Vagabonding Masks

The iconic masks of the Italian commedia dellarteHarlequin, Pierrot, Colombina, Pulcinella, and othershave been vagabonding the roads of Russian cultural history for more than three centuries. This book explores how these masks, and the artistic principles of the commedia dellarte that they embody, have profoundly affected the Russian artistic imagination, providing a source of inspiration for leading Russian artists as diverse as nineteenth-century writer Nikolai Gogol, modernist theater director Evgenii Vakhtangov, Vladimir Nabokov, and the empress of Russian popular culture Alla Pugacheva. The author presents a new perspective on this topic, showing how the commedia dellarte has nourished a rich cultural tradition in Russia.