Cultural models in the play “Flea” by Yevgeny Zamyatin: carnivalization and pantomime
Abstract
The paper investigates the boundaries of pantomime and rayok theater in Zamyatin's work on the example of his play “The Flea” based on the story “Levsha” by Nikolay Leskov. This is an avant-garde experience of the writer, combining the features of satirical utopia and rayok, but the utopia is transferred from the social to the verbal realm. The speech of the protagonist is utopian, it is impossible, replaced by pantomime at all times. Boris Kustodiev's decorative program intended the destruction of the previous organization of the theatrical space for the purposes of narrative intrigue. The paper applies an unusual method: in addition to close reading and reconstruction of historical contexts, the paper includes an original essay by one of the authors of the paper, published for the first time, with commentary by another author, as a study of the legacy of life-building symbolism in Zamyatin's critical avant-garde. The essay lyrically explores the writer's identity as a participant in the pantomime of history, and certain images of the age assume a symbolic intensity that suffices for interpreting his art accomplishments in the drama. Original deductions are derived about the transformation of fairy tale stylization into a kind of novel in real life, in which the theaters of the early Soviet time in the person of their organizers and collectives take part.
About the Authors
A. V. Markov
Russian State University for the Humanities
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Alexander V. Markov, D. Sc. (Philology), Full Professor
125993, Moscow
O. A. Shtayn
Ural Federal University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Oksana A. Shtayn, Cand. Sc. (Philosophy), Associate Professor
620002, Yekaterinburg
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Review
For citations:
Markov A.V., Shtayn O.A. Cultural models in the play “Flea” by Yevgeny Zamyatin: carnivalization and pantomime. ARTE. 2024;(3):80-87. (In Russ.)
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