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Voyage begins in 1833 and moves forward
in time to 1844. Below is information on the characters you
will meet in the play.
Alexander
Bakunin
Voyage
Call him a liberal if you like - but all he really
wants is to hold this family together. Alexander spent most
of his youth in Italy; he was sent there by his father, a man
with a foul temper, who had little patience for his intellectual
son with the delicate constitution. Alexander also was in France
in 1789 and witnessed the storming of the Bastille. When Alexander's
father died he inherited the Premukhino estate and lived as
a bachelor until his 40s when he met eighteen year old Varvara
and fell madly in love with the young woman.
Varvara
Bakunin
Voyage
Alexander's wife and mother of four daughters and a
very challenging son. Varvara's loyalty is wholly with her husband.
Liubov
Bakunin
Voyage
The eldest daughter; the first to be engaged, the first
to change her mind. At the beginning of the play she is engaged
to Baron Renne, a cavalry officer.
Varenka
Bakunin
Voyage
Varenka marries a cavalry officer named Dyakov, who
Varenka desribes as "all right...we can't all be philosophers
when it comes to love."
Tatiana
Bakunin
Voyage
Tatiana has a passion for literature and artists. And
a sportsman.
Alexandra
Bakunin
Voyage
The youngest Bakunin daughter who would marry Pushkin
if she could.
Michael
Bakunin
Voyage
Later in life he will become known as the father of
anarchism. He wrote: "The passion for destruction is a
creative passion." In Voyage he is intent upon
guiding his sisters (his father would argue controlling his
sisters) and finding the true philosophy. With Michael we see
a revolutionary in the making.
At Moscow University Bakunin
was influenced by other radicals such as Alexander Herzen. In
1842 he left for Europe and in Paris he met George Sand (with
whom he became friends) and also Karl Marx. In 1844 he was ordered
back to Russia after publishing radical articles. He refused
to return. In 1849 he was arrested in Dresden, Germany for participating
in the Czech rebellion of 1848. He was deported to Russia where
he was initially sentenced to death. His sentence was reduced
to hard labor and in 1857 he was sent to Siberia. Bakunin escaped
via Japan in 1861, traveling to San Francisco and then New York,
finally arriving in London where he worked with Alexander Herzen
on the radical publication The Bell. Bakunin became highly influential
to young radicals in Europe and in Russia.
Bakunin was an advocate
of anarchy and strongly disagreed with Karl Marx:
"They [the Marxists]
maintain that only a dictatorship—their dictatorship,
of course—can create the will of the people, while our
answer to this is: No dictatorship can have any other aim but
that of self-perpetuation, and it can beget only slavery in
the people tolerating it; freedom can be created only by freedom,
that is, by a universal rebellion on the part of the people
and free organization of the toiling masses from the bottom
up."
M. Bakunin in Statism and Anarchism
Alexander Herzen said
of Michael Bakunin: "This man was born not under an ordinary
star, but under a comet."
Vissarion
Belinsky
Voyage
Belinsky wants nothing more than to be a literary critic
even though he believes that Russia has no literature - yet.
In Voyage he begins work on the Telescope literary
journal. Belinsky was a literary critic, social thinker, essayist,
known as "furious Vissarion", often called the father
of the Russian radical intelligentsia. Vissarion Belinsky believed
passionately that Russian literature had to progress beyond
the native form of Russian folk poetry. Literature should honestly
reflect the reality of the country and transform society. "We
will have our literature. What kind of literature and what kind
of life is the same question. Our external life is an insult.
But we have produced Pushkin..."
Natalie
Beyer
Voyage
A passionate young woman who believes there is more
to life than philosophy.
Peter
Chaadaev
Voyage
Some scholars believe that Pushkin's character Eugene
Onegin is modeled after Peter Chaadaev, who wrote one of the
most inflammatory articles of the day:' The Philosophical Letters.'
Chaadaev wrote that Russia remained a backwards country steeped
in superstition. "We have no history and no past. We belong
to none of the great families of mankind; we are neither of
the West nor of the East and we possess the traditions of neither…Historical
experience does not exist for us…Isolated in the world,
we have given nothing to the world, we have taken nothing from
the world; we have not added a single idea to the mass of human
ideas; we have contributed nothing to the progress of the human
spirit." After 'The Philosophical Letters' were published
in The Telescope, Tsar Nicholas I promptly shut down
the journal, exiled the editor, and declared Chaadaev a madman
and placed him under house arrest.
Alexander
Herzen
Voyage
Herzen is known as the "father of modern socialism".
His work played a key role in the emancipation of the serfs
in Russia in 1861. After completing studies at Moscow University
in 1834 he was arrested for attending a festival at which a
song criticizing the Tsar was sung. He spent six years in prison
and returned to Moscow in 1840. In 1847 he left Russia and lived
in exile in Europe for the rest of his life. He continued to
work for socialist causes and to affect change in Russia.
The writings of Alexander Herzen served as a key inspiration
for Stoppard to write The Coast of Utopia. Herzen wrote and
edited the radical newspaper The Bell which was described by
American liberal critic Dwight Macdonald called the Bell "perhaps
the most effective muckraking magazine in radical history."
Tom Stoppard wrote of Herzen: "In Moscow in the early 1830s,
among the young men and women of the educated elite, there were
two related but distinct responses to Tsarist absolutism (where
there was a response at all), both of them nurtured in the student
body of Moscow University: the 'philosophical circle', and the
'political circle', amicably decried by each other as 'German
sentimentalists' and 'French frondeurs'. Both circles were tiny.
The philosophicals took refuge from unpleasant reality in the
'inner liberation' offered by German idealism. Their most famous
alumnus turned out to be Bakunin. Meanwhile, the politicals
studied the French Revolution and the Utopian Socialists. Their
leader was young Herzen."
Katya
Voyage
She proves that you do not need an education to see
the truth.
Nicholas
Ketscher
Voyage
One of Alexander Herzen's radical friends; a medical
doctor who also translates Shakespeare in his spare time. In
Herzen's memoir he describes first meeting Ketscher: "We
were inseparable friends; from that minute the anger and kindness,
the laugh and shout of Ketscher have resounded at all the stages
in all the adventures of our lives." (pg. 103) My Past
& Thoughts: Memoirs of Alexander Herzen
Nicholas
Ogarev
Voyage
Nicholas Ogarev was the life-long friend of Alexander
Herzen. He collaborated with Herzen, shared his views on socialism.
Herzen included one of Ogarev's poems in his autobiography The
Past and Recollections. Ogarev's poem is entitled Old Home
and describes his friendship with Herzen:
The house stands there
sadly decaying,
The greenery plaster is spread.
The cloud up above moves so sadly
And weeps for the life that's been led.
Here's the small room
that in old days
We shared with one mind and one soul,
Remember the thoughts that one soared there,
The dreams, the forgotten lost goal.
Glad friendship grew
up in this chamber.
And oh, the past joy that we knew,
But since then it's fallen to pieces,
In corners the spider webs grew.
Nicholas
Polevoy
Moscow
TelegraphVoyage
Polevoy describes the Telegraph as the "lone
voice for reform." Polevoy wanted to reach a larger audience
- not simply aristocrats. Although The Telegraph was
a literary journal, Polevoy's frequently found ways to criticize
the aristocracy and began to attract the attention of the Tsar.
When Polevoy wrote a highly critical review of a patriotic play
by Kukolnik entitled The Hand of the Almighty Saved the
Fatherland the Tsar had enough and he closed down the Telegraph.
Alexander
Pushkin
Russian Poet 1799-1837
The most celebrated Russian writer of his times. He
was also popular with the radical circle as he often advocated
for social reforms. He was subject to censorship, was exiled
in the 1820's for speaking against the government.
Pushkin gained fame with
the serial publication of Eugene Onegin (published
between 1825-1832; first full edition was published in 1833).
This "novel" was written entirely in verse. Onegin
is a charming, intelligent but idle young man who attracts the
attention of Tatiana, an idealistic, passionate young woman.
Tatiana writes Onegin a letter expressing her love for him.
Onegin meets Tatiana and tells her that if he was capable of
love, he would choose her. But he confesses that he would simply
grow bored with her – or any woman and encourages her
to forget him. Tatiana is heart broken. Shortly thereafter,
Onegin’s best friend challenges him to a duel believing
that Onegin has betrayed him. Pushkin includes language in his
novel regarding the absurdity of duels – a tragic irony
given that Pushkin loses his life in a duel. Onegin agrees to
the duel and kills his friend; afterwards he is a broken man.
Years later, Onegin sees Tatiana at a ball – she is a
changed woman, very refined and married to a much older man.
Onegin realizes that he loved her deeply all along. He meets
Tatiana who confesses that she still loves him deeply but will
not leave her husband. She believes she must follow the rules
of society. Throughout Voyage you will hear several
references to Eugene Onegin and the choice at the end of the
tale.
George Sand
French novelist 1804-1876
George Sand is not a character in the play but she
is mentioned so frequently she may as well be! French novelist
Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin took the pen name of George Sand.
In 1833 she published her first novel, Indiana, which
ignited much controversy as the central character, a married
woman named Indiana, falls in love with a dashing rogue. She
leaves her husband not once but twice. Indiana chooses to follow
her heart despite the conventions of society. George Sand herself
caused quite a stir as she left her husband behind to pursue
a career as a novelist. She became famous not only for her passionate
novels but also for her love affairs. George Sand defied convention
to stay true to herself. Sand wrote: “…I solemnly
vow…that I shall raise woman from her abject position,
both through myself and my writing, God will help me!...let
female slavery also have its Spartacus. That shall I be, or
perish in the attempt.” In Voyage you will hear
many references – mostly from the women in the play –
about this “philosopher of love.” Indeed, you may
find that there is a division between the men and women in Voyage
regarding the influence of George Sand.
Nicholas
Sazonov
Voyage
Sazonov was part of Herzen's "circle" at
Moscow University. He later leaves Russia and continues working
for socialist causes in Paris, Geneva and is reunited with Herzen
in Nice. Herzen speaks fondly of his youth in Moscow in his
memoirs and of meeting Sazonov.
Stepan
Shevyrev
Moscow
Observer
Voyage
The first editor of the Moscow Observer, a
literary journal that promotes Russian literature as long as
it passes the censor. Shevyrev published a critique of Gogol
- both supporting his work and sharply criticizing it. Shevyrev
felt that Gogol was responsible for a harmful influence on Russian
culture, by consistently focusing on its faults. He felt that
he focused far too much on what was vulgar in society, without
offering any hope for the future.
Nicholas
Stankevich
Voyage
Stankevich was the leader of the literary/philosophical
circle that formed amongst a group of young intellectuals in
Moscow. Biographer E.H. Carr writes of Stankevich: "Men
and women fell irresistibly in love with him. He was the first
important intellectual influence in Michael Bakunin's life..."
Nicholas Stankevich wrote:
"Art is becoming
divinity for me, and I keep repeating one thing: friendship...and
art! That is the world in which man must live, if he does not
want to be like an animal! That is the beneficial sphere in
which he must reside to be worthy of himself - that is the fire
with which he must warm and cleanse his soul."
Ivan
Turgenev
Voyage
We meet Turgenev before he becomes the famous author
of novels such as Fathers and Sons. In Voyage,
he just hopes to write a decent poem one day. Turgenev graduated
from the University at St. Petersburg. He also traveled to Germany
as a young man and after the publication of his poetry he devoted
himself to literature and travel. He spent time at the Bakunin's
estate at Premukhino and wrote poetry to Tatiana Bakunin; alas,
he soon lost interest in her. Instead, he fell in love with
Pauline Garcia Viardot, an opera singer. She was married however
and he lived in a state of unrequited love - although there
was a period when Turgenev actually lived with Viardot and her
husband.
