num_pages: 64
description: A Protegee of the Mistress, originally published in 1859, shows the influence of the Slavophile movement. It was inspired by the great liberal movement that bore fruit in the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. Ostrovsky here departed from town to a typical country manor, and produced a work kindred in spirit to Turgenev's Sportsman's Sketches, or Mumu. In a short play, instinct with simple poetry, he shows the suffering brought about by the petty tyranny of the landed proprietor, which is the more galling because it is practiced with a full conviction of virtue on the part of the tyrant; and the crushed natures of the human cattle under his charge. Alexander Ostrovsky (1823-1886) was an early Russian Realist whose work led to the founding of the Moscow Arts Theatre and to the career of Stanislavsky. He has been acknowledged to be the greatest of the Russian dramatists.
language: English
title: A Protegee of the Mistress
titlecomplete: A Protegee of the Mistress
ratings_count: 7
publisher: Athena Books