Like many writers, Alexander Pushkin often created multiple versions of the same work, leaving readers to wonder which he intended as final and authoritative—a question complicated, moreover, by his fraught relationship with the repressive regime of tsar Nicholas I. Illuminating the creative processes and historical realities that shaped Pushkin’s writing, this richly annotated series reproduces each work exactly as it appeared in the final Russian-language edition published during Pushkin’s lifetime, resulting in the handsome “artifactual” feel of an original Pushkin text. In volumes edited by distinguished Pushkin scholars from Russia and beyond, the series offers detailed textological analysis that seeks a balance between the history of a work’s conception and its publication.
Based on the 1835 edition published by A. F. Smirdin, Boris Godunov is the second volume in the series. Pushkin’s only full-length play, it was inspired by the political intrigues, social turmoil, and multifaceted personalities of Russia’s Time of Troubles (1598-1613). Completed just months before the suppressed revolt of the Decembrists, the play features a feeble-minded tsar, his able and ambitious brother-in-law, a rightful heir who died under mysterious circumstances, and the pretender who emerged years later to claim the dead youth's identity. Ambiguous and controversial, Boris Godunov provides rich material for the consideration of Pushkin and his artistic legacy.
