MYTH IN RUSSIAN DRAMA OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: ANNENSKIJ, IVANOV, BLOK, XLEBNIKOV, MAJAKOVSKIJ, LEONOV, VISNEVSKIJ, AND ARBUZOV

The period at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century is often referred to as the time of the Minor Russian Renaissance. This period was characterized by a revival of the cultural heritage of ancient Greece, Byzantium and early Christianity. It was, first of all, the time when Russian poetry realized its full potential.The five chapters which comprise the body of the dissertation examine the different approaches to myth in dramatic works that belong to the various artistic trends in Russian culture of the first half of the twentieth century. Writers were selected whose works are the most thoroughly representative of the use of myth in various artistic trends. Innokentij Annenskij was selected as an example of the use of myth in Impressionist theater. Vjaceslav Ivanov and Aleksandr Blok show two different approaches to myth in Symbolist theater. Xlebnikov creates the most fully developed mythological system and a revival of folk theater. Each chapter places a given artist in the context of the movement to which he belonged. One more literary figure is given special attention in the dissertation--Vladimir Majakovskij. The analysis of his works, however, is distributed in two chapters: the chapter on Futurist theater and the chapter on Socialist Realist theater. The last chapter is devoted to the analysis of myth in the plays created by Visnevskij, Leonov, and Arbuzov after the October Revolution. The main focus in this chapter is Socialist Realism and the period of the 1930's.Thus, this study introduces the reader to the various approaches to myth in Russian drama of the twentieth century--from the revival of classical myth in the tragedies of Annenskij and Ivanov through the mythopoeic sense of Blok and Xlebnikov to the most efficient mythological structures of Socialist Realist plays.The Silver Age also witnessed the modern Renaissance of Russian theater. Russian drama, and especially the drama of the twentieth century, remains the least studied area of Russian culture. In this context the question of myth has never been raised. The analysis of myth in Russian drama is thus an extremely interesting problem. Through a detailed examination of the plays of selected artists, the study demonstrates the different uses of myth and also the processes of myth-making in Russian drama.