Aleksandr Sukhovo-Kobylin
Aleksandr Vasilyevich Sukhovo-Kobylin
(Russian: Александр Васильевич
Сухово-Кобылин) (September 29 [O.S.
September 17] 1817, Moscow - September
24 [O.S. September 11] 1903, Beaulieu-sur-Mer,
France), was a Russian nobleman, chiefly
known for the works he authored as an
amateur playwright.
A rich aristocrat who often travelled,
Sukhovo-Kobylin was arrested, prosecuted
and tried for seven years in Russia for
the murder of his French mistress
Louise-Simone Dimanche, a crime of which
he is nowadays generally believed to
have been innocent. He only managed to
achieve acquittal by means of giving
enormous bribes to court officials and
by using all of his contacts in the
Russian elite. According to his own
version as well as the generally
accepted view today, he was targeted
precisely because he had the financial
capabilities to give such bribes. Based
on his personal experiences,
Sukhovo-Kobylin wrote a trilogy of
satirical plays about the prevalence of
bribery and other corrupt practices in
the Russian judicial system of the time
- "Krechinsky's Wedding" (Russian:
Свадьба Кречинского) (1850-1854, begun
in prison), "The Trial" (Russian: Дело)
(1869), and "Tarelkin's Death"
(alternatively titled "Rasplyuyev's
merry days" (Russian: Смерть Тарелкина,
Расплюевские веселые дни) (1869). The
first work had immediate success and
became one of Russia's most frequently
performed plays. It is also considered
Sukhovo-Kobylin's best. The trilogy in
its entirety was published in 1869 under
the title "Scenes from the Past"
(Russian Картины прошлого). Attempts to
stage the last two plays ran into
difficulties with censorship; in
particular, "Tarelkin's Death" was only
staged in 1899. While popular, the two
sequels failed to achieve the same
success as the first play.
