action leading to dramatic irony), is completely cut off on his metaphoric ice floe. The end of the poem offers some hope for Majakovskij. The choice of a bear was purposeful, since after he is killed by the mob, he joins the other constellations and roars out his poetry from up in the sky. The entire work up until this 45

point, however, is an odyssey of searching — for identity, for security, for a place to rest. The many images of weariness add to the melancholy mood of "About That."

The poem "Man" contains such a situation, and the action is set on the three levels, or stage settings, of the menippea. The earth is seen as a stifling, entrapping place. Heaven is a matter-oMactly mechanized paradise and Majakovskij, who once more stands for the level of human existence somewhere between the other two layers, is a prophet without a country.

According to Lotman, what the plotless text establishes as impossible is the very thing that constitutes the content of the plot7, and the relationship of these two layers is one of conflict. This is the dramatic situation set up in Majakovskij's verse, and when the poet wants to cross over the boundary separating the two worlds, he introduces a dramatic device in order to accomplish his goal.

In "Man," this device is dramatic dialogue. After setting himself up as an extraordinary man, (through the evocation of biblical and legendary figures)

Majakovskij crosses over to the earthly plane by introducing the figure of the jailer, with whom he has a one-sided conversation. Once on the earthly level, a series of oppositions (earth vs. heaven, eternity vs. earthly time, Majakovskij the spectral figure vs. Majakovskij the man, and so on) is set up.

Many of Majakovskij's poems reflect the theory of "mythological" versus

"fabul'nyj" oppositions proposed by Lotman. There are alternating mythological scenes, which include in them the universe in total, and fabul’nyj scenes, which are episodes in reality. The use of myths is common in drama, especially, for example, in the drama of the Russian symbolists. 46

The section entitled "Roidestvo Majakovskogo" (T h e nativity of Majakovskij") is

an example of the mythological plot line: the allusions are nearly universal, the action

passages are overshadowed by the lyric descriptions. But when Majakovskij crosses

over to the earth itself, the fabul'nyj aspects, that is, real episodes dominate, as they

do in "Majakovskij's life."

The attributes of man that were mythologized in the first section (hands and mind

for creating, the tongue for singing) are rendered dangerous in the "Life." Hands are

given weapons, tongues do not sing but gossip, and Majakovskij Is not laboring or

parading but rotting. In the jail cell of byt.

Majakovskij uses juxtapositions between the mythological and the realistic in

such a way as to make his poetry dramatic. Between musings on the various

universal questions of life, Majakovskij inserts ordinary actions, conversations, even

complete events that play out the lyrical expressions of emotion.

Thus, the alternating lyric and action passages are united in the figure of the

protagonist, the same device that is used to support the rhetorical and menippean

aspects of the poetry. Further, when the protagonist utters the lines ‘leper* ja/ zakljuden/ v bessmyslennuju povest'l" ("Now I am a prisoner in a senseless tale" PSS,

I, p. 251), the poet lays bare this device for the reader. In addition, the plot of the rest of the work is foreshadowed, as is the hero's active participation in it. It must also be remembered that, in poetry especially, non-inclusion of events is a very manipulative aspect of the plot. The actions related and the thoughts expressed are but a fraction of the reality in Majakovskij's poetry. 47

This is especially evident in many of Majakovskij's poems that deal with the

beloved, who is partially revealed, or mentioned only as "ty." Enemies, such as God

or the figures of rivals in love (like Brik) are painted in a hazy, ambiguous manner.

Such shorthand serves the poet well, but it is also a tool of the playwright. The well-

chosen word in the mouth of a character is as effective as the shocking extended

metaphor. Both of these devices are found in Majakovskij's poetry.

Character

The duality evident in the plots of Majakovskij's poetry is also present in the

characters of the works. The most important personage in the poems is, of course,

Majakovskij himself, as he appears in the role of protagonist. This role, as has already been stated, allows Majakovskij to don masks within which he explores aspects of himself. This is only natural, given that the protagonist is the primary vehicle for the m essage or rhetorical argument of the poetry. He fulfills the same role in the plays. But in several works, there are severe Identity crises which are indicative of the conflicting attitudes of the poet toward himself, if not toward his general subject.

Majakovskij is both himself as character, and a symbol in his poetry, and this illustrates the modernist co-existence of the dramatic and the poetic in his poems.

Often, as in "Cloud," the figure of the hero is a multi-partite character: he's a handsome 22-year old, a teacher, a cloud in trousers and a bard. Then, suddenly, he

Is a hulk, a bulging m ass of sinews, a clod. The encounters between the description and image of the protagonist add to the overall emotional depiction of the hero. There

Is an almost immediate contrast between two of the most important metaphors in the 48

poem, the handsome cloud and the burning building. This contrast is a part of the

rhetorical argument that love is at once a positive and negative force, that it has both

beneficial and devastating consequences, and this in turn belongs to the larger

question of man’s fate posed in the poem. The questions are framed within a shifting,

self-contradictory world. This impression is created through the contrasting imagery

and quick plot movement.

The complex rendering of the protagonist is in contrast to the simplified,

consistent depiction of the beloved and the poet's enemies. As already seen, these

secondary characters are created out of snippets of conversations, or oaths and

curses. This corresponds to the general principle of binary opposition that exists in all

Majakovskij's poetry, in which contrasting structures are used to work out the polarities

between Majakovskij and the rest of the world, Majakovskij in love and rejected by a

beloved, between the poet and the uncomprehending audience. Thus, seeming contrasts are part of the tightly woven fabric of the works.

In the verse "I Love,” oppositions are once more apparent: the poet is gifted with

love, but he’s lazy. His love is both glorious and dreadful, the lover is tender and cruel. In "About That" the hero is a man about to commit suicide and a trapped polar bear, of this world and part of an alien sphere. Thus, the elements that make up

Majakovskij’s plays can be found in several places in his poetry. Creating dramatic conflicts by setting up confrontations is but one of the areas explored by the poet.

The questions of masks, of how many selves appear in the poetry, why they exist, and how are they rendered — through dramatic principles or by means of poetic devices — must also be considered. The device of splitting up the energy and 49

features of the protagonist into many parts is encountered in Majakovskij's drama, as

well as in the longer poems.

The question of split personality, of multiple personalities is a feature of most of

Majakovskij's works. In Tragedy, for Instance, many traits of the hero, Vladimir

Majakovskij, are found in the cripples who also inhabit the stage. In the poem "Man"

the positive features of mankind (and Majakovskij stands for all men in this work) are

enumerated in the naming and glorification of various professions.

The poem "About That” contains several scenes in which identity confusion takes

place within the alternating action and lyric passages that are a hallmark of

Majakovskij's verse. He is a suicidal man from the past, a trapped polar bear, a boy.

At times he does not even recognize himself. He identifies with bedbugs, then, finally,

with his punning verse: "Ja tol'ko stix" (T am only verse" PSS, IV, p. 176). Being a

poet is his ultimate salvation, 'Voskresi/ xotja b za to,/ 6to ja/ poetom/ idal tebja..."

("Crucify/ me at least because,/1/ a poet/ waited for you..." p. 184). The identity crises that lead him to write his verses are also in a way the instruments that save him. The duality evident in all Majakovskij's work, the opposing positive and negative sides to

everything that concerns him, are found in the characterization of the hero, as well.

These elements do oppose each other for they are part of the larger concerns of the work, they form the lines of the argument that the poem is trying to resolve. The protagonist is the main instrument for this, as has been pointed out, but within the poetic context his voice is met by those of the other characters.

While Majakovskij treats the character of the poet with, for the most part, seriousness, the other actors in the poems are rendered variously. Some are mere 50

caricatures, some are neutrally painted, and some characters in Majakovskij's poems

are made into myths. This technique continued into Mystery-Bouffe and beyond, and

has significance as an aspect that shaped Majakovskij's later theatrical practice.

Character depiction in poetry is a highly specialized process, and Majakovskij's

technique in this area is no exception to this premise. The mode of imitation used to

characterize is selective and intense, and, tike dramatic dialogue, the style and content

of the utterances of characters in the poetry reveal both dominant and subtle traits of

their personalities. In the poetry, however, there is an additional layer of

characterization in the non-dialoglc passages. Thus, poetic speech takes up the task

of the exposition in the work.

Many of the figures used in the rhetorical arguments are gross exaggerations of

Majakovskij's real and imaginary enemies. Napoleon is a "mops” ("pug-dog"). God is

variously degraded as "kudlastyj," ("Curly-head") "boiik," ("godlet") etc. The woman is

usually very sparingly depicted, as is Maria In "Cloud" who is characterized through

her dialogue: "Diek London,/ den’gi,/ ljubov',/ strast'," ("Jack London,/ money,/ love,/

passion.") or in a one-word description such as "Diiokonda" ("Gioconda”) or

"prokljataja ("cursed)." Spareness in description is as effective as the outlandish

hyperbole favored by the poet. The haughty Maria is shown "mu6a per&atki zamS,"

('torturing her suede gloves"), and the gloves take on the suffering of the poet. In all cases, Majakovskij includes just enough description to elicit the response he wants.

Mis poetic technique, made up of syntactic-semantic arrangements, was perfectly suited to the art of exact symbolic representation. It is the combination of the poetic and the fitting dramatic word that imparts so much emotional effectiveness to his 51

poetry.

Dialogue

Dialogue is meant to be expository and in the poetry it often is. In addition, dramatic dialogue gives the impression of thought being formed at the moment of speaking, and this is even more obvious in lyric poetry. The dialogue in poetry must imply a whole range of expressions, gestures, inflections and movements, and

Majakovskij accomplishes this economically, i.e., through the use of just a few well* chosen words.

The very basis of Majakovskij's poetic construction renders it dramatic. It is founded on the reproduction of life-like speech combined with grotesque, hyperbole and metaphor. The material of Majakovskij's poetry is conversational speech combined with language that is often obscure and symbolic.

In addition to conversation, examples of monologue addressed to a confidant also appear in the poetry. These give the illusion of dialogue, despite the fact that only one side of the conversation is reported. Monologue, in the form of a soliloquy, performs much the same way here as it does In the drama. It often signals a break in the action, a moment of rest before the adventure continues.

In "A Cloud in Trousers" the short, to the point speech of the lover "Pridu v detyre," ("I’ll be there at four" p. 176) and the speech quoted above contrast sharply with the richness of the poet's thoughts and fantastic visions. This commences the dramatic tension built in the rest of the work, which climaxes with the fateful words

"Znaete — ja vyxoiu zamu4" (’You know — I’m getting married" p. 178). The simple, 52

direct speech motivates the metaphoric exploration of suffering that constitutes the rest of this section of the work. The speech is expository in itself and it functions as a link between the lyric passages of the work. Again, Majakovskij makes direct speech just authentic enough to "hook" the reader, to make him think that the poem is

representative of real events and emotions.

The question arises as to whether it is possible to have a true dialogue in a lyric poem. When the intent of the author is to create a dramatic situation out of a poem, then dialogue is necessary. However, this does not have to take the traditional form of a two-sided conversation (although in Majakovskij's poetry some examples of this device exist), for in poetry what is unsaid is as important as what is stated. In essence, the conversational portions of Majakovskij's verses are diatribes, i.e., of an

'Internally dialogized rhetorical genre, usually structured in the form of a conversation with an absent interlocutor and resulting in a dialogization of the very process of speech and thought8." Bakhtin further defines diatribe as a smaller genre found in the menippea.

One-sided telephone conversations, a device lifted directly from the theater (and a new phenomenon at the time), often tell the reader what he needs to know. In

"Cloud," the poet's desperation is further revealed In such a conversation with his mother. The first section of "About That" is a convoluted rendering of a telephone call that ends in the metaphor of a duel. As in "Cloud," the conversation in "About That" leads to several dream-like situations in which the poet metamorphoses into a polar bear, encounters the hero of "Man," floats in a frightening sea of nothingness. Each lyric passage, in turn, leads back to an encounter, the essentials of which are included 53

in snippets of conversations.

For example, after musing on his own identity, in a metaphor-packed series of

lines:

Do Cego z na menja poxoil Uias. No nado zl demulsja k luie. Zalituju kurtobku stjagivat' stal... Napjalil ele — drugogo kalibra. Nikak ne namyllS’sja — zuby stubat. SeristiSfcu s laplSt i s mordiSCi vybril. Gljadelsja v I’dinu... britvoj luta... Pobti, pobti takoj i e samyj. (PSS, IV, p. 156)

Could anyone Resemble me! Awful. But it must bel I rush to the puddle. I started to pull off the soaked jacket... I struggled with it. It’s a different caliber. I couldn't get a lather — My teeth were chattering. I shaved the growth off my face and chin. I looked into an ice block... A sunbeam for a razor... Almost, Almost exactly the same. the poet immediately enters into a conversation with his family. The mild scolding of his mother provokes rhetorical questions about her love for him and once more the 54

poet is off on a lyrical adventure, this time to other worlds. The dialogue in this work

is an important motivator of the purely lyrical lines. After his visit home, the doubts

about identity resurface and lead to the climax of the poem, which occurs between

lyrical passages, outside his lover's door.

After the nightmare of identity confusion in "About That," the real struggle of the poem is laid out in the overheard scene in Fekla Davidovna's apartment. Majakovskij the bear encounters an overwhelming enemy, byt. Trapped in this world, he can communicate only with the bedbugs who raise their little legs in salutation. He has once more come face to face with his own essence, and the dialogue of Fekla and her guests acts as a banal, dramatic counterpoint to the horror felt by the poet. While the hosts busy themselves about trivialities, Majakovskij is faced with the true nature of the enemy that surrounds him, from which he cannot escape. The placement of the conversation is as apt in this poem as it is in a theatrical work, for it elucidates just enough truth so that the reader wants to continue the story, and it elicits an emotional response on the part of the reader.

This encounter sends the poet out into the plane of the streets again to muse on his and his creation's place in the world. Each time the poet wishes to cross into the field of existence in which he can find love and security, he uses dialogue to get there.

The dialogue, in turn is preceded by poetic passages that serve to increase the dramatic tension in each of these moments of crossing. Thus, when he arrives, 'like

Raskolnikov," to listen breathlessly at his lover's door, the fateful moment is stretched out through descriptions of various things In the hallway, then by evoking the sound of a piano. The link between the outside (i.e., Majakovskij) and the interior of the

I 55

apartment is the lover's voice: first lifted in a silly song, then tormenting the poet as he continues on his nightmarish journey in the streets.

The chief non-dialogue characterizing elements include the fact that She and her guests love to dance, eat, drink and gossip. This links them to the negative characters of Mystery-Bouffe or The Bedbug. (The Clean are greedy gluttons; the bourgeois characters of The Bedbug are obsessed by food, drink and material possessions.) By extension, they can be traced back to some of the characters who appear in Majakovskij's early futurist verse, whom he castigated for their bourgeois tastes in art. The case can be made, then, that the true enemy is the audience, the conservative theatrical establishment, such as the one satirized in The Bathhouse, that promotes the extension of the hated byt.

The few well-chosen words that characterize the beloved reveal her to be just another product of byt, a flighty, flirtatious woman, given to gossip and dancing. She even joins in the mocking of the poet, who is reported to have "cracked a little": "ne tresnul, govorjat, a tol’ko xrustnul" (pp. 168-169). Majakovskij includes several purely conversational words and expressions, and they fit naturally into the work. The speakers have the habit of interjecting 'Vot," "-to," "nu i" and other particles into their sentences. Such faithful transcription of everyday Russian conversation only reinforces the impression that the speakers are mindless, their discussions empty of thought. This revelation includes the beloved, though the poet does not wish to believe that she is another manifestation of the enemy byt.

The other result of the accurate reproduction of conversation is to give the impression of thought being formed at the moment of utterance, a feature of dramatic 56

dialogue. This spontaneity is an important feature of the commedia dell’arte, and is

frequently encountered in Majakovskij's plays. Poetry is well-suited to this; in the

distilled construction of each poetic line only the most significant words can be

afforded.

The overwhelming angst produced by this revealed truth and made possible by

the theatrical device of eavesdropping, sends the poet further on the path to self- destruction. The rest of the work is a lyric exploration of the poet’s final journeys back into the plane of existence he has always occupied. This sphere is the one between heaven and earth, the place that keeps Majakovskij from ever gaining true happiness.

He is like Lermontov's Demon, condemned to fly over the earth, watching, envious, as others live ordinary lives.

Many of Majakovskij's plays reflect the sam e type of dialogue found in the longer poems. The warring factions of any of the poet’s works are characterized in similar fashion through their speech peculiarities and modes of expression, as well as by the way they relate to the protagonist. It will be shown that the dramatic dialogue of

Majakovskij's plays is based on the combined use of poetic and dramatic devices, a technique perfected in the most productive of Majakovskij's poetry-producing years.

Stage Directions

In twentieth-century drama, the practice has been to move away from writing elaborate, precise stage directions, such as those of Shaw, for instance, to including a pared-down but precise set of directions to be followed. Majakovskij's poetic practice follows this neoteric method. Poetic language itself strives for the precise, and must 57

imply gestures and motions, inflections and nuances.

Several of Majakovskij's poems are specific as to place. "Cloud,” for example,

# opens part one with the direction "Eto bylo,/bylo v Odesse” ("It happened in Odessa").

Similarly, "About That" names the streets in which the action begins (Lubjansklj proezd

(lane), Vodopjanyj), then asks the reader to imagine the parallel stage settings. In one a woman is lying in bed, in the other a man is standing by a telephone. What usually occurs in Majakovskij's poems is that the stage is set, as above, then the poet takes off on metaphoric and hyperbolic flights to transport the settings into the poetic realm.

In "Cloud,” for example, the room is described, and then the objects take on animated characteristics. In "About That" the room in which the telephone stands becomes a prison, then the telephone runs amok, and later the room becomes a river, the bed an

Ice floe, and so on. The stage directions both reinforce the other dramatic elements of the poems and belong to the devices of poetry.

The Russian term for stage directions, "remarki," (and the related term "iest,") helps to define the way in which Majakovskij describes the actions of his characters in their dramatic settings. The maid, answering the telephone in "About That," "poSla, tufleju slepaja," ("She walked, her slippers shuffling", PSS, IV, p. 144) then "idet./

Otmeijaet Sag) sekundantom" ("She walked./ Measuring out steps like a second').

This metaphor leads to the culmination of the phone call; the duel. Even this dramatic moment is related in staccato directions: "Raz!/ Trubku navodjat./ Nadeidu/ bros'./

Dval/ Kak raz/ ostanovilas’,/ ne drognuv,/ meidu/ moix/ mol'boj obvoloknutyx glaz."

('One!/ The receiver Is picked up./ All hope is gone./ Two!/ Immediately stopping,/ without trembling,/ aiming between my eyes, enveloped by beseeching” p. 145) 58

Other examples of this stylistic device can be found in the poem 'War and the

Universe." When describing the chaos of battle, the poet isolates the scene and the actions in this manner;

A krugoml Smejat’sja. Flagi. Stocvetnoe. Mimo. VzdybiliS’. Tysjafci. Naskvoz'. Begom. (PSS, I, pp. 239-240)

And all around! Laughter. Flags. Multicolored. They pass. On hind legs. Thousands. Throughout At a run.

The entire work is full of such quick shifts and abrupt juxtapositions. There is a montage effect, where one image is immediately replaced by another. This film device accompanies not only the descriptive passages of the poem, but the action scenes as well.

The well-chosen adverb or adverbial participle accompanies Majakovskij's descriptions of his characters’ appearance, manner and psychological state. This, in turn, relates those features that Majakovskij wishes to highlight. When God runs in

'But After All" he is “zadyxajas' (out of breath)." This Is in keeping with the de- 59

crowning of God that occurs in that poem. The night that goes mad in "Mama and the

Evening Killed By the Germans" is seen 'Vybrjacav Spory v gorja$6ej mazurka,"

("Digging in its spurs in a heated mazurka" p, 67) thus underscoring the mindlessness of the war. Maria of "Cloud" "tortures” her suede gloves even as she decimates the poet. The angels of heaven in "Man" are friendly and "drowsy," very far from the traditional image of angels. These stage directions are necessary to the poems for they supplement the dramatic action that takes place in each of the works. They are rendered through poetic means and once again demonstrate the combination of theatrical and poetic elements in Majakovskij's poetry.

Conclusions

There are many theatrical devices in Majakovskij's poetry. When he uses foreshadowing, chorus, soliloquy or narration in his verse, Majakovskij makes these devices into tools which serve his purpose, the winning of the rhetorical argument. The sam e can be said of the elements of plot, character and dialogue, which, when found in the poems, are highly specialized forms of the traditional devices.

Many passages may at first seem to be dramatic because of what is missing: narration, say, or description. But closer examination reveals that there are usually underlying structural devices of drama that are also at work in the poem. It is the integration of devices and not merely their presence, that transforms the poem. The devices are incorporated in order to support the more important themes of the works, and to aid in constructing a persuasive case that proves the truths offered in the poetry. CHAPTER ill

VLADIMIR MAJAKOVSKIJ — A TRAGEDY

Introduction

Vladimir Majakovskij — A Tragedy is a youthful work, one that stands on the

boundary between the poetic and dramatic genres. In structure, the play is a loosely

connected presentation of the poetic world in dramatic form. This study will

concentrate on the interaction of the poetic and dramatic devices employed inVladimir

Majakovskij — A Tragedy (hereafter referred to as Tragedy).

The interweaving of poetic and dramatic devices is found throughout

Majakovskij's work and is particularly evident here in Tragedy. This element of

Majakovskij's theatricalism functions alongside the others, namely, the use of

menippean satire and the role of the protagonist as a rhetorical figure.

The ritualistic atmosphere of carnival (a sub-genre of the menippea) carries within it the dramatic devices of Tragedy. Poetic practice reigns over the lyric, self- exploratory passages. The dramatic and poetic methods merge to form a unique context for Tragedy. They are ultimately indivisible, each nourishes and supports the other. Tragedy, then, is an important work in the study of Majakovskij's theatricalism.

60 61

Carnival

The overriding atmosphere of Tragedy is that of carnival. The roots of carnival

are in public festivities and ritual, and in this aspect it is a very important genre for all

the futurists. They, as a group, seized upon the ritualistic elements of carnival and

applied them to all aspects of their lives, from the impromptu public spectacles to their

literary creations. The futurists turned art into a complex game and they themselves

became the principal players. Majakovskij very naturally fit into this new movement

and his personal theatricality is well documented.

Camivalization of literature is one by-product of the presence of camivat in life.

Bakhtin analyzed elements of carnival in his study of Dostoevskij's poetics9, and the

inclusion of the spirit of carnival in literary works is not limited to Dostoevskij.

Majakovskij is only one in a long line of Russian writers who applied camivalistic

aspects to the drama. Indeed, Sumarokov's Dmitrij Samozvanec, along with PuSkin’s

Malen'kie tragedii, and, certainly, Evreinov's plays all contain elements of carnival that

are also found in Tragedy. In the twentieth century this idea took the guise of "self­

parody theater" and this in turn had an effect on Majakovskij's later plays.

If, as Bakhtin maintains, the entire scope of carnival is founded on contrasts, then Tragedy is clearly of the camivalistic genre. The poetic context of Tragedy is replete with contrasts: between the ‘Veselo" ("merry”) world of Act I and the "skutno"

('boring") setting of Act II; between the Ordinary Young Man and the cripples; between the figure of Vladimir Majakovskij as he appears in Act I and Act II, and so on.

The deformed characters in the play are not only a part of the poetic fabric of the 62

work, they are also a manifestation of an aspect of carnival, carnival anatomy. As

Bakhtin pointed out, the enumeration of parts from a dismembered body is an element

of that genre. A complex series of interactions will emerge in Tragedy, as poetic and

dramatic devices combine to create a new type of drama.

Of the other features of carnival found in Tragedy, the most important are

parodia sacra, the world upside-down (monde a I'envers), free and familiar contact

between people that also extends to things, and mock crowning and de-crowning.

These devices interact with the significant themes of the work.

Majakovskij's Tragedy opens with a prologue, in which the poet makes clear his

intention to shock the audience through his choice of images. This is in keeping with futurist tenets and also reflects the camivalistic practice of tearing down boundaries of taste, class and hierarchy. In the prologue there Is an immediate use of a carnival device, that of parodia sacra. This occurs in several lines, as in the following reworkings of Christ's words: "Ja car1 lamp!” ("I am the king of the lamps!”), "Pridite vse ko mne" ("All come to me"), "Ja vam otkroju" ("I will open to you" PSS, I, p. 154), and so on, until the first image of death as a result of sacrifice is put forth:

Ijagu, svetlyj, v odeidax iz leni na mjagkoe loie iz nastoja&fiego navoza, i tixim, celujufefilm Spal koleni, obnimet mne Seju koleso paravoza. (p. 154)

t will lie down, Radiant, In garments of laziness 63

On a soft bed of real manure, And quietly, Kissing the knees of the sleeper, The wheel of the locomotive will hug my neck.

