Утиная охота

by Aleksandr Vampilov, Александр Вампилов

Constructed out of flashbacks, the play moves backward and forward in time as it probes into the plight of one Zilov, an engineer who has achieved a certain position in the Soviet bureaucracy, but has lost his will to live. He has come to detest his boring job and the petty superior he must defer to; his marriage is falling apart; he feels betrayed by his friends, he disdains the young student who offers him the passion and sense of wonder he once derived from his wife; and he seems concerned only with his annual hunting trip which, he hopes, will restore a purpose and identity to his life. But events continue to frustrate him: his wife aborts the child who might have saved their relationship; the new apartment they have wrested from the grudging bureaucracy seems more a tomb than a home; and ultimately, suicide appears to be Zilov's only alternative. But, in the end, emboldened by vodka and defying the persistent bad weather, Zilov does go hunting for the will to live is stronger than the desire to give up, and hope remains, even in the gray sameness of an existence gone stale.

Genres: Plays, Russian Literature, Russia, Classics

142 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1980

About the author

Alexander Valentinovich Vampilov (Russian: Александр Валентинович Вампилов) (19 August 1937, Cheremkhovo, near Irkutsk – 17 August 1972 at Lake Baikal) was a Russian playwright. His play Elder Son was first performed in 1969, and became a national success two years later. Many of his plays have been filmed or televised in Russia. His four full-length plays were translated into English and Duck Hunting was performed in London.
Vampilov was the fourth child in the family of schoolteachers. Нis father, Valentin Nikitich, was of Buryat ancestry, and his mother, Anastasia Prokopievna was Russian, daughter of Russian Orthodox Church priest. His father was arrested for alleged nationalist activity.

The young Alexander taught himself guitar and mandolin, and his first comic short stories appeared in magazines in 1958, later collected as A Confluence of Circumstances under the name "A. Sanin". After studying literature and history at the Department of Philology at Irkutsk University, graduating in 1960, he turned to theatre. He was executive secretary of an Irkutsk newspaper from 1962 to 1964, and later formed an acquaintance with popular dramatist Aleksei Arbuzov.

The first production of Farewell in June in Moscow in 1966 was unsuccessful, but by the early 1970s he was becoming very well known, and his humanity and insight has been compared with that of Chekhov[1].

He married in the early 1970s, and drowned in 1972, while fishing on Lake Baikal. Last Summer in Tchulimsk was his final play.

Works

Farewell in June (Прощание в июне) (1966, rewritten 1970)
The Elder Son (Старший сын) (1967)
House, Overlooking the Field (Дом окнами в поле)
Provincial Ancedotes (Провинциальные анекдоты) (1968, comprising the one-act plays An Incident with a Paginator (Случай с метранпажем) and Twenty Minutes with an Angel (Двадцать минут с ангелом))
Duck Hunting (Утиная охота) (1970)
Last Summer in Chulimsk (Прошлым летом в Чулимске) (1972

Reviews

[آبتین گلکار · Rating 4 out of 5]

شکار مرغابی مهمترین نمایشنامه‌ی وامپیلوفه که یکی از برجسته‌ترین و تأثیرگذارترین نمایشنامه‌نویسان روسیه در دهه‌های 1960 و 1970 به شمار میاد. شخصیت اصلیش هم برای روسیه و هم برای ما خیلی آشنا و قابل‌درکه: آدمی که ظاهراً خیلی می‌فهمه، دست کم خیلی بیشتر از اطرافیانش، و احتمالاً خیلی کارها ازش برمیاد، ولی هم در زندگی حرفه‌ای و هم در زندگی شخصی چنان غرق روزمرگی و کلک‌های ناچیز و زیرآبی رفتن‌های کوچیک می‌شه، تا جایی که زندگیش به پوچی کامل می‌رسه

[Dream.M · Rating 4 out of 5]

هفت‌روز_هفت‌نمایشنامه
نمایشنامه ششم


انگار تمام عمر زیلوف، فقط یک روز کشدار بوده، روزی که هیچ‌چیز مهمی در آن رخ نداده اما او در آن پوسیده، تحقیر شده، عاشق شده، و مرده.

عجب نمایشنامه‌ای . انصافا سورپرایز شدم.
توضیحات عالی دیانا درباره هملتیسم و چخوفیسم روسی و جمعبندی درخشان علیرضا هم نور علی نور شدن و باعث شدن بیشتر ازش لذت ببرم.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

هفت روز- هفت نمایشنامه. نمایشنامه‌ی ششم

[Alireza · Rating 3 out of 5]

شکار مرغابی، دومین نمایشنامه ای هست که از الکساندر وامپیلوف میخونم. این نمایشنامه روایت بخشی از زندگی کاراکتری به نام زیلوف هست. کاراکتری که دید مختص به خودش رو به زندگی داره. رابطه اش با دوستاش مدام در طول داستان دستخوش فراز و نشیب میشه و در انتها هم پایان خوبی داره.

[Maedeh · Rating 4 out of 5]

همخوانی هفت روز-هفت نمایشنامه / نمایشنامه ششم

[Reza · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt like I was talking to my corrupt friend. Everything about this play seems real, nothing extraordinary, no clichés. Characters are flawed in just the right way that wouldn't make you feel like these flaws have been given to them for dramatic purposes.

[Eshraq]

آخرین جمعه‌ی ۱۴۰۲ و آخرین نمایشنامه‌ای که تو کتابفروشی محبوبم در گروه نمایشنامه‌خوانی به پایان رسید.
خیلی لذتبخش بود.
در یک فضای کمدی نگاه موشکافانه‌ای داشت به روابط انسان‌ها و تعاملاتشون. در عین حال یه جاهایی حس کردم به تنهایی و سردرگمی فردی هم به خوبی میپردازه، مثلا درباره خود شخص زیلوف.
همه چیز خیلی ملموس و قابل درک بود.

[Navid Dariya · Rating 5 out of 5]

شاید این نمایشنامه این روزها تکراری به نظر برسد ، اما پنج ستاره ای که من به این نمایش نامه دادم به خاطر تاریخ نگارش آن و نسبت به زمانی که در آن نوشته شده است می باشد. همچنین شخصیت پردازی خاص روسی این کتاب از جذابیت های تازگی آن است