불가코프의 메타드라마 연구 2)

The purpose of this paper is to reveal the creative origin, literary characteristics, and theatrical specificities of Mikhail Bulgakov's meta-drama The Cabal of Hypocrites. This paper examines the reasons for the emergence of meta-dramatic theatrical imagination in the literary context of those days, and analyzes how the author projects theatrical fictitiousness into his existential state. Self-conscious of his meta-dramatic themes, Bulgakov does not only engage in theatrical experimentations with abstract notions but also brings them forth into the real world. Thus, his meta-dramatic literalism compensates for the perceived loss of the real world through artistic inclusiveness, and further illustrates the organizing principles of reality and people who reside in the real world. In The Cabal of Hypocrites, Bulgakov depicts a dramatic man in Moliere, rather than a great artist him, who succumbs to death due to his “tragic flaw” (i.e., hamartia). The Cabal of Hypocrites is a sad elegy on the death of Moliere. It is also a testimony to the significance of Moliere’s life beyond death as well as Bulgakov's determination to internalize the significance of the great man’s life. Bulgakov's exposition of the relationship between art and life, as well as his pursuit of the transcendent meaning of life beyond death, defined the themes of his work in the 1930s. The Cabal of Hypocrites was Bulgakov’s theses on life, which determines his own destiny as an artist. It was also his literary testament that was written through the transcendental consciousness of death.