Majakovskij uses parodia sacra in order to debase the lofty sentiments of religion, and the prologue is a futuristic tour de force. At the sam e time, however, there is an identification with Christ that is very typical for Majakovskij. This treatment of sacred texts is possible because during carnival all laws, prohibitions and restrictions determining the structure of life are suspended.

The profanation is continued when Vladimir Majakovskij enters a discussion on the true nature of objects. He speaks of his soul in a most relaxed way: 'Vprofcem, raz naSel ee —/duSu./ vySla/ v golubom kapote,/ govorit:/ ‘Sadites’!/ Ja davno vas idala./ Ne xotite li stakanfcik fcaju?" ("By the way, I found it once —/ my soul./ It came out in a blue caftan,/ and said:/ Sit down!/ I've been waiting for you./ Would you like a cup of tea?" p. 159) This brings to mind his conversation with the sun, for Instance, in

"An Extraordinary Adventure," or any number of conversations with the lofty figures of heaven, such as the angels In "Man.”

The epilogue is a brief parting shot at the audience, a reversion to a futurist pose. Even here, though, the parodia sacra continues as Majakovskij asserts:

ja — blaiennen'kij.

Eto ja popal pal’cem v nebo, dokazal: on — vorl (p. 172) 64

I — am holy.

It is I Who pointed my finger at heaven, And proved: He — is a liarl

The use of the word ’blaiennen’kij" is particularly expressive. It is a diminutive adjective, a play on the sacred word "blaiennyj (sacred)," and by adding the diminutive suffix, Majakovskij transforms the word, destroys the religious nature of it.

The function of profanation in Tragedy goes well beyond shock value. The use of religious imagery and ceremonial language to castigate religion is certainly not limited to this work, and there are other examples of it in Majakovskij’s poetry, most notably in

"But After All." It appears here as part of carnival, as one aspect of the overall construction of Tragedy. It is part of carnival laughter and the device of the world upside-down. It strengthens the contrasts inherent in the work because it stands in counterpoint to the very sincere Identification of Majakovskij with the savior figure.

Finally, the use of parodia sacra lends a richness to the poetic fabric of the work.

The next aspect of carnival found in Tragedy Is that of "monde a I’envers," or the world turned upside-down. During carnival life is experienced outside its usual "rut".

Many aspects of life are presented in a reverse state, and the world of Tragedy adheres to this principle.

Act I, clearly the setting of carnival, contains several motifs connected with the idea of the world upside-down. It opens in a maze of streets converging on the public square, and the stage direction is ’Veselo." The crowds who appear bearing representations of food from store signboards have come to a beggar's banquet. This 6 5

motif is continued when a monument to red meat is erected. This is a further development in the carnival theme, for it refers to the feast of fools and complements the iron herring and gold bread brought on stage at the start of the act.

The first encounter of Vladimir Majakovskij and the Old Man With Cats is a description of "monde a I'envers":

l&tite iimyx v domax-skorlupax i v buben brjuxa vesel'e bejtel Sxvatite za nogi gluxix i glupix i dujte v uSi im, kak v nozdri flejte. Razbejte dnfSda u bofiek zlosti, ved’ ja gorjaSCij bulyinik dum em. Segodnja v vaSem krifcaSdem toste jaovenfcajus’ moim bezumiem. (p. 155)

Search for the fat ones in shell-houses And beat the tambourine belly merrily! Take the deaf and stupid by the foot And blow in their ears, as in the nostrils of a flute. Smash the bottom of the barrels of spite, I even eat the burning cobblestone of thought. Today in your screaming toast I shall wed my madness.

The presentation of the world upside-down, in which people eat iron herring and a poet weds his madness, is closely connected with another category of carnival, that of the free and familiar contact between-people. In the upside-down world of carnival, all laws and restrictions governing society are suspended. This allows for the rise of an equality of all people, and the familiar contact of all strata of society facilitates carnival gatherings.

The camivalistic practice of crowning and decrowning also belongs to the world 66

of free and familiar contact between people. Decrowning especially reflects the inside- out nature of the carnival world, as the mock king is decrowned by the crowd.

This device is employed in Tragedy. Majakovskij stages his own coronation several times in the work. He ordains himself in his first step toward becoming the T for all the people" "Ja — poet,/ ja raznicu ster/ meidu licami svoix i fcuzix" ("I am a poet,/ I have erased the difference/ between my face and those of others" p. 159).

This is another contrast that pervades both the poetic texture and the thematic level of

Tragedy.

The second act of Tragedy opens with Majakovskij in a toga and wearing a laurel wreath. Like royalty, he is attended. But his vassal in this play is the Man

Without an Eye or Leg. He tells Vladimir Majakovskij that all kinds of petitioners are waiting to see him. Majakovskij gives the royal sign and they are admitted. Just as the mock crowning/decrowning of the carnival king reflects the all-destroying and all- renewing aspects of carnival, so, too, Majakovskij's actions throughout Act II are part of this duallstic ritual. The man who helped incite the riot of the first act is here forced to deal with the aftermath and accept the role of leader. The poet is treated very respectfully, furthering the illusion created by the laurel wreath. Women bow to him and present him with tears, one of silk, one suitable for a shoe buckle and one very large tear. Here is another example of the world upside-down. Instead of lavish gifts, the "king" is brought sorrow. In addition, Vladimir Majakovskij, rather than being gracious about these gifts, is first puzzled and then frightened by the tears.

At this point, however, the mock-king no longer wishes to participate in carnival.

In reality, of course, this option does not exist, for carnival pervaded life, it was lived, 67

not merely acted. Majakovskij declares: "Gospoda!/ Poslu&ajte, —/ ja ne mogu!/ Vam

xorofco,/ a mne s bot'ju*to kak?” ("Gentlemenl/ Listen, —/ 1 can notl/ It's all right for

you,/ but why do I have such pain?" p. 169), and he is threatened rather coarsely until

he gives in. It is not a brave, confident Majakovskij who gathers up his burden, but

rather a person who "neukljuie toptetsja." This version of Majakovskij again evokes

images of Christ, who also asked to be allowed to pass up the burden thrust upon

him. Here, then, is the aspect of humanizing and debasing of the hero, found in the

character of Vladimir Majakovskij. Finally, like Christ, Majakovskij accepts the load of

suffering and takes to the road. But in a final camivalistic twist, the poet declares his

intention to fling the tears at God:

Ja dobredu — ustalyj, v poslednem bredu bro§u va&u slezu temnomu bogu groz u istoka zverinyx ver. (p. 171)

I'll go — Tired, In a final delerium And throw your tears To the dark god of storms At the source of bestial beliefs.

The opposing sacred and profane elements in the work are thus fused together in a

last contrast, embodied in the protagonist.

Act II is itself a contrast in the camivalistic sense. It is a shift away from the setting of Act I and is a manifestation of another of Majakovskij's dual worlds. 68

Not only in construction, devices and language is this true, but also in the very

character of Vladimir Majakovskij. As Smimov-Nesvickij noted, Majakovskij presents

himself as a myth, as something legendary and theatrical10. The character of Vladimir

Majakovskij is an important motif of the play, and is discussed in a separate section of

this chapter.

Animation

Majakovskij's Tragedy is full of references to personified objects. Things have souls, and almost everything is animated. This allows objects to actually become characters, complete with new attributes as a result of their having souls. They contrast with the cripples ofTragedy , in that the human characters seemingly have no feelings. Thus, the objects are part of the lyricism of this play, they function within the metaphorization of the world that is a distinct part of Majakovskij's theatrical ism.

Animated objects are also a part of monodrama.

This is a manifestation of "camivalistic mesalliance," in which free contact extends to things as well. The phenomenon of animation is a pervasive topic in all

Majakovskij's work. The system of personification in the early lyrics is overwhelmingly negative; the objects that come to life torment, torture and even destroy the poet.

They are a part of the city that is the scene of suffering. In Tragedy, too, the animated objects are frightening things.

There are three distinct moments in the play that correspond to this concept.

The first is the discussion of the nature of things. The second is the city coming to life on its own, and the third is the mutiny that occurs at the end of Act I. 69

As the atmosphere of the beggar's banquet becomes more and more frenzied,

disarray grows and people start reporting on things that have a life of their own. The

city itself comes to life: "Daie pereulki zasutili rukava dlja draki" ("Even the side*

streets have rolled up their sleeves for a fight" p. 158) as do emotions: "A toska moja

rastet,/ neponjatna I trevoina,/ kak sleza na morde u plafcufifcej sobaki." ("My

melancholy grows,/ incomprehensible and alarming,/ like the tear on the mug of a

weeping dog." p. 158) This scene is a development of the "free and familiar contact"

that eventually spreads from people to things during carnival. To underscore this idea,

the Man Without an Ear and the Man With a Long Face discuss the possibility of

objects having souls:

A moiet byt', ve&i nado Ijubit'? Moiet byt', u veStej du&a drugaja?

Mnogie veSfci s§ity naoborot. Serdce ne serditsja, kzlobegluxo. (p. 158)

Perhaps we should love things? Perhaps things have a different kind of soul?

Many things are sewn together backwards. The heart doesn't feel anger. They’re deaf to malice.

Many aspects of carnival are present In these few lines: the contrast of lifeless

humans with living things; the world upside-down; the debasing of a sacred idea.

The insurgency of the personified objects is one of the dramatic moments of the play. All the action takes place off-stage and is reported to Majakovskij. This is in 70

Keeping with the rules of drama, and the metaphoric quality of this action is preserved by its not being shown, but rather described in verse.

The nature of the mutiny is that things have rebelled and thrown off their old names. Certainly this is a futurist detail, but it also belongs to the ideas of "monde a

I'envers" and camivalistic mesalliances, insomuch as the ultimate overturning of the worid occurs when things cannot be properly identified.

Camivalistic mesalliances carry within them illogicality and eccentricity. The idea of animated objects corresponds to this notion. The system of contrasts built into

Tragedy is expressed once more by the disparity between the lively objects and the rather static character of Vladimir Majakovskij. He is a protagonist figure, one who exists within a monodrama, a genre built not only on words, but on what Evreinov called 'jazyk dviienij11." The 'language of gestures" Is a variation on the poetic technique witnessed in Majakovskij’s poetry, in which gestures become language, or words. Monodrama is a vital part of Tragedy.

Monodrama

The theory of monodrama, a dramatic representation of one character's varying, subjective perceptions of the self and the world, had already been extensively portrayed in the plays of the Russian symbolists. The prime theorist of "experimental" theater at the time was Nikolai Evreinov, whose ideas on "theater for one's self" found a colossal embodiment in Vladimir Majakovskij (the poet, not the tragedy). Although

Evreinov's theoretical work Theater For Oneself post-dated Tragedy, his Theater As

Such, published in 1912, certainly contributed to the futurist dramatic practices, as did 71

his 1909 monodrama, The Presentation of Love12. The idea that theatricalism is an indivisible part of life, that when we dress up or affect a certain gesture or way of speaking, we are giving in to the dramatic instinct native to human beings, was profoundly put into practice by the Futurists. Majakovskij, in particular, exhibited the flamboyant tendencies of a theatrical personality that translated to his work. Indeed, from his earliest poems, Majakovskij created himself over and over in various guises.

It was only natural for such an exhibitionist to want to create a special playing space on which his new protagonist could act.

The result of this impulse is Vladimir Majakovskij — A Tragedy. Not only did the poet transfer his lyricism to the stage, but he populated that platform with his various selves. Not only that, but Majakovskij wrote, directed and starred as himself in the first production of the play. This corresponds to a general tendency in twentieth- century drama to be subjective; the poet is both the subject and object of his work.

Vladimir Majakovskij has the most important lines in the work, and this adheres to the basic premise of monodrama that the audience must always be sure which character

Is the object of attention.

The self-mutilation of the title character fits well into the Idea of carnival anatomy at the sam e time as it reflects Majakovskij's cubo-futurist devices. He divided himself up into separate pieces and then reassembled the fragments to create a transformed object, much as the cubo-futurist artists did. This new creature Is deserving of a new world, and so the setting of Tragedy was bom. The new, whole Vladimir Majakovskij contains many more dimensions than the jaunty young man who appears in the epilogue. The device of creating many characters out of one transformed Tragedy 72

from a long lyric poem into a theatrical piece.

This is also a manifestation of the soliloquy, as it is used in the menippean satire. The soliloquy is a "dialogic relationship to oneself13" in which the boundaries between the image of the outer self and the Inner man are broken down. Thus, the dramatic dialogue of Tragedy, in which Majakovskij interacts with the various parts of himself, is a menippean soliloquy.

The first principle of monodrama is that the outer spectacle must be the depiction of the inner one. Each of the characters, represents a part of the inner Vladimir

Majakovskij. Many of the motifs connected with this character are echoed, and at times distorted, in the speeches of the others.

In fact, the procession of cripples is one of the devices on whichTragedy is built.

The cast list of the play, including telovek bez glaza I nogi (the Man Without an Eye or Leg); fielovek bez uxa (the Man Without an Ear); fcelovek bez golovy (the Man

Without, a Head); and fcelovek s rastjanutym licom (the Man With a Long Face) are just poetic renderings of the suffering poet in the city. These characters are grotesque synecdoches, and are consistent with the hyperbolic nature of the whole work. Every aspect of Tragedy is infused with poetic technique, and the lyric coexists with the dramatic.

More importantly, these characters serve as dramatic echoes of the masks

Majakovskij himself wore. The bearded Old Man With Cats denounces the idea of

God. The Man Without an Ear shuns physical love, and relates the horrors of a world in which things come to life. He also participates In the debasing of love and sex, which is most explicitly expressed by the Man With a Long Face. The Man Without an 73

Eye or Leg is the principal chronicler of the rebellion of objects in Act I and in the second half of the play he serves as Majakovskij's attendant. The women with knots represent the sorrow felt by city-dwellers, and the Man With Two Kisses completes the line of sexual frustration. The Ordinary Young Man symbolizes Majakovskij's naive faith in the future. The cast of characters is based on a poetic device, metaphor, and this is the main catalyst of the monodramatic perceptions of all the characters.

The object of the protagonists' horror must be shown; this demand of monodrama is fulfilled by the giantess who frightens all the characters just before the mutiny of objects.

According to Evreinov, sets disturb more than they help a production14, because they distract the spectator from what is truly important. In this, too, Majakovskij followed the techniques of monodrama. The staging of Tragedy is quite simple, the costumes even more so.

. The monodrama is the presentation of a single character whose thoughts and perceptions are the only dramatized events. InTragedy, this character is made up of many parts, but there is within this conglomerate a figure who stands out, the figure of

Vladimir Majakovskij. He is the most dramatic of the dramatic characters, and his function in the play follows along the lines of Majakovskij's theatricalism as defined so far.

The Figure of the Protagonist

The idea of theater as life and life in theater Is basic to carnival (and monodrama); the figure of Majakovskij in Tragedy is one personification of this idea, 74

an extension of the roIe*playing inherent in both carnival and Futurism.

Majakovskij combines role-playing with self-exploration in this work, and he does

this through the use of masks, which for him have a very specific poetic function: the

mask is a substitute for the real poet, and at the same time the characters who

function as masks are part of the overall rhetorical arguments of Majakovskij's work.

The use of masks in theater is an ancient practice. In Greek (especially

Athenian) tragedy, large masks, stylized costumes and exaggerated gestures were

employed because of the size of the arena15. Is not Majakovskij adopting these

practices in a metaphorical way? He considers the drama of his own life and ego

important enough to present to large audiences and adopts these poetic poses, or

masks, to highlight certain areas of his personality. In twentieth century theater the

mask, as employed by Gordon Craig and Eugene O’Neill, among others, can

emphasize the ritualistic character of some plays. This relates to carnival. Masks can

also distance, elevate or dignify the dramatic experience and liberate it from the

concerns of topical, realistic theater. Like many modern playwrights, Majakovskij uses

the stage to explore the human psyche. In this he imparts a lyricism to the drama,

and this is a feature of Majakovskij's theatricallsm. Unlike other writers, Majakovskij

limits his exploration to himself.

In Tragedy several of Majakovskij's roles are evident: lover, savior, instigator of

rebellion, victim of the m asses. Some of these are roles out of carnival, some are from tragedy and many evolve from the self-created Majakovskian universe.

The first, and by far the most important, mask worn by Majakovskij is that of

Messiah. There is an implicit contradiction in this image. While one aspect of 75

Majakovskij denounces religion and God, another is seeking to crown himself a new

savior, and as such, must identify himself with some aspects of the person of Christ.

In the prologue alone, Majakovskij uses several motifs identified with the Son of God:

"Ja — car’ lamp," "Pridite vse ko mne," "Ja vam otkroju," "Ja vam tol’ko golovy

pal’cami tronu," "Ijagu./svetlyj/v odeidax iz leni." The end to which Majakovskij puts

these allusions is, however, far from the spirit of Christianity. The "king of lamps”

appears not in heaven, but in the nightmarish city. He will open to the people not the

kingdom of God, but "simple words", and the nature of the soul is that of a buzzing

street light. The 'laying on of hands" results in the development of huge mouths for

kissing, not in healing. The blasphemy continues in the lines which state that he will

lie down, "pure" (a term referring to Christ), in manure. (This image will recur again,

more explicitly, at the beginning of "Vo ves' golos" — "At the Top of My Voice.")

Majakovskij's sacrifice for mankind is his own suicide. The vulgar use of religious

images is Majakovskij's method of asserting that he may be a savior to the masses, but he certainly is not a traditional figure. This blasphemy is also a part of the camivalistic aspect of the play, as already mentioned.

After declaring the nature of his messianic mission, Majakovskij addresses the crowd of cripples with the following speech that again combines a high style of address with common speech:

Vas, detej moix budu u&it' nepreklonno I strogo. Vse vy, ljudi, US' bubency 76

na kolpake boga. (p. 158)

You, My children 1 shall teach adamantly and strictly. All you people, Are only little bells On God's duncecap.

The image of God wearing a duncecap or clown hat is another rebellious gesture.

Further in this speech Majakovskij defines actions similar to those performed by

Christ: 'V gnoe morgov iskal sester./ Celoval uzorno bol'nyx." ("In the decay of morgues I looked for my sisters./ I kissed the sick decorously." p. 159) The Act I speeches of the other characters, who are extensions of Vladimir Majakovskij, are also peppered with ecclesiastic references. The Old Man With Cats refers to God, who

"krifiit o iestokoj rasplate." ('Veils about the cruel reckoning." p. 156) The Man With a

Long Face evokes the "lobnoe mesto." (’place of execution.") Even minor aspects of sacred subjects, such as the soul or heaven, are degraded or rendered vulgar. At times Majakovskij alternates the sacred and profane to further the aesthetic shock value of his sound combinations and rhymes, as in this excerpt:

Esli b vy tak, kak ja golodali — dali vostoka i zapada vy by glodali, kak gloiut kost’ nebosvoda zavodov kopfcenye roiil (p. 161)

If you had gone hungry as I have, In the far off East and west, You would gnaw, 77

As the smoked faces of the factories Gnaw the bones of the vault of heaven I

Majakovskij's version of the savior emerges from the concept of "God with us," a

compassionate, kind and suffering figure. He stands in opposition to the "God above

us,” the cruel, vengeful, judging father figure. These opposing figures are found in "A

Cloud in Trousers," "The Backbone Flute," "But After All," and in Mystery-Bouffe.

Act II continues the idea of the poet/savior with still more linguistic references to

Christ, especially here: "Vot i segodnja/ — vyjdu skvoz* gorod,/ duSu/ na kop'jax

domov” ('Today/ — I shall go out through the city,/ my soul/ on the spires of the

buildings." p. 170). Whereas Christ was pierced by the soldiers’ spears, Majakovskij,

as savior of the city-dwellers, will be pierced by the buildings of the metropolis. At the

end of this act Majakovskij's reluctant acceptance of the burden placed upon him

closely parallels that of Christ. But the burden Majakovskij carries is different in nature,

since it results from the revolt of the city-dwellers. When Majakovskij states that he

will throw his bundle of tears at God, it is his last rebellious act, completely opposing

Christ’s own behavior. While Majakovskij gladly puts on the mask of messiah in this

and several other works, he emphatically states that he is of the tradition of God the

Son, to the point of rejecting all that has to do with God the Father.

The spumed lover is another mask in Majakovskij's collection. He adopts this disguise to both work out his sorrow of unrequited emotion, and to release his

revulsion toward the physical aspects of love. Majakovskij’s own difficulties in love are well-known, and nowhere are they more explicitly documented than in his poetic works. In Tragedy this role is divided among several characters. 78

Physical repulsiveness is the principal motif of all the lines that treat any aspect of love, either directly or indirectly. The mask of spumed lover allows Majakovskij to degrade love, to strike an indignant pose toward it. This element begins in the prologue, with an extended metaphor: "Puxlymi pal'cami v ryiix volosikax/ solnce

Izlaskalo vas nazojlivost'ju ovoda —/ v vaSix duSax vyceiovan rab." ("With chubby fingers in red hair/ the sun carressed you with the importunity of a gadfly —/ a slave is kissed forth in your souls." pp. 153-54) From the degradation of love to that of the love-object is a short step in Tragedy. Women are treated very badly in this work, and, as the seven-and-a-haif foot giantess attests, the spumed lover views women as the objects of horror. Majakovskij’s various selves take turns at spouting negative lines referring to women:

V. Majakovskij: Ja suxoj, kak kamennaja baba. (p. 155)

Cel. bez uxa: VaSi ienStiny ne umejut ljubit', oni ot poceluev raspuxli, kak gubki. (p. 162)

V. Majakovskij: I am dry, like a stone image.

Man Without an Ear: Your women don't know how to love, They are swollen from kisses, like lips

Cel. s dvumja pocelujami: DevuSki vozduxa toie do zolota podkl, i im tol’ko den’gi. (p. 167)

V buduarax fcen&fciny — fabriki bez dyma i trub — millionami vydelyvali poceluji — vsjakle, bol'Sie, 79

malen’kie — mjasistymi rytagami Slepaju&fiix gub. (p. 169)

Man With Two Kisses: Girls of the air also have a penchant for gold. They only want money.

In the bedrooms of women — factories without smoke and chimneys — millions of kisses are produced — all kinds, big ones, little ones — fleshy levers of smacking lips.

Once again the interconnection of sounds, images and character are witnessed, though in these examples the cacophony of sounds reinforces the negative aspects of the theme. It is significant that women bring the poet his burden of tears, and the list of disturbing nouns of feminine grammatical gender is astounding: groza, sleza, muka, zlost', vina, draka, toska, zloba, krov' and bol* (disaster, tear, torture, malice, guilt, fight, sadness, spite, blood and pain). Even words such as dufia (soul), ve§6' (thing) and ljubov' (love) carry a negative emotional charge in Tragedy. In the personification of objects, the animated things are female: the corsets jump down from signs; kisses are manufactured in women's bedrooms, and so on. This is the revenge of the spumed poet.

In juxtaposition to this persona is a third mask present in Tragedy. This is the

Ordinary Young Man. He represents a well-hidden but very real aspect of

Majakovskij's personality. Majakovskij had a true, almost naive hope in the future, and this is expressed in many of the young man's lines. 80

The Ordinary Young Man is an inventor who has a pregnant wife and sees a reason for hope in his future child. He believes in the virtue of hard work and family happiness. Yet for all his optimism he is attacked by the crowd, an act instigated by

Majakovskij himself. Why? Because the Ordinary Young Man also symbolizes the greatest evil in Majakovskij's world — byt. What is his invention? A machine for chopping cutlets. (His friend has invented a trap for fleas.) Children, once bom, are merely a continuation of everyday life. Ultimately, the Ordinary Young Man stands for the status quo. In the world of carnival, the status quo is overturned, and the Ordinary

Young Man becomes the ritual scapegoat.

The one element that becomes clear in Tragedy is Majakovskij's ambivalence toward himself. In his overwhelming desire to satisfy his theatricality, the poet came face to face with his inner conflicts and chose to hide behind masks while exploring them. He is certainly not a typical tragic hero, but in the unique poetic world of

Tragedy, he is a suitable figure.

Poetic and Dramatic Devices

As in all Majakovskij's dramatic work, the poetic and dramatic devices are interwoven in the text, in the characterization and plot. The network of devices supports the other elements of Majakovskij’s theatricalism, his use of the menippea, the figure of the protagonist, and the rhetorical nature of his works. The consistent use of the devices also imparts a logic to Majakovskij's somewhat fractured dramatic structures. 81

The poetic techniques of Majakovskij, that is, the abrupt switches in meter, the startling rhymes, the dissonance of each line of poetry, reflect a world in flux, a constantly moving line of action. At the same time, the dramatic structure of the work creates a natural environment for the poetry.

