Shakespeare’s Image in Literary and Theatrical Criticism by P. P. Gnedich

The authors analyze Shakespearean criticism and translation principles of Pyotr Petrovich Gnedich (1855–1925), prose writer, playwright, art critic, and famous theater figure of the turn of the 20th century. The purpose of the work is to clarify Gnedich’s place in Russian Shakespearean literature and to elucidate the vision of Shakespeare in his criticism. The objectives of the work include an overview of Gnedich’s translation and production contribution to the history of Russian theatrical Shakespeare; a study of Gnedich’s criticism of Shakespearean drama on the Russian stage; consideration of Gnedich’s translation principles as the precursors of the accurate translation school. Results of the work: Gnedich writes about Shakespeare, translates his plays and stages them over the course of his life; he does not deviate from the idea that Shakespearean drama is advanced and challenges the theater, first and foremost, the Russian theater. Gnedich measures the development of theatre according to Shakespeare and notes the sad neglect of his plays in the history of Russian theater: despite all of his efforts, from the dominance of everyday plays, the Russian theater shifts towards a predominance of new drama and symbolism. Gnedich’s translations are also inspired by the idea of updated, more accurate Shakespeare on the Russian stage. Thus, in his appeal to Shakespeare, Gnedich pursues new principles without yet naming them: in production work — he leans towards director’s theater, in translation — towards accurate translation (which will later be called “equirhythmic”.) Gnedich was the first to introduce “Julius Caesar” to the Russian stage in 1897 and the first to stage Shakespeare on a chamber stage (at the St. Petersburg Maly Theater of A. S. Suvorin). In 1922, Gnedich offers an unusual concept of the image of Hamlet as a typically Russian passive character, regarding the play as a kind of warning against the position of an inactive “superfluous man.”