Mayakovsky: Plays (European Drama Classics) - Softcover

Mayakovsky, Vladimir

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0810113392 ISBN 13: 9780810113398

Publisher: Northwestern University Press, 1995

Synopsis

One of Russia's greatest poets, Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930) was a Futurist, early Bolshevik, and champion of the avant-garde. Despite his revolutionary youth, he became increasingly disillusioned with Soviet society, and three of his plays--all banned until after Stalin's death--reflect his changing assessments of the Revolution.

Mayakovsky: Plays includes Mystery Bouffe, a mock medieval mystery written in 1918 to celebrate the first anniversary of the Revolution; The Bathhouse, a sharp attack on Soviet bureaucracy subtitled "a drama of circus and fireworks"; and The Bedbug, in which a worker with bourgeois pretensions is frozen and resurrected fifty years later, when the world has become a material paradise. The collection also includes Mayakovsky's more personal first play, Vladimir Mayakovsky: A Tragedy.

About this title

From the Back Cover

One of Russia's greatest twentieth-century poets, Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930) was a Futurist, early Bolshevik, and champion of the avant garde. An early revolutionary, he became increasingly disillusioned with Soviet society, and three of his plays - all of which were banned until after Stalin's death - reflect his changing assessments of the Revolution. They are collected here with his first, more personal work, Vladimir Mayakovsky: A Tragedy. This volume includes Mystery Bouffe, a mock medieval mystery play written in 1918 to celebrate the first anniversary of the Revolution; The Bathhouse, a sharp attack on Soviet bureaucracy subtitled "a drama of circus and fireworks"; and The Bedbug, in which a worker with bourgeois pretensions is frozen and resurrected fifty years later, when the world has been transformed into a material paradise. Mayakovsky's first play, Vladimir Mayakovsky: A Tragedy, reveals the poet's propensity for painful self-dramatization and his flair for grotesque imagery. Fresh, inventive, and shot through with zany humor, Mayakovsky's plays represent a radically new kind of theater.

About the Author

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (1893 – 1930) was a Russian and Soviet poet and playwright. He is among the foremost representatives of early-twentieth century Russian Futurism.

Guy Daniels has translated widely from Russian. He is the editor and translator ofRussian Comic Fiction.

About this edition

• Publisher: Northwestern University Press
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0810113392
• ISBN 13: 9780810113398
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 276