Ivan Turgenev as the reader of drama “Money” by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (On the materials of Turgenev’s home library)
Abstract
The article is devoted to Ivan Turgenev’s perception of English literature. The study focuses
on the dramatic works of Bulwer-Lytton, which became the Russian writer’s main object
of attention in the first half of the 1840s. The research material was taken from the personal
library of Ivan Turgenev. His notes (ink marks and nail strikes) left on the separate text
of the “Money” play (1841) are analyzed. They allow one to reconstruct a full picture
of Turgenev’s perception. Edward Bulwer-Lytton was a real reformer of the English theatre
who aimed at loading the melodrama seen on stage with ethical and social issues. Ivan
Turgenev interpreted the “Money” play as a “manual” and an important source for a theoretical and practical study of dramatic art. The “Money” text revealed to the Russian author
the daily life of the English society, in which a conflict unfolded on the basis of social and
moral contradictions. Turgenev was particularly interested in the first two acts of the play.
He was moving along the path of assimilation of the main image-symbol (this is confirmed
by Turgenev’s notes). The writer refers to moments of the implementation of the money motive
as the main one in the life of every member of society and of the society as a whole. He was
interested in the figure of Sir John as a representative of the English aristocracy with his own
“life philosophy”. In the course of careful reading, Turgenev highlights the idea of how
financial solvency replaces personal dignity taking the scene of Statute and Glossmore
fighting for a place in the Parliament an example. Turgenev found the fate of Clara and
Evelyn particularly important in the world of distorted values. Turgenev paid special attention to the lyrical manifestations in the female character, and to the ironic nature of a male
one. Graves, a character who was responsible for the comic component in the play, also
aroused Turgenev’s interest.
Keywords
Ivan Turgenev, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, drama “Money”, English drama, marginal notes.
For citation
Volkov I.O. Ivan Turgenev as the reader of drama “Money” by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (On the materials of Turgenev’s home library). Theatre. Fine Arts. Cinema. Music. 2023, no. 1, pp. 67–86.
DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2023-1-67-86
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Received: 07.12.2022
Revised: 24.01.2023
Accepted: 11.02.2023