Majakovskij reinforces the shocking imagery and the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas through the devices in each poetic line. For example, this excerpt (already quoted), supports the scene in which the Old Man With Cats denounces God.

Esli b vy tak, kak ja golodali — dali vostoka i zapada vy by glodali, kak gioiut kost’ nebosvoda zavodov kopdenye roiil (p. 161)

While the word "nebosvoda" fits into the continual tine of alternating sounds "s," ’1,”

"b," "g," and "d," and the assonance "i," "a," and "o," the nature of the word (vault of heaven), combined with the low "roit (mug)” creates a startling contrast.

Every element in Tragedy is intricately connected, from the smallest sound units through the motifs of each line, to the larger themes of the work. Compare the above passage to this very similar one:

Esli b vy tak, kak ja ljubili, vy by ubili Ijubov' ili lobnoe mesto na&li vy by glodali, i rastlili b SerSavnoe potnoe nebo i molobnomevinnye zvezdy. (p. 162) 82

If you had loved as I have, You would kill love Or having found the place of execution You would gnaw And corrupt The rough, sweaty heaven And the milky-innocent stars.

The sound pattern is quite similar to that In the previous excerpt and the contrasting images here — "lobnoe mesto" and "potnoe nebo” have identical vocalic and stress patterns: o o e/e o. Majakovskij both unites and disjoins the images through the sounds and semantics of the words. This, in turn, supports the thematic contrasts of the entire work.

Majakovskij combines the techniques of his poetry with dramatic devices and the result is Tragedy. The two elements are so intricately mixed that one must look at dramatic episodes in the work to see how they are supported by the poetry.

In Tragedy, the rapid shifts of meter create a sense of action and swiftly- changing scenes. This dramatic "sdvig" (displacement) is a basic feature of

Majakovskij's poetry. Rhyme has a connective function that helps the action move forward despite the static construction of the play. Imagery is also a uniting factor in the play. The themes are reflected in the motifs found in every speech and in almost every line. For example, images of mutilation and rebellion are found throughout the work and they are similarly depicted. The dramatic episodes in Tragedy all reflect some aspect of Majakovskij himself that naturally leads to a lyricism in the speeches.

The poetic and the dramatic are interwoven in such a complex way that a new product results. This creation is a play blatantly constructed with poetic techniques, and this is 83

an element of Majakovskij's theatricalism.

Four distinct dramatic moments in Tragedy can be identified: the description of the city come to life; the entrance of the Ordinary Young Man and his consequent encounter with the crowd; the description of the mutiny at the end of Act I; and the entrance of the children-kisses, which prompts Majakovskij's acceptance of his quest.

They are similar in terms of poetic devices employed and in terms of dramatic significance.

The first episode occurs about half-way into the first act. The Man Without an

Ear has just finished a description of the city in flux. As he continues his speech, the crowd gathers around him. The next few lines read like the beginning of a tate:

Nad gorodom Siritsja legenda muk. Sxvati&'sja za notu — pal’cy okrovaviS’l A muzykant ne moiet vytaStit' ruk iz belyx zubov raz’jarennyx klaviS. (p. 157)

The legend of suffering spreads over the city. You grapple for a note — You bloody your fingers! The musician cannot extricate his hands From the white teeth of the enraged keys.

These expository lines alternate between six and eleven syllables. Then, there is an abrupt shift to four very short lines: 1 vot segodnja/ s utra/ v dusu." ("And today/ since morning/ into the soul"). This dramatic "sdvig" signals a change in semantics, as well as in meter. The lines gradually lengthen again, until the poetic line itself is stretched to a limit of eighteen syllables. The following line is dramatically cut to three 84

syllables, and the progression occurs again, this time to sixteen syllables. The third progression goes from seven to eight to thirteen syllables.

These ’'waves" of verse correspond to the shifts in content of the lines. The first group describes the narrator walking in a city animated; the second group is an address to the crowd; the third returns to the narrator, but describes his mental condition.

The lines are organized primarily by tri-syllabic meters, with anapest and amphibrach alternating. But disyllabic iambs, trochees and even phyrrics are scattered among the other verse feet. The number of stresses per line also varies, usually from one to four, with an occasional five-stress line for contrast. The overall impression of such lines of poetry Is one of violence and upheaval. This is supported not only by the semantic content, but by the stage directions: 'Vse v volnenii," and "eSfce trevoinee"

("All are disturbed," "Still more agitated").

The very long eighteen and sixteen-syllable lines are certainly dramatic from the point of view of poetics, for they contrast with the very short lines that dominate the work. This is but one example when the poetic line itself is used to highlight a dramatic moment, to set it off from the rest of the play. But In recitation (or on stage) the number of syllables in a long line becomes difficult to count16. The dramatic quality of Majakovskij's verse in this play emerges from the juxtaposition of very long and very short lines, and the variations in meter, together with the shocking lexicon.

The second episode is a purely theatrical moment. The Ordinary Young Man enters running, and clutches at everyone on stage. This action is in clear contrast to the static inertia demonstrated thus far in Tragedy. His speech commences with the 85

attention-getting direct address: "Milostivye gosudari," ("Dearest gentlemen") and

"gospodin," ("Sir") twice-repeated. His speech alternates between obscure language:

Mozg ljudei oster, no pered tajnami mira nik; a ved' vy zaiigajte koster, iz sokroviSC znanij i knig (p. 160)

The human brain is sharp, But is nothing before the secrets of the world; You build a bonfire, Out of the monters knowledge and books. and very clear pronouncements concerning his invention and his pregnant wife.

The majority of dramatic interaction occurs in this scene, when the young man is accosted by the crowd and pleads for his life. It is Majakovskij's intervening 'Bros'te!"

("Stop!") that motivates the anger of the throng. It is logical that this scene should be the most dramatic, for here Majakovskij confronts his enemies byt and the status quo.

The Ordinary Young Man is a metaphor for these concepts, and he is part of the old world that must be defeated.

There is not as much diversity in line length In this scene as there is in the first episode described. The action of the scene itself is dramatic, and does not need support from the poetry to- reinforce it. The meter is, again, primarily trisyllabic, anapest dominates, but disyllabic feet are also present. As in the first episode, there

Is a variation in the number of stresses per line.

The Ordinary Young Man's speech is poetically unremarkable, reinforcing his position as a symbol of b y t This scene, however is in marked contrast to the next 86

episode, which occurs almost directly after this one.

The third dramatic moment is flanked by activity. After the Ordinary Young Man is attacked, the huge woman is dragged away. Footsteps are heard, then the Man

Without an Eye or Leg enters, happy. An unrealizable stage direction is given:

"Bezumie nadorvalos'" {’The madness is overstrained.") This reinforces the poetic nature of the work, and at this point the poetic world reimposes itself, in the description of the world of objects.

The shocking nature of this sphere is expressed through the sharp contrasts in the length of the poetic lines. The narrator begins his account with very short lines:

Stojte! na ullcax, gde lica — kakbremja, (p. 162)

Stopl On the streets, Where the faces — Like a burden,

Then the lines lengthen a bit: j

u vsex odni i te ±, sejfcas rodila staruxa-vremja (p. 162)

Are the same on everyone, Now the old woman time has given birth and the rest of the tale is told in dramatically alternating lines, from two to thirteen syllables each. The climax of the speech, in which the nature of the mutiny is defined: 87

i vdrug vse veSCi kinulis’ razdiraja golos skidyvaja toxmot'ja iznoSennyx imen. (p. 163)

Suddenly All things Have flung themselves Tearing their voices Throwing off the rags of their worn-out names. contains the most drastic shift from short to long fines. This sets the moment apart in a poetic sense, and also supports a climax that is not clearly delineated through dramatic means.

Although this moment belongs to the dramatic structure of the work, it could not fit so well into that fabric were it not for the poetic devices that impart an emotional effect in keeping with the content of the play. The poetic logic, the corresponding metrical patterns and rhyme schemes, are the elements that unify the play. The language, at the sam e time, Imparts a sense of drama that is missing from the mechanics of the work.

Majakovskij introduces the denouement of the work with a disarming, amusing tale about the fate of a man given two kisses. This strange story, in which the kisses grow, cry out "mama" and drive the man to suicide, unites several of the play's themes.

The obvious theme of this tale is the continuation of the world of personified objects. But the fact that kisses come to life recalls the theme of love, or more exactly, the aversion to physical love already demonstrated by several of the 88

•

characters. This is further implied by the metaphor of women’s boudoirs as factories

for manufacturing kisses.

# The tate functions as a dramatic device as well, for it motivates the appearance

of children-kisses, begging to be taken away by Vladimir Majakovskij. The scene in

which Majakovskij decides his course of actions results from the appearance of the

children-kisses. They are vital to the plot motivation. Once again the dramatic structure emerges from the poetic language and poetic devices of metaphor and synecdoche. The children-kisses stand for the whole realm of love that the poet rejects, just as the tears the women bring symbolize the suffering felt by all the city- dwellers.

The moment of decision is accompanied by some dramatic tension. Majakovskij at first declines to act:

Gospodat PosluSajte — ja ne mogul Vam xoroSo, a mne s bol'ju-to tak? (p. 169)

But he is threatened ('We’ll make stew out of you I") and cajoled ('You atone know the songs to sing/ Take them to your beautiful god"). At this point the stage directions provide more tension, for Majakovskij does not acquiesce right away. He clumsily stumbles around, then collects the tears in a suitcase.

The last speech of this scene repeats the poetic constructions identified above.

The lines alternate from one to eleven syllables, short lines follow long, and where the 89

meter shifts there are also changes in content. The first and last lines of the speech show a remarkable poetic control and an effective repetition of consonant and vowel sounds:

Xoro&ol Dajte dorogul Dumal — radostnyj budu...(p. 170)

Very well I Show me the roadl I’ve thought it over — I will be glad...

Ja dobredu — ustalyj, v poslednem bredu broSu vaSu slezu temnomu bogu groz u istoka zvemyx ver. (p. 171)

The four episodes described above contain the techniques that make

Majakovskij's poetry "dramatic". The protagonist is the chief instrument in exploring truths or ideas. This is natural in a play based on the philosophy of the monodrama.

The plot, the situations in which the protagonist finds himself, Is presented in lyrical- dramatic form. The combination of poetic and dramatic devices underlies all the action in Tragedy. These elements of Majakovskij's theatricatism are found in all his dramatic works, and they stem from his poetry. Mystery-Bouffe contains many of the same devices discussed here, and they are used in similar fashion. But Mystery-

Bouffe represents a step away from the overwhelmingly personal concerns of all Majakovskij’s early work, into the realm of social and political questions. CHAPTER IV

MYSTERY-BOUFFE

Introduction

Mystery-Bouffe was Majakovskij's first attempt at a full-length theatrical spectacle17.

There are two areas of artistic reality in Mystery-Bouffe: the mystery play and the bouffonade. Majakovskij uses aspects of both in presenting hts own myth of the

Revolution and the Civil War years. All the elements of Majakovskij's theatricality are contained in the mystery play and the’play's theatrical devices act in conjunction with the many poetic tropes in the play to create the unique type of theatricallsm found in

Majakovskij's early poems and in Tragedy.

It is obvious that the mystery play was merely a starting point for the plot of

Mystery-Bouffe. As the poet himself reported, "Misterija — vetikoe v revoljucii, buff — smeSnoe v nej18". {"Mystery — is what is great in the revolution, bouffe — what is funny in it"). Majakovskij set out not to write a modern mystery play, but to use the devices of that genre to create a metaphorical picture of revolution. This is the rhetorical impulse of the play. But the very real influence of the symbolist mystery play19 has not been explored.

The familiar elements of Majakovskij's theatricality, mythologization, the figure of the protagonist and specific, highly poetic speech, are present inMystery-Bouffe,

They coincide with the Symbolists' use of the same devices in their mystery plays,

91 92

thus providing a link between Majakovskij and the Symbolists that has been ignored.

The other elements identified with Majakovskij's theatricality are found in the bouffonade of Mystery-Bouffe. Features of the menippean satire such as the deliberate distortion of the world, the parodic treatment of the deity and devils, and the three-planed adventure to other worlds are the primary characteristics of the bouffe in the play. The poetic language often contains the comedy of the work and the slapstick routines (which impart an air of improvisation to the carefully staged spectacle) reinforce the farcical nature of Mystery-Bouffe.

The resulting play is a hybrid of genres, a seemingly chaotic romp through familiar Majakovskian themes. It is neither a mystery play nor a bouffonade, but a comedy made up of elements from both genres. This factor, and the ideological messages In the play are part of the theatricalism common to all Majakovskij's works.

The Mystery Play

The medieval mystery play is a highly theatrical genre. The chief subject of the mystery play is the creation of the world. In this it is a mythological genre, for myths are primarily stories of creation. There is little cause and effect relationship between episodes; most spectators know the stories being presented. All stylization goes into the message of the play. The mystery Is a didactic genre, but at the same time It is highly entertaining. Despite the religious content, there is much comedy in a mystery play, and the use of the fantastic in the instructional stories is mandatory. The content of a mystery play Is highlighted at the expense of characterization. Mystery-Bouffe follows many of these general guidelines, but with a modernistic orientation gained 93

from the symbolist mystery play.

The symbolist mystery play reflects the practices of symbolist poetry. The underlying philosophy of the Platonic dual universe is evident in the presentation of dual worlds, of conflicts between two cosmic powers20, it is a modern genre, the illusion of reality found in traditional drama is, in the symbolists' plays, ignored. The spectator is aware at every moment that he is watching an artificial production. The aspects of the symbolist mystery play that are found in Mystery-Bouffe are the mythologization of the surrounding world, the homogeneity of the dramatic dialogue, and the communion scene, the central moment of symbolist mystery plays.

Mythologization Is an important part of all Majakovskij's work. The myths found in his poetry and plays are personal and political in nature. The presiding philosophical tenet of Mystery-Bouffe is the political myth: spiritual renewal through political change Is more important than concrete changes21. The plot holds the gradual mythologization of the world, a process that results in the spiritual renewal of the Unclean.

The prologue of the work, spoken by one of the Unclean, Is a presentation of the current state of the theater and a denunciation of the audiences that keep theater from changing. Majakovskij here identifies the status quo, and the conclusion of the play is foreshadowed by the fact that one of the Unclean, the collective force that will change the world of the play, speaks these lines.

Majakovskij wrote several versions of the prologue; it is obvious that this was a vital part of the play to him. The prologue to the first version opens with a casual, almost bantering tone in which one of the actors converses with the audience, then 94

turns to give a synopsis of the play. This is a traditional device of ancient folk spectacle22.

The prologue to the second version underwent several changes; in some copies of the text the prologue is left out altogether. The most important difference from the first edition of the play is that the "new" theater is exalted at the expense of the traditional. Most significant is the slap at the Moscow Art Theater of Stanislavskij:

"gnusjat na divane teti Man! i djadi Vani," ("Aunty Manja and Uncle Vanja sit and loaf on the sofa") (PSS, II, p. 246) whose lack of obvious political commitment Majakovskij deplored23. The prologue itself is an artistic statement employing ancient devices (the actor addressing the audience and giving a synopsis of the plot) and a declaration that innovation in theater is needed and herein provided. It signals that what is to follow is something both traditional and completely new.

This theatrical device serves Mystery-Bouffe well, for the familiarity of the mystery, play is diminished by its use as a vehicle for the mythologization of the

Revolution and its heroes.

In Act I the metaphoric rendering of the situation in Russia is begun. This is also the commencement of the making of the myth of the Revolution; it is a force unlike any seen since the destruction of the world by flood recounted in the Bible. The building of an ark is an act that purposely calls to mind the biblical story of Noah and continues the metaphor of the flood. The stage sets underscore the fantastic rendering of the current events, the scene is a highly stylized, geometric expression of the top of the earth. The characters who gather in this scene are symbolically dressed in garb that immediately identifies their class, country of origin or occupation. This 95

costuming device (one group is exaggeratedly dressed and the other appears perfectly normal), sets up the complete opposition of the two groups in the next act.

The second act is an allegorical re-telling of the events leading up to the

Revolution. The motif used in this tale is that of a great hunger, rendered fantastic by the unlikely devouring of every bit of food by one of the Clean, the Tsar-Abyssinian.

Even though the Unclean prove they can provide for themselves, they are enslaved and exploited by the Clean, tricked through clever rhetoric and guile. The situation grows worse until the rebellion of the Unclean, who throw the Clean overboard. The rebellion has solved only the problem of exploitation; the mythical monster of hunger still torments the Unclean to the point of hallucination. At this fantastic moment a miracle occurs. A man, prophet, priest and leader, approaches across the water. He speaks of the true kingdom and the right path. This is the communion scene of the play, in which the Unclean gain a new spirit and are able to overcome the immediate obstacles on the ark. Even as the ark is breaking up, the new strength of the

Unclean, true to mythological demands, allows them to survive and fight new battles.

As discussed below, this scene has ritual elements in it and is the central point of the myth, it is a scene that corresponds to the symbolist intention that these scenes result in a revelation of some kind. It is particularly important in a discussion of

Majakovskij's theatricality because the figure of the man is the "obyknovennyj tetovek," ("the Ordinary Man”) one of Majakovskij’s own masks.

Acts III and IV provide, among other things, chances for the Unclean to show off their new-found miraculous strength by exhibiting no fear in the face of Hell and by destroying the useless realm of Heaven. Beelzebub doesn't scare them because the 96

horrors on earth are much worse than in Hell. In Heaven the Unclean achieve their greatest victory by easily stealing God’s lightning bolts. The victory has a rhetorical side, too, when the Unclean discover the falseness of the traditional, religious and mythological views of heaven. The listless inhabitants of heaven and their useless

"cloud milk" and "cloud bread” only serve as motifs that spur the Unclean on to face the greater (and more real) dangers of life on earth.

The easy victories in Heaven and Hell are countered by the ghastly appearance of Confusion in Act V, another mythological moment in the play. The device of animation is effectively used in both this and the last act, as the Unclean find themselves faced with living objects similar to those that were mentioned in Tragedy.

The objects in Mystery-Bouffe seem to answer the question posed in the tragedy:

'Moiet byt' u veStej dufia drugaja?” ("Perhaps things have a different sort of soul?”)

The affirmative response is centered in the benevolence of the personified objects in

Act VI of Mystery-Bouffe.

The mythologization of the world in Mystery-Bouffe is complete when a workers’ paradise is established by the spiritually renewed Unclean. The Unclean are revealed to be clean, after all. The legend of creation is told through the symbolic occurrences

(the flood, the journey to Heaven and Hell, the speech of the Ordinary Man) that appear in the work. The language is not a code unto itself, as much symbolist poetry was, but is, for the most part, based on very accessible, humorous turns of phrase.

The charges that Mystery-Bouffe would not be understood by the m asses stem from the fact that Majakovskij so successfully couched the current events in myth. The common folk would not get the metaphor, this was the fear of the literary authorities of 97

the day. Majakovskij, like the symbolists, had faith in man's inherent ability to understand myth, but actually thought of Mystery-Bouffe as a work for the proletariat.

This is unlike the Symbolists' attitude toward the public.

Majakovskij uses dramatic dialogue in a manner similar to that found in the symbolist mystery play. The language of ail the characters differs very little, for they all speak for the author24. This aspect of Majakovskij's theatricalism has been seen before in Tragedy and in the poems. In Mystery-Bouffe, the speeches of all the characters, identified by motifs specific to each of them, are written in such a way as to allow very tittle differentiation between characters. The personages themselves are not, of course, important; rather, what they symbolize is the key to their identities. The dramatis personae of Mystery-Bouffe are allegorical. The seven pairs of Unclean and the seven pairs of Clean stand for the Soviet worker-hero and the enemy of

Communism. What they say and the manner in which they say it, whether speaking for the author directly, as the Unclean do, or illustrating the beliefs of the author's enemies, as Is the case with the Clean, is the same.

The dialogue in Mystery-Bouffe works in various polyphonic ways. The conversations are melodic and logical sometimes, at other times reflect an abrupt switch in the action. The discourse between the Clean and the Unclean is often set up as a duet, with one line answering the previous by means of rhyme and repetition.

As an example, here is one exchange:

Francuz: I vovse ne potop, a fob doidik byl. 98

Radia: Da, ne bylo doidika.

Diplomat: Znatit, i eta ideja toie dika...

PaSa: No vse-taki — 6to ie, pravovemye, proizoSlo? Davajte, pravovemye, posmotrim v koren’.

Kupec: Narod, po-moemu, stal nepokoren (p. 262).

Frenchman: No flood at all then there would be rain.

Rajah: Yes, There hasn't been any rain.

Diplomat: Then, this idea is also wild...

Pasha: But all the same — What, faithful ones, has happened? Let's, faithful ones, look for the root.

Merchant: The people, I think, have become unruly.

Poetic devices such as assonance, consonance and rhyme connect the speeches, and the verse functions as normal dramatic dialogue would. The interplay of sounds, rhymes, and so on enriches the discourse and moves the action of the play forward. Often the interconnecting rhymes and puns both create the dialogue and add the comedy to speeches, as when Majakovskij follows the Fisherman's "julenij" with the German's "tjulenej", or juxtaposes "pogib” and "gip-gipi". Poetry is, by its nature, 99

exclusive and immediate language and the verse in Mystery-Bouffe helps to establish and maintain the force and narrative flow necessary for drama. Thus, the use of verse in Mystery-Bouffe fulfills the criteria demanded of dramatic dialogue and imparts the higher dimension of poetic diction which supports the metaphoric framework on which the play is built.

(It is interesting to note, as did Allardyce Nicoll, that serious drama has at its heart the metaphor, whereas in comedy the simile is more often evoked.25. The theme of Mystery-Bouffe is embodied in a metaphor — the Revolution and Civil War are a flood that has destroyed the old world and set the inhabitants on an odyssey.

Majakovskij chose the more serious literary device of metaphor because of the underlying themes of the work.)

Within the larger framework of poetic integrity that characterizes the dramatic dialogue, the characters are stereotypes. They are defined by telling, yet very general manners of speaking. The speeches of the various characters reinforce the fact that they are ideological in nature. The Unclean, for example, are symbolic of virtues,

Marxist in nature. Personality is subordinated to labor and emotion to ideology.

Likewise, the Clean are not human beings but manifestations of vices. The mixture of the mundane and the ridiculous In their speech evokes the scandal scene of the menippea.

The German, for instance uses martial language: "Ja tol’ko Spagoj v 6eloveke kovyrjat' umeju" ("I only know how to stick a sword into a man" p. 273), and stands to attention, even for Beelzebub. The intellectual decorates his speech with words like

"metafizlteskoe" ("metaphysical") (pp. 263, 264) and "precedent" (p. 265). Quite often 100

he’s not understood by the other characters, another example ot the comedic function of the dramatic dialogue. The Priest uses typical ecclesiastical phrases such as

”bratie”{"brothers"), "boi’ej milost’ju", ('By the grace of God” p.277) and "sie na sorok nofcej i sorok deni" ("For forty nights and forty daysl” p. 265). The merchant is characterized by his pronunciation, written into the text as 'Voopfie", (instead of

"voob&fce, 'in general") "podymite ruki" ('put up your hands') and ’poialte" ('please')

(pp. 266, 282). This tendency to generalize continues through the Frenchman and

Englishman, whose speeches reflect their desire for territory and exploitation of the masses, and the American, whose every utterance contains references to money.

The Lady, coquettish and shallow, is obsessed with her possessions and displays a remarkable willingness to change her nationality as the situation warrants. The

"SoglaSatel'" or Compromiser is a special kind of stock character. His language reflects his fawning obeisance to whichever group seems to have the upper hand (he alternates in his use of "milye" ''dear ones", "gospoda" "gentlemen" and "tovariSti”

"comrades'), and his self-abnegating speeches such as: "PosluSajtel/Ja ne mogul...Milye krasnye/Milye beiye!" ("Listen!/ I can not I... Dear reds/ Dear whites!" p.

260) are repeated throughout the play. He appears as comic relief, as the main participant in the scandal scene, as a character from a Punch and Judy type of puppet theater, and as such is pummeled and humiliated for all his vain efforts to keep peace throughout the work. While the speeches are typical of certain social types, in concert and when opposed to the earnest pronouncements of the Unclean, they are quite funny. In the theater vice is always funnier than virtue. 101

The Unclean are not meant to stand out as individuals, as mentioned, they are symbols. They have no initiative or creativity on their own, they must act in concert at all times. They function as a collective hero, a very important literary device in

Majakovskij's work.

The Figure of the Protagonist

As has already been established, in Majakovskij's theatricalism the protagonist functions as both main character of a drama, and as a dramatic device. This modem concept, that the hero is both subject and object of a drama, is evident In Mystery-

Bouffe.

Two manifestations of the protagonist exist in the play. The first is the collective hero, a literary amalgamation of "common traits, needs and potentialities26." The collective hero, besides being an ideal of Leninist socialism, is a natural development of the mythologized epic hero.

