A. N. Ostrovsky’s Work with Ancient Russian Sources in Two Versions of the Drama “Kozma Zakharyich Minin, Sukhoruk”

Abstract

The problem of Old Russian sources’ using in historical dramas by A. N. Ostrovsky has been raised many times in literary studies. However, the works devoted to the study of the changes made in the second version of the play “Kozma Zakharyich Minin, Sukhoruk” did not include an analysis of differences in the approach to ancient Russian materials. The article provides the comparative analysis of playwright versions in terms of the use of facts, images, stylistic means dating back to the Russian medieval monuments. The analysis of the texts led to the conclusions that about the reducing the number of historical facts and of direct arrangments of Old Russian texts, therefore, the sequence and the details of the narration decreased in the second version. The monologues of the characters reflecting the religious views of the Middle Ages were removed, so the ideological and psychological motivation of character’s actions became weaker. The love line, nonexistent in the sources, became consistent and complete. The role of some fictional characters associated with the Old Russian tradition has changed. As a result, in the second version the personal destinies of historical and fictional characters came to the fore instead of the epoch-making events of the 17th century. Rearranging of the accents changed the genre of the play: from a “dramatic chronicle” it turned into a historical drama.