Plays on Plot of Tamerlane and Bayazet on Russian Stage of Late 17th — Early 18th Centuries: Northern European Sources

The article is devoted to the little-studied Northern European sources of Russian plays on the plot about Tamerlane and Bayazet of the late 17th — early 18th centuries. The material was the play “Temir-Aksakovo Action” in 1675, a not preserved version of the play of the early 18th century “The Clear History of Tamerlane, the Tatar Khan how he defeated Saltan of Tursk Bayazet”, plays from the repertoire of “English comedians” of the 17th century, plays by the German playwright Andreas Gryphius and the English playwright Nicholas Roe. It is shown that the interludes of the play “Temir-Aksakovo Action” could be taken from the little-known play “The Comedy of Tamerlane”, staged in Nuremberg in 1667. Analysis of the play by German playwright Andreas Gryphius “The Armenian Leo” in 1656 makes it possible to talk about general formulas in constructing the theme of the overthrow of tyranny, the baroque theme of the mutability of life in the German and Russian drama of the 17th century. The play “The Clear History of Tamerlane ...”, staged at the court of Peter I in the 1700s, has been brought into consideration. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the typological commonality of the Russian play with the play by the English playwright Nicholas Rowe “Tamerlane” in 1701, containing real historical allusions to the present.

„Du rotziger Blasebalckemacherischer Dieb! Solst du mich dutzen?“ – Funktionen des Personalpronomens du in Gryphius’ „Peter Squentz“

This paper examines the variations and functions of the deictic address pronoun du (you) in the satirical Baroque drama “Absurda Comica. Oder Herr Peter Sequentz” written by Andreas Gryphius. Two types of address forms dominate in the drama, which vary in a highly systematic way. The most common one is the honorific form ihr ‘you’, which appears in addresses to humans of equal social status among both craftsmen and nobles. The more intimate pronoun du mainly occurs when the characters address themselves, their body parts or feelings and deities. Even lovers use the polite pronoun ihr; they switch to du solely when the beloved one is either absent or dead. In addition, there is a switch to du when the characters get into a quarrel, which illustrates the well-known connection of address pronouns to the expression of social deixis and politeness as well as the local, context-sensitive mechanisms of pronoun choice. Finally, generic uses of du are restricted to proverbs in the drama.