Drama by Evgeny Schwartz. A view from the 21st century.
In 2016, Evgeniy Lvovich Schwartz turned 120 years old. For a long time, his name was undeservedly forgotten, books with his works were not republished, and what was printed was moved deeper on the bookshelf.
Meanwhile, E. Schwartz can rightfully be called a “doctor human souls”, because he gave readers and viewers the opportunity to delve into the meaning of life (“What do you live for? For what?” asks the hero of the play “Shadow” the Scientist to the Doctor, as if addressing us), helped to destroy the germs of evil in their souls. His plays are for children, but not only, and perhaps not so much for children. He “sought to touch everyone,” writes M. Sinelnikov in the article “On the beauty of human faces” (6, p. 369).
Dramaturgy is a complex type of literature that has its own specific features, requiring its reader, serious, thoughtful, demanding. It can be very difficult for the author of a dramatic work not to leave us indifferent, to make us involved in the lives of other people, the heroes of the play, and also to evoke a spiritual uplift, “to awaken, to bring out from under the bushel of everyday life our feelings and thoughts that are dormant, like fire under the ashes, sharpen them, kindle them, give them cognitive power...” (1, p. 36). W. Channing, an American preacher and writer of the 18th and 19th centuries, said well about this: “Every person is a whole volume, if only you know how to read it.” Apparently, E. Shwar tried to “read” people, to find “something alive” in each and, as the Scientist from the play “Shadow” says, “to touch a nerve - and that’s all.”
The plays of E. Schwartz had and still have the ability to “touch the heartstrings”, and he himself, as a real talent, makes you clearly, figuratively imagine the people who are depicted in them, delve into the essence of the conflicts that arise between these people, and most importantly, evaluate them on your own, without prompting: after all, comments in plays are, as a rule, kept to a minimum.
Desire to devote oneself theater arts appeared to E. Schwartz during his years of study at the Faculty of Law of the Moscow People's University. Shanyavsky at the beginning of the 20th century. At first it was something unconscious, distant, but the decision turned out to be unshakable, despite the fact that by that time he had not yet written a single line, and the letters of his handwriting “looked like dying mosquitoes” (5, p. 89).
In his diaries, E. Schwartz writes: “Childhood and youth are a fatal time. If you guess correctly, it determines your whole life.” And it seems to us that he himself determined his path correctly. The choice has been made. All that remained was to bring our plans to life, to say our weighty word in literature.
Later, in the 40s, Schwartz came up with the idea for the play “ Flying Dutchman", which the writer did not implement. But among other working notes for this play there was a poem that undoubtedly reflects the position of E. Schwartz:
God blessed me to go
He ordered to wander, without thinking about the goal,
He blessed me to sing on the way,
So that my companions may have fun.
I walk, I wander, but I don’t look around,
So as not to violate God's command,
So as not to howl like a wolf instead of singing,
So that the beating of the heart does not suddenly freeze in fear.
I'm human. And even the nightingale,
Having closed his eyes, he sings in his wilderness.
The dramaturgy of E. Schwartz was born in the harsh atmosphere of the 20s - 30s, when children's literature was taken under suspicion, and “opponents of anthropomorphism (the endowment of material and ideal objects, objects and phenomena of inanimate nature, animals, plants, mythical creatures human properties), they argued that even without fairy tales a child has difficulty understanding the world.” But the writer decided for himself: “Already better than a fairy tale write. It is not bound by plausibility, but there is more truth” (5, p.6).
It all started with H.H. Andersen, C. Perrault and folk tales. E. Schwartz skillfully uses plots familiar from childhood and creates his own original plays with lively stage characters.
“Underwood” is one of the first fairy tales, staged in 1929 by the Leningrad Youth Theater. Regarding this production, Schwartz wrote: “For the first time in my life I experienced what success is... I was stunned, but I remembered the special, obedient animation of the hall, I enjoyed it... I was happy” (5, p. 321).
Even then, Schwartz was very demanding of himself; he was constantly battling doubts about his talent. After the success of Underwood, a little time passed, and “life went on as if there had never been a premiere. And it was as if nothing had been added to my experience. For new play I took on the first one - and so all my life” (5, p. 322). Undoubtedly, such an attitude towards one’s work commands respect.
In October 1933, the premiere of “Treasure” took place. The action takes place in the mountains, where schoolchildren help adults find abandoned copper mines. The success was unexpected and complete. A basement appeared in “Literary Leningrad”: “Youth Theater found a treasure” (5, p. 395).
And then, one after another, alterations and adaptations were born: “The Naked King” (1934), “Little Red Riding Hood” (1937), “ Snow Queen"(1938) But familiar heroes under the pen of E. Schwartz acquired new features and easily fit into the context of the modern era. For example, the Chieftain in “The Snow Queen” says: “Children need to be pampered, then they grow up to be real robbers.” Don’t you think this is relevant now, in the 21st century, when spoiled youth allow themselves to commit acts that violate moral standards and rights!?
In 1940, E. Schwartz created the play “Shadow”. It is filled with irony, wit, deep wisdom and humanity, “seduces... with deep philosophical thoughts slipping in here and there, dressed in the elegant form of a fairy-tale joke” (5, p. 739).
