Without a Dowry and Other Plays

by Alexander Ostrovsky

  Bristow, Eugene. See the preface, introduction, and notes in his translation of Ostrovsky: Five Plays.

  Beasley, Ina. “The Dramatic Art of Ostrovsky.” The Slavonic Review, vol. 6 (1927-28), 603-17.

  Cizevskij, Dmitrij. Wide-ranging and perceptive discussion in Volume Two of his History of Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature (translated from the German). Vanderbilt U. Press, Nashville, 1974.

  Cox, Lucy. “Form and Meaning in the Plays of Alexander N. Ostrovsky.” Diss. U. of Pa., 1975.

  Dana, H. W. L. Discussion in A History of Modern Drama, edited by Barrett H. Clark and George Freedley. Appleton, New York and London, 1947.

  Esam, Irene. “An Analysis of Ostrovsky’s Ne ot mira sego and the Play’s Significance in Relation to the Author’s Other Works.” New Zealand Slavonic Journal (NZSJ), Summer, 1969, 68-91.

  — “Folkloric Elements as Communication Devices in Ostrovsky’s Plays.” NZSJ, Summer, 1968, 67-88.

  — “A Study of the Imagery Associated with Beliefs, Legends and Customs” in Bednost’ ne porok. NZSJ, Winter, 102-22.

  — “The Style of Svoi liudi-sochtemsia.” NZSJ, Summer, 1972, 79-105.

  — Grylack, Bevin Ratner. “The Function of Proverbs in the Dramatic Works of Ostrovsky.” Diss. New York U., 1975.

  Henley, Norman. See the brief end materials in English in his editing of Ostrovsky’s Groza (The Thunderstorm), a text intended for Russian-reading students. Bradda, Letchworth, 1963.

  — “Ostrovskij’s Play-Actors, Puppets, and Rebels.” Article in The Slavic and East European Journal (SEEJ), no. 3, 1970, 317-25.

  — Review of Ostrovsky’s Artistes and Admirers., SEEJ, no.3, 1971, 382-85.

  Hoover, Marjorie L. Alexander Ostrovsky. Twayne, Boston, 1981. Only full-length study of Ostrovsky’s life and works in English and within the limits of the Twayne format a useful work. Reviewed by Andrew R. Durkin (Russian Review, 41(4), 525-26), Felicia Hardison Londré (Theatre Journal, 34 (4), 561), Cynthia Marsh (Modern Language Review, vol. 77, 763-64), and Peter Petro (Canadian- American Slavic Studies, 16 (4), 525-26).

  Kaspin, Albert. “Character and Conflict in Ostrovskij’s Talents and Admirers,” SEEJ, no. 1, 1964, 26-36.

  — “Dostoevsky’s Masloboyev and Ostrovsky’s Dosuzhev: A Parallel.” The Slavonic and East European Review, vol. 39, 222-26.

  — “Ostrovsky and the Raznochinets in his Plays.” Ph.D. dissertation, U. of Cal.,1957. A valuable study not so specialized as the title might suggest.

  — “A Re-examination of Ostrovsky’s Character Lyubim Tortsov.” Studies in Russian and Polish Literature in Honor of Waclaw Lednicki. ‘s-Gravenhage (The Hague), 1962, 185-91.

  — “A Superfluous Man and an Underground Man in Ostrovskij’s The Poor Bride.” SEEJ, no. 4, 1962, 312–21.

  Kersten, Peter Andrew. “The Russian Theater in the Plays of A.N. Ostrovskij.” Informative M.A. thesis, U. of Wisconsin, 1962.

  Magarshack, David. “Alexander Ostrovsky, the Founder of the Russian Theatrical Tradition.” Introduction to the Ardis edition of The Storm, 5–13.

  Mirsky, D. S. Discussion in his A History of Russian Literature. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1949. Also published by Vintage Books.

  Patrick, George Z. “A. N. Ostrovski: Slavophile or Westerner.” In Slavic Studies, ed. by Alexander Kaun and Ernest Simmons, Cornell U. Press, Ithaca, 1943.

  Peace, R.A. “A. N. Ostrovsky’s The Thunderstorm: the dramatization of conceptual ambivalence.” Modern Language Review, v. 84, 99-110. Valuable discussion with emphasis on double meanings of volia (freedom versus will, the latter equated with outer constraint) and serdtse, literally “heart”(tender emotions versus anger).

  Ralston, William. Discussion in The Edinburgh Review, July, 1968.

  Slonim, Marc. Nonduplicating discussions in his The Epic of Russian Literature (Oxford Pr., New York, 1950) and Russian Theater from the Empire to the Soviets (Collier, New York, 1962). Slonim is good on Ostrovsky.

  Valency, Maurice. Discussion in his The Breaking String. Oxford U. Press, London, and New York, 1966.

  Varneke, B.V. Chapter in his History of the Russian Theatre (translated from the Russian). Macmillan, New York, 1951.

  Wettlin, Margaret. “Alexander Ostrovsky and the Russian Theatre Before Stanislavsky.” Introduction to her translations of four Ostrovsky plays (See earlier section under “Plays”). 7-79.

  Whittaker, Robert. “The Ostrovskii-Grigor’ev Circle Alias the ‘Young Editors’ of the Moskvitianin.” Canadian-American Slavic Studies, v. 24, no. 4 (1990), 385- 412. Illuminating discussion touching on Ostrovsky’s professional life in the early 1850’s.

  Wiener, Leo. Discussion in his The Contemporary Drama of Russia. Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1924. Reprinted by AMS Reprints, New York and London.

  Zohrab, Irene (a.k.a. Irene Esam. See above). “Problems of Style in the Plays of A.N. Ostrovsky.” Melbourne Slavonic Studies, no. 12, 1977.