Bunin “Loopy ears”
Bunin’s story “Petty ears” is very inferior to “The Lord from San Francisco”, but written in the same powerful manner, with the same force of a full-sound and wonderfully heavy word. A terrible impression is made by the picture of night Petrograd, sustained in amazing colors. Reality is turned into dark fantasy. You believe the author on the word, on the word of the artist, the power that “at night, in a fog, Nevsky is terrible. He is deserted, dead; mist, fogging it, seems to be part of the very Arctic mist that comes from where the end of the world is, where something incomprehensible to the human mind is hidden and called the Pole. Continue reading
Bulgakov “Heart of a Dog”
A homeless dog Sharik, who lived in Moscow, was scrubbed with a boiling water by one cruel cook. It was December, and Sharik, with his side wounded from the burn, was threatened with starvation. He howled plaintively at the gateway, when a well dressed, intelligent-looking gentleman suddenly appeared from the door of a nearby store. To the surprise of the dog, this mysterious man threw him a piece of Krakow sausage and began to call for him.
Sharik ran after his benefactor on Prechistenka and in Obukhiv Lane. On the way, the lord threw him a second piece of Krakow. To Sharik’s even greater astonishment, a decent man called him into the luxurious entrance of a large, rich house and led all the stray dogs, the porter, past the original enemy. Continue reading
Bulgakov “Crimson Island”
But – yet, how much more I read in the house of E.S. [Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova]. At first I reached for the “Crimson Island” (1927) – a brilliant satire, to a production that was banned at the root at the same time, only slightly flashed in the Chamber Theater …
Parses laughter already from the subtitle of the play [1] and the confused list of characters. A double theater, a theater in a theater, the spirit of theatrical life – just a playwright cannot write such a thing, but a natural theater theater, which Bulgakov was. Continue reading
Boyardo, Matteo Maria, and his “Roland in Love”
Matteo Maria Boyardo (1434 or 1441-1494) was descended from a noble surname, who zealously served the Este family (who owned Ferrara and Modena) and received from him in 1423 fief possession the county of Scandiano. Count Matteo Maria Boyardo studied in Ferrara, acquired a thorough acquaintance with Greek and Latin literatures, received the degree of Ph.D. and jurisprudence. The dukes of ferrara showed great respect for him; he married a girl from the Gonzag dynasty. From 1478 until his death, he almost continuously served as ruler of Reggio (in Lombardy). Modern lawyers blamed him for being too gentle, saying that he is better able to write poetry than to punish crimes. Continue reading
Beaumarchais The Marriage of Figaro
Exceptional success fell on the second part of the Beaumarchais comedy trilogy – “Mad Day, or the Marriage of Figaro”. (For the first part – see “The Barber of Seville” – analysis.)
Before us is Figaro again. But now it is no longer the Barber of Seville, arranging the love affairs of a young aristocrat. Managing the castle of Count Almaviva, he now comes into conflict with his master. Continue reading