The fairy tale included problems, conflicts and the very atmosphere of the dramaturgy, which was quite “serious”, “adult”. The hero of the fairy tale is an ingenuous soul, a “simple, naive man,” as his influential enemies attest to the Scientist (in which, by the way, they see a danger for themselves). He can be counted among the galaxy of literary eccentrics and even associated, with some reservations, with the same Chatsky, Hamlet, Don Quixote. Christian Theodore, recommended as a friend of Andersen himself, “did not win a confident victory over the Shadow, this creature of the reverse world, the embodiment of anti-qualities” (3, p. 763), he simply escaped from the former fairyland, where magic retreated before reality, mimicking, adapting to it. In this country, friends betrayed friends, indifference and pretense triumphed. The scientist leaves the country with the final remark: “Annunziata, let's go!” It reminds me of Chatsky’s not at all optimistic cry: “A carriage for me, a carriage!”
Much of what happens in the play fits very organically not only into the era of the early 20th century. Much of what the heroes of this work talk about can easily be applied to our lives today.
For example, the words of the Scientist have not lost their relevance at all: “Your country - alas! - similar to all countries in the world. Wealth and poverty, nobility and slavery, death and misfortune, reason and stupidity, holiness, crime, conscience, shamelessness - all this was mixed so closely ... " We meet people like the journalist Caesar Borgia from the same play quite often. “I want power, honor, and I’m terribly short of money. For the sake of your secret complete success I’m ready for anything,” says this hero.
Achieve success in life, rise up career ladder can be done in different ways, including in the way that the Majordomo talks about, teaching his assistant: “...my lower back bends by itself when tall people approach. I don’t see or hear them yet, but I’m already bowing. That’s why I’m in charge.” A very familiar situation!
The Minister of Finance has a very clear position: “Prudent people transfer gold abroad, and foreign business circles are worried for their own reasons abroad and transfer gold to us. This is how we live." Changes are not included in the plans of officials; they cannot stand it, as the same Minister states.
Everyone is afraid of exposure. For example, the ladies of the court from the play “The Naked King” do not want to hear the truth about themselves that the Nose is telling. At the royal dinner, the Duchess stuffed sandwiches, cutlets, pies and other food into her sleeves; the countess is saving and already a whole month dines at a party, and the baroness makes CHICKEN cutlets from HORSE MEAT for the guests. Of course, this can affect your reputation. Although what can be said about a state in which the Poet prepares a welcoming speech for the King, where questions and... answers to them are provided (!?), and the King believes that his “nation is the highest in the world. All the others are no good, we’re great.” This, you must admit, smacks of nationalism!
The meeting of the King with the crowd involuntarily resembles the meetings of our citizens with high leadership. The First Minister openly warns: “You can open your mouth only to shout “Hurray” or sing the anthem.” There is a clear exaltation of the person in power. The same First Minister says: “He (the king) is suddenly so close to you. He is wise, he is special! Not like other people. And such a miracle of nature is suddenly two steps away from you. Marvelous!"
It is said about officials in the play “Shadow” that “everything is indifferent to them: life, death, and great discoveries,” they are “a terrible force.” Are comments needed?
As in the time of E. Schwartz, and now it is very troublesome with simple and naive people, who are often considered worse than blackmailers, thieves, adventurers, cunning and dodgers. This is exactly how they looked at the hero of the play “The Shadow”, the Scientist, who could not observe this crazy, unhappy world through his fingers, could not give up on everything, as the Doctor advised him. The hero says about the Scientist: “He is healthy. But things are going badly. And they will get even worse until he learns to look at the world through his fingers, until he gives up on everything, until he masters the art of shrugging his shoulders.”
The Scientist has his own opinion: “Not believing anything is death! To understand everything is also death. Everything is indifferent - but this is even worse than death!
A.P. Chekhov wrote about this: “Indifference is paralysis of the soul, premature death" Unfortunately, even now there are many people who isolate themselves from external problems related to the life of society. Disturbing their peace is very risky; you can end up in an unpleasant situation.
The Great Patriotic War began. During the days of the siege of Leningrad, E. Schwartz was assigned to the Radio Center. The book about the radio work of that time says: “The most interesting and significant were the fairy tales and skits of Evgeniy Schwartz. Every visit to the radio great artist becomes an event... There has always been an atmosphere of creativity and goodwill around E. Schwartz. The inclusion in the Radio Chronicle of such fairy tales by the playwright as “The Minister’s Dream,” “Diplomatic Conference,” and “Allies” forced a more demanding approach to other materials in the chronicle. E. Schwartz’s “Adventures of a Fascist Devil” (5, p. 733) was scathingly and wittily written.
Unfortunately, most of the listed works of the writer modern readers and the audience are not familiar.
Schwartz “celebrates” the beginning of the Patriotic War with the play “Under the Linden Trees of Berlin,” written together with M. Zoshchenko. During the war years he created the plays “One Night”, “The Far Land” and others. The play “One Night” was scheduled for production at the Bolshoi Drama Theater in 1942, but was not staged. Schwartz himself wrote bitterly: “I’m not particularly used to my plays being staged” (4, p.6).