The epic hero underwent several changes as a literary type. In the earliest epics, the hero is a man of super-human power and courage, he is The leader who inspires and commands others in the work of war which precedes the establishment of a new order27." Later, after Virgil, the epic evolved into a national genre, a work in which the main characters were symbols, their individuality sacrificed in order to make a moral statement. The collective hero, one who embodies the heroic qualities of both the oral and literary epics, is Majakovskij’s version of the epic hero. Ironically,

Majakovskij also lived in an age in which "the writers of literary epic lived in highly organized societies where unfettered individualism had no place26." 102

The collective hero shares traits ot the epic hero. He "...can be read as a kind of temperature gauge measuring the degree of crisis. When the crisis is considered greatest, he will tend to be most infallible, most monolithic, most parental, most mythic...29." The collective hero of Mystery-Bouffe is this type of literary product.

Although good dramatic practice dictates that the attention of the spectator be directed to one or two main characters, this is not a feature of the symbolist mystery play. Majakovskij at once creates a collective hero along the lines of Mathewson's description (The Positive Hero, p. 14) and he endows him with a common tongue.

Most often the speeches of the Unclean are merely divided among them, as in this passage:

Bulodnik: Likujl A ty podumal o xlebe?

Batrak: Likuj! A xleb-to dem zasejat'?

FonarSdik: Likuj! Kogda vmesto paSen — xljabi.

Rybak: I rybadit’ nedem, porvany seti. (p. 291)

Baker: Rejoice! But have you thought about bread?

Farm Hand: Rejoice! And how do we sow the grain?

Lamplighter: Rejoice! When instead of fields — the abyss. 103

Fisherman: And we cannot fish, the nets are broken.

The same musical quality seen in the speech of the Clean is glimpsed here in the many*part harmony. The lines quoted, and several others like them, could easily have been one character’s speech, but the motivation for dividing the speech up among the

Unclean comes from the homogeneous nature of the characters in mystery plays. But in modem drama, attention must be focused on individual characters, and Majakovskij does feature some of the workers over others.

Just as a few of the Clean stood out from the others, so, too, are there certain of the Unclean who are highlighted. A playwright must center the action on a few characters and even Majakovskij, despite his desire to create one hero out of many, found that he had to make some of the Unclean stand out. He assigns the

Blacksmith, Farmhand and Soldier specifically, the larger share of lines, and they embody the chief positive traits of the proletariat.

The splitting of the energy and features of the protagonist results in the creation of only one character, the collective hero. This is reminiscent of the treatment of the positive features of mankind in the poem ’Man" — the traits become more important than the character. In essence, this is a poetic practice in which part of the whole is substituted for the whole, yet evokes the* entire being. The Blacksmith embodies determination and inspiration and emerges as the leader of the Unclean. It is he, most often, who inspires the Unclean, who spurs them on to work. (Indeed, in at least one

Moscow production of Mystery-Bouffe, the lines not designated for a specific character were spoken by the Blacksmith, almost without exception30. This is one indication that 104

the character really does stand out.) The Farmer, who emerges in Acts III and IV suggests toil, fearlessness, love of the land. He is a humanist. He is the product of the earth and, significantly, he recounts the horrors afflicted by man on man and on the earth. The Miner is the most industrious member of the group, the seamstress is the dreamiest. The Engineer demonstrates intelligence and know-how in the final two acts. The Red Army Soldier emerges as the most militant and diligent, the part of the revolutionary willing to take chances.

Majakovskij does not assign any nationalities to the Unclean, preferring, perhaps, to let the audience draw the conclusion that the proletariat is truly international. This is more obvious when one compares the Unclean to the Clean, who are clearly delineated by nation, and fractious nations at that. The series of oppositions that underlies this play is again seen in this aspect of characterization.

In this way a collective hero is created, one who embodies the most important features of the new Soviet man. This literary type is prevalent in the later works of

Soviet literature, and the traits delineated here by Majakovskij, fearlessness, industry and intelligence, emerge in socialist realist works as cardinal virtues.

The feature of homogeneity makes it easy for Majakovskij to employ the ancient dramatic device of chorus In his play. This device underscores the collective nature of the protagonist and the ritual flavor of much of Mystery-Bouffe. In turn, the importance of the scene in which the "samyj obyknovennyj fcelovek" appears is emphasized. There, as elsewhere, the Unclean actually talk in chorus: "xorom.”

The chorus was an integral part of ancient Greek tragedy. In some works the chorus was an active participant in the drama, in others it served as commentator on 105

the action. In modem literature, the chorus adopts many guises that seem far removed from the ancient idea, but, in fact, are quite close. When the term chorus is applied to Majakovskij’s works, it takes on a lyrical nature. Majakovskij himself, appearing as protagonist, is the most frequently encountered chorus in his works. He is both participant in and commentator on the action. The modem preference for self- oriented theater was continued by Majakovskij in his plays. The chorus of the Unclean in Mystery-Bouffe acts in similar fashion.

More than 70 stage directions call for the reading of lines by more than one voice at the same time. Some of these lines are spoken by the Clean, some by the

Devils or Angels and many are recited by the "things" that appear in Act VI. But the majority of the speeches marked "xor" or "xorom" are recited by the Unclean. In

Mystery-Bouffe the proletariat thinks and acts as one, and the inclusion of the chorus device is innovative. Chorus usually comments on the action in ways the characters cannot and the vital truths embodied In the play are often announced by the chorus.

In Mystery-Bouffe, the chorus and the characters Involved in the action are one and the same, and the device becomes a participant in the action. Majakovskij liked this absurd device so much that he used it in his later plays as well.

In keeping with the genre of the symbolist mystery play, Majakovskij presents a myth of the world, explains that myth through the chorus-like speeches of his characters, and makes the most important moment in the work a communion scene.

The central moment in the symbolist mystery play occurs "during a communion ritual with the other world where a priest speaks his lines in verse31." The priest in

Mystery-Bouffe is the Ordinary Man, who speaks to the Unclean as if they were one 106

entity, and they answer him in one voice, in chorus. The Ordinary man is the second manifestation of the protagonist in the play.

The "priest" of the future speaks a Russian that is full of church slavonicisms and biblical references, that is a reworking of traditional religion into a new doctrine for the future. He delivers a "new Sermon on the Mount” ("Novaja/Nagomaja/propoved’" p.

298). He refers to current thought:

Ne o rae xristovom oru ja vam, gde postnitki liiut 6ai bez saxaru. (p. 298)

I do not cry to you of Christ’s Paradise, Where fasters sip unsweetened tea. then replaces it with his new paradise:

Moj raj — v nem zaly lomit mebel', uslug elektriCeskix pokoj feSenebelen. A tarn sladkij trud ne mozolit ruki, rabota rozoj cvetet po ladoni. Tam solnce stroit takie trjuki, fcto kaidyj Sag v cvetomorii tonet. (p. 298)

In my Paradise the halls are well-furnished, Electricity is fashionable. There pleasant labor will not roughen your hands, Work blooms like roses in your palm. There the sun plays such tricks, That every step sinks in flowerbeds.

The spiritual side of the Revolution, the heaven on earth that can be created by the workers emerges: 107

Ty pervyj vxoi v carstvie moe zemnoe — ne nebesnoe. (p. 299)

You are the first to be received Into my Paradise The earthly — not the heavenly one.

There can be no doubt that this is the unmasking scene of the play. The man reveals himself to be Majakovskij, first by evoking the title of one of his most famous works ("Ja...prosto telovek" "I am simply a man") and by paraphrasing lines from that work, "Ja videl tridcatyj,/ sorokovoj vek." (“I have seen the thirtieth,/ the fortieth century") Finally, he parodies the poet himself: "Slova za vas./ Ja nem" ("Speak for yourselves./1 am mute" p. 300).

As in the poetry, the protagonist is the primary vehicle for the message of the play. Mystery-Bouffe's protagonists display none of the crises that afflict the heroes of the poetry, though, and they display som e of the maturity evident in Majakovskij’s treatment of his personal themes.

The figure of the "samyj obyknovennyj telovek" is an important one in Mystery-

Bouffe, and familiar already from Majakovskij’s earlier work. He has appeared as a mask of the poet in the early poetry: he is the king of the prostitutes in "But After AH”; the sacrificial lamb of "A Cloud in Trousers" and 'The Backbone Flute": the hero of

"Man" and, most notably, the characters of "Vladimir Majakovskij" and "Obyknovennjy molodoj telovek" in Tragedy. The Ordinary Man of Mystery-Bouffe shares the qualities of leadership, self-sacrifice and suffering with the above-named characters, 108

but he is a much stronger, more confident figure than any of the earlier men. He has taken his strength from the Revolution and its full realization in the future (this theme will re-appear inThe Bathhouse).

The Ordinary Man’s speeches, not very long, are highly significant in many ways.

Dramatically, they foreshadow the action ofthe remainder of the play. The references to Heaven and Hell, and the "dlinna doroga" (Tong road") set up the journeys of the next two acts. The destruction of the old religion anticipates the smashing up of

Heaven and Hell by the Unclean. The Ordinary Man imparts a mandate to go out and build a new world, thereby motivating the last two acts of the play. The speeches are very well developed: first the old religion is referred to, then the old is revised into the new and finally the new religion is described. This is dramatic verse at its best: compact and effective. This scene has been foreshadowed: in their hour of need the

Unclean invoke both Christ and blasphemy:

Sveja: Kolokola, gudite! Vzdyblivajte zvonl Eto on Sel, rassekaja vody Gennisareta.

Kuznec: U boga est’ jabloki, apel'siny, viSni, moiet vesny stlat' sem' raz na dnju, a k nam tol'ko zadom oborativalsja vsevy&nij. toper* Xristom zalavlivaet v zapadnju. (p. 297)

Seamstress: Ring bells! Let the sound swell! It is 109

He Who walked, cutting through the waters of Galilee.

Blacksmith: God has apples, Oranges, Cherries, He can make it spring seven times a day, But he turns away from us. Now he sends Christ to trap us.

Dramatically speaking, then, this is the central scene of the play, it is the best* motivated and one of the most interesting to watch. Its significance is underscored by the fact that the entire conversation between the Ordinary Man and the Unclean is conducted in chorus, the mode of communication for Majakovskij’s collective hero.

The mythologization of the Unclean occurs in this scene in a quasi-religious way, when each of the workers feels the presence of the Ordinary Man in him or her. At the same time, the use of a chorus answering one voice evokes images of a church service and imparts an air of solemnity to the tableau, underscoring its importance.

This, then, is the seminal scene of the play, and the hero is The Ordinary Man who lives in each of the Unclean and, by extension, in each member of the proletariat.

It is interesting to speculate that the Ordinary Man's appearance in the play may stem from the very popular ancient genre of "dialogues of the dead," in which a representative of the nether world appears to the hero and relates important information. Although there is no indication that Majakovskij meant the Ordinary Man to function in this manner, he does appear out of sea mist at the moment of the near­ death of the Unclean. His message saves them from their doom and gives them their super-human strength. 110

Dramatic and Poetic Devices

The plot of Mystery-Bouffe is constructed along lines of opposition, much as the

' plot of Tragedy is. In Majakovskij's mystery play the oppositions are on symbolic and real planes. The symbolic opposition between the old and new worlds is illustrated by the stage sets, the metaphor of the flood and the animation of objects that occurs in the final two acts. On this level, there is an interaction between the theatrical and poetic devices.

The leitmotif of hunger is used to carry much of the plot forward. Not only does it create dramatic tension in the play, but it also precipitates some of the comic moments in Mystery-Bouffe.

The Englishman and the Frenchman concoct the idea of electing the Tsar, and this precipitates the first crisis on the ark, namely, when the Tsar-Abyssinian eats all the food himself. This results in a bouffonade moment when the Clean begin to berate each other using a familiar and funny Russian method: rugan'e (abusive language).

The scheming against the Unclean culminates in a mock-meeting after which the Tsar is thrown overboard. This foreshadows the fate of the rest of the Clean, as they, too, are literally overthrown by the Unclean. All end up in Hell, where the comedy continues as the devils employ pitchforks and binoculars to keep the Clean in line.

But their refusal to work results in a hunger crisis there. The Clean are always ravenously hungry and their hunger highlights the negative qualities in them. Hunger hovers over all the characters, appears in every act. and the Unclean almost starve until the discovery of the promised land. In Hell, the devils are starving, yet the Clean 111

do nothing to alleviate the situation. In heaven the workers are offered "cloud milk" and "cloud bread", but these completely useless substances do not help. Cloud milk and cloud bread are the motifs of Heaven: it is a wasteland as far as the workers are concerned, and they revolt against it, too. The allegories of hunger and false nourishment are used by Majakovskij in his rhetorical argument proving the necessity of the Revolution, an argument borne out by the plot of Mystery-Bouffe.

Throughout the plot, Majakovskij uses both traditional and innovative dramatic devices for motivation. In the bouffe portions of the play, the differences between the

Clean and the Unclean are shown through the use of dramatic dialogue, devices from the folk theater and also through the use of poetic devices such as substitution and repetition. All of the action in the play is further motivated by the poetic-ideological impulse of Majakovskij to use his comedy to instruct the audience on a number of topics.

The Unclean are characterized by, above all, industry. The work of the laborers results in the ark, the clearing away of debris from the old world in Act V, the harnessing of the new technology in Act VI. Their fearlessness keeps them alive, helps them intimidate Beelzebub, aids them In stealing God's lightning bolts, and overcomes Confusion and her host. Their predilection for revolution results in the overthrow (literally!) of the Clean and the destruction of Heaven and Hell. In other words, those characteristics of the Unclean mentioned above are essential parts of the action of the plot. They are necessary for purely formal reasons, too. There isn’t much cause and effect relationship between the various sequences, and the cowardice of the Clean and the heroism of the Unclean are the opposing elements that hold the 112

plot together and create the dramatic tension. Only the Unclean are reborn into the

workers’ paradise at the end of the work. This conclusion is also motivated by a

dramatic device: the deus ex machina.

The theatrical plot device of deus ex machina is clearly manifested in the

character of "telovek prosto — budu&tego" ('The Simple Man of the Future”) who

appears across the water (he is obviously a messiah figure patterned after Christ —

see above) to point out the true path to the Unclean. Majakovskij deliberately makes

this scene fantastic, and derives a special dramatic effect from it. "Departure from

strictly realistic staging makes the audience a collaborator in the play,32” and when the

Unclean declare that they feel the presence of the workers' savior In each of them, the

spectators are (it is implied) moved to join in that epiphany.

In any drama in which the protagonist strives toward a goal, he must meet

obstacles that are a pretty close, if not even, match for him. His overcoming these

difficulties or his failure in his quest are the elements that create the dramatic tension

on stage. In the previous two-thirds of the play, the Unclean have soundly defeated

any and all enemies on earth, in Hell and on high. The scenes in which this occurs

are theatrically high-spirited, due to Majakovskij's hyperbolic comic language. The obstacles In this play are set up as so many bowling pins to be easily knocked down.

The plot moves forward quickly, the farcical nature of the action of Mystery-Bouffe demands that as much comedy as possible be "stuffed" into the work.

The obstacles set in opposition to the Unclean occur on each of the three levels of the menippean satire: in Heaven, in Hell and on the earth. Majakovskij introduces an updated device from the mystery play into the earthly plane, the category of 113

animation. In the medieval (and symbolist) mystery play, virtue and vice were most often personified. In Mystery-Bouffe, the elements of everyday life are animated.

* These objects of b yt are the real enemy to be overcome in the play, and Majakovskij constructs this important battle on the poetic device of personification.

The feature of animation is a poetic device become dramatic. It is common to all areas of Majakovskij's work. The poet sees a victory over supernatural beings and ideas as only one battle in the war with the status quo. To truly defeat byt, the

Unclean must vanquish the objects of everyday existence that carry the real torment in the world. To succeed, they draw on the strength given them by the Ordinary Man in

Act II.

Act V is populated with benevolent objects as well as with surreal concepts.

There is another opposition between the pitiful locomotive and steamship begging for fuel and the spectre of Confusion, whose wonderful speech of horrors encapsulates the various metaphors that have been used all through the play, metaphors whose sole link Is the motif of hunger:

Zdes’ carstvuju ja — carina-razruxa: ja iru paravoz, sitraju maSinu. Kak dunu — sdunu fabriku puxom. Kak dunu — sdunu zavod, kak pu&lnu. Ja Its* vzgljanu — i fcugunka ne xodit. Gryznu — i put' ieleznyj sglodan. I kortttsja v gotode gorod 114

i v xolode, derevnja ot xoloda mret i ot goloda. (pp. 334*335)

Here I reign — Empress Confusion: I eat locomotives Devour machines. When I blow — I blow away factories like smoke. I just blow — And I blow away plants like fluff. I just look — And the foundry ceases work. I gnaw — And the railway lines are tom up. The city writhes in hunger And in cold, The countryside is dying from cold And from hunger.

The fantastic animation of objects is a menippean feature and is here a substitution for the real enemy, the old regime and power-brokers of Tsarist Russia.

Confusion holds the people (symbolized by the starving and thirsty locomotive and steamship) in her awful grip until the Unclean defeat her. This victory surpasses those over Heaven and Hell and the mythologization of the workers is completed in this scene.

The Question of Genre-

Mystery-Bouffe Is, as stated at the outset, a hybrid of genres. Elements of the mystery play, the menippean satire and even the epic can be identified in it. These elements coincide, collide and at times merge, and the result of this mixing of heterogeneous elements is a whole, rhetorical work. The epic is a natural genre for 115

Majakovskij the playwright, for it incorporates myth, legend, folk tale and history into the telling of the heroic story.

The epic reflects recent events and the national epic seeks an explanation of the present through symbolic representation. To this end, Majakovskij constructed his elaborate metaphor of the flood and destruction of the world as a way of elucidating the cataclysms of revolution and civil war. "Epic poetry deals with events that have a certain grandeur and importance and come from a life of action, especially violent action33." The theme of Mystery-Bouffa is the Revolution, the event that completely overturned Russian life.

Majakovskij's play reflects the struggle of a nation to transform itself from a backward, superstitious empire to a modem, industrialized nation. The transition from a monarchy to another regime has never been easy and the result of this in Russia, the Civil War, inflicted countless hardships on the population. Mystery-Bouffe's primary motifs of hunger and food, tools and religious belief reflect this situation. In overall tone, Mystery-Bouffa is epic, for like other authors in that genre, Majakovskij believed his calling was extremely serious and that the object of his life's work was to improve mankind.

There are two versions of Mystery-Bouffa, one written before and one after the

Revolution. The second version is a more structured stage piece and incorporates more fully the experiences of the Civil War years. It is richer, more "mythological" for this. Many of the devices in Majakovskij's earlier works appear also in Mystery-

Bouffa. Mystery-Bouffe is one of Majakovskij's most sincerely optimistic works and deserves careful study for several reasons. Its relationship to the rest of Majakovskij's 116

canon is clear and important, and as the first Soviet play, it has a place in Russian literary history. 4

CHAPTER V

THE BEDBUG

Introduction

The Bedbug is a large step forward in the development of Majakovskij's theatrical art.

While it retains the elements of his early theatricality, including the mixture of poetic and dramatic devices, menippean satire and the use of rhetoric, the play is constructed on much more traditional dramatic lines than were Tragedy or Mystery-

Boufie.

The purpose of the play is to satirize the NEP years and the types of individuals it produced. But the theme of The Bedbug Is the loss of human interaction that accompanies technological advance in any era. In this, Majakovskij's predecessor is

&exov; indeed several moments of The Bedbug are strongly reminiscent of texov’s

"comedies." Gogol', too, served as inspiration for this play. This is important to note because the device of inserted genres (the presence in a satiric work of other literary creations, often inserted with an accompanying degree of parody34), just one of the menippean devices used in the play.

As in all of Majakovskij's major works, the figure of the protagonist has many functions. He is an integral part of the plot, he embodies some aspects of the rhetorical argument waged by Majakovskij, and he is a mixture of poetic and dramatic devices. Prisypkin Is different from Vladimir Majakovskij of the tragedy or the

117 118

collective hero of Mystery-Bouffa in that he is not a positive character. Like

Pobedonosikov after him, Prisypkin is a tool in Majakovskij's hands, not so much a character as an illustration of negative qualities. The nature of this character has been misread; he is not an anti-hero defeated by the system, but yet another in the line of protagonist-symbols that began in Majakovskij’s poetry.

Devices

The interaction of poetic and dramatic devices in The Bedbug is extremely complex. Traditional dramatic devices function as plot motivators in the work and poetic devices become dramatic through their use in the text. They join with the theatrical devices to support the action, or enrich the characterization and dialogue. It is almost impossible to find a moment in the play that does not reflect the intricate interweaving of poetic and dramatic devices that is the hallmark of Majakovskij’s theatricalism.

The poetic devices in The Bedbug are found in the characterization and dialogue, as well as in the overall theme of the work. This is not surprising;

Majakovskij's plays are multi-layered products of his poetic and dramatic techniques.

In this work, the characterization is handled through hyperbole; the characters are grossly exaggerated caricatures of social types. The hyperbole is in turn a part of the rhetorical argument in The Bedbug: by highlighting the negative, Majakovskij renders his version of the new Soviet reality more convincing. The hyperbole of characterization is found in all the negative characters and Is countered by the straightforward presentation of Zoja Berezkina. It is reinforced by the device of 119

repetition, which lends a continuity and a type of logic to the characters, despite their

exaggerated traits.

Repetition is also the unifying device of the plot ofThe Bedbug. It is found in

the parallel scenes of the work, in the reiteration of stock epithets and catch phrases, and in the details that make up the stage settings of The Bedbug. The presence of

this device in The Bedbug brings us closer to the heart of Majakovskij’s theatricalism, a combination of poetic and dramatic devices. This synthesis is found in nearly all

Majakovskij's works, in the poetry as well as the plays.

The Bedbug at first glance appears to be a series of self-contained scenes, each designed for either comic or didactic effect. But the many parallels in the play serve to unify it and make the work a satiric whole. This is accomplished by the poetic logic that arises out of Majakovskij's consistent use of devices.

The device of repetition underlies the plot of The Bedbug. For example the circus scenes are carried through the play. The 'bezobrazie" ("outrage") of the wedding scene (Scene 3) is echoed in the search for the bedbug (Scene 7), complete with mass confusion and the appearance of firemen in each case. The use of the advertising couplets, a part of the rhetorical argument of the work, also forms a line of progression from the first scene to the last. Here again the dramatic structure of the work rests on a poetic device, repetition.

Majakovskij unites the two time frames and creates a dimension in which the work coheres by transforming the slogans of 1928 to reflect the problems and concerns of 1978. With this sam e device Majakovskij also addresses the nature of the

’hew" Soviet language: will it be any different than the old? Thus, the characters of 120

Prisypkin and Zoja Berezkina and the device of repetition strengthen the idea that The

Bedbug is an integral work, not merely a collection of vignettes. The parallel dimensions impart a complexity not obvious from first reading, and all through the text

many recurring details are found. The love of beer, for instance, is first expressed by

Rozalija in Scene 1, causes the fire at the wedding reception, figures in the firemen's speech and is an obsession of Prisypkin throughout the 1978 scenes. It also, of course, figures in all the advertising. Books and other literary products are interspersed throughout, and these details form part of the substructure supporting the larger concerns. They generate a complexity in the text similar to that of Majakovskij's verses, which are also built on recurrences and transformations.

Exposition, a theatrical device, is also handled through repetition. For example, the details of the thawing-out of Prisypkin are mentioned in the doctors' conversation and then through direct action on stage. Further, when Zoja tries to explain herself to her superior in scene 6, she retells the events of 1928 from her point of view. The journalist's tale of the effect Prisypkin has on the citizens of the future is then re­ enacted in pantomime on the stage. These expository moments in the drama also reflect the main theme of non-communication, since the telling of the stories is often accompanied by the device of dialogue of the deaf. Dialogue of the deaf is a misunderstanding on the part of the characters, usually arising from the misinterpretation of a word or situation. It is almost always used to comic effect. This device, the theatrical equivalent of Majakovskij's theme, permeates the play.

It is Majakovskij’s use of repetition that saves the play from succumbing to the most unsatisfying aspect of satire: the nonconstructive, loosely strung together 121

episodic framework. At first glance The Bedbug, too, may seem to be a circus-like parade of disjointed scenes, but a close look at the structure of the work yields a very different conclusion.'

Further connected with poetry is the way in which Majakovskij creates dramatic dialogue. The above-mentioned hyperbole and repetition are found within the dramatic dialogue of the play, and every line spoken is a densely-textured utterance designed to either reveal the character's true nature or to contribute to the development of the theme of The Bedbug.

Majakovskij's poetic technique was well-suited to this type of dialogue reproduction. The language of poetry is immediate and intense, and the choice of the apt descriptive word is an outstanding feature of Majakovskij's poetry. This technique is transferred into the plays, and there begins the combination of dramatic and poetic devices, most often indivisible from each other, that makes up Majakovskij's theatricality.

