"Woe from Wit": the history of comedy creation

The most famous work of A. S. Griboedov is the famous comedy "Woe from Wit". The history of the creation of this play is extremely complex. The playwright wrote it for several years. About how this happened, we will discuss this article.

A little about the author

For a long time the play "Woe from Wit" was written. The history of the creation of the comedy turned out to be so long due to the exceptional employment of A. S. Griboedov. After all, literary creativity was far from being his main occupation. Alexander Sergeevich was an example of an exceptionally gifted man. At the age of eleven he became a student at Moscow University. At the age of 13 Griboyedov was a candidate of verbal sciences, but he did not give up studies, but graduated two more prestigious departments: moral and political and physics and mathematics. Griboyedov was fluent in ten languages. He wrote music and performed it beautifully on the piano. Alexander Sergeevich was a professional diplomat, he became the first Russian ambassador to Iran and died defending the interests of his homeland.

Perfectionist by nature, Griboyedov honed his literary experiments to perfection. "Woe from Wit" was also subjected to a rigorous stylistic revision. The history of the creation of the work testifies to this. A detailed account of the writing of the book will be described below. First we will get acquainted with the brief content of the famous play.

The plot of the work

Surely any Russian person knows about the existence of the comedy "Woe from Wit". The history of the creation, the plot of the work is known to a much smaller number of our compatriots. So what does Griboyedov write about in his comedy? A young man of noble birth (Chatsky) after a long absence comes to Moscow to see his beloved - Sophia. However, the girl takes it very cold. She is in love with another person - Secretary Molchalin. Chatsky tries to unravel the reason for Sophia's indifference. In search of an answer to his question, he several times visits the house of his beloved father - a high-ranking official of Famusov. Here he encounters representatives of the Moscow aristocratic society, much of which adheres to conservative views. Frustrated by the coldness of Sofia, Chatsky begins to pronounce accusatory monologues. It literally goes to all participants in the comedy. A few scornful phrases thrown at Molchalin touch Sophia so much that she spreads a rumor that Chatsky is not in his mind. This message becomes public. At the end of the comedy, Sofia learns of the meanness of Molchalin, and Chatsky about the betrayal of his beloved. Famusov opens the whole truth about his daughter's meetings with the secretary. He becomes worried about rumors that can go in the city. Sophia drives off Molchalin. Chatsky desperately leaves Moscow. This is the plot of the famous play.

Purpose

The history of the creation of "Woe from Wit" began in the distant 1816. It was then, according to SN Begichev, that Griboyedov had an approximate comedy plan. Returning from a trip abroad, Alexander Sergeyevich came to a secular evening and was amazed at how people in Russia worshiped everything foreign. He immediately pronounced a flamboyant diatribe speech, which brought upon himself the suspicion of insanity. To take revenge on the narrow-minded aristocratic society, Griboyedov decided to write a comedy. He often went to social parties, balls and evenings, where he collected material for his work.

First edition

Work on the text of the comedy began, probably in the 1820s. Being in the service in Tiflis, Griboyedov wrote two acts of the play "Woe from Wit". The history of the creation of the work continued in 1823, in Moscow. The author was on vacation, attended social events and recruited fresh impressions. This allowed him to deploy some scenes of comedy, hardly planned in Georgia. It was at this time that Chatsky's ardent monologue "Who are the judges?" Was created. In the summer of 1823 in the estate of SN. Begicheva completed the fourth and third acts of the work. However, the author did not consider his comedy complete.

Continuation of work

At the end of 1823 and the beginning of 1824 the play "Woe from Wit" underwent considerable changes. The history of the creation of the work continued. Griboedov subjected metamorphosis not only text. Changed the name of the main character: from Chad, he became Chatsky. A comedy, entitled "Woe to the Wit", received its final name. In the summer of 1824 in St. Petersburg Griboyedov carried out an impressive stylistic revision of the first version of the work. He partially changed the first act (Chatsky's monologue, the dialogue between Lisa and Sophia, the dream of the main character), and also placed in the final part of the comedy the scene of an explanation between Molchalin and Sophia. In the autumn of 1824 the final version of the play Woe from Wit was written. The story of the creation of the work on this was to end. However, this did not happen.

Appearance of lists

The comedy immediately had problems with the publication. Censorship did not want to skip a scandalous work. The history of the creation of "Woe from Wit", or rather, distribution among the reading public, continued. Hoping to publish his creation, Griboyedov encouraged the appearance of handwritten versions. The most authoritative of them is the so-called genre list (belonging to AA Zhandra), which was corrected by Alexander Sergeevich himself. There was also the Bulgarinsky - carefully edited manuscript copy of the play, left by the author in 1828 to VF Bulgarin. On the title page of this list there is Griboedov's inscription: "I'm charging my grief with Bulgarin ..." The writer hoped that an influential and enterprising journalist could help in the publication "Woe from Wit". The history of the creation of the comedy continued in the Pisar copies of the work. They sometimes changed depending on the preferences of the public.

First publications

In the summer of 1924 Griboyedov tried to print his comedy. However, it was not so easy to get permission to publish "Woe from Wit". The history of the creation of the play continued in the offices of the censorship department. In December 1924, excerpts from the third and first parts of the comedy nevertheless saw the light. They were printed on the pages of the almanac "Russian Talia". However, the text was significantly reduced and "softened" by censorship. Too bold statements of the heroes were replaced by "harmless" and neutral. So, the well-known phrase "After all it is necessary to depend on others" has been corrected on "In fact it is necessary to keep others in mind". The references to "boards" and "monarch's face" were excluded from the text of the work. However, even in this form, the publication of the comedy produced the effect of an exploded bomb. Pushkin recalled that the play "Woe from Wit" immediately made Griboyedov one of the leading poets of his time.

The further fate of the work

During the lifetime of the writer, the full version of the play was never published. The story of the creation of "Woe from Wit" was over, but censorship prevented the spread of comedy among readers. Only in 1831 saw the full version of the work. It was published in German in the city of Revel. In 1833 in Moscow, with numerous censorship notes, the comedy was printed in Russian. Only in 1862 in Russia was published full author's version of the work. Scientific publication of the comedy was carried out by the famous researcher Pikasanov NK in 1913. "Woe from Wit" was published in the second volume of the Complete Academic Works of Alexander Sergeevich Griboyedov.

Theatrical productions

Exceptionally bold and topical turned out the play "Woe from Wit". The history of the creation of the work is complex, but no less interesting is the fate of his productions in the theater. For a long time censorship did not miss it. In 1825, an unsuccessful attempt was made to play a play in St. Petersburg, on the stage of a theatrical school. For the first time the play "Woe from Wit" was staged in the city of Erivani in 1827. It was performed by amateur actors - officers of the Caucasian Corps. AS Griboyedov attended the play. In 1831, with many censorship edits and bills, the comedy was played on the theatrical stages of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Only in 1860 the production of "Woe from Wit" began to be carried out without restrictions.

Conclusion

For a long time you can talk about the play "Woe from Wit". The history of creation, the short content of the work can not give a complete idea of the genius of this creation. Griboyedov created more than a theatrical play. He created a real manifesto in which he expressed his own attitude not only to social and moral problems in modern society, but also to questions of stupidity and intelligence, "normality" and insanity. Who, if not Alexander Sergeevich, knew how much grief could bring intellectual superiority over other people. The comedy written by him tells of the loneliness and desperation of an extraordinary man, suffocating from a misunderstanding of others. In this sense, it contains the tragic overtones "Woe from Wit". The history of creation and the place in the work of this work are special, subject to careful and scrupulous study.