SOURCE: Giergielewicz, Mieczyslaw. “Structural Footnotes to Griboedov's Woe from Wit.” The Polish Review 24, no. 1 (1979): 3-21.

In the following essay, Giergielewicz discusses the structure of Griboedov's play, maintaining that the playwright skillfully manipulated theatrical conventions to convey a double plot: one involving a personal domestic dispute and the other involving a larger conflict the hero faces with Moscow society collectively.

Aleksandr S. Griboedov's masterpiece, the comedy Gore ot uma (Woe from Wit) has been translated into many languages, including English, French, German and Italian. It roused warm acclaim among the Poles. Fragments of the play in Polish rendition were printed in the Polish periodical Bałamut (The Philanderer), published in Petersburg (1831, Nos. 24-26). In 1857 two complete Polish translations of Gore ot uma were made available. In 1858 its first Polish theatrical performance took place in Lwów. Eight years later, in 1866, still another translation of the comedy appeared. In modern...