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Abstract:

The article investigates the poetic image of Little Russia created in the theatrical adaptations of N.V. Gogol’s book “Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka”. The article establishes that most of the adaptations reworked the first adaptation of “The Night before Christmas” (1832) by an anonymous author, rather than Gogol’s own stories. Manuscripts from the Ukrainian Censorship collection of the St. Petersburg State Theatre Library were examined. Their analysis indicates that L.W. Dubelt’s ban of the 1852 adaptation, based on A.K. Gedershtern’s censorship report, concerned a new version of the first adaptation’s text rather than overturned Ye.I. Oldekop’s earlier permission to stage. Censors acted as the first critics of the “remakes” and evaluated their conformity to the rules of stage censorship, as well as the authors’ taste and literary mastery. They banned works with occurrences of indecent or obscene language, overuse of typical situations and sight gags. Nonetheless, these features of the low culture of popular laughter were utilized in librettos by Ya.P. Polonsky and M.P. Staritsky, contributing to the realization of a poetic image of Little Russia. Theatrical adaptations of N.V. Gogol’s stories depicted folk routines and customs aiming at an undemanding audience. Such viewers were used to coarse humour and stylized nationally flavoured settings, where the sack, the blacksmith and the Deacon acted as markers of the familiar.