Borís Godunóv is a full-length historical drama in the Shakespearean manner composed by Alexander Pushkin in 1825. It is a story of ambition, murder, remorse and retribution, charting the story of a Russian leader, whose dynastic aims were foiled by a guilty past.
Pushkin’s Little Tragedies, written five years later, are four one-act plays set in western Europe that each focus on the protagonist’s driving obsession – with status, money, sex or risk-taking – and its devastating consequences.
My idiomatic translation, while following the metre of the originals (primarily Shakespearean blank verse), is in a contemporary and modern English, designed to be both readable and suitable for stage performance. Click on Books for more information, and some short extracts. First issued in 2010, it has been republished by Alma Classics in 2017 in a revised and improved edition (ISBN 978-1-84749-691-1). The translation is accompanied by a full commentary and supporting essays. It can be ordered from any highstreet bookshop or from the main electronic booksellers.
Click on Books (above) for more information, and some short extracts.