Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin

Russian playwright. He started working as a civil servant immediately after dropping out of Moscow University in 1762, and worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Imperial Household Ministry for the next 20 years. From 1769, he was secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Panin, and played an active role in the partition of Poland. He had an early interest in literature, translating works by Danish author Holberg, German and French authors, and writing allegorical and satirical poems. He became interested in theater when he was temporarily assigned to manage the Imperial Theater in the mid-1760s, and published two comedies, The Brigade Commander (1770) and The Parents (1782), both of which are five acts, in addition to his official duties. The former is based on the complicated love affair between the brigade commander's family and a retired counselor and his wife, and satirizes the Francophilia that was a prominent phenomenon among high society at the time, while at the same time exposing the corruption of civil servants. The latter is a sharp commentary on the family squabbles of rural landowners and the ignorance of the landlord class, centered around an orphan who suddenly becomes wealthy after inheriting an inheritance. "The Parents" in particular was so successful that the names of the main characters, including the spoiled fool Mitrofan, have become common nouns to describe their respective types. His social criticism did not wane, and in 1883 he wrote "General Grammar of the Imperial Court," in which he sharply satirized Catherine II and her favorites, who pretended to be enlightened monarchs, and clashed with the empress in the magazines.

[Nakamura Yoshikazu]

"Yae Yomura's translation of "Parental" (included in "Complete Works of Russian Literature 35: Collection of Classical Literature", 1959, Shudosha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ロシアの劇作家。1762年にモスクワ大学を中退してすぐに役人勤めを始め、以後20年間外務省や宮内省で勤務した。69年からは外務大臣パーニンの秘書官としてポーランド分割などで活躍した。早くから文学に関心を寄せ、デンマークの作家ホルベアやドイツ、フランスの作家の作品を翻訳するとともに、寓話(ぐうわ)詩や風刺詩を書く。60年代の中ごろに一時帝室劇場を管理する職務についたころから演劇に興味をもつようになり、公務のかたわらに、いずれも五幕からなる喜劇『旅団長』（1770）、『親がかり』（1782）を発表。前者は旅団長一家と退職した参事官夫妻の間の恋愛関係のもつれを筋として、当時の上流社会の間で顕著な現象となっていたフランスかぶれを風刺し、同時に官吏の腐敗ぶりを暴露したもの。後者は遺産を相続して突如として富裕になった孤児をめぐり、田舎(いなか)地主の家庭内の争いや、地主階級の無知ぶりを鋭く指摘している。とりわけ『親がかり』は非常な成功を収めたので、甘やかされたばか息子ミトロファンをはじめ主要な登場人物の名前は、それぞれのタイプを示す普通名詞になっている。社会批判はその後も衰えず、83年には『宮廷一般文法』を著して、啓蒙(けいもう)君主を気どるエカチェリーナ2世やその寵臣(ちょうしん)たちを痛烈に皮肉ったり、雑誌誌上で女帝と衝突したりした。

［中村喜和］

『除村ヤエ訳『親がかり』（『ロシア文学全集35　古典文学集』所収・1959・修道社）』

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