Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Preface to the First Edition -- Prefaces to the Paperback Edition -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1 The Problem of Boris Godunov: A Review of Interpretations and the So-Called Canonical Text -- 2 The Exiled Poet-Historian and the Creation of His Comedy -- 3 The Tragic Fate of Pushkin's Comedy -- 4 The World of Laughter in Pushkin's Comedy -- 5 Tragedy, Comedy, Carnival, and History on Stage -- 6 The Ebb and Flow of Influence: Muffling the Comedic in the Move toward Print -- Concluding Remarks -- Translator's Preface -- Komediia o tsare Borise i o Grishke Otrep'eve -- Comedy about Tsar Boris and Grishka Otrepiev -- Notes to Pushkin's Comedy -- Bibliography -- Index.