The University of Wisconsin Press
Literature & Criticism / Russian & Slavic Studies
Boris Godunov
Alexander Pushkin
Edited by Maria Virolainen and Alexander Dolinin
The Annotated Works of Alexander Pushkin
A Russian-language edition of the classic Pushkin play
Like many writers, Alexander Pushkin often created multiple versions of the same work, leaving readers to wonder which he intended as final and authoritative—a question complicated, moreover, by his fraught relationship with the repressive regime of Tsar Nicholas I. Illuminating the creative processes and historical realities that shaped Pushkin’s writing, this richly annotated series reproduces each work exactly as it appeared in the final Russian-language edition published during Pushkin’s lifetime, resulting in the handsome “artifactual” feel of an original Pushkin text. In volumes edited by distinguished Pushkin scholars from Russia and beyond, the series offers detailed textological analysis that seeks a balance between the history of a work’s conception and its publication.
Based on the 1835 edition published by A. F. Smirdin, Boris Godunov is the second volume in the series. Pushkin’s only full-length play, it was inspired by the political intrigues, social turmoil, and multifaceted personalities of Russia’s Time of Troubles (1598–1613). Completed just months before the suppressed revolt of the Decembrists, the play features a feeble-minded tsar, his able and ambitious brother-in-law, a rightful heir who died under mysterious circumstances, and the pretender who emerged years later to claim the dead youth’s identity. Ambiguous and controversial, Boris Godunov provides rich material for the consideration of Pushkin and his artistic legacy.
Maria Virolainen is director of the Pushkin Studies Department at the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Alexander Dolinin is professor of Russian literature at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is the author of three books (in Russian) and more than 150 articles (in Russian and English) on Russian and comparative literature.
Media & bookseller inquiries regarding review copies, events, and interviews can be directed to the publicity department at publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu or (608) 263-0734. (If you want to examine a book for possible course use, please see our Course Books page. If you want to examine a book for possible rights licensing, please see Rights & Permissions.)
December 2008
578 pp. 6 x 8 1/2
Russian-language edition
Cloth $60.00 s
ISBN 978-5-98379-107-7ADD TO CART
Distributed for The Wisconsin Center for Pushkin Studies
Home | Books | Journals | Events | Textbooks | Authors | Related | Search | Order | Contact If you have trouble accessing any page in this web site, contact our Web manager.
E-mail: webmaster@uwpress.wisc.eduUpdated October 18, 2011
© 2011, The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
