Prometheus in Russia: from Revolution to Dissidence

Abstract

This essay examines the development of the image of Prometheus as a symbol of the revolutionary in Russia and the Soviet Union. After providing a historical overview of pre-Soviet and early-Soviet receptions of Prometheus’ image in Alexander Scriabin’s symphony Prometheus: The Poem of Fire (Prometei: Poema Ognia, 1908–10) and in the unfinished production of the ancient Greek tragic trilogy at the Moscow Art Theatre (1925–27), I focus on the analysis of Prometheus’ myth in three screen adaptations: the 1936 film Prometheus (Prometei) by Soviet Ukrainian director Ivan Kavaleridze and the animated films The Return from Olympus (Vozvrashchenie s Olimpa, 1969), and Prometheus (Prometei, 1974) by Alexandra Snezhko-Blotskaya. I demonstrate that, besides the animation films directed by Snezhko-Blotskaya, the rest of the receptions were not successful at the time of their production. I examine how the creative programs of these projects did not fit the contemporary context, institutional framework, or official ideology because of technical, aesthetical, and political reasons. I argue that the screen receptions of Prometheus’ myth employed Prometheus’ image to reflect on and to address the changing political and cultural climate of the Soviet Union during critical periods of its history.