The Metaphor of Play-Acting in the Plot of the Play by Edvard Radzinsky “An Old Actress in the Role of Dostoevsky’s Wife” Cover Image

Метафора игры в сюжете пьесы Э. Радзинского «Старая актриса на роль жены Достоевского»
The Metaphor of Play-Acting in the Plot of the Play by Edvard Radzinsky “An Old Actress in the Role of Dostoevsky’s Wife”

Author(s): Irina Svyatoslavovna Andrianova
Subject(s): Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts, Cultural history, Russian Literature
Published by: Петрозаводский государственный университет
Keywords: Edvard Radzinsky; Dostoevsky; Anna Dostoevskaya; image; motif; plot; metaphor; play; theatre; drama;

Summary/Abstract: The image of Anna Grigorievna Dostoevskaya, one of the best wives in Russian literature, has been repeatedly embodied in works of art. It helped represent better the personality of the Russian writer and appeared before readers and spectators as an ideal of the female devotion and selfless service to the husband. One of these works is the play by Edvard Radzinsky “An Old Actress in the Role of Dostoevsky’s Wife”, the interpretation of which is given in this article. Radzinsky with the help of the motif of the game and the reception of “the play in the play” masterfully connects the fate of two women of different epochs, Anna Dostoevskaya and an old actress performing her role. The last one thanks to her fervent acting rebuild the reality of the past, the life that disappeared, but recorded in the memoirs of Dostoevsky’s wife. For the actress herself, the role of Anna Grigorievna, performed without the presence of spectators and without using a recording film is a desperate attempt to escape from her loneliness, to overcome the tragedy of aging and uselessness.

  • Issue Year: 17/2019
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 314-427
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Russian
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