V. P. KATAEV’S COMEDY “A MILLION TORMENTS”: CRITICAL AND IRONIC ASPECT

Abstract

Aim. We identify and investigate the writer’s critical and ironic aspect aimed at the positive characters of V. P. Kataev’s comedy “A Million Torments”.

Methodology. The criticism, reviews, articles of the writers of the Soviet and post-Soviet period are analyzed. The study makes use of structural and sociological methods of studying literature. A selective analysis of the work is carried out, the studied group of characters is identified, and the artistic elements used by the author are determined.

Results. The results of the study compensate for the incompleteness of the critical approach to the play, which in the Soviet period was associated with political correctness, censorship, and in recent times with the lack of research interest in the drama of the 1930s. Since the appearance of the comedy in public, “A Million Torments” was considered to be a sharply satirical work. However, the analysis established the presence of a second semantic and meaningful plan of the comedy. The analysis showed that the author in the play makes an active criticism of the ruling class – the proletariat. With the turned dialogues (the author’s voice), an allusion to the work of D. S. Merezhkovsky “The Coming Boor”, the writer directs the attention of the reader and the viewer to the positive characters of the comedy. With sharp satire, the critical and ironic aspect of the writer, mostly located in the field of content, points to the disturbing features of the socio-cultural appearance of the nascent working intelligentsia.

Research implications. Kataev’s critical and ironic aspect in the play “A Million Torments” can serve for holistic understanding of the work in the context of the drama of the early 1930s. The research materials can be used at lectures on drama of the 1920–30s of the last century and seminars dedicated to the drama of V. Kataev. The results of the work can be used by artistic directors of theaters, directors, and stage designers in staging Kataev’s dramatic works on stage.