The Theatrical Aesthetics of Tennessee Williams and the Dramatic art of Alexander Vampilov. The Genesis of the Symbolism

The similarity between creative methods and approaches of Tennessee Williams and Alexander Vampilov does not seem to be obvious. However, Vampilov was named “Russian Williams” after staging of his pieces in Paris. The main reason of such a comparison consists in data which were found in the archive of theatrical journalist Grigoriy Markovich Litinskiy. The Alexander Vampilov’s letters to Litinskiy contain six fragments of Williams’plays with Vampilov’s marginal notes. Furthermore, Grigoriy Litinskiy described the topic “Tennessee Willams and Alexander Vampilov” in his memoirs which were partly published in the magazine Sovetskaya molodezh. Moreover, Mark Gantvarger [Sergeev], the editor-in-chief of the literary miscellany Angara, that published Utinaya okhota (Vampilov, 1967) points to his enthusiasm for the American drama. His favourite novel of Tennessee Williams was The Malediction (Williams, 1967).