In 1942, the writer travels to Kotelnich Kirov region, then to Orichi, where children's institutions evacuated from Leningrad were located. The material was collected, and in September of the same year, E. Schwartz finished work on the play “The Distant Land,” which was subsequently staged in many Youth Theaters.
In 1944, the pamphlet play “Dragon” was completed, which was “dragonized” for several decades, removed from the stage and banned. After all, killing the Dragon is an attack on power itself! It was a fairy tale, but it was classified as a “harmful fairy tale.” Harmful and dangerous. The author never saw his brainchild in print.
It is generally accepted that the plays "The Naked King", "The Shadow" and "The Dragon" form a trilogy, which is Schwartz's reaction to the totalitarian regime. But one must think that Schwartz in no way aimed at I. Stalin, especially since “the theme - a maniac at the head of the state - in application to the USSR had not yet mastered public consciousness(3, p.763). The writer's skill lies in the apoliticality of his heroes, because they preach the eternal laws of goodness, love, friendship, truth. Any normal society should strive for the triumph of these laws. The hero of the play “The Naked King” Christian exclaims: “The power of love has smashed all obstacles... Welcome love, friendship, laughter, joy!” These words are so relevant for our time, when people are often embittered and hostile to each other.
When in due time the famous English playwright Bernard Shaw was asked, in connection with different interpretations of one of his plays, what his own beliefs were, he replied: “I have no beliefs of my own. I have my beliefs characters..." (1, p. 33). These words can also be applied to E. Schwartz, although, undoubtedly, he had his own convictions. But we think that these words can be interpreted as follows: “I am a playwright and, creating different human figures and characters, I must portray them with the greatest objectivity and verisimilitude, and for this I need to become “each of them” (2, p. 34).
“A real person is the one who wins,” says singer Julia Julie, the heroine of the play “Shadow,” about the Scientist. We believe that this is about E. Schwartz himself, and in general about people living with peace and goodness in their souls.
In 1947 children's theater I got acquainted with Schwartz’s play “Ivan the Honest Worker.” Two versions of it have been preserved in the archives. Despite the fact that in the early 70s it was discussed at a meeting of the artistic council and was accepted for production, but, unfortunately, was not staged.
In 1949, Schwartz wrote the play "The First Year". After repeated revisions, it received the name “The Tale of Young Spouses.”
The painstaking work of E. Schwartz on his works is evidenced by the fact that, for example, the author redid the scene of the meeting of a disguised princess with a bear (the play “The Bear”, the first act of which was written in 1944, the last in 1954) six times. “I loved this play very much, lately I touched it with caution and only on days when I felt like a human being,” Schwartz wrote in his “Diary” on May 13, 1952. Even the title of the work was in the search stage for a long time: “The Cheerful Wizard”, “The Obedient Wizard”, “The Mad Bearded Man”, “The Naughty Wizard” and, finally, very simply but succinctly “An Ordinary Miracle”.
Back in 1924, S.Ya. Marshak became a teacher for E. Schwartz. Listening to him, the young writer began to understand “both how to write and what to write... when the work is finished, when it has become a discovery, when it can be published.” Marshak literally “drilled into the student the consciousness that working on a manuscript was a matter of divine importance” (5, p. 88).
A character trait of E. Schwartz that evokes great respect is the sincerity with which he writes about himself: “I don’t know how to work as a real professional writer should... And I don’t feel any calmer over the years. I start every new thing like the first” (5, p. 14, 22, 25). And at the same time, the belief that “everything will be fine.” “What if life gets easier? What if I start working consecutively, a lot and successfully? What if I don’t die soon and have time to do something else?” (5, p.24). How many people are there now who want to leave behind something lasting and significant?!
All his life, Evgeniy Schwartz walked toward “the freedom of the artist,” and, having visited P. Picasso’s exhibition in December 1956, he wrote: “He does what he wants,” envying his “freedom.” Internal." (3, p.764).
The skill of a playwright is largely determined by how skillfully and subtly he uses language, which requires precision and, if possible, brevity. It should not contain unnecessary words. Every word of the play, every monologue "must be subordinated main task– promote the development of action, express feelings and thoughts, states of mind and the intentions of the characters at different turns of the plot” (1, p.90).
In relation to Schwartz's dramaturgy, this definition best characterizes the linguistic style of his plays, because it is in unity with their ideological and figurative content. Language here serves, “and does not lie, like models in an exhibition showcase. He serves, he acts... You feel and understand that he is precious, alive!” (2, p.31).
The fairy tales of E. Schwartz are characterized by the significance of the content and the purity of the moral atmosphere. Under the writer’s pen, hatred of evil and violence, love of goodness and freedom acquire a new quality and new coloring, becoming clearly and deeply in tune with the thoughts of our contemporaries.
Schwartz’s fairy-tale images have “psychological depth, plasticity, volume, realistic completeness and life-like authenticity” (5, p. 185).
Ideological content and realistic full-bloodedness make E. Schwartz's plays equally accessible to young and adult viewers.
