“Joy will come” by D.S. Merezhkovsky in light of V.E. Khalizev’s theory of drama

Andrushchenko Elena A.,

DSc in Philology, Professor,

Director of Research,

A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences

e-mail: a.andru@mail.ru

This article is the first to consider D.S. Merezhkovsky’s play “Joy will come” (1916) with respect to the theory of drama of V.E. Khalizev, a renowned literary theorist. Forgotten and obscure materials serve to reconstruct the origins of the play and the discussions about its staging in the Moscow Art Theatre and in periodicals. The play was perceived as an instance of Chekhov’s theatre, reflecting the author’s cold intellectualism and his ‘bookish’ talent, which inspired his dispute with V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko. The article conjectures that the unsuccessful performance resulted not only from a clash between the playwright’s intent and the director’s concept, but also the dramatic technique employed by the author. It neither corresponded to his intent nor facilitated its implementation. “Joy will come” featured many elements inherent in Chekhov’s plays (colour palette and sound effects, repeated lines, ambiguous pauses, an open ending, etc.), but not his discoveries in dramatic technique, which Merezhkovsky was unable to attain. This problem is further illuminated by the typology of plots and conflicts proposed by Khalizev, as well as his idea of the connection between the nature of the conflict and the primary type of action.

Keywords: D.S. Merezhkovsky, V.E. Khalizev, V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, “Joy will come”, dramatic technique, types of conflicts and plots

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