ABSTRACT
Structurally, Janacek's principal task was obviously condensation; and the first stage in writing the libretto was to mark his choice of passages of dialogue and narrator' s text in the Russian version, and extract them. H e translated themin to Czech as h e w en talong, often very quickly ( indeed the who le opera was written at extraordinary speed), sometimes merely transliterating rather than translating, and occasionall y leaving Russian words in
In a similar case, ifl were thinking in terms of composition, I would incline right to the truth, right to the harsh speech of the elements, and I would know how to advance a little by means of art. On this path I do not stop at Beethoven, nor at Debussy, nor at Dvorak, nor at Smetana, because I do not meet them there. I do not borrow from them, for it is now impossible to repa y them. Here I am dos e to F. M. Dostoyevsky. In The House of the De ad h e discovered a goodhuman soul even in Baklushin, even in Petrov, even in Isay F o mich. 'Good man, Isa y F o mich!' Dr Bro d, you have observed supreme depth of expression there. 17
are so urgent and convulsive as to be without order and without sense, there are some key threads which counter this and which give the book a clear logical structure on at least one level. The primary one is the slow progress that is outlined from 'death' to 'resurrection', as the prisoners' tales gradually unfold and reveal the reality of the humanity that is present even in this inhumane setting. In the course of this process, the playwithin the play, presentedin Dostoyevsky's version as part of the Christmas festivities, fulfils a key role in showing how enthusiasm at a common task can present Goryanchikov with quite a new view of the prisoners. And i t is placed preciselya t the midpoint of the action (the end of the first part), making a secondary (anticipatory) denouement in which Goryanchikov perceives the possibility of the freedom which is realisedin the primary denouement at the end; in the process, i t supplies a secure even if rudimentary framework to the narrative.
