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‘...Insured against the tyranny of time’.Knut Hamsun’s last play and an unknown Russian film script
https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2018-5-76-102
Abstract
After a short summary of the story behind K. Hamsun’s play In the Grip of Life [Livet i Vold], its plot and stage history in Russia, the article proceeds to tell about an unknown film script. Cinematic adaptations of Hamsun’s books have always dominated Norwegian literature, while none of his dramatic pieces have made it to the screen. However, a film script was uncovered, an adaptation of In the Grip of Life: a play specially written for a Russian theatre. The script was found in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts, among the documents of Evgeny Sergeevich Khokhlov. Based on the history of filmmaking and relevant filmography, Khokhlov’s film script is not just the only attempt at film adaptation of a Hamsun play, but the first ever project based on a theatrical play in Russian cinematic history. Written almost 100 years ago, the script is far from perfect in the modern understanding of filmmaking; nonetheless, it has certain merits in the eyes of contemporaries. The very attempt to interpret the play by means of a nascent artistic genre may be considered a proof of its relevance to Russian audiences at the time.
About the Author
T P. Lonngren
University of Troms – The Arctic University of Norway
Norway
Norway
Tamara P. Lonngren, Doctor of Philosophy
18 Hansine Hansens veg, Tromsˆ, N-9037, Norway
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Review
For citations:
Lonngren T.P. ‘...Insured against the tyranny of time’.Knut Hamsun’s last play and an unknown Russian film script. Voprosy literatury. 2018;(5):76-102. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2018-5-76-102
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