Woe from Wit (Russian: Го́ре от ума́, romanized: Gore ot uma, also translated as "The Woes of Wit", "Wit Works Woe", Wit's End,[1][2] and so forth) is Alexander Griboyedov's comedy in verse, satirizing the society of post-Napoleonic Moscow, or, as a high official in the play styled it, "a pasquinade on Moscow."[3]
The play, written in 1823 in the countryside and in Tiflis, was not passed by the censors for the stage, and only portions of it were allowed to appear in an almanac for 1825. But it was read out by the author to "all Moscow" and to "all Petersburg" and circulated in innumerable copies, so it was as good as published in 1825; it was not, however, actually published until 1833, after the author's death, with significant cuts, and was not published in full until 1861.[4] The play was a compulsory work in Russian literature lessons in Soviet schools, and is still considered a golden classic in modern Russia and other minority Russian-speaking countries.
The play gave rise to numerous catchphrases in the Russian language, including the title itself.
- ^ Theatre Record - Volume 13, Issues 1-9 - Page 298 1993 At least that obstacle has been swept away by its belated and well-titled arrival on the English stage - first as Wit's End (at New End last September), and now as Chatsky, or The Importance of ... .
- ^ Theatre Record - Volume 12, Issues 17-26 - Page 1122 1992 - His most famous play, Wit's End, is a satire of Moscow society which contains two of the great roles of the Russian repertory: Chatsky, the cynical outsider, and Famusov, the conservative patriarch who was one of Stanislavsky's successes. Given its enduring popularity in its homeland, I have always wondered why the play has not been snapped up by the British theatre. Here, in a resourceful production by Jake Lushington at Hampstead's New End Theatre, is the answer. .
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 593.
- ^ Monika Greenleaf and Stephen Moeller-Sally (eds.), Russian Subjects: Empire, Nation, and the Culture of the Golden Age (Northwestern University Press, 1998: ISBN 0-8101-1525-5), p. 406.