The comedy in The Bedbug is, for the most part, based on the truly funny manipulation of language. The dramatic dialogue is more natural than in Mystery-

Bouffe and more varied, less tired than in The Bathhouse. Although they are still

"types," the characters themselves show greater individuality than the Clean and

Unclean pairs, or the minor characters of The Bathhouse.

Dramatists use dialogue to identify characters, to "type" them. This device is particularly necessary to drama because that genre lacks narration, and the audience must rely on dialogue to impart information about the characters. Well-written dramatic dialogue immediately pinpoints the virtues and vices, social position, and 122

other salient features of the characters.

Majakovskij's method of creating dramatic dialogue has much in common with his poetic technique. In the poetry, Majakovskij relies on short, distinct semantic and syntactic groups to build the lines of poetry. In his plays, he includes the most typical, almost universal phrases and slogans of the various professionals in the casts.

In The Bedbug, for example, he includes snippets of colloquial student jargon:

"Opjat’ sapogi sperli..." "Eto v nix Prisypkin k svoej verbljudixe na svidanie zatopal...

("Again somebody swiped my boots..." 'That was Prisypkin who took them to go see his she-camel...") (PSS, XI, p. 227). Nor are physicians spared, as in the scene when the doctors grill Zoja for information on Prisypkin:

Professor: Skaiite, a resnicy u nego byll mjagkie? Na slu&aj polomki pri bystrom razmorazivaniL.A vy ne pomnite, — on sil'no razduval nozdri pri vdyxanii v vozbuidennom ob§6estve?... A vy ne osvedomleny otnositel'no ob"ema ieludka i pe&enl, na slu&aj vydelenija vozmoinogo soderianija spirta I vodki, moguSfcix vosplamenit’sja pri neobxodimom vysokom vol'taie? (pp. 251-252)

Professor: Tell me, were his eyelashes soft? There might be breakage during rapid unfreezing...Do you remember, — did he strongly inflate his nostrils while breathing in an excitied state?... And are you conversant regarding the volume of his stomach and liver, if there is secretion of a quantity of spirits and vodka, it could ignite under the necessary high voltage?

When Rozalija is buying fish she engages in "rugan'e":

Rozalija Pavlovna: ...Skol'ko stoit eta kil'ka? Prodavec: Eta lososina stoit 2.60 kilo. Rozalija Pavlovna: 2,60 za etogo Sprota-pererostka? Prodavec: Cto vy, madam, vsego 2.60 za etogo kandidata v osetriny! 123

(p. 222)

Rozalija Pavlovna: ...How much for this fin? Salesman: This salmon costs 2.60 a kilo. Rozalija Pavlovna: 2.60 for this overgrown sprat? Salesman: What can you mean, madam! Only 2.60 for this candidate for sturgeonhood!

Majakovskij makes fun of himself through the vendors' songs, and other poets

(particularly Moltanov and Nadson) by introducing parodies of their verse. Clearly the verbal mix of The Bedbug Is rich, and the idiomatic structures employed by

Majakovskij are still enjoyable today. The mixture of styles, overblown and coarse,

i normal and incomprehensibly complex, is also the result of the artistic revolution of the preceding years. The futurists brought to poetry language previously considered unsuitable for that genre. Language, tike society, was undergoing tremendous changes, as the "slovar' umerSIx slov" ("dictionary of obsolete [dead] words") so drastically illustrates. Language (the use and abuse of it) is one of Majakovskij's favorite topics, and it figures prominently in every one of his plays.

Through of the use of poetic devices, the play's structure Is transformed from the episodic construction of satire into a coherent whole comedy. The Bedbug rises above the generic constraints of satire, while at the same time fulfilling them, due to the fact that Majakovskij employed poetic devices to artistic effect. Hyperbole, metaphor and repetition are consistent in the play, and the network of interacting devices lends a poetic logic to The Bedbug that carries the action forward. Prisypkin is perceived as unchanging throughout the play, and this is a result of the repetition used in his characterization. When the entire Renesans family and their guests perish comically 124

in a fire, the logic of the metaphor (i.e., the destruction of the old order) reinforces and legitimizes the dark humor. The entire play contains a remarkable homogeneity, when examined in terms of the poetic devices, and how they interact with the dramatic devices.

Of all his plays, The Bedbug is Majakovskij's most theatrical. This is due to the reliance on stock dramatic devices such as exposition, dramatic irony, dialogue of the deaf and parallel scene construction. Some of these were encountered in Mystery-

Bouffe, but in The Bedbug Majakovskij is more confident in handling the mechanics of a stage play. This is reflected in the dramatic dialogue, plot construction and characterization of The Bedbug.

The framing device of the play is the strong contrast in the set designs for the

1928 and 1978 worlds. As is true of the designs for Mystery-Bouffe and The

Bathhouse, the staging of The Bedbug fits the action of the play, and is itself a part of the theme of non-communication.

There is an energy to The Bedbug that is displayed in the style of its first performances. The spectacle of the play, the fire scene, the alarming escape of the bedbug, the voting and un-freezing scenes, is a lively contrast to the theme of non­ communication illustrated in the work. True to the high-spiritedness of the action, The

Bedbug was given a decidedly constructivist production. Constructivism in the theater was a vital, enriching force, one capable of endowing a positivism to plays, and The

Bedbug was no exception. The 1928 scenes were designed by the artists known as

Kukryniksy and were intended to display the vulgarity and tastelessness of the bourgeois. The 1978 half of the play was rendered by the constructivist artist 125

Rod&enko who utilized "simplicity, large forms, utilitarian objects" and "an imitation of

glass" instead of solid walls35. The staging techniques also included ramps, cages, staircases and platforms. The physical difficulty of moving around in both halves of the play mirrors the characters’ psychological barriers to real communication. Within this ideological frame, the plot moves ahead on poetic and dramatic principles.

Menippean Satire

Once more elements of the menippean satire are found in Majakovskij's dramatic works. A concern with topical issues pervades The Bedbug. In addition, the purpose of the play is not to test a specific character, but to explore or provoke a certain truth or theory. This is why the use of caricatures is not a fault in this work or in The

Bathhouse, which employs the menippean devices similarly. Within these broad parameters several specific devices of the menippea are found throughout the text.

The simplicity of a caricature allows the truths hidden beneath it to surface more easily. This is the point of satire in general, and the menippea in particular. The devices of the menippean satire force one to "reveal the deepest layers of his personality and thought36." This purpose is at the heart of all Majakovskij's work and explains his creation of extraordinary situations in his poetry and plays. The devices of the menippea blend with the general devices of satire in The Bedbug.

Satire is a didactic, rhetorical genre the subject of which is the more '"heroic' and self-satisfied forms of vice and dullness which create grand inflated images of themselves37," "Dullness" in this context connotes mankind’s idiocy, pomposity and vulgarity. Northrop Frye stated that two qualities are essential to satire: an object of 126

attack and wit or humor based on a sense of the absurd38. Common to all satire is the trivialization of values and the exaggeration of the trivial. The conflict between the

"dunce" (in Pope's use of the word in The Dunciad) and the reality that surrounds him generates, according to Kernan, the plot of satire. The plot of satire is often disjointed, merely a collection of scenes very loosely connected. The overall tone is anti-heroic and ironic and reflects the satirist's belief that he is justly exposing the vices of his society. Ian Jack summarizes best in stating, "Satire is born of the instinct to protest; it is protest become art."

The plot of The Bedbug is another three-planed fantastic adventure. The first plane, 1928 Tambov, represents the status quo. The third, 1978 Tambov symbolizes the new order. The connecting plane is the figure of the frozen Prisypkin who, even when thawed out, remains in a state of suspended animation, unable to conform to the new order. The plot pattern discerned in Majakovskij's poems and plays presents the old order first, then a disaster precipitates change, and a new order is established. In

The Bedbug the figure of Prisypkin himself is the disaster, or at least, the motivator of the disaster. The protagonist used as a plot device is one of the common features of

Majakovskij’s theatricallsm, as is the use of metaphor to define the world-changing cataclysm. The fire at the Renesans wedding reception is a metaphor for the destruction of the old order, as Is the flood in Mystery-Bouffe or the revolt of objects in

Tragedy. The central plane is the figure of the protagonist, just as it is in the longer poems.

Scandal scenes abound in The Bedbug. Zoja's suicide attempt, the riot at the wedding reception, the escape of the bedbug and Prisypkin's behavior throughout are 127

all examples of the menippean scandal scene. The sharp contrasts typical of satire are found in the characters (Zoja vs. Bajan, Prisypkin vs. his roommates), the plot (the distinctly different settings of 1928 and 1978) and in the views of Utopia' in each part of the play. The Utopia of 1928 is symbolized by Prisypkin's "cornucopia," and the

"profusion of objects39" characteristic of all satire vividly illustrates this.

From the first scene material goods crowd the stage. The choreography of the vendors in Scene 1, combined with Prisypkin's search for goods to fill his "horn of plenty" establishes the importance of objects in this work. Hie students in the dormitory long for possessions and envy Prisypkin as they condemn his greed. Hie wedding reception is replete with food, drink, flowers and people. The crowds inThe

Bedbug become inanimate themselves, and the de-animation is expressed in the scene after the fire. The firemen do not identify victims of the disaster, but rather, they recite a list of objects connected with the victims. This poetic substitution of things for people becomes a part of the theme of the de-humanization of people by technology.

This object obsession is not limited to the 1928 scenes. Detailed descriptions are given of the laboratory room of the future. In the 1978 city trees sprout plates of mandarin oranges and perfume bottles. Prisypkin’s cage is filled with post cards, furniture, empty bottles, a spittoon and so on. In a final ironic reversal of man and insect, the bedbug is contained within a sterile, empty glass case, a stark contrast to

Prisypkin's filthy surroundings.

The mixture of the fantastic and the mundane found in the poetry is also present in The Bedbug. Hie marketplace of the first scene provides a setting in which ordinary items are given completely new, fantastic uses, as the following lines 128

illustrate.

Sary-kolbaski. Leta] bez opaski. Takoj by Sar generalu Nobile, — oni by na poljuse dol'Se pobyli.

Sausage balloons. Fly without danger. General Nobile should have Had this kind at the North Pole.

Getmanskij neb’ju&ijsja totil'nyj brusok, 30 kopeek ljuboj kusok. Totit v ljubom napravlenii i vkuse britvy, noil i jazyki dlja diskussijl (p.218)

Unbreakable German whetstones, 30 kopecks each. Sharpen In any way you want Razors, knives and tongues for discussions!

These products become a satiric comment on the "perevorot" (upheaval) taking place in all areas of Soviet life at the time. Majakovskij uses a special brand of rhetoric, namely, advertising, to make his points about society.

An equally important device of satire is the magnification of the trivial. This is 129

inextricably woven into the plot of The Bedbug. The doctors' utter fascination with

Prisypkin's every movement and habit is a manifestation of this device. Thanks to this hyperbolic device, what at first seemed to be a mere parody of medicine and physicians’ practices gains another dimension in satire. Prisypkin moans about love songs and music, Rozalija haggles over the price of fish, Bajan worships the fox trot

— all these characters of 1928 embody the magnification tendency of satire, which is related to hyperbole of characterization. The doctors of 1978 work on restoring dogs to their pre-Prisypkin state, the zoo director is fixated on the bedbug, Prisypkin seizes on wrapping paper to make him happy. In both worlds and among all classes the magnifying device is rampant.

Finally, a seemingly favorite menippean device, inserted genres, plays a role in the satire of The Bedbug. In addition to the parodies of popular sentimental poets and the self-mockery of the advertising slogans, Majakovskij incorporates elements from the most famous Russian satire, Gogol's The Inspector Genera/.

The final scenes of the two plays are similar, as are the characters of Prisypkin and Xlestakov and the treatment of themes by both authors.

The theme is explicitly expressed in the last scene of The Bedbug. It is based on the concluding scene of The Inspector General, The similarity of the Mayor's

"Cemu smeetes'? — Nad soboju smeetes'40!" ("What are you laughing at? You're laughing at yourselves!"), usually spoken directly to the audience, and Prisypkin's

"Graidane! Bracyl Svoi! Rodnye! Otkuda? Skol'ko vas?! Kogda ie vas vsex razmorozili? 6ego ja odin v kletke? Rodimye, bracy, poialte ko mne! Za fcto I ja stradaju?," ("Citizens, Brothers! Family! Where did you come from? How many of 130

you are there? When on earth were you unfrozen? Why am I alone in this cage? My dears! Come to me! For what am I suffering?” p. 273) are motivated in similar

fashion and are intended to have the same effect on the audience.

The Mayor, trapped in his own deceptions, convicts the other characters and

includes the audience among the guilty. As each character tries to escape, he is caught in the final "nemaja scena” (mute scene) which freezes the group and puts an end to any thought of comedy. Majakovskij likewise inserts a "freezing” scene at the end of The Bedbug, but the sequence of actions in it is the reverse of that in Gogol's play. Prisypkin first goes through a pantomime of his familiar gestures and then, seeing the audience, cries out to them but is subdued and taken away. Majakovskij fills his final tableau not with silence, but with a cacophonous march. In either case, the audience is left with the astounding realization that it, too, is part of the world depicted on stage. For the spectators, as for the dramatic heroes, there is no escape.

Even though Xlestakov manages to flee, the figures of the two protagonists have much in common.

The artistry in The Inspector General lies in making Xlestakov a naif and a perfect foil for the townspeople41. Prisypkin also functions as a counterpoint to Bajan and Zoja Berezkina. Bajan's opportunism and Zoja's innocent faith in love are expressed through their relationship to Prisypkin. The people of the district town plot ways in which to use Xlestakov. Similarly, Bajan rides Prisypkin's coattails toward his dream of a "red" life. Prisypkin is preoccupied with acquiring material goods in 1928, and complains about the food and drink given him in 1978. Xlestakov is obsessed by his desire to get a decent meal; the marketplace holds an undeniable attraction for 131

both characters. The false inspector and the young man with a union card are vaguely aware of the plots being hatched around them, but the most important feature they share is that each is a man to whom things are done, each falls into a situation not of his own doing. Further, they are both linking characters: Prisypkin joins the 1928 and

1978 worlds of The Bedbug; Xlestakov is the liaison between the town of N- and St.

Petersburg. St. Petersburg, in turn is a part of the theme of The Inspector General.

In The Inspector General Petersburg functions as a 'powerful absence42," an ideal not yet attained. In The Bedbug, the promised eternal life made possible by the technological advances of the future turns out to be as imperfect as current existence.

In each play, a concern with the spiritual life of man is found under the satire.

The similarities between the two plays are part of a literary game often played by

Majakovskij in his verse and in his plays. This menippean device serves to link the poet to the authors of "the golden age" and also allows him to take aim and fire at his contemporary rivals. Inserted genres figure even more prominently inThe Bathhouse.

The Figure of the Protagonist

Prisypkin is another of the protagonist-vehlcles Illustrating the m essage of the play. He is not a complete character; but as has been shown, the device of splitting up the energy and features of the protagonist into many parts is in keeping with the demands of satire.

Prisypkin is a protagonist only in the satiric framework. He is not heroic (in fact, the anti-heroic is a feature of satire), he has no goals beyond material acquisition

(1928), and eating and drinking (1978). A typical dramatic protagonist has a goal and 132

strives toward it. The nature of his goal determines our attitude toward him, how much

he wants it, our interest. Satire is, of course, a particular type of drama and the same

criteria are used in an intentionally inverted manner to strengthen the satirist’s attack.

Therefore, Prisypkin is not meant to be heroic, or admirable. He is shallow, pathetic

and generally unpleasant. He is the same type of protagonist encountered in

Majakovskij's poems and other dramatic works, but this character acts a spokesman against an issue.

By illustrating what is wrong with society, Prisypkin embodies the argument for change. Ironically, he himself doesn't change at all during the play; he is no more positive in the future than he is in the first half of the play. This gives Majakovskij's attack on this type of individual a didactic consistency. His recognition speech at the end affects not because it provokes feeling for him, but rather, because of concern for society.

Many of the most important things we learn about Prisypkin, those features that justify the initial view of him, are disclosed in the dormitory scene. The young people are the chorus of The Bedbug, their concerns are both serious and trivial. They are reliable witnesses, based on the matter-of-factness of their speech. From them we learn that Prisypkin takes other people's possessions, he has upgraded his wardrobe and altered his name to sound more refined: the cleaner finds his "Pierre Skripkin" cards. Prisypkin/Skripkin plagiarizes and knows how to borrow money. He has no real skills apart from singing and dancing, and so on.

As with all Majakovskij's protagonists, hyperbole of characterization is evident from the beginning of the work. For Instance Prisypkin is listed in the cast list as 133

"Prisypkin — P'er Skripkin: byvSij rabodij, byvSij partiec, nyne ienyx" ("Prisypkin —

Pierre Skripkin: former worker, former party member, currently a fiance’). Prisypkin is

a dim-witted consumer and he repeats the words "rog izobilija" (horn of plenty) and

"polnaja dada" (cornucopia) to the point of absurdity. (Of course, satiric dramatic

dialogue is meant to be absurd.) Bajan echoes these and other words exactly, and

thereby reveals himself to be a fawning satellite of Prisypkin, much like Optimistenko's

relationship to Pobedonosikov in The Bathhouse, or the "SoglaSateV" (Compromiser) of

Mysteiy-Bouffe to whomever is in power. Both Bajan and Prisypkin exaggerate their

Importance through the phrasing of simple statements in complex but nonsensical

utterances. When speaking of his future children, for example, Prisypkin uses the word ’Ipotomstvennye" (hereditary) in addition to the more neutral "bududdie" (future).

He is concerned with decorum: "V nadej krasnoj sem'e ne dolino byt' nikakogo

meSdanskogo byta i brjudnyx neprijatnostej" ("In our red family there must not be any bourgeois way of life or trouser-induced unpleasantness") and plans to name his children Dorothy and Lillian, after the Gish sisters ("Ja uie re&il nazvat' aristokratidesko-kinematografideski" — "I already decided to name them in an aristocratic-cinematographic manner"). As obvious as his bourgeois aspirations are so, too, is his stupidity made clear. He mistakes fur-lined brassieres for little hats for twin girls (motivating his pronouncement on his daughters); he cannot always follow

Bajan's complex speech; he misquotes popular love poetry to Zoja Berezkina. The poetic devices of hyperbole and repetition are designed to give definite clues to the audience and at the same time they heighten a vital theatrical device, namely, dramatic irony. The spectator recognizes Prisypkin's type through the consistency of 134

his speech and actions.

Prisypkin's isolation, both physical and emotional, seems to be a fitting

punishment for a man who intended to join with the proletariat in order to use it.

Through his intention he lost the right to commune. The final thrust of this theme, true

to the satiric nature of the play, is that Prisypkin turns to the audience and is overjoyed

to be able to communicate with it. The crowd on stage thinks his final speech is

horrible; the audience, thanks to dramatic irony, understands it better.

Minor Characters

Two secondary characters are worth mentioning in this study because they

represent the contrast in Majakovskij's style of characterization, and because all the rest are completely stock figures. Bajan and Zoja Berezkina function in several ways as parts of the protagonist. Their opposite personalities help to point out which human traits are lacking in Prisypkin.

Majakovskij’s chief characterizing device is dramatic dialogue. Bajan, the negative sidekick of Prisypkin, speaks in long-winded orations full of literary allusions.

His speech is the menippean device of inserted genres.

Bajan's is characterized from the very beginning as a "samorodok," a person possessing talent but no education. His dialogue is a clever combination of bureaucratisms, jargon, literary allusion and a lago-like manipulation of Prisypkin's emotions. This is his sole talent, tn speaking of the impending wedding ceremony, he uses words like ''svadebnyj kortei" and "epitalamu Glmeneja." Majakovskij combines this poetic device of hyperbole with the dramatic dialogue of the deaf, and the 135

combination of the devices renders the satire even more sharply funny:

Bajan: Kogda vafi svadebnyj kortei... Prisypkin: Cto vy boltaete? Kakoj kartei? Bajan: Tak vot, kogda kortei pod'edet, ja vam spoju epitalamu Gimeneja. Prisypkin: 6ego ty boltaeS'? Kakie eSfce takie Gimalai? (p. 223)

Bajan: When you wedding cortege... Prisypkin: What are you jabbering about? What card-playing? Bajan: Anyway, when your wedding cortege drives up, I shall sing you the epithalamium of Hymen. Prisypkin: Now what are you jabbering about? What's this about Himalayas?

In scene 2 he gives an astoundingly senseless speech about Prisypkin's talents that is full of European references. He says:

Razve naS Srednij Koiij pereulok dlja vas dostojnoe poprifefce? Vam mirovaja revoljucija nuina, vam vyxod v Evropu trebuetsja, vam tol'ko Cemberlenov 3 Puankarov slomit' i vy Mulen-Ruii I Panteony krasotoj telodviienij vosxiSfcat* budete... (p. 233)

Is our Lower Goat Street really enough for your way of life? You require world revolution, you need an exit to Europe, you'll just smash the Chamberlains and Poincares, and you will delight the Moulins Rouges and Pantheons with your beautiful body motions...

At the wedding feast Bajan continues this way:

Bajan: Krasota — eto mat’... Usher: (jumping up): Mat'! Kto skazal "mat"'? ProSu ne vyraiat’sja pri novobrafcnyx. (p. 239) Bajan: TovariSfcL.Tak eto ie...cedura, Usher: Kto skazal "dura"? Pri novobrafcnyx. Vol! (p. 241) 136

Bajan: Beauty — is a mother... Usher: Motherl [a Russian curse] Who said ’mother’? Please, not in front of the newlyweds. Bajan: Friends...such is the sedura. Usher: Who said fool I In front of the newlyweds even!

Although Soviet critics have seized on Bajan as the most negative example of

"meSfcanstvo" (Philistinism) in the play, he is more than that. He is part of the menippean satire, and he is another character created out of a combination of dramatic and poetic devices. This type is seen in Tragedy, Mystery-Bouffe and, later, in The Bathhouse.

All the main characters are rendered through the poetic device of hyperbole; only

Zoja escapes this treatment. This is due to the fact that Zoja is actually a mask for the author; she is one of the "ordinary people" who stand for Majakovskij. This mask was also encountered In Tragedy and Mystery-Bouffe. To emphasize her importance,

Majakovskij gives Zoja the most natural, neutral and comprehensible lines in the play.

Very often in Majakovskij's plays and in his poetry, the positive characters speak an unadorned Russian, a Russian that hides nothing within clever turns of phrase or periphrastic language. Zoja is no exception to this.

There is a reason for setting her apart from the others. Zoja is the positive linking character uniting the two worlds in which the play is set. As such, her function in the work is important, and in order to be plausible, Zoja cannot seem too ridiculous.

Unlike The Bathhouse, where the absurd is the normal state of affairs, the worlds of

The Bedbug are held in very tight check, with only occasional lapses into lunacy.

At first glance, perhaps, Zoja seems weak and silly. But (especially in 137

comparison with the other characters in this work) she is, in fact, one of Majakovskij's more positive women characters.

The Zoja of 1928 is concerned with basic human needs and problems: love, marriage, betrayal. But in 1978 she comes to realize what a fool she’d been to attempt suicide. The character of Zoja Berezkina has been overlooked quite often and as a representative of her gender, she fares pretty well in Majakovskij’s scheme.

Based partly on a girl who committed suicide after being rejected by the poet

Moltanov, (the verse Prisypkin recites to precipitate Zoja’s suicide attempt in scene 2 is Moltanov’s43) Zoja shows enough strength of character to persevere and even leam from her mistake. In a satire as replete with negative figures as The Bedbug, she is a welcome relief.

The minor characters are devices in themselves. The students and workers of

Scene II are devices of exposition, specifically, that of chorus. This is another unchanging feature of Majakovskij’s theatricalism, a trait that parallels his faith in. the masses. This faith is demonstrated by the natural language that his proletariat characters employ in all his works. The students relate the important facts about

Prisypkin.

On the other hand, the doctors, the zoo director and the other functionaries from the 1978 scenes are supports for the satiric rendering of the future. The Renesans family and their wedding guests are pure comic relief. Like the minor cast of The

Bathhouse, who function as a collective villain, the characters of The Bedbug are vehicles for the rhetoric and the themes of the play. In this they are closer to the characters of Majakovskij’s earlier works. 138

The Them es of The Bedbug

There are three main themes addressed in The Bedbug: technology and the

beneficial effects of science; the lack of communication between people that results

from modernization, and the fate of creative language in the post-revolutionary years.

in Mystery-Bouffe fantasy and the supernatural play a large part in the action

(the scenes in Heaven and Hell and the personification of things in Acts V and VI). In

The Bedbug a greater interest in science and technological advancement is evident.

