The Goethean Stratum in the Tragedy “Prometheus” by Viacheslav Ivanov’s
Publication Title:
The Goethean Stratum in the Tragedy “Prometheus” by Viacheslav Ivanov’s
Abstract:
Vyacheslav Ivanov's tragedy “Prometheus” is one of the least studied works of the “classic” of Russian modernism. The current research covers only some aspects of Ivanov's tragedy (composition, specifics of the conflict, etc.), but it says little about the most relevant of them, in our opinion, the intertextual field of the work, the understanding of which allows us to penetrate deeper into the author's intention. The Goethean substrate of the multilayered Ivanov's text is analyzed using comparative, hermeneutic, motivic-thematic methods. Goethe's “presence” in Ivanov's tragedy is justified. Goethe's unfinished drama “Prometheus” is characterized in the context of the German poet's work and the development of the Promethean theme. A comparative analysis of the works of Goethe and of Ivanov is carried out, as a result of which a conclusion is drawn about the similarity of their compositions, characterized by symmetry, and similar motifs of the demiurgy and theomachy of Prometheus, the images of Nereus and Epimetheus, and the theme of death as one of the gifts of Prometheus. During the analysis, it was shown that both poets define the nature of Prometheus in a peculiar way: in Goethe, the ancient titan is close to the Nietzschean superman, in Ivanov, to the God-man Christ. It is concluded that echoes of Goethe's Prometheus resound in Ivanov's philosophical journalism of the 1930s, where Prometheus is interpreted as an expression of the humanistic rebellion of the human personality against the transcendent principle.
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Key words:
philosophical journalism by Vyacheslav Ivanov, intertextual analysis, reception of ancient mythology, symbol and myth in the context of Russian modernism, the transcendent, the myth of Prometheus
The DOI index:
10.17588/2076-9210.2026.3.042-060
Publication file:
