Где я была, что не читала эту книгу?

Теперь она нашла себе место на полке моих самых любимых книг.
Не к спеху может и хорошо - не уверена, оценила бы пьессу по достоинсву в школе (здраствуй, школьная программа по русской литературе).

Бесценно и уж очень актуально.

А в обществе у нас немного изменилось... ( )

“A sharp critique of Russian values. Half of the lines are destined to become aphorisms.” - Pushkin

Great works of art invariably reveal truths about a specific era, while at the same time containing elements of universality. That’s true of Alexander Griboedov’s ‘Woe From Wit,’ a play written in 1824 but under the scrutiny and cuts of censors for decades afterwards, since it criticizes Russian society from the point of view of an intelligent but disaffected young man. I’ve seen it referenced many times while reading 19th century Russian literature, and am glad I was able to track it down. The writing is as clean as Pushkin’s, there are little bits of bawdiness and humor, and the characters are all well drawn.

When the younger generation longs for drastic reforms to the system, it sets itself up in opposition to the older generation; that’s true in today’s time, and it was true in Russia in the 1820’s. The play fiercely criticizes the shallowness of Moscow society, the worship of French culture, the system of serfdom, censorship, and government posts awarded by nepotism or from applicants being obsequious instead of qualified. Most of all it criticizes anti-intellectualism, as one of the older men puts it “The plague is this incessant reading/and new learning – God knows where it’s leading:/the whole world’s mad: people, movements, thinking.” Like Pushkin, Griboedov was aware of the Decembrists and narrowly avoided a closer association and harsher punishment. His protagonist says things like this in the play:

“The composite Grumbler, hoarsely and off-key,
Singing one tune only: How it used to be,
Failing to observe about himself,
That he is old and sitting on the shelf.
Show us these great men, where do they keep state,
These fathers of our country we’re to emulate?
Are these the robber barons, profiteers, and crooks
Protected from the law by friend and relative,
Whose money flows like water through a sieve
To furnish palaces, import French cooks,
Worshipped by their clientele in exile,
Who hope to see, never mind how vile,
The old regime restored?....”

I think of these lines as applying to today’s America, and you can also see it in the fate of an intelligent man who is declared crazy by people gossiping lies. In Russia, Pyotr Chaadayev was declared insane in 1836 for his progressive views, life imitating art in a frightening way.

It’s also apparently the source of roughly 60 Russian phrases/idioms (e.g. A судьи кто? Who are the judges?), but as someone who sadly can’t speak Russian, another who does would have to comment on how prevalent those still are. Regardless, it’s clear the author and play should be better known outside of Russia. Griboedov’s personal story is fascinating and includes serving most of his adult life as diplomatic emissary to Persia and being massacred with three dozen of his colleagues in Teheran when he was 39, a life tragically cut short just as Pushkin’s and Lermontov’s were. ( )

Wonderful, amusing play largely about suspicion of foreign influence--in this case, German. I read this almost thirty years ago, in Russian, so check out my accuracy. No need to check out my vivid reaction and amusement. Russia has always treated foreign influence with suspicion, though they have entirely depended on it--first the French-speaking aristocracy, and the German-educated Catherine the Great, as well as the protagonist of this play, Sorrow from Intelligence (usu, Sorrow from Mind although equally Sorrow from Soul or Sorrow from Wit). I should re-read it now America is virulently anti-intellectual, anti-scientific, anti-Latin, anti-past ("history" on TV is five years ago), and of course, anti-literary. What can we expect when an educated president, Harvard professor, appoints a gym teacher (2 years) to be Sect'y of Education fro the US?
For Russian suspicion of foreign influence, this extended to POWs, who when they returned from captivity (say, in Prussia) were imprisoned--they had imbibed foreign ideas, were now probably spies. ( )