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E.I. Safina (Э.И. Сафина) УДК 821 (470.57)-21
THE IMAGE OF PROMETHEUS IN THE WORLD DRAMA AND ITS REPRESENTATION IN THE WORK BY MUSTAI KARIM (ОБРАЗ ПРОМЕТЕЯ В МИРОВОЙ ДРАМАТУРГИИ И ЕГО ТРАКТОВКА В ПРОИЗВЕДЕНИИ МУСТАЯ КАРИМА)
Аннотация
В статье рассмотрен образ Прометея в контексте мировой драматургии. Начиная обзор с античных трактовок и завершая трагедией Мустая Карима, в работе проанализирована трансформация образа на протяжении нескольких веков в творчестве разных авторов. Образ мифологического героя был интересен в разные эпохи, авторы обращались к нему в трагические периоды истории своих стран и народов. Именно титаническим образом Прометея они подчеркивали масштабность и глобальность проблемы. Одна из главных интересующих идей - это божественное и человеческое начало, которое подразумевает свободу, выбор и ответственность. Были проанализированы произведения авторов, которые рассматривали Прометея не только как символ или мифологический образ, а как литературного, героического, трагического героя, которому присущи экзистенциальные противоречия. Но есть произведения, открывшие совершенно новые конфликты. Среди них трагедия М. Карима «Ташлама утты, Прометей!» (1976; «Не бросай огонь, Прометей!»), которая сумела вобрать в себя не только все преимущества прежних трактовок, но и дать новое видение образа героя.
В мировой мифологии Прометей - это Бог, герой, совершивший героический поступок ради людей. В интерпретации авторов разных эпох образ модифицируется и приобретает совершенно разные значения. Начиная от античности и приближаясь к XX веку, это не только титан, а образ, который вбирает в себя новые символы. Эсхил в трагедии «Прикованный Прометей» (V в. до н.э.), Иоганн Вольфганг Гете в неоконченной драме «Прометей» (1773), Пирси Биши Шелли в драматической поэме «Освобожденный Прометей» (1819), Вячеслав Иванов в трагедии «Прометей» (1919) и Мустай Карим в произведении «Не бросай огонь, Прометей!» рассматривают образ Прометея не только как мифологический, но и как носителя трагического сознания.
Эсхил вносит две основные черты в образ титана: во-первых, он - первооткрыватель всех благ цивилизаций, во-вторых, достойный соперник Зевса. В отличие от всех других героев Эсхила, источник страданий Прометея находится в его собственной власти. Он держит в своих руках тайну Зевса, которая может освободить его от страданий, но предпочитает сохранить ее, тем самым обрекая себя на новые мучения на протяжении многих веков. На божественном, «абсолютном» уровне образ Прометея созвучен с героической самоотверженностью Антигоны. Прометей Эсхила - божественный титан, а Прометей Гете - бунтарь и поэт. Его герой свободен и романтичен. Люди - его создания, творения. Они прометееподобны. Нет разделяющей бездны между человеком и титаном. Прометей Гёте учит их жить, любить и даже ненавидеть, как он сам. В его изображении и жизнь, и любовь, и даже смерть - нечто прекрасное и восхитительное. Он восстал не ради могущества над богами, людьми, а ради жизни на Земле и устранения господства богов.
Утверждением торжества добра и справедливости, свободы и человеческого счастья, триумфа светлого начала является титан Шелли. Его Прометей - носитель духовного начала, разумной свободы. Прометей Вячеслава Иванова (1866-1949), ученого, филолога, знатока и переводчика поэтов Древней Греции, - Бог и титан, герой, мятежник и деятель. Совершенно по-другому видит своего героя Мустай Карим. Для него Прометей - Бог и титан, философ, герой и деятель. Герой М. Карима экзистенциален. Он полон решимости, но иногда его одолевают сомнения. Для него поступок - это обретение себя. В этом его свобода. А несвобода в том, что поступить по-другому он не может.
Автор, наравне с трагическим героем Прометеем, вводит человека, в котором изначально заложено божественное начало. Классик башкирской литературы позаимствовал сюжет из мифа, чтобы показать огромный мир людей, в котором заключается всё: и слабости, ведущие к преступным деяниям, и нравствен-
Сафина Эльвира Исмагиловна, аспирант отдела литературоведения Института истории, языка и литературы Уфимского федерального исследовательского центра РАН (Уфа), e-mail: [email protected]
Elvira I. Safina, Post-Graduate Student, Department for Literary Studies, Institute of History, Language and Literature, Ufa Federal Research Center, Russian Academy of Sciences (Ufa), e-mail: [email protected]
© Safina E.I. (Сафина Э.И.), 2018
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ное начало, которое делает человека способным на подвиг. Каждая трактовка нова и интересна по-своему, но завершить историю образов невозможно. Следующая эпоха создаст своего Прометея и дополнит историю образа.
