Abstract: A review of the first volume of new collection of Alexander Ostrovsky’s complete works published under the editorship of Irina Ovchinina, Yuriy Lebedev, Vladimir Tikhomirov in 2018 in Kostroma, is presented in the article. The author of the article tells about the team of authors from the cities of Ivanovo, Kostroma, Moscow and St. Petersburg, who took on a lot of work and a huge responsibility to prepare such a large-scale publication. The grounds that make the reissue of Alexander Ostrovsky’s complete works necessary, as well as the objective difficulties that inevitably arose before the team of authors — including the unique attitude of the playwright to the texts of his works when publishing, the presence of a difficult stage history of plays with certain accents in acting, knotty problems with censorship of Alexander Ostrovsky’s works — are considered in the article. The author states that the complete works’ editors had adequately handled all difficulties — the texts of Alexander Ostrovsky appeared before the readers in the first volume of the new full complete works along with editions and versions, the creative history of works, an overview of critical responses in Alexander Ostrovsky’s lifetime, information about stage history and estimates of theatre performances, as well as real, historical and linguistic commentary. Some points do not pass without comment of the reviewer; however, considering the content of the volume, describing important discoveries and findings, the author of the article concludes that the entire Russian philology has been significantly enriched by the publication of that scientific work.
References
Kommentarii [Comments]. Ostrovskii A. N. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii i pisem: v 18 t. T. 1. Sochineniia. 1843–1854 [Ostrovsky A. N. Complete Works and Letters: in 18 vols. Vol. 1. Works. 1843–1854.]. Kostroma: Kostromaizdat Publ, 2018, pp. 651–835. (In Russ.)
