Hermann Sudermann and his play "Honour" in Siberian Tomsk periodicals at the turn of the 20th century

A German writer and playwright Hermann Sudermann (1857-1928) is a "transitional" figure that appeared in the European literary process during the crucial breakdown of aesthetic attitudes and art systems at the turn of the 20th century. His artistic method can be described as "eclectic" and "compromising". It combined the address to the acute problems of modernity, characteristic of the "New Drama", with the traditional theatricality of melodrama, which determined a high popularity of his plays. The existing studies focus mainly on the strategies for the reception of Sudermann's works in the cultural space of the Russian Centre (in the central periodicals and metropolitan theatres), while an equally representative provincial "segment" of reception remains almost unknown. More than forty publications that appeared in Sibirskiy Vest-nik, Sibirskaya Zhizn, Sibirskiye Otgoloski (in sections "Theatre and Music" and "Theatre") from 1890 to 1912 reflect a rather original local reception of Sudermann's artistic method in the all-Russian context. The nearly two-decade reception of Sudermann-dramatist in the Tomsk periodicals was generally positive. The Tomsk newspapers published more than thirty theatrical reviews, which is evident that Sudermann's plays were staged in Tomsk every season for twenty years, from 1892 to 1912. Tomsk playgoers could see seven of his most famous works staged in the pre-revolutionary Russian theatre ("Honour", "Sodom's End", "Homeland", "Fires of St. John", "Battle of the Butterflies", "The Flower Boat", "The Joy of Living"). Sudermann achieved his highest popularity in the Tomsk theatre in 1901 and 1902, when three of his plays were staged during one theatrical season. It should be noted that Tomsk playgoers could see Sudermann's dramas with a minimal lag from metropolitan theatres. The reception of Sudermann's "Honour" in Tomsk had a long history. It was often included in the repertoire of local theatres for ten years from 1892 to 1912 and almost always went down well with the public. The publications of Siberian critics about Sudermann's works as well as reviews about "Honour" demonstrated independence of thought, though their general narrative is consistent with the mainstream reception of the play and its author. The peculiarity of Tomsk receptive strategies consists in their greater commitment to the traditional aesthetic canons, which becomes evident in the increased attention to its theatricality rather than the novelty of ideas and problems due to which Sudermann was discussed in the context of the latest dramatic tendencies. Local critics, however, spoke of the German playwright mainly as of a dramatist who combined theatrical traditions with realistic scenes from the life of German society and were less focused on the "superficial" naturalism of the dramatist. Thus, the materials about Sudermann published in Siberian periodicals at the turn of the twentieth century demonstrate not only that Siberian literature was generally involved in the intercultural interaction, but also that European cultural events were of a great importance for the formation of Siberian self-consciousness.

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