The young viewer will find in them the romance of miracles and learn from them about good and evil. They will give an adult food for thought about the problems of our era.
On his 60th birthday, Evgeny Schwartz received more than two hundred telegrams from writers, artists, artists, in which words of gratitude were expressed to him, the “good wizard,” as V.F. Panova wrote. I. G. Ehrenburg warmly congratulated “a wonderful writer, tender towards people and angry towards everything that interferes with life.” M. Zoshchenko, who was present at the anniversary of E.L. Shvarts on October 20, 1956 at the House of Writers named after. V. Mayakovsky, in his welcoming speech said: “Over the years, I began to value in a person not his youth, and not celebrity, and not talent. I value decency in a person. You are a very decent person, Zhenya!” (7, p.142).
In 1957, I.I. Shneiderman, summing up the life activities of E. Shvarts, wrote to him in a letter: “...To see life, to be so sober - and to maintain faith in goodness, this is only given big people. Or for real ordinary people, on which all life rests. You have both, heart common man, the talent of a great man. It’s easier to live in the world when you know that there are people like you.”
Getting to know more and more deeply the work of Evgeniy Lvovich Schwartz, we sincerely confirm the truth of these words.
We understand that the presented study of the dramaturgy of E. Schwartz is far from complete. There is still a lot of work to be done for the name of the talented writer to deservedly take its place among the classics of Russian literature.
List of used literature.
1. Apushkin Ya.V. Dramatic magic. – M.: “Young Guard” 1966.
2. Osnos Yu. In the world of drama. – M.: Sov.pisatel, 1971.
3. Russian writers of the 20th century: Bibliographical dictionary/Ch.Ed. and comp. P.A.Nikolaev.-M: Big Russian encyclopedia; Rendezvous - AN. 2000.
4. Symphony of the mind. Aphorisms and sayings of domestic and foreign authors. Composition by Vl.Vorontsov.-M., “Young Guard”, 1976.
5. Schwartz E.L. I live restlessly...: From the diaries.-L., Sov.pisatel, 1990.
6. Schwartz E.L. An Ordinary Miracle: Plays.-SPb.: Limbus Press, 1998.
7. Shtok I.V. Stories about playwrights.-M., 1967.
In all the works of the outstanding playwright E. A. Schwartz, the main features of his work were manifested: the internal independence of the plots he developed, the novelty of characters, human relationships, the complex interaction of imagination, reality and fairy tales. In plays, the fantastic naturally enters into ordinary life, mixes with it almost imperceptibly. Borrowing the form of allegory from a fairy tale, the playwright fills it with new content. One of Schwartz’s favorite techniques is that many of the comic situations of his plays are built on obtaining an effect opposite to the expected one, and this clearly shows the grotesque nature of Schwartz’s contradiction. One of those plays in which the grotesque shapes fairy tale style writer is "The Naked King".
The play “The Naked King” was written by E. L. Schwartz in 1934. The author included in the composition of the play plot motives three fairy tales by H. H. Andersen: “The Swineherd”, “The Princess and the Pea”, “The King’s New Clothes”. Creatively reworking stories famous fairy tales, Schwartz created a new work - the play "The Naked King". The main characters of the fairy tale by E. L. Schwartz, two inseparable swineherd friends, Henry, Christian, and the Princess, with an independent and cheerful character, go through many trials. This play does not have three separate stories with different princesses, but one big story where the same princess lives and acts. Her image is one of the main ones; it connects all the characters with each other; all the action and all the conflicts of the play develop around the princess.
In the fairy tale by E. L. Schwartz, the swineherd is actually a commoner, and the story of his acquaintance with the princess is the beginning of the play. The beginning reveals the main features fairy tale. “A fairy tale is replete with miracles. There are terrible monsters, wonderful objects, wonderful events, a journey to another distant kingdom.” As in fairy tales, Henry and Christian have a “magic assistant” - a bowler hat with a talking nose and jingling bells that play any dance tune. It is with magical objects that the grotesque reflection of life is associated in the fairy tale play. "In the grotesque the primary convention of any artistic image doubles. Before us is a world that is not only secondary in relation to the real, but also built on the principle of “by contradiction”. Our usual categories of causality, norms, patterns, etc., dissolve in the grotesque world.
That is why fantasy is so characteristic of the grotesque; it especially clearly destroys the connections we are accustomed to.”
Schwartz's reminiscence of Gogol's nose serves as a way of exposing the hypocrisy of the society in which the Princess lives. The Nose from the Cauldron tells how the ladies of the court “save money” by dining for months on end in other people’s houses or the royal palace, while hiding the food in their sleeves. Schwartz is full of fantastic elements deep meaning and, just like Gogol’s, they are a means of satirical denunciation. Gogol's nose casts doubt on the trustworthiness of his owner, Schwartz's nose makes him doubt the integrity of the court circle, he openly exposes the hypocrisy of high society, its false canons.
