Literary text as a document and horizons of its rethinking: “Romance with Onegin” by Vadim Levanov

Abstract

   The article analyzes Vadim Levanov’s play “Romance with Onegin”, based on A. S. Pushkin’s novel in verse “Eugene Onegin” and the opera by P. I. Tchaikovsky of the same name. In the collection of Levanov’s works, the play is placed in the section “Dramatizations”. However, this work can be attributed to dramatizations only conditionally. Viewers’ attention is drawn to the subtitle: “A Game in Four Acts Based on A. S. Pushkin and P. I. Tchaikovsky’s Works”. It is obvious that we have an independent dramatic work, for which Pushkin’s novel in verse, Tchaikovsky’s opera, and many other classical works of Russian literature serve only as source text material, that is, the documents that are connected to each other in a certain way, destroying stereotypes that have developed over many years forming new meanings. Intertextuality appears in the play as an intentional technique, as well as an explicit game with texts and meanings. Vadim Levanov appeals to the cultural experience of his readers/viewers, inviting them to actively participate in the game. He combines many texts, meanings, voices using the musical technique of counterpoint as the central plot-forming device.