Aleksandr Vampilov: The Major Plays

While critics have been quick to draw parallels between Vampilov and antecedents, including Anton Chekhov and Nikolai Gogol, his plays reflect most clearly his own personal vision of the drab and hypocritical world of the post-Stalin years. Free of the stock characters of Socialist Realism, Vampilov depicts the inhabitants of nameless provincial towns as they struggle to endow their lives with meaning. At the same time, Vampilov spares us that special 'Russianness' that makes the typical Soviet play inaccessible to outsiders. While the Russian situation is ever present, it never intrudes in such a way as to make the work interesting only because of its social or political revelations. In fact, it is the university of his themes that have made his plays so appealing to foreign audiences.
Aleksandr Vampilov: The Major Plays includes the following works in translation: Farewell in June, The Elder Son, Duck Hunting, Provincial Anecdotes: An Incident with a Paginator and Twenty Minutes with an Angel, and Last Summer in Chulimsk.