One of satirical techniques the author is a dialogue between the nose and the ladies, the other is a refrain of the repeated phrase of one of the court ladies, which she addresses to the princess: “I beg you, be silent! You are so innocent that you can say absolutely terrible things.” At the end of the play, Henry’s friend Christian says the same phrase to the princess, which produces a strong comic effect. Christian, just like the magic cauldron, performs the functions of an “assistant” in the play. The author gives the magic cauldron another function: to express Henry’s innermost dreams and desires. The bowler hat sings the song of Henry in love, in which he expresses confidence that Henry, having overcome all obstacles, will marry the princess. Schwartz's kind humor can be felt in the princess's dialogues with her court ladies about the number of kisses she should exchange with her beloved Henry. The comedy of the situation is emphasized by the unfeigned horror of the court ladies forced to obey the princess. The comic effect is enhanced when the angry king threatens the ladies with first burning them, then cutting off their heads and then hanging them all. high road. Having mercy, he promises to leave all the ladies alive, but “to scold them, scold them, nag, nag them all their lives.”
Schwartz continues and deepens Andersen's tradition of satirically ridiculing the philistinism of aristocratic society. The dialogue of the court ladies with Henry and Christian, who gave nicknames to the pigs as titled persons - Countess, Baroness, etc., is based on the play on words, on their ambiguity. The princess’s response to the indignation of her ladies: “Call pigs with high titles!” - sounds like a challenge: “The pigs are his subjects, and he has the right to bestow upon them any titles.” The princess, according to the author, personifies the charm of youth, beauty and poetry high feelings, so it is not surprising that Heinrich immediately falls in love with her and, before parting, promises to marry her. Unlike Andersen's heroines, the princess in Schwartz's play is a cheerful, sincere girl with an open character, to whom all falsehood and hypocrisy are alien. She doesn’t even know how to swear, so at the end of the play she scolds the stupid king according to the piece of paper that Henry wrote to her. According to the laws of a fairy tale, the lovers are separated: the angry king-father orders the swineherds to be expelled from the country, and wants to marry the princess to the king of a neighboring state. In Schwartz's tale, Henry's promise to marry the princess serves as a continuation of the play's action. Further, the action of the play develops based on the fairy tale “The King’s New Clothes,” but in Andersen’s fairy tale there is no princess, and for Schwartz, the plot begins with the arrival of the princess in the kingdom of the stupid king. In this part, central to the playwright’s plan, the accusatory and satirical pathos reaches the power of the grotesque. The play, written after Hitler came to power in Germany, has a clear political subtext. The methods of satirical denunciation of the stupid king are straightforward. The task that he gave to the Minister of Tender Feelings was to find out the origin and behavior of the princess, the gendarmes, the selective fellows, who are distinguished by such discipline that on command they plug their ears and make the population faint, which is trained by the gendarmes to “enthusiastic meetings” - these are details indicating a despotic character the power of the king.
If at the beginning of the play the references to the king-groom are of a harmless humorous nature, then in the second act of the play the author gives certain characteristics. Thus, in the figure of the stupid king it is not difficult to recognize the sinister features of another famous personality - the German Fuhrer, who was later given the definition of “possessed.” Phrases like “I’ll burn”, “sterilize”, “kill like a dog”, “don’t you know that our nation is the highest in the world” are very typical. The cook's story to Heinrich about the "new order", about the "fashion for burning books in squares", as a result of which not a single book remained in the country, shows the horror of the common man intimidated by terror and despotic power. As in all his plays, Schwartz creates in “The Naked King” the flavor of his era, emphasizes the realistic features of the political situation of the time, when the ominous threat of fascism hung over the whole world, reflects the characteristic features of fascism: the motive of the chosenness of the Aryan people, militarism, racism. An alarming note is heard in the play when describing the king's tyranny in the scene when he wakes up. The trumpeters blow, everyone praises him, and from the height of his bed he throws a dagger at his valet. In this scene, the author shows how human dignity is suppressed, how people surrounding the stupid king encourage and cultivate the worst traits in him, elevating them to the level of national virtue.
The images of the First Minister, the Minister of Tender Feelings, the jester, the valet, the cook, the poet, the scientist, the ladies-in-waiting, marching in formation and reporting like soldiers, emphasize the danger of the existence of people with paralyzed will, who help legitimize the policy of terror, destruction, bullying and threats. It was thanks to such people that Hitler came to power. Schwartz warned about this danger in his play. There are many techniques of satirical ridicule in the play. The stupid king calls the First Minister nothing more than “a truthful old man, an honest, straightforward old man,” constantly emphasizing that the First Minister “speaks the truth straight to the face, even if it is unpleasant.” Both the king, and his minister, and all his subjects are openly hypocritical, knowing that no one will dare to tell the king the truth, since they may pay for it with their lives. Everyone around the king lives in fear of the truth. In the end, the king pays severely for his injustice. He is deceived by the Princess, who hides the fact that she felt the pea through twenty-four feather beds so that she would not be married to him. He is cruelly deceived by court flatterers who deliberately admire the non-existent fabrics and costume he is wearing. As a result, he solemnly rides out into a crowded square completely naked.