Ключевые слова: трагедия, Мустай Карим, Прометей, титан, трагический герой, философия экзистенциализма, трансформация образа, выбор, ответственность
Elvira I. Safina
THE IMAGE OF PROMETHEUS IN THE WORLD DRAMA AND ITS REPRESENTATION IN THE WORK BY MUSTAI KARIM
Abstract
The article considers the image of Prometheus in the context of world drama. Starting with an overview of the ancient interpretations and ending with the tragedy of Mustai Karim, the work analyzes the transformation of the image for several centuries in the works of different authors. The image of a mythological hero was interesting in a different era, the authors spoke to him in tragic periods of the history of their countries and peoples. It was Prometheus' titanic image by which they emphasized the magnitude and globality of the problem. One of the main ideas of interest is the divine and human nature, which implies freedom, choice and responsibility. The authors' works were analyzed, that considered Prometheus not only as a symbol or mythological image, but as a literary, heroic, tragic character, who had existential contradictions. But there are works that opened an entirely new conflict. Among them, the tragedy of M. Karim Tashlama utty, Prometheus! (1976; Do not drop the fire, Prometheus!), which has succeeded to absorb not only all the advantages of the previous interpretations, but also to give a new vision of the image of the hero.
Key words: tragedy, Mustai Karim, Prometheus, the Titan, tragic hero, philosophy of existentialism, transformation
In world mythology, Prometheus is a God, a hero who committed a heroic act for the sake of people. In the interpretation of the authors of different eras, the image is modified and acquires completely different meanings. Starting from antiquity and approaching the XX century, it is not only a Titan, but an image that absorbs new symbols. Aeschylus' tragedy Prometheus bound (V century B.C.), Johann Wolfgang Goethe's unfinished drama Prometheus (1773), Piercy Bysshe Shelley in the dramatic poem Prometheus unbound (1819), Vyacheslav Ivanov in the tragedy Prometheus (1919) and Mustai Karim in his work Do not drop the fire, Prometheus! (1976) consider the image of Prometheus not only as myths but also as the bearer of tragic consciousness.
Aeschylus introduces two main features in the image of the Titan: first, he is the pioneer of all the benefits of civilizations, and secondly, a worthy rival to Zeus. Unlike all the other heroes of Aeschylus, the source of Prometheus' suffering lies in his own power. He holds in his hands the secret of Zeus, which can release him from suffering, but prefers to keep it, thereby dooming himself to a new torment for many centuries. At the divine, "absolute" level, the image of Prometheus is consonant with the heroic dedication of Antigone. "Sophocles' person is described "how he should be", and in this regard owes much
Aeschylus' Prometheus with his normative features of the heroic ideal" [15, p. 143].
Aeschylus wrote about his time and expressed the ideas of that era. During the life of the poet in 499 there was an uprising of the Ionian towns of Asia Minor against the Persians, the famous battle on the island of Salamis. Before the author's eyes there were tremendous changes: from an ordinary Greek city, Athens turned into a free and independent polis. "Aeschylus gave the tragedy a profound ideological content closely associated with the demands of the modern life" [5, p. 80]. This explains the existing style of the author - monumental and pathetic. In his tragedy he relies, above all, on the poems of Hesiod, but in his own presentation of the myth there are new motifs. The Prometheus of Aeschylus is a God, equal to Zeus. He lost his freedom physically and is forced to guard the rock, but he is free internally. The author takes the mythological hero to the level of a philosophical concept. According to Nietzsche, Prometheus is not a Titan, and God's Will is above all other gods. The image of Aeschylus' hero is separated not only from people, but also from the gods; it is a symbol of superpower.
German poet, thinker, philosopher of the XVIII century Iohann Goethe treats the mythological image as a God and a Titan, a rebel and an agent. Three acts
of his unfinished drama in verse were written in 1773 during the period of Sturm und Drang and had been response to the problems of the time, when the rupture that occurred at the turn of XVIII and XIX centuries was so radical that it is difficult to find an analogy. In 1789 the great French revolution broke out, in 1772 the monarchy fell in France and the Republic was proclaimed. "Hatred of tyranny, exalted freedom, the sense of strong, indomitable passion, the characters are solid and uncompromising - all this came into vogue of the romantic century" [13, p. 34]. Goethe, working on the drama, used the mythological dictionary by Hederich, using versions of the myths, the most relevant to his poetic vision. His "Prometheus -the son of Zeus and Juno, comes from the Yapet and the Oceanid Asia; Pandora was created by Prometheus, but not by Hephaestus; Goethe arbitrarily uses the names of ancient deities - Greek, Roman" [2, p. 589], wrote A. Anikst in the comments to the piece.
