The Carnival-Grotesque and Blok's The Puppet Show

If so many poets have been attracted by the dramatic form, this is not because it gives them the somewhat crude (and generally dearly paid for) joy of realizing their conceptions in flesh and bone amid an atmosphere of painted cardboard, but precisely because it permits them to let the profound voices they hear in their hearts speak.–Edouard DujardinOf all of Blok's works, The Puppet Show (Balaganchik) is perhaps the most recalcitrant in terms of interpretation. Despite the considerable scholarship that has grown up around the play, many basic questions perplex critics. For instance, the motivation and, to a significant degree, the effect of Blok's decision to incorporate elements of the commedia dell'arte into his little "fairy play" (feeriia) remain unresolved problems. Such lacunae in our knowledge of the play stem from either biographical or socio-economic assumptions behind two traditional approaches to the play.