Evgeny Schwartz is a famous Soviet writer, poet, playwright and screenwriter. His plays have been filmed more than once, and also staged on the stages of leading theaters, and many fairy tales are still popular not only among young, but also among adult readers. A feature of his works is a deep philosophical subtext with apparent simplicity and even recognition of the plots. Many of his works became original interpretations of stories already familiar to readers, which he reworked so interestingly that new works made it possible to reconsider well-known fairy tales.
Early life
Evgeny Schwartz was born in 1896 in Kazan into the family of a doctor. His childhood was spent in numerous moves, which was associated with his father’s work. In 1914, the future famous writer entered the Faculty of Law of Moscow University. Already at this time he became very interested in theater, which predetermined his future fate. During the First World War he served in the army and was promoted to ensign.
After the February Revolution, Evgeny Schwartz entered the Volunteer Army and took part in the hostilities of the white movement. After demobilization, he began working in a theater workshop.
Start of a career
In 1921, the future playwright moved to Petrograd, where he began acting on stage. Then he established himself as an excellent improviser and storyteller. His literary debut took place in 1924, when he published children's work"The Story of an Old Balalaika." A year later, Evgeny Schwartz was already a permanent employee and author of two well-known children's magazines. The 1920s were very fruitful in his career: he composed several works for children, which were published in separate editions. The year 1929 was significant in his biography: the Leningrad theater staged the author’s play “Underwood” on its stage.
Features of creativity
The writer worked hard and fruitfully. He not only composed literary works, but also wrote librettos for ballets, came up with funny captions for drawings, made satirical reviews, and reprises for the circus. One more characteristic feature his creativity was that he often took as a basis his already familiar classic stories. Thus, Schwartz wrote the script for the cult movie Cinderella, which was released in 1946. old tale under the pen of the author began to sparkle with new colors.
For example, Evgeny Schwartz carefully described those characters who remained impersonal in the original work. The prince became a mischievous and funny young man, the king amused the audience with his witty remarks and sweet simplicity, the stepmother turned out to be not so much evil as a boastful and ambitious woman. The figure of the heroine's father also acquired real features of a caring and loving parent, while usually his image remained unclear. So the writer could breathe new life into old works.
Military theme
The works of Evgeniy Lvovich Schwartz amaze with the variety of themes. During the war he remained in besieged Leningrad and refused to leave the city. However, after some time he was nevertheless taken out, and in Kirov he wrote several essays about the war, among them the play “One Night,” which was dedicated to the defenders of the city. The work “The Distant Land” tells the story of evacuated children. Thus, the author, like many of his contemporaries, composed a number of his works about the terrible days of wartime.
Film work
Fairy tales by Evgeniy Schwartz have been filmed several times. It has already been said above that it was he who became the author of the script for the famous “Cinderella”. In addition to this work, the general public probably still remembers the old film “Marya the Mistress,” also based on his work.
The writer again, in his characteristic subtle and philosophical manner, retells new way a story familiar to everyone from childhood about an evil merman who kidnapped a beautiful young woman. The author's undoubted success is the introduction of a child into the narrative as one of the main characters. After all, previous fairy tales with a similar plot usually cost two positive characters(kidnapped by the princess and her liberator) and one negative. The author expanded the scope of the plot, which benefited the film.
"An Ordinary Miracle"
Evgeniy Schwartz's books are distinguished by complex intellectual overtones, which soon became the author's main technique. Some of his works sometimes, even with all their apparent simplicity of plot, turned out to be difficult to understand. The author worked on his probably most famous play, “An Ordinary Miracle,” for ten years. It was released in 1954 and was soon staged. Unlike his other tales, this work has no specific historical attachment; the text contains only a mention that the owner’s estate is located in the Carpathian Mountains. The characters in the play turned out to be very ambiguous: the king, despite all his cruelty, unreservedly loves his daughter, the hunter, who is initially shown as a comedic hero, agrees to kill the hundredth bear. The characters constantly reflect and carefully analyze their actions from a psychological point of view, which was not at all typical for traditional fairy tales.
Productions and film adaptations
Evgeny Schwartz created almost all of his works for children. In this series, the play “An Ordinary Miracle” stands out, which is more likely intended for an adult reader. Criticism, as a rule, avoided the productions. Some authors of the articles noted the originality of the play, but reproached the author for the fact that his heroes do not fight for their happiness, but rely entirely on the will of the wizard, which is not entirely fair, since the Princess and the Bear, on the contrary, behave in the most unexpected ways during the course of the story. for the Master himself.
The first productions, however, were warmly received by the public, as well as by some other writers, who appreciated the subtle philosophical humor and originality of the characters. Also in different times There were film adaptations of this play: black and white by E. Garin and color by M. Zakharova. The latter acquired cult status due to the star cast, excellent director's production, wonderful music, original interpretation of the characters, as well as colorful scenery.
"Shadow"
The biography of Evgeny Schwartz is inseparably connected with his work for the theater, for which he wrote several famous plays. The one mentioned in the subtitle was created in 1940. It was composed specifically for the stage production. Along with some other works of the playwright, it is distinguished by some bombast. This is a very specific story that tells about an unusual incident that happened to a scientist who lost his shadow. After some time, the latter took his place and caused him a lot of harm.