The drama is begun by Prometheus: "I want not - tell the gods so! Faced our will!" [4, p. 72]. His text is filled with exclamation and question marks. Prometheus says that he is not a God, but is not putting himself below them. The gods are omnipotent and immortal, but are they able to hold the entire expanse of earth with one hand or to separate man from himself? They are not subject to time and have unlimited power, but not over man. The Prometheus of Aeschylus is the divine Titan and Prometheus by Goethe is a rebel and a poet. His hero is free and romantic. People are his creation, and they like Prometheus. There is no separating abyss between man and Titan. Prometheus of Goethe teaches them to live, love and even hate, as he himself does. In his image, both life and love, and even death are something beautiful and delightful. He rose over gods, people not for the sake of power but for the sake of life on Earth and the elimination of the gods' domination. Goethe's Prometheus is a God, Titan, who is free from all and sundry. Free, because he has faith in himself and his strength, as he recognized himself as the Supreme being. He is his own God; a symbol of reassurance. Feelings cannot fit within the limits of the earth. Birth, life, love, death are mixed together, and they all symbolize life.
English poet of the early nineteenth century, P.B. Shelley treats the image of Prometheus as a God, Titan and hero. Even in his early poems, the author expressed radical revolutionary views. His views are close to those of Utopian Socialism. He is an artist who expressed his faith in the happy lot of humanity and the inevitable victory of the Good
over the Evil, Light over Darkness. "His work is characterized by the ideas of fighting against tyranny and militant atheism. Shelley considered it necessary to forcibly overthrow the existing unjust order, enthusiastically accepted the French revolution. He dreamed about the establishment of a Republic, a society based on equality and freedom with which the human person is to be in harmony" [3, p. 67]. As a romantic poet, he widely used symbols, allegories, biblical and mythological images, shifted layers of time - from the present to the past or the future. Shelly is close to the ideas of Plato and asserts the power of the poet, which affects all with the help of works and expressed thoughts. His style is peculiar and full of complex metaphors, and the text is melodious and beautiful. This is especially noticeable in the dramatic poem Prometheus unbound, which was written in 1819.
In the preface to the drama, the author reflects on the purpose of the poet-Creator. In his opinion, it is not necessary to adhere to a strict framework in the presentation of the Greek myth, because only feeling free you can find something new and unknown. The purpose of writing the work Shelley explains as "the introduction of selected readers of poetry gifted with vivid imagination to fine examples of moral perfection" [14, p. 377].
The researchers have different attitudes to the work of Shelley, but are united in one thing: the author considered the image of the Titan, not digressing from the myth, entrusting him with the power of the spirit. In modern times Prometheus was deprived of the divine and is even portrayed with a satirical tone or depicted as a caricature. "If other authors were most concerned about the uprising of Prometheus and his torment, then before Shelley there was a central problem about the ways of victory of Prometheus and being Prometheus. Statement of the triumph of goodness and justice, freedom and human happiness, a triumph bright is the Prometheus unbound by Shelley" [11, p. 112]. His Prometheus is the bearer of the spiritual and reasonable freedom. The Titan has no doubt in his feat, because he knows exactly what he did - brought happiness to people. The author did not introduce man in the work. We learn about him through the stories of spirits and elves. According to Shelly, people are naturally endowed with not only human but also divine qualities, which make them purer, better and happier. But the author shares man and God. These are fundamentally different creatures. The man in Shelley's interpretation may be a thief, a criminal, but Pro-
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metheus will love him, accept him for whom he is, and forgive him. The Titan has known universal pardon. This helps him be a free hero and remain true to himself. He is concerned about the problem of the victory and triumph of the Good, rather than doubt. Thus Prometheus of Shelley says that in the world everything is subject to the laws of Freedom, Love and Fate. All accidents are not accidental. Every being with his/her act predicts the future path. Choice assumes responsibility. Conflict, peace, being is inclined to solution.
Prometheus of Vyacheslav Ivanov (1866-1949), a scholar, philologist, expert and translator of poets of Ancient Greece, is a God and a Titan, a hero, a rebel and an agent. S.S. Averintsev writes, "Vyacheslav Ivanov is an idealist and a mystic. In contrast to the "older" symbolists, with his ideological genealogy he is not associated seriously with neither aestheticism, nor dandyism of London origin, he is much closer to the tradition of the early German romantics", [1, p. 11].