The scenes .of the future, while stylized, do not rely on extra-terrestrial motivation as

do Mystery-Bouffe and The Bathhouse (the Phosphorus Woman and the time

machine), but instead are carried by the more plausible aspects of modern science.

This is not to say the The Bedbug does not contain its own bits of fantasy. Certainly

plate-sprouting trees and thawing frozen bodies after fifty years are beyond the fringe

of 1928 probability. But practices such as cryogenics and behavior modification were

topical scientific theories. The fantastic elements are an inseparable part ofMystery-

Bouffe's plot; in The Bedbug they are part of the satire. In The Bathhouse there is a

return to the fantastic, and in that work it functions as part of the satire, it is used to

sharply point out the inadequacies of the stage world. When writingMystery-Bouffe,

~ Majakovskij was still in his futurist phase and the play reflects that44. The shocking

blasphemy of the Heaven and Hell scenes, the overthrow of the bourgeoisie and the

faith in machines and electricity as forces of progress are all futurist concerns. The

satire of Majakovskij's final two plays is more socially oriented, though traces of

personal concerns are found in them. 139

Two themes from Majakovskij's lyrics are integral to the play. The first is the desire and inability to communicate and the second is the longing for a beautiful future45. These are lifelong obsessions with Majakovskij and the fact that they appear in this work sustains its dramatic effectiveness. Although audiences may not view the

1978 depicted in The Bedbug as particularly positive, Majakovskij intends that it seem better than 1928: in 1978 there is a victory over death, promoted by science, and that is the poet's greatest hope. No other of Majakovskij's theatrical works reflects this as well as The Bedbug.

The combination of dramatic and poetic devices has a dual function in this work.

The primary result is comedy. But on a more serious level, the hyperbole of characterization, combined with the dialogue of the deaf, supports the main theme of

The Bedbug. This theme is lack of communication, or even an inability to communicate.

The theme of non-communication is present throughout the play. It is realized in a number of ways, through poetic devices and more subtle means. Early in the play it can be assumed that Majakovskij is lampooning the famous 6exovian atmosphere of non-communication, especially when Scene 2 ends with one of fcexov’s favorite dramatic devices: the off-stage shot46. In fact, and this is part of the menippean device of inserted genres, allusions to famous Russian plays abound in The Bedbug.

For the most part, they are incorporated into the text slyly, and provide the audience with a context outside the play. Throughout The Bedbug the theme of non­ communication is expressed by poetic and theatrical means. 140

In Scene 3, for example, the comic devices serve to characterize Bajan; he is unable to make any of the guests at the reception understand his ludicrous speeches.

Whether this is because of alcohol or overly clever use of Russian, Majakovskij does not definitely say. Both reasons seem equally condemned in the work,

Until Scene 4, the device of dialogue of the deaf maintains its function as motivator of the comedy in the play. Then, an underlying seriousness is introduced into the work by the de-animation of the human characters, as they are reduced to a recitation of their belongings. Finally, In the scenes of the future, the de-humanization is fully felt.

The tone of the play starts to shift slightly, when the mechanical voting machines are Introduced in Scene 5. In the future machines will take up the task of communicating and fulfill it more efficiently than humans. It is not clear whether this Is part of Majakovskij’s "beautiful future" hopes or not. The mechanical arms may seem eerie as described in the stage directions ("Vmesto ljudskix golosov — radiorastruby, rjadom neskol'ko visja&&ix ruk po obrazcu vysovyvajuSfcixsja iz avtomobilej" "Instead of human voices — radio loudspeakers, nearby are several hanging arms that look like the turn signals In an automobile" p. 244), but they are shown to work better than human voters. The satire lies in the questioning of the need for human voters at all.

In Scene 6, Zoja has trouble explaining her fears about Prisypkin to the doctor, and he repeatedly goes to look up her words in the "dictionary of obsolete words"

("slovar'.umerSix stov.") The thawed-out Prisypkin, of course, cannot communicate in

1978 with anyone except the bedbug he finds crawling on his collar. The result of this

Is that by the end of the work Prisypkin comes to be regarded as an Insect himself — 141

and a parasitic one at that. In the verbal phantasmagoria that is The Bedbug, one’s

mode of communication (or non-communication) equals one's identity.

Although the characters in the ptay suffer from their inability to communicate, an

actor, with the right interpretation, can commune successfully with the audience. This

brings yet another, purely theatrical, layer to the work. Returning to the theater some

of the qualities of the ancient Greek communal experience was a fervent desire of

Russian Symbolist playwrights at the turn of this century and beyond. As was

evidenced by Vladimir Majakovskij — A Tragedy, and Mystery-Bouffe, these practices were not ignored by the futurists, Majakovskij among them.

The final scene solidifies and broadens this idea. Not only does Prisypkin affect the crowds gathered to gawk at him, but Majakovskij breaks through the fourth wall and includes the audience in this climax. He thus brings the play forth into a universal dimension, as he was to do in The Bathhouse.

In the final analysis, ail the themes of the play — the inability to communicate, the obsession with material objects, science, social responsibility — are united through the devices employed in the text, and are then laid bare for the audience and the reader when the fourth wall is broken.

Related to the theme of communication is that of the manipulation of language.

The manipulation of language for conducting a rhetorical argument is one of the elements of Majakovskij’s theatricality found in all his major works. Majakovskij lampoons his own skill with language throughout The Bedbug.

Majakovskij's “ditties," for instance, are amusing examples of a highly rhetorical poetic creation, namely, advertising. Rhetoric seeks to persuade through artful 142

language; so does advertising. Majakovskij's own experience writing slogans for

ROSTA and ads for GUM and other agencies trained him in the skillful use of language. His own poetic talent enabled him to make the most of the highly specific language needed in advertising;

The lines cited below are examples of Majakovskij's rhetorical figures, i.e., the skillful arrangement of words to achieve a particular effect. The primary effect is humorous: the items advertised and the warnings transmitted are absurd. The secondary use of these couplets, however, is more sophisticated. They are a feature of the device of repetition.

Majakovskij introduced slogans in nearly every scene. They are poetic in themselves, and they help to unify this play. Compare the vendors' lines from Scene

1 with the newsboys' harking in scene 5:

Razmorozit' ill ne razmorozit'? Peredovicy v stixax i v prozel (p. 248)

To thaw or not to thaw? Leading articles in verse and prose!

Teoretifceskaja postanovka istorifceskogo voprosa: moiet li slona ubit' papirosa! (p. 249)

Theoretical discussion of a hitoric question: Can a cigarette kill an elephant? 143

Grustno do sleza, sme&no do kolik: otfjasnenie slova "alkogolik"! (p. 249)

Sad to the point of tears, funny to the point of colic: The definition of the word "alcoholic"!

Nestled between these similar tableaux is the famous anti-drink march of the firemen of Scene 4, an excerpt of which is given here:

TovariSCi i graidane, vodka — jad, p'janye respubliku zazrja spaljatl (p. 243)

Comrades and citizens, vodka is poison, Drunks will destroy the republic!

Finally we witness the last instance of this sloganeering in Scene 9 when

Prisypkin is at last reduced to a mere insect:

V kulak bakterii rasmatrivat' glupo! TovariSCi, berite mikroskopy i lupy! (p. 268)

To look at bacteria in your fist is stupid! Comrades, use microscopes and magnifying glasses!

I

Deriite uSi 144

v polnom vooruienii. NauSniki zaderiivajut grubye vyraienija. (p. 269)

Keep your ears in their proper condition. Earphones filter out rude expressions.

All these couplets, of course, mock Majakovskij's own work for ROSTA and

other agencies. In structure, they are practically identical; in content, too, they are

similar. Even in the admonishing ditties products are being advertised. The

progression of the poetic lines is from the trivial (fur-lined brassieres and sausage­

shaped balloons) to the stem (a warning against alcohol and tobacco) to the concerns

of modem science. Here is another example of the depiction of the "new" language.

The NEP years brought with them a need for skillful manipulation of consumers. But,

paralleling the theme of the de-humanlzing effect of science Is that of the death and

re-birth of language. It has been demonstrated that the clever manipulation of

language Is not necessarily a positive element in Majakovskij's plays; almost every character who does so (at least in The Bedbug and The Bathhouse, which were written in the heyday of linguistic change) perishes or is defeated by those who speak straightforwardly.

Majakovskij playfully parodies the agit-prop directives and the resulting mediocrity of language. The irony is that he is much more skillful in his parodies than were the original writers.

The Bedbug contains all the elements of Majakovskij’s theatricality, and all are directed at satirizing the society in which people tike Prisypkin thrive, despite their 145

harmful qualities. This theme is encountered again in The Bathhouse, the culminating work of Majakovskij’s dramatic canon. CHAPTER VI

THE BATHHOUSE

Introduction

The theme of The Bathhouse is the struggle for artistic freedom, and although it is disguised as the denunciation of petty bureaucrats, every element of the play, from the protagonist to the time machine, expresses the theme of the play.

The protagonist and the minor characters act and speak in such a way that the audience becomes aware that common sense and artistic integrity have no place in the reality of Soviet life and art. The sensible is almost completely absent in this play; absurdity is presented as the accepted force behind all that occurs.

Even the time machine, the framing image of the play, reflects the fight for artistic freedom. It is a completely free invention, it has both practical and impractical uses. Most importantly, it is invisible, so that each person who comes into contact with it can visualize it for himself. The invisibility of the time machine is but one manifestation of the opposition between artistic vision and reality that is encountered in

•> The Bathhouse .

The central artistic moment of the work is Act III, the scene in which Majakovskij very directly points out the role of the establishment in the ruination of art in general, and theatrical art in particular. This act, tike the rest of the play, Is built on a combination of reality and fantasy, and contains the elements of Majakovskij's

146 147

theatricality that pervade his poetry and his drama.

Poetic and Dramatic Devices

The poetic devices used in The Bathhouse include repetition, metaphor and hyperbole, and they help to make the unreal characters and situations in the ptay intentionally implausible.

Hyperbole recurs throughout the play, and it is most often combined with dialogue of the deaf to characterize the various personages of The Bathhouse. The play is an absurd depiction of Soviet life, and the characters can neither communicate with nor make themselves understood by others.

The following examples of this concept also demonstrate how Majakovskij takes a poetic device and, through combining it with a purely theatrical device, makes it dramatic. Hyperbole, exaggeration in poetry, is very specifically applied in The

Bathhouse : in each scene characters from the different sub-plots meet, yet no communication between them is established. In the context of the play, this seems a natural state of affairs.

The humor arises out of the combination of exaggerated traits of the characters with the theatrical device of dialogue of the deaf, a hyperbolic reproduction of non­ communication. This is seen in the conversations between the Phosphorous Woman and Underton.

P.W.: Vy otsjuda? Underion: Poka niotkuda. P.W.: Kak tak? 148

Underton: Sokratili. P.W.: Cto eto znafcit? Underton: Guby, govorjat, krasili. P.W.: Komu? Underton: Sebe (PSS, XI, p.331).

P.W.: Where are you from? Underton: Right now, from nowhere. P.W.: What does that mean? Underton: I was fired. P.W.: What does that mean? Underton: They said I made up my lips. P.W.: Whose lips? Underton: My own.

This conversation is repeated twice, and each time the Phosphorous Woman

understands less about the way Pobedonosikov treats women. This is a parody of the genre of Socratic dialogue, which is based on the dialogic nature of truth. The truth

behind Underton’s firing is that she laughed at Bel’vedonskij's ludicrous portrait of

Pobedonosikov, she overstepped the boundary of false logic that holds the glavnafcpups’ world together. Her use of the word "sokratili” for being fired is no accident; it brings to mind Socrates47. Further irony on Majakovskij’s part arises out of the nature of the characters engaged in these dialogues. The heroes of the Socratic dialogue were concerned with getting at the truth of any issue. They are the very opposite of the characters inThe Bathhouse, who use every means at their disposal to conceal truths.

The parody is seen earlier in the portrait-painting scene with Bel'vedonskij. The discussion of furniture styles:

Bel’vedonskij: Vy, razumeetsja, znaete i vidite, kak skazal znamenityj 149

istorik, fcto stili byvajut raznyx Luev. Vot eto Lui Katorz Cetymadcatyj, prozvannyj tak francuzami posle revoljucii sorok vos’mogo goda za to, fcto Set neposredstvenno posle trinadcatogo. Zatem vot eto Lui 2akop, i, nakonec, pozvolju sebe i posovetuju kak naibotee sovremennoe, Lui Move Gu. (p. 299)

Bel'vedonskij: You, it goes without saying, know and see, as the famous historian said, that [in furniture] there are different styles of Louis. There is Louis Quatorze the fourteenth, nicknamed that by the French after the revolution of '48 because he came directly after the thirteenth. Then we have Louis Jacob, then, finally, I allow myself to recommend as the most contemporary, Louis Mauvais Gout. is nonsense exaggerated to an unbelievable degree. This concept extends to the very fabric of the language, the grammar, when Bel'vedonskij declines the French name

Louis ('lui"): "raznyx Luev," "vse tri Luja." This sounds, and indeed is, ridiculous in

Russian. Bel'vedonskij and Pobedonosikov have the following exchange in which the comedy enters the artistic plane and the fate of those artists who have compromised with the regime and given up their creative freedom, is displayed in the figure of

Bel'vedonskij, a hack artist reduced to painting ridiculous portraits of pompous officials.

Bel'vedonskij: Vy znaete Mikel' Anielo? Pobedonosikov: Anielov, armjanin? Bel'vedonskij: Ital'janec. Pobedonosikov: Fafcist? Bel'vedonskij: fcto vy! Pobedonosikov: Ne znaju. Bel'vedonskij: Ne znaete? Pobedonosikov: On menja znaet? Bel'vedonskij: Ne znaju...on toie xudoinik. Pobedonosikov: A) Nu, on mog by I znat*. Znaete, xudoinikov mnogo, glavnafcpups — odin. (pp. 300-301)

Bel'vedonskij: Do you know Michelangelo? Pobedonosikov: Anielov, the Armenian? Bel'vedonskij: Italian. 150

Pobedonosikov: A fascist? Bel’vedonskij: What are you saying! Pobedonosikov: I don't know him. Bel'vedonskij: You don't know him? Pobedonosikov: Does he know me? Bel’vedonskij: I don't know...he's also an artist. Pobedonosikov: Aht Well, he may know me. You know, there are a lot of artists, but only one glavnatpups.

In addition to the effect of hyperbole on characterization, the repetition of the same devices gives the play an integrity akin to poetic logic. The ironic treatment of the Socratic dialogue is also heard in this conversation about Karl Marx's gambling:

Nofckin: Nu fcto t, Karl Marks toie v karty poigryval. Pobedonosikov: Karl Marks? V karty? Nlkogdalll Nofckin: Nu vot, nikogda...A fcto pisal Franc Mering? 6to on pisal na sem'desjat vtoroj stranice svoego kapital'nogo truda 'Karl Marks v lifcnoj iizni"? Igrall Igral na§ velikij ufcitel'... Pobedonosikov: Ja, konefcno, fcital I znaju Meringa. Vo-pervyx, on preuvelifcivaet, a vo-vtoryx, Karl Marks dejstvitel’no igral, no ne v azartnye, a v kommerfceskie igry. (p. 302)

Nofckin: So what, Karl Marx played cards. Pobedonosikov: Kart Marx? Played cards? Never!!! Nofckin: Never, huh? What did Franz Mehring write? What did he write on page 72 of his grand labor 'Karl Marx' Personal Life"? He played cardsl Our great teacher played... Pobedonosikov: I, of course, read and know Mehring. In the first place, he exaggerates, and in the second, Karl Marx indeed played, not gambling games, but, rather, mercantile games.

The poetic devices of hypertole and repetition combine with the dramatic device of dialogue of the deaf and parodies of various literary genres to create scenes on stage that are at once comic and revealing. The sources for such comedic devices are the Socratic dialogue and menippean satire. 151

Not only do poetic devices underlie the actions and speech of the characters, but

they motivate the themes of the play as well. The time machine, its invention and the

struggle for its acceptance, is a metaphor of the fight for artistic freedom. The motif of

Invisibility is echoed in the director's instructions to his actors in Act III, instructions

that are constructed of the same semantic-syntactic units as Majakovskij's verse. The

theme of the bureaucracy is carried in everything that is absurd in this play, yet it

gains a warped logic from the consistent use of poetic devices.

Theatrical Devices

In addition to the prevalent device of dialogue of the deaf, Majakovskij also

includes foreshadowing, unmasking, and the construction of parallel scenes to reveal the true nature of the world he presents on stage. Dramatic irony is incorporated into the audience's perception of the action, they are invited to participate in a way that goes beyond mere knowledge of what is happening to all the characters. This is accomplished through a modem theatrical device: the traditional "fourth wall" separating the spectators from the action on stage is broken as the audience finds its new role.

In Act I Pobedonosikov does not appear at all, but his role In the action is foreshadowed. He is the "glavnaftpups: chief administrator of compromises." The salient parts of his biography are related by.Veloslpedkin, then Polja, Pobedonosikov's wife, enters to say she's failed to convince him to consider the invention. The audience learns that "on Sipit bumainym udavom kaidyj raz, kogda vozvra&fcaetsja domoj, beremennyj revoljucijami ("He hisses like a paper boa every time he comes home, 152

pregnant with revolution” (p. 289)." There is some irony in the description of

Pobedonosikov, and the highly artificial, quasi-bureaucratic language is a hint of the man yet to appear. This sets up the audience reaction to the actual appearance of

Pobedonosikov in Act II.

The structure of Act II is just right for the ludicrous exchanges that occur. The act is actually divided into two locations, the waiting room and Pobedonosikov's office.

The scenes alternate, the action scene is illuminated while the other is in darkness.

This staging technique evokes images of the circus and the lighting and darkening of the three rings, and is itself a comment on the nature of the incidents taking place.

The linking device between the two sets is the stream of people who are waved into

Pobedonosikov's office while Velosipedkin and Budakov are kept out. The themes of the play are first united in this scene, when the artist-inventor is snubbed by the bureaucrat.

In Act III, the stage directions call for an extension of the audience rows onto the stage, or perhaps of the stage into the audience. Either way, the traditional "fourth wall” separating the spectators from the action has been overcome and the audience itself finds a new role. The directions further call for the characters to look at the audience through binoculars and vice versa. The participant role of the public is thus expanded (in theory, at least). It is vital that the audience be completely involved in the action in this act; it is here that Majakovskij lays out his main theme, the right of an artist to create freely. If the audience accepts this premise within the play,

Majakovskij is vindicated. That is why public support for it is crucial. At the same time, the staging reinforces the feeling of the world upside-down that pervades the plot 153

of the play.

Adding to the confusion already established between reality and fantasy, the spectators are asked to see two Pobedonosikovs. The Pobedonosikov of Act III unexpectedly returns to the play proper with the words, Tzobretatelej mnogo, a ja odin" (p. 316). (’There are many inventors, but only one of me’). This echoes his earlier statement "Xudoinikov mnogo, glavnafcpups — odin." It is confusing at best, as the director insists to Veloslpedkin that this Pobedonosikov is not the one from the play. Majakovskij has entered dangerous dramatic ground here, the play within a play set up In Act III is in jeopardy of falling apart, so he quickly ends the act with

Pobedonosikov's speech that, after all, the masses won’t understand the play because they want to remain inactive spectators. The theatrical devices of Act III are an attempt to prove this contention false by placing the audience right in the action.

Act IV is the part of the play known as "complications,” when the stage is being set for the climax. It is the most Traditional," theatrically speaking, of all the scenes: a well-worn situation comedy played out through the use of several stock dramatic devices, including the literal appearance of a "deus ex machina," a "god from a machine."

The domestic comedy belongs to Pobedonosikov and Polja, and it Is obvious from the outset that this is no happily married couple. The audience is aware of this

(via dramatic irony), for it has been hinted at in Acts I and II, first when Polja relates her failure to communicate with her husband, and then when we leam that

Pobedonosikov intends to go on a "business trip" with Mezal’jansova, the flirtatious translator. In Act IV the glavna6pups’ attitude toward his home and marriage is clearly 154

indicated: the scene opens with him already out on the landing. In both a physical and a psychological sense he is detached from his wife.

While Polja pours out her justified anger and frustration, Pobedonosikov answers in bureaucratisms and excuses:

Ja edu vosstanovit' vainyj gosudarstvu organizm, ukrepit’ ego v raznyx goristyx mestnostjax," ... plyvi, moja gondola! U menja net gondola, a gosudarstvennyj korabl' (p. 318).

I am going to restore the important organism of the government, to strengthen it in various mountainous areas...Sail on, my gondolal I don't have a gondola, but a government vessel.

His speech, though ridiculous, is creative in a comical way. Every one of Polja's speeches contains the words "smeSnol" (funny) or "ne smeSno!" (not funny), and this motif reflects the nature of Pobedonosikov's dialogue. The argument continues until

Polja cries out in frustration, "Eto ty iz menja sdelal oStipannuju nasedku" (’You have made a wretched hen out of me!" p. 319). Pobedonosikov never answers her directly, preferring to point out that someone will hear her shrieking, thus bringing shame upon him. The dramatic irony of the scene arises out of the fact that the audience by this time knows that Polja's complaints are valid. This point of satire has been made painfully obvious through the use of both hyperbole (the exaggeration of

Pobedonosikov's stupidity and self-importance), and repetition (the unchanging exposition of these traits throughout the three previous acts.

Veiosipedkln, dudakov, Dvojkln and Trojkln appear in Act IV dragging the time machine up the stairs. Before noticing them, Pobedonosikov ominously reminds his 155

wife to hide his pistol — a foreshadowing that it will somehow figure soon in the plot.

As if to justify the audience’s faith in the theatrical devices, a shot and a simultaneous explosion are heard Pobedonosikov runs back into his apartment as general chaos breaks out. Act IV is a farcical interlude; much action is "stuffed" into it, though it is a very short scene, almost a skit. It functions as comic relief after the avant-garde techniques of Act III.

The explosion signals the appearance of the delegate from the future, an appearance accompanied by spectacle. Majakovskij uses the devices of farce (broad physical comedy, lots of action, absurdity) in all his plays, and they almost always accompany or precede the important events in the plays. This is true of the slapstick surrounding the appearance of the Phosphorous Woman, as when Optimistenko enters the scene "na xodu podtjagivaet brjuki, v no£nyx tufljax na bosy nogi, vooruien.” ("Pulling his trousers on as he enters, bedroom slippers on his bare feet, armed", p. 321).

When Pobedonosikov learns of the Phosphorous Woman his only concern Is to send Optimistenko to find out whether it’s permissible, according to party rules, to believe in supernatural occurrences. He immediately assumes a superior, knowing air, and pretends to know all about the woman's visit. This Is more dramatic irony. He scolds Veloslpedkin for not coming straight to his office. When Optimistenko returns he significantly says that "oni smejutsja" ('they laughed") when he posed

Pobedonosikov’s question. The root of "smeSno" and "smejutsja" is identical and Act

IV ends on the sam e note on which it began. Thus this act is unified by the poetic device of repetition. 156

Pobedonosikov is caught out, 'twist on his own petard," in the penultimate act of

The Bathhouse . As the action unfolds, it is revealed that Pobedonosikov has been

rendered a petitioner himself. Optimistenko now wields the most powerful weapon in the play, namely, the bureaucratese, and he does not hesitate to turn it against his former chief.

H ie structure of Act V is identical to that of Act II; the action alternates between the waiting room and Pobedonosikov’s former office. This time, of course, the situation is overturned and the formerly mighty are forced to petition while the newly powerful have the opportunity to effect change. The use of the word "inkognito" in this scene is one more reference to The Inspector General and its famous opening scene in which the townspeople learn of the impending visit. This allusion is another of the literary jokes in the text, and is part of the menlppean device of inserted genres.

Act VI takes place in the sam e location as Act I. It is interesting that, after holding up the looking glass to his contemporaries in Act III, Majakovskij structures the rest of the play in reverse images. The parallel settings of Acts II and V, Acts I and VI bear this out, as does the completely turned about situation of Pobedonosikov.

Up to this point, the combination of poetic and dramatic devices has been used to propel the plot. The device of dramatic irony Is particularly necessary, for the • > audience's knowledge of the intrigues add considerably to the comedy. The prevailing atmosphere of The Bathhouse is irony, manifested in the presentation of the absurd world on stage as perfectly normal. The poetic devices of repetition and hyperbole impart a logic to the actions and dialogue, that is not inherently present in them.

Pobedonosikov has but one way of speaking; it is exaggerated bureaucratic jargon 157

that results in completely nonsensical products, such as his letter on the rise in tram fares:

"Itak, tovariSti, pomnite, fcto Lev Tolstoj — vellfcajfiij I nezabvennyj xudoinik pera. Ego nasledie profclogo biefcfcet nam na grani dvux mirov, kak bol'Saja xudoSestvennaja zvezda, kak celoe sozvezdie, kak samoe bol'Soe Iz bol’Six sozvezdij — Bol’Saja Medvedica. Lev Tolstoj..." (p. 296)

And so, comrades, remember that Lev Tolstoj — is a great and unforgettable artist of the pen. His legacy of the past shines to us on the border of two worlds, like a large artistic star, like a whole constellation, like the largest of the large constellations — Ursa Major. Lev Tolstoj...