However, the devotion of the girl who loved him helped him overcome all the trials. This work was filmed by N. Kasheverova, and the two main roles were played by the famous Soviet artist O. Dahl.
Other works
In 1944, Schwartz wrote the philosophical fairy tale "Dragon". In this essay, he again resorted to his favorite technique: he remade already familiar folk stories, however, this time it was used as the initial basis folklore motives Asian peoples about a terrible dragon, which no one can kill, because in due time the winner also turns into a dictator. In this play, the author conveyed the idea that people would rather be content with a tolerable life under a dictator than risk it in the struggle for freedom. None of them are able to feel truly free, and therefore the main character, the knight Lancelot, having defeated the monster, turns out to be a loser because he was unable to change the psychology of people. The work was filmed by M. Zakharov in 1988.
The fairy tales that Evgeniy Schwartz wrote in his time are still popular. " Wasted time"(more precisely, "The Tale of Lost Time") is a work intended for children. In this story, the author conveys the idea of the need to cherish every minute of time and not waste it in vain. Despite the familiarity of the plot, the composition, nevertheless, is distinguished by its originality, since this time the writer transferred the action of the work to modern era. The story tells about unlucky children who lost many precious watches, stolen by evil wizards, who at this expense turned into teenagers, and the main characters became old men. They had to go through many tests before they managed to regain their usual appearance. The fairy tale was filmed by A. Ptushko in 1964.
Writer's personal life
The author's first wife was a theater actress in Rostov-on-Don. However, after some time, he divorced her and married a second time to Ekaterina Zilber, with whom he lived until his death. However, they never had children. Everyone called Evgeniy Schwartz an extremely romantic person, prone to eccentric actions. For example, he obtained consent for the marriage of his first wife by jumping into cold water in winter. This first marriage turned out to be happy: the couple had a daughter, Natalya, who was the meaning of life for the writer.
However, the playwright’s second love turned out to be much stronger, so he decided to make this break. The author died in 1958 in Leningrad. The cause of death was a heart attack, as he had previously suffered from heart failure for a long time. In our time, the writer’s work is still relevant. Film adaptations can often be seen on television, not to mention theatrical productions based on his works. IN school curriculum reading of some of his fairy tales and plays is provided.
The dramaturgy of E.L. Shvarts contains plots and images that made it possible to define the genre of many of his plays as “fairy tale play”, “fairy tale play”, “dramatic tale”, “fairy tale comedy”.
His plays on fairy tales brought him worldwide fame, although there were very few of them in the author’s piggy bank. And he himself treated his own plays, according to his contemporaries, “without any aspiration.” Although, in fact, they sounded like the tuning fork of the era, remaining relevant. Thus, the play based on his play “The Naked King,” created by the author in 1943, was staged at Sovremennik after the author’s death, marking the “thaw” period. And the play "Dragon", written as an anti-fascist pamphlet in 1944, sounded new during the period of perestroika. It turned out that the themes chosen by Schwartz for creativity are, in essence, eternal themes. The play "Shadow" does not leave the theater stage, inspiring directors to new production interpretations.
"Dragon" depicted a country languishing under the rule of an evil and vengeful monster, whose real name was not in doubt. Already in the remark describing the appearance of the Dragon in the house of the archivist Charlemagne, it was said: “And then an elderly, but strong, youthful, blond man with a soldier’s bearing. He has a crew cut. He smiles broadly.” (p. 327) slowly enters the room. “I am the son of war,” he frankly recommends himself. “The blood of the dead Huns flows in my veins, it is cold blood. In battle I am cold, calm and precise” (p. 328). He could not have held out even a day if not for the tactics he had chosen. His tactics are that he attacks suddenly, counting on human disunity and the fact that he has already managed to gradually dislocate, in the words of Lancelot, their souls, poison their blood, kill their dignity.
As if looking ahead into the coming decades, Schwartz saw in the artist’s mind’s eye that the destruction of the Dragon itself would not immediately bring back to life the people crippled by it, that even after the hated Fuhrer was gone, it would still be necessary to wage a persistent and patient struggle for freeing people from the captivity of sinister fascist demagoguery.
Dragon" is perhaps his most poignant play. The genre marker "A Tale in Three Acts" will not deceive even a child - from the very beginning we see in the plot, characters and scenery a real, too real life
Shadow" is a play full of bright poetic charm, deep philosophical reflections and living human kindness. Telling in his autobiography the story of one of the fairy tales he wrote, Andersen wrote: “... Someone else’s plot seemed to enter my blood and flesh, I recreated it and then only released it into the world.” These words, set as the epigraph to the play “Shadow,” explain the nature of many of Schwartz’s plans.
It was important for the playwright to reveal the inner essence of each character, the individual behavior of the hero in certain circumstances. What was important to him was attention to the individual, the desire to understand him and make his inner world, the processes occurring in his soul, the main object of depiction. Schwartz has a different subject of depiction than other Soviet playwrights, not one main character, but a group of heroes, an environment.
Servant to the King:
“Let me tell you straight, bluntly, like an old man:
You - great man, sir!
