Remarks on the second edition of the play “Makov tsvet” by D. Merezhkovsky, Z. Gippius and D. Filosofov

The play “Makov tsvet” was first published in the journal “Russkaya mysl’” in November 1907. Dedicated to the events of the First Russian Revolution of 1905-1907, as reflected in the life of a cultured family, it drew contradictory responses from contemporaries. The authors edited the text for style when publishing the play as a separate edition (1908). In particular, they modified the lines of Blank, one of the characters, and dialogues involving him. They strived to clarify his political affiliation as a social democrat and a Marxist. When discussing the play in her letter to A. S. Suvorin, Gippius acknowledged a possible accusation of “bias” that was not present in the work. Yet the authors’ editing process focused precisely on the bias, which had an unobvi-ous cause. It is conjectured that traits reminiscent of N. M. Minsky were highlighted in Blank’s image, and Gippius endeavoured to outline this character more clearly. Parallels with Merezhkovsky’s periodical publications of that time and textual coincidences with his articles indicate that the authors progressed from Merezhkovsky’s didactic directness towards Gippius’s symbolist ambiguity. The final version of the play is more in line with the imagery of A. Bely’s epigraph than its journal edition. Its emphasis shifted onto representatives of the intelligentsia’s young generation, who reconciled revolution and love. Some properties of the play’s text discussed in the article are undoubtedly relevant in the preparation of its modern edition.