Reception (play)
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Maxim Gorky |
| Original language | Russian |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Setting | A railway station five verstas away from the small town of Verkhneye Myamlino |
Reception (Russian: Встреча, romanized: Vstrecha) is a one-act comedy by Maxim Gorky.[1] It was first published in 1910, in Sovremenny Mir under its original title. Simultaneously it came out as a separate edition under the title Children (Russian: Дети, romanized: Deti), via the Berlin-based Ladyzhnikov Publishers.[1]
Gorky mentioned it in his 20 November 1910 letter to Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky: "I send you my Reception, perhaps it will make you smile," he wrote from Capri.[2]
Characters
[edit]- Prince Svir-Mokshanski, of uncertain age, balding and frail[3]
- Bubenhof, solid and behaves like a conqueror
- Mokey Zobnin, of around fifty, shifty, perky and prone to fantasizing
- Ivan Kichkin, old, fat and unhealthy
- Pyotr Tipunov, soft-spoken and peace-loving
- Kostya Zryakhov, a plump young man, speaks condescendingly and with unexpectedly long vowels
- Yevstigneyka, a disheveled character with eyes of a lunatic
- Tatyana Zobnina, a widow, stout and moving lazily
- Marya Viktorovna, a perky and lively girl
- Drunken passenger, Old woman with a petition, the Station master, Bykov the janitor, the Gendarme, the Telegraph man
Synopsis
[edit]Two rival families of the local merchants grudgingly unite to buy a huge plot of land from a local aristocrat, with a view to build a timber factory. The reception at the railway station astounds the Prince (who arrives with a German companion). He is delighted with the way how the people here admire him and are such pure and nice creatures, 'like children'. Some other locals (including a perpetuum mobile inventor) join the party with their pleas and complaints. The celebration turns sour when it transpires that the land has just been sold, to the German man.
References
[edit]- ^ a b Commentaries to Дети. Collected Works by A.M. Gorky, vol. 12 // На базе Собрания сочинений в 30-ти томах. ГИХЛ, 1949-1956. ТОМ 6
- ^ Letter to M.M. Kotsyubinsky, 20 November 1910.
- ^ As described by Gorky
External links
[edit]- Дети. The original Russian text
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