Pobedonosikov: Itak, tovariSfci, Aleksandr Semenyfc PuSkln, neprevzojdennyj avtor kak opery "Evgenlj Onegin", tak I p'esy togo ie nazvanija... Underton: Prostite, tovariSfc Pobedonosikov, no vy sna6ala pustili tramvaj, potom usadili tuda Tolstogo, a teper' vlez PuSkln — bez vsjakoj tramvajnoj ostanovki. (p. 298)

Pobedonosikov: And so. comrades, Alexander Semenich Pushkin, unsurpassed as the author of such operas as "Eugene Onegin", and the play of the sam e name... Underton: Excuse me, comrade Pobedonosikov, but first you started up the tram, then you sat Tolstoj in there, and now Pushkin has climbed in — without any kind of tram stop.

In the sub-text of the play, this speech is perhaps not entirely ridiculous. The question might be asked, why, specifically, Tolstoj and PuSkin? The answer is two­ fold. The common practice of naming any and all public works after great cultural or political figures is a detail from everyday life that Majakovskij satirizes. In addition,

Majakovskij, throughout The Bathhouse constructs elaborate literary jokes and puns.

This one alludes to the first Futurist manifesto, in which the ’budetljane" (Futurists) 158

vowed to throw overboard from the steamship of modernity” such writers as PuSkin,

Tolstoj, Dostoevski] "and so on48." At this moment in The Bathhouse Majakovskij invites at least two of them back into the modem era via the streetcar.

These literary games are also a manifestation of the menippean device of inserted genres. Genres are most often parodied in this device, and Majakovskij allows the comedy in the ptay to develop into slight self-parody many times. Even this late in his career, Majakovskij retained the menippean aspects of his theatricalism.

The absurdity of all the bureaucratic scenes is evidenced in this speech of

Pobedonosikov, and yet, since it demonstrates the only way that Pobedonosikov can speak, it invites the spectator to view the "glavna&pups" and all his trappings as a logical entity from this play. This is part of the "warped logic" of the work.

Pobedonosikov functions in several ways in the work. He unites poetic and dramatic devices in his character, he helps to motivate the action of the plot, and he is the last in the line of protagonist figures created by Majakovskij within his poetic system.

The Figure of the Protagonist

Pobedonosikov unites the dramatic and poetic aspects of The Bathhouse . In the ptay Pobedonosikov exists not only as a dramatic character, but his characterization is handled through poetic means as well. In the course of the work, Pobedonosikov is glimpsed in several milieux: at his office, in the theater, at home; and in varying roles: as "glavnatpups," husband, critic, petitioner. A particular motif can be identified in each of these roles, and the poetic motivation of the character of Pobedonosikov is 159

accomplished through them.

Pobedonosikov is a parody of the type held by the Soviet regime to be the epitome of the functionary. He exists within a network of poetic devices, and they impart a ridiculous sort of nobility to the character, one in keeping with the topsy-turvy depiction of the world seen In the other elements in the play. This is the ultimate manifestation of irony in The Bathhouse.

Pobedonosikov is vital to The Bathhouse, motivating all the action in direct and indirect ways. By creating such a pivotal character Majakovskij accomplishes two things: he condemns, in no uncertain terms, the bureaucrats of this type while constructing a support for the entire play.

In each act, whether he appears or not, the motifs that surround Pobedonosikov sum up the action or the spirit of the play. In Act I, for instance, Pobedonosikov is called by his title: "glavnatpups: chief administrator of compromises." This is an important sounding title but what, in reality, does it mean? It is a part of the theme of artistic freedom, for Pobedonosikov has the power to approve Budakov's wonderful invention, yet the inventor and his assistant do not know the rules of the game, therefore their efforts are lost on the chief compromiser. Further, the title is a satiric evocation of the countless acronyms that appeared (and still do appear) in the Soviet bureaucracy. "Glavnafcpups" is meant to be funny, and indeed, it sounds ridiculous In

Russian or in English. Thus, the context of the play, that the absurd is logical, and vice versa, is set up by this motif, and everything that follows will be colored by this fact. 160

"Neiiznenno" is the term Optimistenko uses when he turns down Cudakov’s petitions in Act II. It is a complex motif that describes Pobedonosikov’s actions in Act

II. The term means "unlike life," but it can also mean "weird” or "impractical," and it appears in Soviet literary criticism to describe substandard literature. The literary inaccuracies of Pobedonosikov's dictations (cited above) bear out the various definitions of the word, as does this excerpt in which no discernible logic (at least in terms of the plot) governs Pobedonosikov's choice of images:

Kto ezdil v tramvae do 25 oktjabrja? Deklassirovannye intetligenty, popy i dvotjane. Za skol'ko ezdili? Oni ezdili za pjat' kopeek stanciju. V tern ezdili? V ieltom tramvae. Kto budet ezdit’ teper’? Teper’ budem ezdit' my, rabotnlki vsetennoj. Kak my budem ezdit'? My budem ezdit' so vsemi sovetskimi udobstvami. V krasnom tramvae. Za skol'ko? Vsego za desjat' kopeek. (p. 295)

Who rode in the trams before October 25? Declasse intellectuals, priests and noblemen. For how much did they ride? They rode for five kopecks a stop. In what did they ride? In a yellow tram. Who will now ride? Now we, the workers of the universe, shall ride. How shall we ride? We shall ride with all the Soviet conveniences. In a red tram. For how much? Altogether ten kopecks.

Of course, in Majakovskij's scheme, there is a line of logical progression from the color yellow (''ieltyj tramvaj," which brings to mind the "ieltyj bilet", yellow prostitute's card, of Sonja Marmeladova) to red (the color of Majakovskij's "Soviet

Passport"). The thought processes of Pobedonosikov echo Majakovskij's own self- mocking puns and jokes.

On the surface, Act III seems to continue the line of action by placing

Pobedonosikov in yet another environment, the theater. Pobedonosikov asserts that 161

such types as himself don't really exist. He presumes to know how to structure a play: if illegality is shown, then the steps taken to correct it must also be displayed. In the course of his lecture (p. 506), Pobedonosikov rattles off a list of his own faults: shady dealing, being a rogue and a laughing-stock, and so on. He commands, "vaSe delo pokazyvat'" ('Your job is to present") and then unwittingly foretells his own fate: "budut bez vas sootvetstvujuSdle partijnye i sovetskie organy" ("The appropriate party and

Soviet organs will exists without you"). He tells the director to take on some exemplary type — like himself. Here the illusionary nature of the character development is again accentuated: the Pobedonosikov watching the play both is and is not the

Pobedonosikov of the first two acts. The audience is forced to formulate an opinion about the Pobedonosikovs.

The entire situation serves as the unmasking of Pobedonosikov and as a polemic between Majakovskij and his critics. The theater scene is, in fact, an elaborate metaphor for the state of all the arts in Majakovskij's day, and it illustrates

Majakovskij's defense of his own poetic and dramatic principles.

In Act III, the director speaks first, wondering how Pobedonosikov and his satellites enjoyed the first two acts. Pobedonosikov replies, "eto kak-to ne to..." ("It's just not right..." p. 306), to which the director replies, 'tak ved' eto vse moino ispravit', my vsegda stremlmsja" ("Well, then, we can correct it, we're always striving") and asks for concrete observation. Predictably, none Is forthcoming, for Pobedonosikov and the minor negative characters are but manifestations of the literary establishment that badgered Majakovskij his whole career. In these lines, he lays bare his theme. 162

But Pobedonosikov, the "chief administrator of compromises," is confident of his ability to turn everything, even a ptay, to his way of thinking. He asserts that "ne byvaet u nas takix...neiiznenno...eto nado smjag&it', opoetizirovat"’ ("Such...weird types don't exist in our society...you must soften them, poeticize them...” p. 307).

Once more the dramatic irony of Pobedonosikov's words is clear. The audience is well aware that such "neiiznennyj" types do exist and that the very word "neiiznennyj” is a part of Pobedonosikov's character. The repetition of this motif adds to the poeticization of Pobedonosikov. The chief administrator's speech rings with hypocrisy, setting the tone for the whole act (to be discussed below).

Act IV strongly reinforces the negative qualities in Pobedonosikov, as he is mired in the domestic squabbles that precede the appearance of the Phosphorous Woman.

Polja's "smeSno!/ ne smeSnol’Is a chorus-like commentary on all the action thus far, and is the motif connected with Pobedonosikov in Act IV. Once more, this time through the situation of the protagonist, Majakovskij inserts literary, notions. "SmeSno/ ne smeSno" is an implied discourse on the nature of satire: does it amuse or does it castigate? Is The Bathhouse to be taken seriously or not? The answer lies in Act V.

Pobedonosikov’s motif in Act V, is the words "...a to," an idle threat which represents Pobedonosikov’s powerlessness in the face of socialism (symbolized by the

Phosphorous Woman). Not one of the formerly subservient characters — not Polja,

Underion and especially not Optimistenko — is afraid of the glavnafcpups now.

Pobedonosikov's ultimate defeat is seen in his forced waiting in line while others have audiences with the delegate from the future. 163

The former administrator, ever the compromiser, tries to justify himself, first to

Polja: "Ty ej, glavnoe, rasskazala, kak my vmeste, plefco k plofcu, navstrefcu solncu kommunizma?" ("Mainly, did you tetl her how we together, shoulder to shoulder, are on the path to communism?” p. 330), then to the Phosphorous Woman herself:

Ja, kak star&ij tovarifcfc, dolmen vam zametit', fcto vas okruiajut ljudi ne vpolne stoprocentnye...Ja toie za to, no ja zato ne p'ju, ne kurju, ne daju 'na fcaj.Vne zagibaju vlevo, ne opazdyvaju... (p. 335).

I, as the senior comrade, am obliged to tell you that you are surrounded by people not completely one-hundred percent...! am on your side, I don't drink, don't smoke, don’t 'lip", don't take bribes on the side, I'm not late...

Here the repetition of the negative particle "ne" echoes that in Polja's "ne smeSno” and, as in stanzas of poetry, the device serves to unify the acts of this work. But

Pobedonosikov's actions are in vain and by the end of Act V he has been completely reduced to a blathering idiot whom the Phosphorous Woman cannot comprehend.

The one skill that had served Pobedonosikov throughout his career has left him: his manipulation of language, for so long a substitute for actual thought and deed, has proven his undoing.

The motif of Act VI is, naturally, "ne nuiny" (not necessary). Neither

Pobedonosikov nor any of his trappings (which have, in essence, become part of the man) are necessary to the future of socialism, and at the end of the play they are all left behind. There is no subtlety to Majakovskij's ending: "I ona, i vy, i avtor — fcto vy etim xoteli skazat', — fcto ja I v rode ne nuiny dlja kommunizma?!?" ("She, you, the author — what do you want to say by this? — That I and my type are not necessary 164

to communism?!?” p. 347). Abandoned by one and all, Pobedonosikov finally utters

perfectly comprehensible, simple Russian. Of course it is too late and the play ends abruptly on this note.

Thus Pobedonosikov fulfills the requirements of Majakovskij's protagonists. He motivates the plot, he embodies the themes of the play, and he is a creation of poetic and dramatic devices.

Minor Characters

Pobedonosikov Is not the only character presented in this way; he is the most important one. The use of poetic devices is evident throughout the six acts and is itself a unifying factor of the play.

The minor characters of The Bathhouse are a collection of traits, as were the

Clean and the Unclean of Mystery-Bouffe and the workers in the poem "Man." All the civil servants in The Bathhouse are meant to add up to one petty bureaucrat40, each represents a particular trait of that enemy of socialism. We must keep in mind

Majakovskij’s own statement about the characters of The Bathhouse : ”...v nej [The

Bathhouse] ne tak nazyvaemye 'iivye Ijudl', a oiivlennye tendencii50." ("There are not so-called 'living people,' but ’personified tendencies’ in The Bathhouse "). This statement elucidates the satiric content of the play.

In a contrast to Pobedonosikov's fanciful use of jargon, the dramatic dialogue of the minor characters In the play is purposely uncreative. This opposition is a dramatic device used to make Pobedonosikov stand out, alone, and reflects the true nature of the legion of bureaucrats who contribute to the dire artistic situation of the day. 165

The minor characters are two-dimensional caricatures created out of the device of hyperdole of characterization. The exaggeration or magnification of negative traits is revealed when the same phrases and bromides are repeated by the same characters. Hyperbole is one of the poetic devices Majakovskij uses to strengthen the satire of The Bathhouse. As stated before, the poetic logic of the play is sustained through the interaction of poetic and dramatic devices.

There are several instances of hyperbole of characterization that occur in The

Bathhouse. As was the case with the characterization of Pobedonosikov, the device is combined with the theatrical dialogue of the deaf to enhance the comedic moments of The Bathhouse. Both the negative and positive minor characters are treated in this manner.

Mme. Mezal’jansova appears in Act I along with Ivan Ivanovic and Mr. Pont KI6, a foreigner. She addresses Budakov in English, German and French, showing off her questionable language skills. Mr. Pont Kifc tries to say something in English and she translates only what she hears, and not what is being said:

Pont Ki6: Ded svel v raj tram iz dveri v dveri lez i ne do&el tugo. Duj Ivan. Cervoncili?

[This is supposed to be English, refracted through actual Russian words or parts of words. It is very difficult to decipher.]

Mezal'jansova: Mister Pont Kifc govorit, fcto esli vam nuiny fcervoncy... (pp. 286-287)

Mezal'jansova: Mr. Pont Ki6 says, that if you need money... 166

It is possible that only poor Pont Ki6 has an original thought, but he is rendered completely absurd by the "russkanglijskij" he speaks. The scenes in which Pont Kifc appears are very funny because Majakovskij builds them on the theatrical device of dialogue of the deaf, combined with the comedic notion that accents and foreigners are funny on stage.

The functionary Ivan Ivanovifc is a name dropper, his speech is full of cliches, one of which, Tes rubjat — Sfcepkl letjat," ('You can't make omlettes without breaking eggs”) he repeats ad nauseum. He is also obsessed by the telephone, which he can never find. Many of the names he drops had real-life counterparts51, and this adds a bit of topical humor to his speeches. The specific motif attached to Ivan Ivanovifc is travel: he's been to many countries but has learned nothing. In Great Britain he was amazed to find so many Englishmen. These particulars of speech, funny once or even twice, are carried throughout the play. Their function,, however, is not merely comic, but poetic.

The device of repetition is employed constantly in the play. Ivan Ivanovifc makes the same astounding discovery about the natives of Switzerland, standing on line and sitting in the theater. He continues his search for a telephone through six acts. Mme.

Mezal'jansova never translates Pont Kifc correctly. Momental’nikov repeats "efcelenca"

(excellency) and spouts verse (yet another literary game of Majakovskij) throughout.

Not only do these devices serve as unifiers, they also provide comic relief. Once again a poetic device holds the play together, much as the device of repetition did in

The Bedbug. It is the combination of drama and poetry that creates the special

Majakovskijan play. 167

Optimistenko is a miniature version of Pobedonosikov and he defers to

Pobedonosikov in everything until the end of the play. Then, reflecting the parallel structure of the acts, he begins to usurp Pobedonosikov, using his own words against

him. Most of Optimistenko's speech, reminiscent of Bajan’s in The Bedbug, is

bombastic and nonsensical, containing bureaucratisms mixed with low speech.

Optimistenko’s speech is a lesser version of the administrator's. This may not be an

example of hyperbole, but rather, of a reverse hyperbole.

The Phosphorous Woman is a symbolic character, more a part of the metaphor of the time machine than a true character. On earth for only 24 hours, her task is to

"otobrat* lufcStx dlja perebroski v kommunistideskij vek." ("to collect the best for the transfer into the communist century”) She is a foil for the general bureaucracy, but especially for those who mistreat wives and workers. But even she shows exaggerated thick-headedness when confronted with the bureaucratic realities of The

Bathhouse. As stated before, the Phosphorous Woman's inability to understand much of what occurs around her is a manifestation of hyperbole of characterization. It is also an example of dialogue of the deaf, and yet another instance of the blending of poetic and dramatic genres.

She is a poetic creation, a part of the larger metaphor of the time machine. She symbolizes the perfection of socialism, an entity too grand for most of the inhabitants of 1930 Earth. Her incomprehension of life on this planet is also an attack on one of

Majakovskij's lifelong enemies, namely, byt.

The Phosphorus Woman is a also a mouthpiece of the author, a dramatic device used in all Majakovskij's plays. Her long speech in Act V is a direct statement of 168

Majakovskij's attitude toward his society. There is a disturbing distortion of time in her speech. By means of this Majakovskij can criticize the present yet put the speech in the past tense because the world is being described by a person from the future. This may have been a much safer satiric device than the direct assault carried on by

Majakovskij up to this point, and it throws the audience off balance, much in the same way as Act III did.

The other positive characters, Velosipedkin, fcudakov (whose earnest dedication to science may be slightly exaggerated), and Underton, by contrast, speak quite colloquial and unembellished Russian. Their actions, too, belie the fact that, despite the density of his own literary creations, Majakovskij put faith in the common man's unpretentious speech. This was illustrated by Zoja in The Bedbug, and it is true of the positive characters in The Bathhouse.

Even the attitudes of the two co-workers, Cudakov and Velosipedkin, reflect their normality. Velosipedkin is, in general, more interested in the practical aspects of the time machine (how to shorten a boring meeting or cut the travel time between Moscow and Leningrad), while 6udakov thinks in more grandiose terms of its usefulness to society.

Velosipedkin is the foil for Pobedonosikov. His name, created out of the word for bicycle, contrasts with the "tramvaj" letter that is the only "real work" done by

Pobedonosikov in the course of the play. Velosipedkin is an ordinary man, a representative of the real, logical world who barges into the world of the play and lays bare its true nature. This moment occurs in Act III, when Velosipedkin enters and throws the scene into chaos. He doesn't have the "right" kind of ticket, yet he wishes 169

to enter and speak to Pobedonosikov, mistaking him for a real person. Velosipedkin is held back and insulted by the ushers until he finally rebels: "ne tol’ko pervyj — my vam vse rjady perevorotim s loiami" ("Not only the first rows, but all the rows will be overturned, together with the boxes" p. 315). He represents a new theatrical revolution, one that will turn the theater over to the deserving workers and peasants.

Here is yet another metaphor.

"Ja I po partijnomu biletu sjuda projdu," ("I'm coming through here on my party card") asserts Velosipedkin, as he strides toward Pobedonosikov. The symbolic overturn of the theater is followed by the mention of Velosipedkin's party card, and the metaphor (not yet realized) is that with the help of the workers, the true adherents to

Communism, the theater will be made a place to which all the proletariat will be welcomed.

The minor characters are but another piece of the fabric of this play, a play intended to make strong statements about the need for artistic freedom and the true nature of the theater. In this way, they are part of the rhetorical argument Majakovskij * conducts in The Bathhouse, an argument that climaxes in Act III of the work.

The Use of Rhetoric

Act III of The Bathhouse is a play within a play and, like many other examples of this device, it is used to comment on the action of the play itself, and also to integrate the themes of the play with those of life outside it. It functions rhetorically, by pointing out the truth in Majakovskij's argument in the most convincing way possible: by illustrating it on stage. Majakovskij, rather than introducing an outside play to his 170

work, instead uses the characters in the framing play (The Bathhouse) as the

characters in the inside play. This is yet another instance where Majakovskij

reinforces the absurdity of this work. Further, there is a false naivete about all that

occurs in Act III of The Bathhouse . Majakovskij pretends to be naive in presenting this act as just another part of the play. The director in the scene pretends not to

know how the theatrical-political system works. The characters from The Bathhouse pretend (up to a point) to belong to the new world of the play within a play.

In fact, pretending and the motif of invisibility (the ultimate pretense in a reality- based world) govern this act, and become a comment on the invisible time machine that is the poetic heart of this work. The time machine symbolizes freedom from time and space, freedom from byt, from the constant struggle for artistic integrity. In the play it also represents an aspect of the dichotomy between reality and poetic vision.

From the beginning of the director's instructions, the notions of pretending and invisibility are present. He says (emphasis added):

Svobodnyj muiskoj personal — na scenul Stan'te na odno koleno i sognites' s poraboStennym vidom. Sbivajte nevidimoj kirkoj vidimoj rukoj nevidimyj ugol'. (p. 311)

General male corps — on stagel Stand on one knee and bend down wth an enslaved look. With an invisible pickaxe in your visible hand, dig out invisible coal.

Vy budete kapital. Stan’te sjuda, tovari&ft kapital. Tancujte nad vsemi s vidom klassovogo gospodstva. Voobraiaemuju damu obnimajte nevidimoj rukoj i pejte voobraiaemoe Sampanskoe. (p. 311)

You be Capital. Stand there, comrade Capital. Dance on everyone with a look of class supremacy. Embrace an imaginary woman with your unseen hand and drink imaginary champagne. 171

Podymajte voobraiaemym prizyvom voobraiaemye massy... VySe vzdymajte nogu, simuliruja voobraiaemyj pod”em... Soblaznjajte voobraiaemym bogatstvom tancujuSfiix dam... Voobraiaemye rabotie massy, vosstan’tesimvolistifceski! (p. 312)

Stir up the imaginary m asses with an imaginary slogan... Raise your leg higher, simulating the imaginary enthusiasm... Seduce the dancing women with imaginary tiches.Jmaginary masses of workers, rise up symbolically!

Nor does Majakovskij forget to include some of the literary jokes that he has been playing all through the work. The use of the word "simvol" (symbol) is not accidental. The exaggerated gestures and completely stylized representations parody symbolist theater, a notion strongly reinforced by the line "Muiskoj svobodnyj sostav, sbrasyvajte voobraiaemye okopy, vzdymajtes’ k simvolu solnca" ("Male corps, throw down the imaginary trenches, rise up in a symbol of the sun") — a direct parody on the Symbolists' motto "budem, kak solnce."

Tolstoj is also alluded to in the line "Zaraiajte, zaraiajte vsex entuziazmom!"

("Infect, infect everyone with enthusiasm!") Tolstoj in What is Art? uses this word to describe the effect art must have in order to be true art52. Tolstoj is further alluded to in the use of the device of "ostranenie53" (making it strange). Majakovskij takes this device of making it strange and turns it inside out: making it strange is the way to make it real. This is bome out by all the action In the framing play, except, ironically, by the invention of the time machine, which comes to seem tike the only logical occurrence in The Bathhouse.

This is even more obvious when Velosipedkin, a character of the metaphoric time machine sub-plot, enters Act III. He doesn't realize that this scene is outside the 172

play. This notion strongly brings to mind Evreinov and Pirandello, and especially The

Chief Thing and Six Characters in Search of an Author. In both those works the boundary between real life and theater is blurred. Pirandello’s work, particularly, seem s an influence here. In the Italian's plays the irrational often and suddenly breaks through an artificially stabilized scene. In The Bathhouse, Act III is a tightly held, controlled episode and the appearance of Velosipedkin shatters that illusion.

Pirandello's six characters wage a struggle against the actors and the director who understand nothing about them. In The Bathhouse, the director and Velosipedkin conduct a similar campaign against the bureaucrats. This scene symbolizes

Majakovskij's struggle with everyone: the critics, the establishment and the public.

Many lines in Act III are direct statements of Majakovskij's argument against censorship. Pobedonosikov's "Eto d aie diskreditiruet nas pered Evropoj” ("This will discredit us in Europe's eyes" p. 308), is an echo of what some authorities said about several of Majakovskij's works54. To show the true talents of such critics, they are represented by some of the minor characters of The Bathhouse. Pobedonosikov,

Mezal'jansova and Ivan Ivanovifc all give their ideas of the true goal of the theater.

They, of course, reveal themselves to be complete idiots, especially Ivan Ivanovifc who comes up with this malapropism when speaking about The Red Poppy: 'Vezde s cvetami porxajut, pojut, tancujut raznye el'fy I ...sifilidy" ("Everywhere flowers flit about, sing, various elves and syphilitics dance around" p. 310). He meant, of course,

"sylphids". In the face of such critical opposition, the director shows himself willing to compromise. He has Pobedonosikov go through a juggling routing (the symbolism could not have been missed), complete with a little cheer about his job: "sov-den' — 173

part-den' — bju-ro*kra*ta. Sov-den* — part-den’ — bju-ro-kra-ta" (p. 311). Naturally,

Pobedonosikov loves this vaudeville. There is no decadence in it, nothing "ronjaet" —

a play on the alternate meanings of that word, 'to drop" and "to discredit" (as well as

being a conclusion of the juggling scene). This is quite a satiric swipe at the literary

establishment that recommended more spectacle in agit-prop plays.