His tragedy Prometheus was published in 1919, and written much earlier and conceived in the form of a trilogy. The work caused a contradictory assessment. It is based on the dramatic events in the history of this country, a witness and an unwitting participant of which V. Ivanov was. The country is going through the February and October revolutions, the overthrow of the monarchy, diarchy and the establishment of Soviet power. "The war was a tragedy for the Russian intelligentsia and poisoned the public mind with hate and anger..." [10, p. 456].
In the preface, the author notes that "the adjacent lyrical and dramatic work is a tragedy of a Titanic origin, as the original sin of human freedom" [6, p. 7]. In the work there is a minimum of fabular events, which does not reduce the intensity of action, but, conversely, they accelerate due to the constant "internal actions" of the protagonist. Deeds are committed, but before the end of the tragedy Prometheus was tormented by questions and doubts. The Titan sees and knows the future. He is full of suffering and torment, but not of self-pity. The death of Prometheus is not terrible, because the immortal makes his intent. Suffering and doubt are in the questions: do we need the deed? Did he do the right thing? Did he make at least one person happy? He sees the discontent of the people. Prometheus teaches them to be tolerant and to surrender unto the hands of Fate, but people and humiliation - these are two incompatible concepts. The Titan has made a choice for which he is responsible. The good Prometheus turned the evil not only for him, but also for people. Freedom led to destruction.
Mustai Karim sees his hero in a completely different way. For him Prometheus is a God and a Titan, a philosopher, a hero and an activist. The author, as we know, came into literature as a poet-lyricist who celebrates the beauty of the native land and the moral power of man. His work began with life-affirming cycles of poems, imbued with philosophical depth of the poems. Next the writer turns to prose, comedies, and later to the drama and tragedies. It was a tragedy - "a dramatic work depicting the hard and intractable conflict, personal or social disaster" [12, p. 807] due to which sounded the global question of the playwright. Conscious appeal to the "high" genre demanded not only creative, poetic skill, but has also been a sign of human maturity and wisdom. The question that was brewing in him for years burst out as a scream and riot (Ai totolgan tonda -On the night of the lunar eclipse, 1963, Salauat - Salavat, 1971, and Do not drop the fire, Prometheus!).
"I have long been concerned with the problem of inner freedom of man, because man, without becoming free from within could not be a free person" [7, p. 45], the author admitted. On this occasion T.A. Kilmukhametov writes that "in tragedies the process of how the person finds this "inner freedom" is traced" [9, p. 92]
The tragedy of Do not drop the fire, Prometheus! was written in 1976 - during a crisis in the history of the Soviet country. During these years, The Central Committee of the CPSU was headed by L.I. Brezhnev (1964-1982). "With its thoughtless actions, the party leadership has led not only to contradictory relations with the United States and the Western countries, but also to an environmental crisis, stagnation in the industrial sectors, a backlog of scientific and technological progress - lagging behind from the developed countries, bringing inflation and commodity deficit, aggravation of national relations, demographic problems. The country was dominated by a totalitarian regime. Many intellectuals suffered disgrace" [10, p. 582].
The time in which the author lived and worked bothered and disturbed him. To express the indignation he produced works, which followed one after another, but with a large break. The author, being in search of "the modern hero", turned to the ancient myth of Prometheus: "There is harmony between the will of a Titan who sacrificed himself for the happiness of the people and the spirit of our age, our ideals... The world still needs heroes, ready for any test for happiness, freedom and peace of mankind" [7, p. 43].
The hero of M. Karim is existential. He is determined, but sometimes in doubt. For him, a deed is self-attainment. That is his freedom. And the lack of
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freedom is that he cannot do things differently. In the final scene the author brings not sufferings of Prometheus, and his meeting with the people. The author speaks publicly about a person who does not want to see the truth, to hear the truth. He condemns them and calls: "Learn to act" [8, p. 301]. It is possible to become it, having passed tests and sufferings. Prometheus, knowing his fate in advance, chose the path of conscience and condemned himself to eternal torment. He could have done things differently, but it would not have been Prometheus anymore. Physical torment for him is nothing compared to mental anguish. The author concludes the tragedy not with Prometheus' suffering, not death, but with Titan's farewell words, who promises to return. Even if every thirty thousand years such a "Prometheus" comes and gives "light", life on earth will not cease. No matter how deafening is the loud cry of the author, full of tragedy, he leaves a place for hope.
Thus, the author, along with the tragic hero Prometheus introduces the human, who is inherently divine. The classic of Bashkir literature borrowed the plot from a myth to reveal a huge world of people, which is everything: both weakness, leading to criminal acts, and the moral principle, which makes man capable of a feat. Each interpretation is novel and interesting in its own way, but it is impossible to complete the history of images. The next era will create its Prometheus and complement the history of the image portrayed.
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