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Constructing the Russian Moral Project through the Classics: Reflections of Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin, 1833-2014

Erken, Emily Alane
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1801-9650
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1449191980

Abstract Details

2015, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Music.
Since the nineteenth century, the Russian intelligentsia has fostered a conversation that blurs the boundaries of literature, the arts, and life. Bypassing more direct modes of political discourse blocked by Imperial and then Soviet censorship, arts reception in Russia has provided educated Russians with an alternative sphere for the negotiation of social, moral, and national identities. This discursive practice has endured through the turbulent political changes of the Russian revolution, Soviet repression, and the economic anxiety of contemporary Russia. Members of the intelligentsia who believe that individuals can and should work for the moral progress of the Russian people by participating in this conversation are constructing the Russian moral project. Near the end of the nineteenth century, members of the intelligentsia unofficially established a core set of texts and music—Russian klassika—that seemed to represent the best of Russian creative output. Although the canon seems permanent, educated Russians continue to argue about which texts are important and what they mean. Even Aleksandr Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin (1825-1833), a novel-in-verse that functions as the cornerstone of this canon, remains at the center of debate in a conversation about literature that is simultaneously a conversation about Russian life. Pushkin is considered the founder of Russia’s literary language, and Russian readers and critics have endowed him with a saint-like status. His image has become a secular icon of Russian creative potential. The heroine of his magnum opus, Tatiana Larina, has in turn become an icon of Russian morality. As Russians interpret Onegin’s themes and describe its characters, they also express what matters most in their own lives. The history of Onegin reception thus reflects the development of Russian ideas about life over the course of the last two centuries. Beginning in 1844, composers, theater directors, and choreographers have adapted Pushkin’s novel for the stage, often challenging the dominant readings of their well-loved source text. For example, Tchaikovsky’s opera adaptation follows Tatiana rather than Eugene, as she develops her own creative voice through the musical romances of her childhood; ultimately, her creative development allows her the moral strength to refuse Eugene. At the Bolshoi Opera Studio in 1922, Konstantin Stanislavsky represented Tatiana as a simple-hearted woman. In 1944, Boris Pokrovsky presented Tatiana as a socialist realist heroine, a strong woman with the integrity to refuse an unworthy suitor. Since the collapse of state socialism, post-Soviet citizens have continued to negotiate their turbulent world through and with Onegin. In 2006, Dmitri Tcherniakov radically reinvisioned Tchaikovsky’s Onegin at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater. Artists, scholars, and critics argued about the merits of Tcherniakov’s staging and indeed its right to exist. Ordinary audience members joined the conversation by posting “spectator reviews” (zritel’skie retsenzii) to personal blogs and discussion forums online. When Boris Eifman premiered a choreographic adaptation of Onegin in 2009, audience members and critics used these same channels to lambast the corrupt present and to articulate what a better future for Russia would look like. Similarly, audience members responded to Rimas Tuminas’s 2013 play adaptation of Onegin by highlighting what they would preserve for the future. Spectator reviews of Eugene Onegin illustrate instances of individual participation in the Russian moral project.
Danielle Fosler-Lussier, Dr. (Advisor)
Alexander Burry, Dr. (Committee Member)
Ryan Thomas Skinner, Dr. (Committee Member)
356 p.
Communication; Cultural Anthropology; Dance; Gender Studies; Literature; Music; Performing Arts; Philosophy; Russian History; Slavic Literature; Slavic Studies; Theater; Theater History; Theater Studies; Womens Studies
Russia, music, morality, Eugene Onegin, Tatiana, Tcherniakov, Eifman, Tuminas, Pushkin, Online ethnography, phenomenology, reception history, Belinsky, conservatism, Moscow, Bolshoi Theater, Stanislavsky, Pokrovsky, socialist realism, blogs, social media

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Erken, E. A. (2015). Constructing the Russian Moral Project through the Classics: Reflections of Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin, 1833-2014 [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1449191980

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Erken, Emily. Constructing the Russian Moral Project through the Classics: Reflections of Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin, 1833-2014. 2015. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1449191980.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Erken, Emily. "Constructing the Russian Moral Project through the Classics: Reflections of Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin, 1833-2014." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1449191980

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1449191980
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.