Alexander Griboedov's Woe from Wit is one of the masterpieces of
Russian drama. A verse comedy set in Moscow high society after the
Napoleonic wars, it offers sharply drawn characters and clever repartee,
mixing meticulously crafted banter and biting social critique. Its
protagonist, Alexander Chatsky, is an idealistic ironist, a complex
Romantic figure who would be echoed in Russian literature from Pushkin
onward. Chatsky returns from three years abroad hoping to rekindle a
romance with his childhood sweetheart, Sophie. In the meantime, she has
fallen in love with Molchalin, her reactionary father Famusov's scheming
secretary. Chatsky speaks out against the hypocrisy of aristocratic
society--and as scandal erupts, he is met with accusations of madness.
Woe from Wit was written in 1823 and was an immediate sensation, but
under heavy-handed tsarist censorship, it was not published in full
until forty years later. Its influence is felt not just in Russian
literary language but in everyday speech. It is the source of a
remarkable number of frequently quoted aphorisms and turns of phrase,
comparable to Shakespeare's influence on English. Yet owing to its
complex rhyme scheme and verse structure, the play has frequently been
considered almost untranslatable. Betsy Hulick's translation brings
Griboedov's sparkling wit, spirited dialogue, and effortless crossing of
registers from elevated to colloquial into a lively contemporary
English.
