The project of the "Shakespeare Encyclopedia" in the legacy of Sigismund Krzyzhanovsky and the history of the idea

The article analyzes the idea of a Shakespearean encyclopedia in its development in the Russian reception of Shakespeare. The authors consider the project of a Shakespearean encyclopedia preserved in the archive of Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky, the principles of its construction in comparison with other projects (in particular, a project by G.G. Shpet) and realized editions (in particular, edited by I.O. Shaitanov). Krzhizhanovsky wrote this project in 1936. The full title of this project preserved in the archive is as follows: "Shakespearean Encyclopedia (A Handbook for University Students, Readers of the Soviet Edition of Shakespeare, Directors, Actors, and Young Shakespeare Scholars. Two Portable Volumes, 18-20 Printed Sheets Each). Publication Plan". Krzhizhanovsky was also not actively published as a researcher, and the project of the "Shakespearean Encyclopedia" remained virtually unknown. Krzhizhanovsky carefully thought out the structure of the publication: he wrote explanations and the expected volume in printed sheets opposite each of the content points. Thus, the encyclopedia was to include a short biography of Shakespeare, comparative chronological tables; maps and diagrams; drawings of landscape types of England; a table of the monetary system, measures and weights; a reference book on the state structure of England, on military affairs, communication routes, types of transport, calendar holidays, customs of the city and village; a section on the life of the theater; a short reference book of literary and folklore sources of Shakespeare's work, his puns, and the literary theory of that time; an index of names and a subject index. The Shakespeare Encyclopedia was conceived as a very voluminous reference book primarily on the factual world of Shakespeare's works: signs of the times, social system. However, in the second half of the second volume there is a turn to the study of Shakespeare's poetics, which had already been outlined in the works of Krzhizhanovsky himself (literary allusions, folklore, theory of verse, wordplay). Krzhizhanovsky's project, in its plan, looks like a maximally objective study of the realities of the era, and then of Shakespeare's poetics - that is, it is a kind of preparatory, very visual and objective material for reading Shakespeare, immersing oneself in cultural pretexts. Krzhizhanovsky's project helps to imagine the possible prospects for the development of Russian Shakespeare studies in the early Soviet period; its temporal coincidence with the more developed project of G.G. Shpet is of no small importance; obviously, this idea matured in the 1930s as a logical continuation of the new Soviet translated and theatrical Shakespeare, but was not realized for many decades. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.