Majakovskij ends his rhetorical argument with Pobedonosikov's words, "Eto ne dlja mass, i rabotie i krest'jane etogo ne pojmut, i xoro&o, dto ne pojmut, i ob'jasnjat' im etogo ne nado" ("This is not for the m asses, the workers and peasants will not understand it, and it's good that they won't, and it must not be explained to them" p.

316). It is ironic that Majakovskij created just such a play, full of sophisticated jokes and allusions, that the working class could not understand. The irony lies in its being created out of just such types who made the above observation.

Had Majakovskij ended the scene here, the point would have been made. But, true to the multi-layered construction of Act III, other concerns have to be resolved.

Ivan lvanovi5 solidifies our opinion of him by trying to pick up one of the chorus girls and, in an amusing switch, the verse spoken by Momental'nikov, until now merely a reflection of the action, here turns into a chorus-like comment on the scene:

E6elenca, prikaiite! Styd prirodnyj nevelik. Tol'ko adres, adres nam dadite — Stelefonim [sic] v tot te mig. (p. 314)

Excellency, just command! The natural shame is not very great. Just give us your address — And at the same time your telephone number. 174

"Styd prirodnyj neveiik" serves as the unmasking of all the negative characters, and,

by extension, of the establishment they symbolize.

The Themes of The Bathhouse

The poetic devices are not limited to spectacle or characterization, but are also found in Majakovskij’s presentation of the major themes of The Bathhouse.

The main theme of The Bathhouse is artistic freedom. Majakovskij was obsessed with all types of freedom, and his artistic techniques are the sort that liberate him even from the conventions of literature. The use of monodrama reflects the belief that life is theater, and normal constraints therefore do not apply to it. The same is true of his inclusion of the menippean satire and carnival in his work. The protagonist that

Majakovskij invents is an entity who can say things and act in a manner that the poet was not able to. Poetry and poetic devices are, in some ways, a system that disregards everyday linguistic conventions. All these features of Majakovskij’s style are found in his poetry and in his plays, and they interact to form the lines of defense of Majakovskij's rhetorical arguments. The primary use of rhetoric in the plays is to call for complete artistic freedom.

Other themes are addressed in this work, themes that have their origin in the early plays and in Majakovskij's poetry. Non-communication, a theme of The Bedbug, is reflected not only in conversations, but also in written documents, the lack of telephones, incorrect translations and the inability of theater to move its spectators.

The attack on bureaucrats functions within this theme and also as an independent concern. As in the others works analyzed in this study, in The Bathhouse the 175

characters themselves are a part of the theme; their inability to communicate becomes

an extra-literary comment on the theme.

Time and the future are represented through the fantasy episodes, and the same

naive faith in science displayed in The Bedbug is evidenced here. This theme contains the culmination of many of Majakovskij's personal and poetic concerns.

The fantastic and science have been used before by Majakovskij in his drama.

In Mystery-Bouffe we witnessed the rejection of the supernatural in favor of the

marvels of modern technology. In The Bedbug, Majakovskij's own faith in the future was realized in the victory of science over death. In The Bathhouse, also, there are elements of science mixed with the fantastic. In this play the benefit of scientific industry is the conquering of time and, by extension, of death.

The play opens with Budakov and Velosipedkin working on an 'Invisible55'' time machine, and Act I defines the true function of this invention and its position in the play. Although we may at first assum e that the play will be about the inventor, it quickly becomes obvious that the machine is a metaphor for the truly good things that are overlooked or snubbed by the bureaucracy. In this aspect, the time machine is a leitmotif of the play, for we see signs of this bureaucratic neglect in every act and scene.

The function of the time machine is to suspend a moment of happiness indefinitely. It also is linked with the theme of artistic freedom in that the time machine is a work of art, a useful product of imagination and diligence. To fulfill its promise, though, the inventors of the time machine have to take it to the future. It is well-known that Majakovskij had faith in some kind of future, one that would be better than the 176

overwhelming byt that oppressed him.

The "March of Time” names byt as the foe in the line, "Pust' vymret byt-urod,"

("Let the monster byt become extinct" p. 339) and Majakovskij identifies b yt with the

negative element of the bureaucracy. Both are left behind because there is no room for them in the communist future.

Thus, the theme of science fulfills its dual role in The Bathhouse, as one of the main pillars of the rhetorical argument, and as the means by which eternal happiness is achieved. These are the two most important themes of the play, and they are motivated by poetic devices. This is no accident; as we have observed, Majakovskij's style of dramatic writing combines poetic and dramatic devices to achieve a theatricalism that has many layers. This theatricalism is richer for being founded on poetic logic within a dramatic context. CHAPTER VII

CONCLUSION

Vladimir Majakovskij’s literary output, from his earliest published verses to the last play he wrote, The Bathhouse, is imbued with a sense of theatricalism that arose

from several sources. Great experiments were being conducted in the theater all through the years that Majakovskij wrote, and many of the innovations of the day influenced his dramas. Of the traceable sources of Majakovskij's theatricalism, one can name Nikolaj Evreinov and his theory of monodrama, Symbolist dramas, and especially the Symbolist mystery play, and Vsevolod Mejerxol'd, whose first productions of Majakovskij's plays left an indelible impression on them.

These (and other) influences contributed to the theatricalism that is so evident in all Majakovskij's work. This aspect of his writing consists of several parts, all of which are found not only in the plays of Majakovskij, but also in his poetry.

The first element of Majakovskij’s theatricalism is an adaptation of Evreinov's theory of monodrama and the attendant importance of the protagonist in all

Majakovskij’s work. The monodrama presents one character and his varying, subjective perceptions of himself, others, and the world around him. This Majakovskij did in Vladimir Majakovskij — A Tragedy, and the philosophy of monodrama was altered by Majakovskij to fit the particular requirements of his art.

The devices of monodrama, as developed by Majakovskij, are used to transform

177 178

the protagonist from an ethereal character in a personal drama to an ideological exploration. Majakovskij's protagonist, whether a whole or multipartite creation, is the spokesman either for or against a cause or target of the poet himself. In this treatment of the protagonist, Majakovskij is a modem playwright'of the type defined by

Robert Brustein as the "rebel dramatist.”

Twentieth-century drama is highly subjective, more internal than action oriented.

The characters in The theatre of revolt" speak for the author. In fact, they embody the concerns of the author himself as he explores social and personal topics. In

Majakovskij's drama, even the minor characters fulfill this function, as in Mystery-

Bouffo, In which the Clean are dramatizations of the seven deadly sins. Bajan in The

Bedbug and Optimistenko in The Bathhouse are but lesser versions of their 'leaders"

Prisypkin and Pobedonosikov. All these characters have in common a deliberate lifelessness, and the void left by their lack of true personality is filled by a satiric depiction of vice. This satisfies the requirements put on his plays by Majakovskij himself, that they force the spectators to face their own shortcomings.

On the other hand, there is a great deal of contradiction in the plays of the rebel dramatists, especially in the depiction of the ideal and the real worlds. Although the rebel dramatist is outwardly an anarchist, he longs to make illusion reality56. This dichotomy is found in Majakovskij's poetry and was cultivated in Tragedy, during the course of which it is almost impossible to separate reality from fantasy. In

Majakovskij's last two plays, this desire to change reality manifests itself in the use of the fantastic in both plays. The scientific advances of The Bedbug, which allow the resurrection of man, and the time machine of The Bathhouse reflect the intense 179

longing for victory over death that is evident in many of Majakovskij's poems as well.

All of the features of Majakovskij's theatricalism, the use of menippean devices, the waging of rhetorical arguments, and the skillful blending of poetic and dramatic devices, contribute to the formation of Majakovskij the "rebel dramatist." But no element of Majakovskij's theatricalism is as important in this regard as the figure of the protagonist. Although some of the characters in Vladimir Majakovskij — A Tragedy or

Mystery-Bouffe are actually parts of the poet himself, the philosophical, even spiritual area of Majakovskij's art lies in the figure of the main protagonist. The protagonist is, for Majakovskij, the personification of an idea.

The hero of Tragedy is the poet/playwright/actor Vladimir Majakovskij. He symbolizes the victory of the new generation and he calls to the city-dwellers to heed his new religion. In this he is closely matched by the Ordinary Man of Mystery-Bouffe, who, in his "new Sermon on the Mount," invited the Unclean to join in the new religion of revolution. These dramatic characters are preceded by the hero of "A Cloud in

Trousers," who led his own rebellion against God, and by the protagonist of "War and the Universe," when he takes all mankind’s guilt on himself. These are Majakovskij's positive protagonists.

No less important are the "negative" protagonists of Majakovskij's last satires,

The Bedbug and The Bathhouse. They do not possess the ideal characteristics of the

Unclean or the "150,000,000." They are instead intended as reflections of the society at large. The measure of their importance is the vital part they play in the plot motivation and the care with which Majakovskij creates their dialogue. Prisypkin and

Pobedonosikov are indivisible from their jargonistic speech, a feature of their dramatic 180

composition that reflects their satiric nature. Neither is an actual character himself; they both, rather, are personifications of the evils in society addressed by Majakovskij in his satires. Nevertheless, they are almost poetically portrayed, the nuances and absurdity of their speeches have much in common with Majakovskij's poetry, with its abrupt switches in subject, meter or imagery, and the complex system of logic that holds the poems together.

It is within the context of Majakovskij as "rebel dramatist" that the theatricalism of the poet has been analyzed. It is impossible to study Majakovskij's work without considering Majakovskij; he is always present. The spectre of the artist haunts his work, and Majakovskij is no exception to this phenomenon. Perhaps the individualism of Majakovskij can also be considered a part of his theatricalism, since the figure of the protagonist is very often just a mask of the author, and his immediately identifiable literary style conjures up images of the poet himself. This dissertation, however, has chosen to stay on the earthly level, to explore the formal links between Majakovskij's poetry and drama, and how they are part of his theatricalism.

Majakovskij's theatricalism consists of poetic and dramatic devices found in both the longer poems and in the plays. It is precisely the relationship of these devices that makes up the formal basis of Majakovskij's theatricalism. Most often the dramatic and the poetic exist together; less frequently, devices of one or the other genre stand on their own, usually to heighten the aesthetic effect of a moment.

Dramatic action alternates with lyrical moments in all Majakovskij's work. When the hero of "About That," for example, is feeling the most intense despair in the work,

Majakovskij places an overheard conversation (a dramatic device) between the lyric 181

passages detailing the despondency of the hero. When, he tries to end his isolation and cross over into the world of other people, the attempt is accompanied by a theatrical device such as dramatic dialogue, foreshadowing, dramatic irony or unmasking. These theatrical devices take on a poetic nature as they function in other poems such as "A Cloud in Trousers," "The Backbone Flute," and "Man."

The dramatic essence of Majakovskij's theatricalism is the result of the stage action and the words being spoken, i.e., the dramatic and the poetic devices. This, and the figure of the protagonist are the two most important elements of Majakovskij's theatricalism.

Poetry pervades all aspects of Majakovskij's work. But it is a poetry that has a sense of the dramatic about it as well. Majakovskij's poetic techniques, the shaip contrasts or abrupt transitions in length of lines, meter or stress patterns, and the use of a particularly effective rhyme, reflect a world in flux. In addition, Majakovskij introduces poetic devices into his plays to strengthen the sometimes absurd logic in them.

Personification, combined with hyperbole and metaphor, take on dramatic qualities when they are used in a dramatic setting, such as those found in

Majakovskij's long poems and in the adventures of his plays. The category of animation is particulary important for the works Tragedy and Mystery-Bouffo.

Hyperbole of characterization is one of the ways Majakovskij creates his characters.

Metaphor is present in all Majakovskij's work, and in the later plays, this device manifests itself in the themes of the works (the flood, the bedbug, the time machine.) 182

Hyperbole of characterization is expressed through the speech, actions and opinions of the characters, as well as in the situations they create for themselves.

Thus, poetic devices are part of the characterization, plot and overall structure of the plays.

Poetry, or the use of obvious poetic devices, can set a dramatic moment off from the rest of the text. Conversely, the device of repetition unifies an episodic work.

Poetic logic is an organizing feature of Majakovskij's plays. All parts of the plays must be viewed In their relationship to one another so that the overall design of the plays can be seen.

Early in his career as a dramatist, in Tragedy and Mystery-Bouffe, Majakovskij primarily uses rhyme and imagery to unify the works. In the later plays the skillful arrangement of words actually points out the mediocrity of the "new language" that arrived with the Revolution. In both periods of crafting drama, the poetic language is exclusive and immediate, it helps to establish and maintain the force and narrative flow of the drama.

Poetic devices also carry much of the satire of Majakovskij's plays. A very important aspect of Majakovskij's theatricalism is the menippean satire. It is a link between the poetry and the drama of Majakovskij, appearing, as it does, in both genres. The menippean satire satisfies both the creative and rhetorical demands of the poet. Many of the devices found in Majakovskij’s works are part of this genre and its sub-genre, carnival.

Among carnival devices found in Majakovskij's works are parodia sacra, the world upside-down, sharp contrasts, the mock crowning and de-crowning. Menippea, 183

too, plays a large role in Majakovskij's creations. The use of the fantastic combined with the symbolic and "slum naturalism" is a basic feature of the menippea. Certainly there is a mixture of reality and fantasy in Majakovskij's plays. The menippea often portrays a three-planed adventure; the plots of Majakovskij's plays also occur on three levels. When the psychic states of Majakovskij's protagonists are examined, the menippean feature of representing the abnormal or unusual psychological states of man is evidenced. The scandal scenes and inappropriate behavior of his characters also attest to Majakovskij's adoption of the menippea.

Clearly the use of devices from the menippean satire is widespread in

Majakovskij's plays and poetry, but in Majakovskij's theatricalism, the use of theatrical devices in the drama is just as important.

Common theatrical devices used by Majakovskij include parallel scenes, dialogue of the deaf, unmasking, dramatic irony, reported speech. But it seems that even the

"classical" theatrical devices are chosen for their ability to blend with poetic devices.

The parallel or mirror scenes of The Bedbug and The Bathhouse support or are supported by the poetic device of repetition, for example. The use of the parallel pertains not only to dramatic structure, but to speeches and motifs as well, and this is where much of the repetition is found. Exposition, climax, and dramatic irony are related to the poetic devices of hyperbole, metaphor, paradox and repetition when

Majakovskij freely interchanges the devices to produce the effect he wants. The climax of The Bathhouse , for instance, comes at a paradoxical moment when

Pobedonosikov begins speaking in natural Russian. Majakovskij's use of devices transcends generic constraints; the poetic becomes theatrical and the dramatic 184

becomes poetic.

The speech of Majakovskij's plays permits, even invites the substitution of poetic logic. Conversation can be a lyrical, two-part melody, or we find abrupt switches and transitions in the speeches that result in startling dissonance. These aspects of the dramatic dialogue are found in Mystery-Bouffe, in which the poetry of the speech contains sufficient repetition to hold the conversations together poetically and logically.

The verbal texture of Majakovskij's plays is both poetic and dramatic. It has the immediacy and force of poetic diction, and it works well on stage. The material of poetry is, of course, language, and Majakovskij's handling of language is similar in his poetry and in his plays.

Language is the most powerful tool in the plays, and as such, the dramatic dialogue of all Majakovskij's works takes on special significance: it fulfills the rhetorical concerns of the work, and it characterizes. More than anything, a character's mode of communication equals his identity. This logically grows out of.the rhetorical nature of the ptays. The allegorical characters stand for an idea that is always identified by the author as being a good concept or a bad one. Based on this premise, the characters reveal themselves through their speech. For instance, Majakovskij imparts importance to Zoja and Velosipedkin by giving each one simple language to speak. Conversely, the negative characters utter paragraphs that are full of jargon and are complex to the point of nonsense. The consistency of characterization is a result of the poetic devices found in the dramatic dialogue. Poetic logic once again appears as a vital part of Majakovskij's theatricalism. For, no matter how absurd the action on stage becomes, as in The Bathhouse, for instance, the thread of logic that runs through the 185

work is based on poetic technique.

Majakovskij’s use of speech to characterize has another function: it helps to

move the action forward, since the situations in the plays arise out of things the

characters say or do not say. This is akin to the role of rhyme in verse. In

Majakovskij’s works, poetic and dramatic, significant dialogue usually precedes

moments of dramatic action, and that action is most intense when Majakovskij faces

his enemies, real or imagined.

Poetic diction itself is used to prove a point, often by combining metaphor with

the dramatic device of unmasking. While the rhetorical bent of the play is expressed

through the dialogue, the accompanying stage directions and situations reinforce the

message. Since the message is the most important feature of a Majakovskij play, the

rules of conventional drama either do not apply or are transformed. Thus, it is unfair

to judge the dramatic output of Majakovskij solely, from the dramatic viewpoint. There

is a much more complex network of devices underlying the spectacles of the plays.

Majakovskij’s dramas are not realistic, but rather, are hyperbolic or symbolic

representations of his view of the world. The unreal nature of his plays corresponds to the self-oriented essence of the plays of a rebel dramatist. The stage sets themselves are fantastic or absurd, exaggerations or parodies of naturalism. By insisting on this type of staging, Majakovskij 'lays bare" the most basic theatrical devices, he instructs the audience not to take the play at face value.

Although the bulk of this work concerns the plays of Majakovskij, what has been established for the drama also holds true for the poetry. As was evidenced in Chapter

II, Majakovskij inserts dramatic devices into his poetry and this results in what might 186

be termed a sub-genre of poetry, the dramatic lyric. In the plots of such poems as "A

Cloud in Trousers," "Man," and "About That," Majakovskij "stages" the various episodes and supports their dramatic nature with devices including dramatic dialogue, dramatic irony, foreshadowing, soliloquy and passages of pure action. Majakovskij does not randomly insert such devices for effect; rather, the dramatic devices in the poetry motivate the binary nature of the works. Crossing from one field to another, from the bars to the battlefields of "War and the Universe" is accomplished through the use of dialogue or the introduction of a new stage setting. Shifts in the tenor of the poems are accompanied by changes in the physical state of the protagonist, as in

'The Backbone Flute," when the poet moves from the earthly sphere to the heavens.

The interaction of devices in the poetry is just as complex as that in the plays.

The rhetorical mix of all Majakovskij’s ptays is richer for being based on the combination of poetic and dramatic devices. All of the elements of his theatricalism: the figure of the protagonist, the menippean satire and rhetoric, all are supported by and contribute to the seamless combination of poetic and dramatic devices that is

Majakovskij's theatricalism. NOTES

CHAPTER II

1 Quoted in A. Fevral’skij, Majakovskij — dramaturg (Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1940), p. 5.

^Mikhail Bakhtin, Problems of Dostoevskis Poetics, ed. and trans. Wayne C. Booth (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984), pp. 114*122.

3Bakhtin, p. 117.

4AII quotes cited in this dissertation are from V. V. Majakovskij, Polnoe sobranie sotinenij (Moscow, 1955), p. 118. Hereafter referred to as PSS, followed by volume and page numbers.

sBakhtin, p. 115.

eEdward J. Brown, Majakovskij: A Poet in the Revolution (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973), p. 96.

7Yuri Lotman, Structure of the Artistic Text, Michigan Slavic Contributions, trans. Gail Unhoff and Ronald Vroon (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1977), p. 211.

8Bakhtin, p. 120.

CHAPTER III

9Bakhtin, pp. 122-137.

10Yu. Smimov-Nesvickij, Zreli&te neobytajnej&ee: Majakovskij i teatr (Leningrad: Iskusstvo, 1975), p. 10.

11Nikolaj Evreinov, Introduction to Predstavlenie ljubvi. Studija impressionistov, 1910, p. 2.

12Evreinov, besides being a friend of Kamenskij, also published with the futurists. In 1910, for instance, his 'Predstavlenie ljubvi” was included in the book Studija

187 188

impresslonistov, which also featured David Burljuk and Velemir Xlebnikov, among other futurists. Vladimir Markov, Russian Futurism: A History (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1965), p. 11.

13Bakhtin, p. 120.

14Evreinov, p. 21.

15Robert Scholes and Carl Klaus, Elements of Drama (New York: Oxford University Press, 1971), p. 5. 16 Boris TomaSevsklj, "O stixe Majakovskogo," in Teorija literatury (poetika), p. 486.

CHAPTER IV

17l have chosen the second variant (1920-21) of Mystery-Bouffo as the text tor analysis in this dissertation.

18V. V. Majakovskij, “Libretto ‘Misterif-buff," in Vladimir Majakovskij, Teatri kino.

19The term is used by George Kalbouss in The Plays of the Russian Symbolists (East Lansing, Ml: Russian Language Journal, 1982), p. 23. on Kalbouss, p. 33.

21Krystyna Pomorska, “Majakovskij’s Cosmic Myth,” in Myth in Literature, NYU Slavic Papers, 5 (Columbus, OH: Slavica Publishers, Inc., 1985), p. 175.

22A. Fevral'skij, Pervaja sovetskaja p'esa: Misterifa-buff V. V. Majakovskogo (Moscow: Sovetskij pisatel', 1971), p. 121.

23Fevrarskij, p. 121.

24Kalbouss, p. 24.

25Allardyce Nicoll, The Theatre and Dramatic Theory (New York: Bames and Noble, 1972), p. 155.

26Rufus Mathewson, The Positive Hero in Russian Literature (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1975), p. 14.

27C. Maurice Bowra, From Virgil to Milton (London: Macmillan, 1967), p.10. 189

2aBowra, p. 11.

29Mathewson, p. 251.

30E. R. Simonov and Yu. F, Laufer, dirs., Misterija-buff, Vaxtangov Theater, Moscow, 19 November, 1982.

31 Kalbouss, p. 24.

no Thorton Wilder, quoted in Edward Mabley, Dramatic Construction: An Outline of Basic Principles (Philadelphia: Chilton Book Company, 1972), p. 31.

33Bowra, p. 1

CHAPTER V

34Bakhtin, p. 118.

35Konstantlne Rudnitsky, Meyerhold the Director (Ann Arbor: Ardis, 1981), pp. 442-43.

36Bakhtln, p. 111.

37Alvin Keman, The Plot of Satire (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965), p. 36.

Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957), p. 224.

39Keman, p. 28.

40N. V. Gogol, Revizor (Chicago: Russian Language Specialists, 1964), p. 131.

41 Donald Fanger, The Creation of Nikolai Gogol (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1979), p. 130.

42Fanger, p. 135.

43The lines "Ja, Zoja Vanna, ja ljublju druguju" are a parody of Moltanov's verse "Svidanie."

44Harold B. Segel, Twentieth Century Russian Drama: From Gorky to the Present (New York: Columbia University Press, 1979), p. 206. 190

45Roman Jakobson, "On a Generation That Squandered Its Poets," in Edward J. Brown, ed., M ajor Soviet Writers: Essays in Criticism (London: Oxford University Press, 1973), p. 20.

46This device is found in The Seagull and The Three Sisters.

CHAPTER VI

47Bakhtin, p. 111.

^Po&tetina ob&testvennomu vkusu, quoted in Vladimir Markov, Russian Futurism: A History (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968), pp. 45-46.

49As Majakovskij himself mentioned, 'Vse eti tipy vmeste doliny sostavit' obStuju figuru bjurokrata.” Quoted In S. V. Vladimirov, "Majakovskij" in Oterki istorii russkoj- sovetskoj dramaturgii (Leningrad: Iskusstvo, 1963), p. 339.

50Vladimir Majakovskij, "6to takoe 'Banja', kogo ona moet?”, originally published in Ogonek, No. 47 (30 November, 1929).

51 Many have been identified in Fevral'skij, Majakovskij-dramaturg.

52TomaSevskij, p.74n.

53Leo Tolstoj, tto takoe iskusstvo?, in L. N. Tolsto], Sobranle so&inenlj v dvacati tomax (Moscow: Xudoiestvennaja literatura, 1964. In Chapter V of the work Tolstoj emphasizes that "Iskusstvo est' dejatel'nost' teloveteskaja, sostojattaja v tom, tto odin telovek soznatel'no izvestnymi vneSnimi znakami peredaet drugim ispytyvaemye im tuvstva, a drugie ljudi zaraiajutsja etimi tuvstvami i pereiivajut ix.1', p. 87.

F J D. Tal'nikov, for instance, wrote that The Bedbug was a "pervostepenn[ajaj xalturfa]" which was "javno napisannym naspex farsovym fel'etonom bez osobyx literatumyx i ideologiteskix zadanij." Quoted In Rostockij, pp. 199-200.

55The time machine proved impossible to construct, so Majakovskij added the feature of invisibility. See Konstantine Rudnitsky, Meyerhold the Director (1981), p. 464.

CHAPTER VII

56Robert Brustein, The Theatre of Revolt (Boston: Little, Brown, 1964), p. 14. 191

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