Ivanov (Chekhov)
Ivanov (also Ivanov ; Russian Иванов ) is a play by Anton Chekhov in four acts . The play was written in 1887 and was originally presented as a comedy . In 1889 it was published by the author in a revised version as a tragedy .
people
Nikolaj Aleksejevitsch Ivanov , permanent member of the Authority for Peasant Affairs
Anna Petrovna , his wife, née Sarrah Abramson
Matvej Semjonowitsch Schabjelski , Count, his maternal uncle
Pavel Kiriljitsch Lebedjew , chairman of the Zemstvo administration
Zinaida Savischna , his wife
Sascha , daughter of the Lebedevs, 20 years old
Yevgeny Konstantinowitsch Lwow, young country doctor
Marfa Egorovna Babakina , young widow, landowner, daughter of a rich merchant
Dmitri Nikititsch Kosich, tax collector
Mikhail Michailowitsch Borkin , distant relative of Ivanov and estate manager with him
Avdotja Nazarovna , old woman with an indefinite occupation
Egorushka , boarder with the Lebedevs
Guests , lackeys
action
The plot of the play takes place in an unspecified Russian provincial town at the end of the 19th century. Following on from his early drama Platonow , the author made the protagonists appear in the typical manner for him as failed intellectuals from the petty nobility who are unable to find a way out of their everyday apathy and instead sink into daydreams. The title of the piece is a common Russian family name, which is supposed to be a kind of synonym for "all the world". The title character, Nikolai Alexejewitsch Ivanov, a 35-year-old landowner, is one of such “ superfluous people ”. He lives on his estate with his wife, whom, as he himself admits, he married out of love five years ago. This woman, Anna Petrovna, is Jewish and converted to Christianity at the time, which is why her relatives cast her out. Anna is now sick with consumption , as the Zemstvo doctor Yevgeny Lwow diagnoses. He recommends Anna a cure on the Crimean peninsula , for which the heavily indebted Ivanov has no money left. In the first act, Ivanov also admits to the doctor that he no longer loves his wife. Instead of helping his seriously ill wife, Ivanov spends more and more evenings on the estate of his befriended Lebedev family. At the end of the first act he goes there again. Anna Petrovna can no longer bear this and secretly travels after him with Lvov.
The second act takes place in the Lebedev's house, which is fully decorated with luxurious frills. There is a celebration with guests. Before Ivanov arrives, he and his wife are also blasphemed. There are besides, also anti-Semitic prejudices to bear, it is claimed that Ivanov had married his Anna at the time only because of their rich parents. After Ivanov comes in and when asked how his wife is doing, he tells us about the illness, he is not really believed. A short time later, Ivanov spoke to Sascha, the 20-year-old daughter of the Lebedevs, in private; he laments his bleak existence and especially the presence of his wife, which he no longer likes, whereupon Sascha unsuccessfully advises him to really fall in love. The conversation ends in a flirtation. Sascha Ivanov later explains that she fell in love with him. Meanwhile Anna and Lwow arrive. At first you don't dare to go into the house and stay in the garden. There they meet Ivanov and Sascha who are kissing, whereupon Anna faints.
The third act takes place again in Ivanov's house. First Lebedev and Ivanov's uncle are waiting for him here. When Ivanov came into the room, Lebedev, to whom Ivanov owed money, pestered him again by asking him to pay the interest. Ivanov then talks to Lvov, who goes back to Anna's illness and finally admits to Ivanov that he finds his behavior horrific towards her. Then Sascha comes to him and confesses her love to him again. Even though she came in secretly, Anna Petrovna realizes this. After Sascha leaves, she speaks to her husband about it, calling him a liar, whom she has loved all along, but who is cheating on her. Ivanov denies this and asks Anna to stop, after she refuses to give in, he reveals the truth about her illness to her, breaking the medical prohibition. Apparently Anna didn't know about it and is shocked, and Ivanov bursts into tears in remorse for what has just been said.
Several months pass between the third and fourth acts. The act begins with Lwow's monologue, from which we learn that Anna has since succumbed to her illness. In it he curses Ivanov, who, as soon as his wife is dead, has already torn up another (Sascha). Then preparations are under way for Ivanov and Sascha's wedding. In the eighth scene, however, when the two are alone, Ivanov gives up and does not want to marry; he indulges in self-blame and admits that he treated his wife badly in her last year, declaring himself lost for good. There is a scandal with Sascha's father. In the final scene, Lvov comes in and tells Ivanov in front of everyone involved that he is a villain. Sascha and the others are outraged, only Ivanov is not impressed by it. With the words that you have to know when to go, Ivanov runs to the side and shoots himself.
background
In its first version , Ivanov was premiered on November 19, 1887 in Moscow at the Korsch Theater. After the second performance, Chekhov began to revise the piece.
The new, second version was completed by Chekhov in December 1888. Compared to the first version, which the author officially referred to as a comedy, the sobering monologues of the title character and her suicide were added, while in the original version there is indeed the wedding between Ivanov and Sascha. Thus, in the revised version, Ivanov appears to be one of these "superfluous people" - the impoverished nobles who live aimlessly and indolently, neither able nor willing to fundamentally change their lives through useful activity, even if it is through external ones Circumstances seem indispensable - but also as someone who has not yet completely lost the sense of propriety and justice, which is proven in his monologues and ultimately in his suicide.
Chekhov also revised this version again in January 1889. This third version was premiered on January 31, 1889 in the Alexandrinsky Theater in Saint Petersburg . In the same year it was printed in the March issue of the magazine Sewerny Westnik , in 1897 Chekhov included it with some corrections in an anthology of his plays.
“ Ivanov is exhausted, he doesn't understand himself, but that's none of her business. It makes its legal demands, and whether he wants to or not, he has to solve the questions. The sick woman is a question, the pile of debts is a question, Sascha hangs around his neck, that's a question too. How he solves all these questions can be seen from the monologue of the third act, as well as from the content of the last two acts. People like Ivanov don't solve questions, they collapse under the burden. They lose presence of mind, clap their hands in amazement, become nervous, complain, do stupid things, and finally, when they have given their limp, undisciplined nerves free rein, they lose the ground beneath their feet and join the ranks "Broken down" and "misunderstood" . "
Individual evidence
- ^ Chekhov's letter to Alexei Suworin dated December 30, 1888, in: Anton Chekhov, Briefe 1879–1904, Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1968, p. 114
literature
- Elsbeth Wolffheim : Anton Čechov. With testimonials and photo documents. Reinbek near Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1988 (= Rowohlt's monographs; 307). ISBN 3-499-50307-7
- Anton Čechov: Ivanov, drama in four acts. Translated and edited by Peter Urban. Zurich 1974, ISBN 3-257-20102-8