Opera, "Cancer Ward" : some relationships examined

To me, as the composer of the opera, "Cancer Ward," it is fascinating, that, the music I had intended for the character of Yefrem Podduyev, is music that fits very well to the character of Pavel Rusanov. Podduyev is, in a very real sense, a "shock"-worker, (that is, a worker of incredible capacity and ability), but, one who has lived life hard and fast, with a devil may care attitude towards his responsibilities as a social human being. The treatment for his Cancer has entailed pain, which can only be described as exquisite torment.

Rusanov is, indeed, -- as the character Oleg calls him, to his face,-- a bureaucrat, "...a Party Member from the year zero." He is somewhat cowardly, but he is a man who sees his power to cause unhappiness in others, as proof of his own superiority. If we were able to look into his head, and others like him, it is doubtful whether he even considers himself human. He treats people with contempt.

Through the lens of their disease, there is something which makes them become very like the other, although, their 'story' within the timeline confines of the book are different. Pavel wins a reprieve -- he believes it a victory and the natural outcome of his superiority as a 'Soviet Man.' Podduyev goes under. In the novel,  they both have become helpless, and they share an indignation that this lightening-strike occurrence has occurred to them, but it is the quality of irony that they struggle against that seems to make them mirrors. They both think, that, there is something dis-believable about dying this way.

There is another 'twin' relationship I am exploring that I find interesting, and that is between Vera's love -- the young man she loved, who was lost in the war -- and, Solzhenitsyn himself, before he was arrested, while serving as an artillery officer in the Red Army. Fascinating, that Solzhenitsyn seems to suggest that there is a gentle fate which keeps the feelings of Vera and Oleg from connecting with each other. This is an exploration, simply as a long time admirer of the Solzhenitsyn book. The way the opera is being written at this point, however, suggests that Vera’s character is not going to  bei explored or examined in depth.

These relationships do not exist as understated relationships in the book -- perhaps,  skillfully alluded to, or inferred by the writer. In terms of the author pointing out these relationships to the reader, they simply do not exist. To me, they are as real as Rusanov's fear of being punched in the face.