This rewriting of Romeo and Juliet is not convincing at all because the Nihilists are reduced to sectarian fanatics, the Czar to a manipulated tyrant, the courtiers to bloodthirsty powerhungry wolves, the Czarevitch to a romantic puppy suddenly grown adult. Vera, the most popular and feared Nihilist, will kill herself out of love to save the Czarevitch who is on a trail of reforms after the assassination of his father. This caricature has nothing to compare with Gorki?s The Mother, nor Brecht?s Mother Courage and Her Children. It is yet interesting to see how Oscar Wilde is far from understanding what simple suffering people can be in Russia at that time and what the psychology of the Nihilists was. He uses quite many clich?s and does not get into any depth. So the superimposing of a pale Romeo and Juliet ending does not give depth to something that is shallow.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan