Social Critique at Play: Mayakovsky’s 'Проблемная Комедия' and the Possibility of Immanent Critique

• In Event: Reimagining Modern Russian Drama: New Interpretations and Productions

Abstract

In this presentation, I discuss how social critique operates in Mayakovksy’s play The Bedbug (1928). Mayakovsky describes the play as “публицистическая, проблемная, тенденциозная” and explicitly identifies its object: “Проблема—разоблачение сегодняшнего мещанства.” Yet, rather than serving as an effective tool to help the Soviet state to “eradicate” мещанство, The Bedbug faced sharp criticism and was even labeled as “anti-Soviet” by some critics.
Discussing The Bedbug’s critical potential, existing scholarship primarily highlights the play’s satirical, grotesque depiction of мещанство. I take a different approach, by examining how its critique of мещанство flips into self-criticism—a “satire on satire (сатира над сатирой).” Through an analysis of three key speeches by Prisypkin (one of the main characters embodying мещанство), I argue that The Bedbug enables an “immanent critique” that, rather than aligning rigidly with state propaganda, reveals the internal contradictions and complexities embedded in the targeted social issue. Furthermore, I explore contemporary Chinese productions of The Bedbug to examine whether this mode of social critique retains its effect in a new historical context.

Author

• Yazhe Yang, Princeton U