Schwartz E.L., The Naked King / Plays, M.-L., “ Soviet writer", 1982, p. 87.
He studied, but did not graduate from the Faculty of Law of Moscow University, because he became interested in the theater, where he played as an actor. Despite the positive assessments of his roles, E.L. Schwartz left the stage and from the early 1920s worked as a literary secretary K.I. Chukovsky, later – a journalist.
Since 1924 he worked in the children's editorial office of Gosizdat under the leadership S.Ya. Marshak in Leningrad.
“Now it’s hard to imagine how fun we were. Panteleev recalled how in 26, for the first time in his life, he came to the children's department of the State Publishing House and asked our neighbors in the scientific department how he could find Oleynikova or Schwartz. At this time, the next door opened and from there on all fours shouting: “I am a camel!” a young curly-haired man jumped out and, without noticing the spectators, disappeared back. “This is Oleinikov,” said the editor of the scientific department, expressing no feelings - neither surprise nor condemnation, apparently accustomed to the behavior of his neighbors.”
Schwartz E.L., I live restlessly... (from diaries), L., “Soviet Writer”, 1990, p. 241.
In 1948 Evgeny Schwartz wrote the play “An Ordinary Miracle”, where the king easily justifies his atrocities:
"King: I scary man! [...] Despot. And besides, I am cunning, vindictive, capricious. [...]
And the most offensive thing is that it’s not my fault...
Owner: And who?
Hostess: Isn’t it possible to resist?
King. Where there! Along with the family jewels, I inherited all the vile family traits. Can you imagine the pleasure? If you do something nasty, everyone grumbles, and no one wants to understand that it’s your aunt’s fault. [...]
Uncle! He’ll start talking the same way, sometimes with whomever he has to, he’ll tell three stories about himself, and then he’ll feel ashamed. And his soul was subtle, delicate, easily vulnerable. And in order not to suffer later, he would even poison his interlocutor. [...] Uncle, uncle, uncle! There's nothing to smile about! I am a well-read and conscientious person. Another would have blamed his meanness on his comrades, on his superiors, on his neighbors, on his wife. And I blame my ancestors as if they were dead. They don't care, but it's easier for me. [...] Answer yourself, without blaming
neighbors, for all their meanness and stupidity - beyond human strength!
I'm not some kind of genius. Just a king, like a dime a dozen.”
The first collection of plays was published in 1956 E.L. Schwartz. Before this, several plays were banned by the authorities after their premiere.
"Basic stylistic device, which ensured the originality of Shvartsev’s dramaturgy and glorified it, is a technique of stylistic contrast, an unexpected combination of different stylistic layers. That’s why they became so etched in my memory, they turned into winged quotes and all these were included in the idiom of the Russian intelligentsia famous phrases Schwartz: The brute does not want to understand that the main thing in our journey is subtle feelings.(A rude curse is inserted into a statement stylized in the spirit of sentimental prose.) I can introduce you full list his crimes, which are still [...] are just scheduled for execution.(The fabulous crime is narrated in the language of bureaucratic negotiations.) Have pity on the heir killers...(The word “murderers” is inserted into the infantile-sentimental formula.) ...What kind of life was this without a king! We are simply yearning!(Official patriotic exclamations are complemented by phrases in the style of “ cruel romances».) Give me a pose of extreme nonchalance.(A purely descriptive phrase is used in direct speech, and even addressed to the speaker himself.) Mom, shoot him!(In an emphatically everyday tone, it is proposed to kill a person.) Actually, the same principle of stylistic paradox underlies all the characters in Schwartz’s dramaturgy: stupid kings, businesslike robbers, infantile ministers, Baba Yaga, tenderly lisping to herself, a poet who also works as an executioner ( sic!), etc. It was a deliberate exposure of the technique.”
Losev L.V., Me (moires) E.L. Schwartz / Solzhenitsyn and Brodsky as neighbors, St. Petersburg, Ivan Limbach Publishing House, 2010, p. 237.
“The fact of the influence of creativity Hans Christian Andersen for dramaturgy Evgeniy Shvarts obvious. Three of his plays - “The Naked King”, “The Snow Queen” and “Shadow” are written on Andersen’s plots, and one of them - “Shadows” - is preceded by Andersen’s famous words from “The Tale of My Life”: “Someone else’s plot, as it were, entered my flesh and blood, I recreated it and then only released it into the world.” This could not help but attract the attention of researchers, although the problem, of course, is not exhausted, especially since when first addressing it, the emphasis was placed on the actual ideological and substantive points of similarity or difference between storytellers - which was natural for the era of weakening ideological prohibitions.”
Isaeva E.I., Hans Christian Andersen and Evgeniy Schwartz, in Collection: Along the celestial rainbow beyond the world: on the 200th anniversary of H.K. Andersen / Rep. editors N.A. Vishnevskaya et al., M., “Science”, 2008, p. 134.
“There are people who work talentedly in the traditions of Schwartz - say, Gorin with his “That Same Munchausen”, “Herostratus”, “The House That Swift Built”..."
Zarubina T., About Schwartz, Neva magazine, 1991, N 10, p. 207.
