I rimandi a Čechov nei titoli delle opere di Akunin, Sorokin, Głowacki e Mamet

Abstract

The analysis of references to Anton Chekhov’s works in four contemporary plays is the basis for an attempt to establish a typology of intertextual strategies. The peculiarity of the examined plays is their reference to the pre-text as a whole, unlike the quotation or the allusion, which refer to the pre-text in a particular manner: Boris Akunin’s Seagull combines elements of a sequel and a contrafaction of Chekhov’s Seagull; Vladimir Sorokin’s Jubilee is an example of collage of various plays by Chekhov; Janusz Głowacki’s The Fourth Sister can be seen as a transformation (adoption of the topic) of the Three Sisters; David Mamet’s Uncle Vanya combines some traits of an adaptation and a remake of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. Assuming that ‘total’ references to the pre-text affect mainly three aspects of a literary work – setting (personae, chronotope), action (plot) and ideological content (topic), and taking into account two variables (assumption or adoption vs. non-assumption or variance), eight different models of ‘total’ intertextual strategies can be described: remake, sequel, parody, contrafaction, adaptation, transformation, travesty and collage.