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Russia, 1598: the son of Ivan the Terrible has died, and the powerful boyar Boris Godunov is begged to accept the crown. But it is whispered that he arranged…
Russia, 1598: the son of Ivan the Terrible has died, and the powerful boyar Boris Godunov is begged to accept the crown. But it is whispered that he arranged the murder of the young prince Dmitri years before. In a monastery cell, the old monk Pimen writes his chronicle while a young novice, Grigory, listens; Grigory escapes, claims to be the murdered Dmitri, wins the support of Poland and the love of the proud Marina, and marches on Moscow, while Boris, haunted by guilt, faces the end of his reign. The play closes with a famous stage direction: the people stand silent.
Context and significance
Alexander Pushkin wrote the drama in 1825, modelling it on Shakespeare's history plays, and Mussorgsky turned it into one of the greatest Russian operas. This verse translation is by Alfred Hayes. Shakespeare's own drama of a guilty usurper is King Richard III, and Pushkin's novel in verse is Eugene Onegin.
About the author
Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837) is Russia's national poet. His great-grandfather, Abram Gannibal, was an African boy taken to Russia who became a favourite of Peter the Great and a general. Pushkin was educated at the imperial lyceum at Tsarskoye Selo and was exiled to the south of Russia for poems against tyranny.
His novel in verse Eugene Onegin, his drama Boris Godunov, his poem The Bronze Horseman and his short stories created modern Russian literature. He died at thirty-seven after a duel with a French officer who had pursued his wife. The library holds his works in Russian, English and Arabic.