Boris Godunov and Other Dramatic Works

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford 0X2 6DP

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide in

Oxford New York

Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi
Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi
New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto

With offices in

Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece
Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore
South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam

Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press
in the UK and in certain other countries

Published in the United States
by Oxford University Press Inc., New York

Introduction © Caryl Emerson 2007
Translation and other editorial material © James E. Falen 2007

The moral rights of the authors have been asserted
Database right Oxford University Press (maker)

First published as an Oxford World’s Classics paperback 2007

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above

You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Data available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Pushkin, Aleksandr Sergeevich, 1799–1837.
[Plays. English. Selections]
Boris Godunov and other dramatic works / Alexander Pushkin;

translated with notes by James E. Falen; with an introduction by Caryl Emerson.
 p. cm.—(Oxford world’s classics (Oxford University Press))
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN–13: 978–0–19–921130–2 (alk. paper)
ISBN–10: 0–19–921130–2 (alk. paper)
1. Pushkin, Aleksandr Sergeevich, 1799–1837—Translations into English.

I. Falen, James E., 1935– II. Title.
PG3347.A2 2007
891.73'3—dc22                        2006028321

Typeset in Ehrhardt
by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
Printed in Great Britain
on acid-free paper by
Clays Ltd, St Ives plc

ISBN 978–0–19–921130–2

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS

For over 100 years Oxford World’s Classics have brought readers closer to the world’s great literature. Now with over 700 titles—from the 4,000-year-old myths of Mesopotamia to the twentieth century’s greatest novels—the series makes available lesser-known as well as celebrated writing.

The pocket-sized hardbacks of the early years contained introductions by Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, Graham Greene, and other literary figures which enriched the experience of reading. Today the series is recognized for its fine scholarship and reliability in texts that span world literature, drama and poetry, religion, philosophy and politics. Each edition includes perceptive commentary and essential background information to meet the changing needs of readers.

Refer to the Table of Contents to navigate through the material in this Oxford World’s Classics ebook. Use the asterisks (*) throughout the text to access the hyperlinked Explanatory Notes.

OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS

ALEXANDER PUSHKIN

Boris Godunov and Other Dramatic Works

Translated with Notes by
JAMES E. FALEN

With an Introduction by
CARYL EMERSON

OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS

BORIS GODUNOV
AND OTHER DRAMATIC WORKS

ALEXANDER SERGEEVICH PUSHKIN was born in Moscow in 1799 into an old aristocratic family. In 1817 he received a nominal appointment in the government service, but for the most part he led a dissipated life in the capital while he continued to produce much highly polished light verse. His narrative poem, Ruslan and Lyudmila (pub. 1820), brought him widespread fame. At about the same time a few mildly seditious verses led to his banishment from the capital. During this so-called ‘southern exile’, he composed several narrative poems and began his novel in verse, Eugene Onegin. As a result of further conflicts with state authorities he was condemned to a new period of exile at his family’s estate of Mikhailovskoe. There he wrote some of his finest lyric poetry, completed his verse drama Boris Godunov, and continued work on Eugene Onegin. He was still in enforced absence from the capital when the Decembrist revolt of 1825 took place. Although several of his friends were among those executed or imprisoned, he was not implicated in the affair; and in 1826 he was pardoned by the new Tsar Nicholas I and permitted to return to Moscow. By the end of the decade, as he sought to become a truly professional writer, he turned increasingly to prose composition.