Poetics of Prose of Vyacheslav Ivanov of the End of the 19th – Beginning of the 20th Century: Artistic Philosophy and the Discovery of Esthesis
Publication Title:
Poetics of Prose of Vyacheslav Ivanov of the End of the 19th – Beginning of the 20th Century: Artistic Philosophy and the Discovery of Esthesis
Abstract:
This paper is the study of the early philosophical prose of the Russian symbolism theorist Vyacheslav Ivanov during the period of the 1880-s–1900-s. This issue has been understudied and requires approach based on interdisciplinary methods. The materials from the writer's archive and publications reflecting the development of his prose, characterized by a synthesis of philosophical, religious and artistic principles characteristic of the poetics of Russian symbolism, are analyzed. The materials analyzed include early prosaic sketches of Ivanov, fragments of his so-called Intellectual Diary, religious, philosophical, literary and critical essays, articles and other works. Emphasis is placed on the principles of forming a metaphysical discourse, as well as the genre dynamics of Ivanov’s early prose, which can be characterized by essay type of writing and the increasing importance of the philosophical parts. These works are compared to his prose of the early 1900-s published in the “Vesy” journal. It is concluded that Ivanov’s prosaic manner is characterized by the poetic and cultural discourse and his thesaurus is based on the metaphysical language of images. The important components of this discourse include principles of ancient aesthetics of thought and the revitalization of text via various metaphors. A vital role is played by esthesis as one of the methods of philosophical perception and aesthetic reflection of the sensual world. The texts of the Old and New Testaments and the Christian tradition prove to have an essential impact. The influence of works by Aristotle, Plato, B. Pascal, J. W. Goethe, V. Solovyov, F. Nietzsche on the development of metaphysical language of Ivanov’s prose is noted. The conclusion is made that the author’s early prose is the result of attaining an individual style, reflecting the phenomenology of the symbolist consciousness.
References:
(Sources)
Collected Works
- Ivanov, Vyach. Avtobiograficheskoe pis'mo [Autobiographical Writing], in Ivanov, Vyach. Sobranie sochineniy. T. 2 [Complete Works. Vol. 2]. Brussels: Foyer Oriental Chretien, 1974, pp. 7–22.
2. Ivanov, V.I. Dve stikhii v sovremennom simvolizme [Two Elements in the Modern Symbolism], in Ivanov, Vyacheslav. Sobranie sochineniy. Po zvezdam. Kn. 1 [Complete Works. By the Stars. Book 1]. Saint-Petersburg: Izdatel'stvo «Pushkinskiy Dom», 2018, pp. 166–191.
3. Solov'ev, V.S. Kritika otvlechennykh nachal [Critics of Unrelated Basics], in Solov'ev, V.S. Polnoe sobranie sochineniy i pisem v 20 t., t. 3 [Complete Collection of Works in 20 vol., vol. 3]. Moscow: Nauka, 2001, pp. 7–360.
Individual works
4. Ivanov, Vyach. Intellektual'nyy dnevnik. 1888–1889 gg. [Intellectual Diary. 1888–1889], in Vyacheslav Ivanov. Arkhivnye materialy i issledovaniya [Vyacheslav Ivanov. Archival Materials and Research]. Moscow: Russkie slovari, 1999. 488 p.
5. Ivanov, Vyach. Prozaicheskie etyudy [Prosaic Sketches], in Russkaya literatura, 2011, no. 4, pp. 45–50.
6. Ivanov, Vyach. O tipicheskom [About Typical], in Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 1994, no. 10, pp. 21–26.
7. Ivanov, Vyach. O mnogobozhii [About Polytheism], in Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 1994, no. 10, pp. 27–40.
8. Ivanov, Vyach. Osennie mysli [Autumn Thoughts], in Simvol, Paris-Moscow, 2008, no. 53–54, pp. 66–67.
9. Ivanov, Vyach. Tetrad' stikhotvoreniy i prozaicheskikh etyudov 1887 g. [Notebook of Poems and Prosaic Sketches of 1887], in Manuscripts Dept. of Russian State Library. F. 109, k. 1, no. 33, 5 pр.
10. Ivanov, Vyach. Pis'mo k A.M. Dmitrevskomu [A Letter to A.M. Dmitrievsky], in Manuscripts Dept. of Russian State Library. F. 109, k. 9, no. 30, 5 pp.
11. Ivanov, Vyach. Vypiska iz «Timeya» Platona [Extract from Plato's “Timaeus”], in Manuscripts Dept. of Institute of Russian Literature. F. 607. No. 128, 1 p.
I2. Ivanov, V. II-y mezhdunarodnyy filosofskiy kongress. Pis'mo iz Zhenevy [Second International Philosophical Congress. A Letter from Geneva], in Vesy, 1904, no. 10, pp. 59–62.
13. Ivanov, V. O Mommzene. Retsenziya [About Mommsen. Review], in Vesy, 1904. no. 11, pp. 46–48.
14. Ivanov, V. O «Krasnom smekhe» i «pravom bezumii» [About “Red Laughter” and “Right Madness”], in Vesy, 1905, no. 3, pp. 43–47.
15. Ivanov, V. Lektsii po poetike. 1921–1922 (v zapisyakh studenta O.G. Ter-Grigoryana) [Ivanov Vyach. Lectures on poetics. 1921–1922 (in the Writings of a student O.G. Ter-Grigoryan]. 35 p. Personal archive. Ready to be Published by K.U. Lappo-Danilevsky.
16. Ivanov, Vyacheslav, Zinov'eva-Annibal, Lidiya. Perepiska: 1894–1903 в 2 т., т. 1 [Correspondence: 1894–1903 in 2 vol., vol. 1]. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 2009. 568 p.
17. Perepiska D. Merezhkovskogo s Vyach. Ivanovym [Corrrespondence of D. Merezhkovsky and Vyach. Ivanov], in Studia Rossica VII. W kraju i na obczyźnie. Literatura rosyjska XX wieku. Warszawa: Instytut Rusycystyki Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, 1999, pp. 81–92.
(Articles from Scientific Journals)
18. Averintsev, S.S. Strategiya tsitaty v poezii Vyacheslava Ivanova [Quote Strategy in Vyacheslav Ivanov's Poetry], in Europa Orientalis. XXI. 2002. Vol. 1. Salerno: Università di Salerno, 2002. P. 11–26.
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21. Karpi, G. Vyach. Ivanov. Na puti k stradayushchemu bogu [Vyach. Ivanov. On the Way to the Suffering God], in Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 1994, no. 10, pp. 27–40.
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(Articles from Proceedings and Collections of Research Papers)
27. Averintsev, S.S. Raznorechiya i svyaznost' mysli Vyacheslava Ivanova [Divergences and Coherence of Vyacheslav Ivanov’s Thought], in Vyacheslav Ivanov. Lik i lichiny Rossii. Estetika i literaturnaya teoriya [Vyacheslav Ivanov. Face and Guise of Russia. Aesthetics and Literary Theory]. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1995, pp. 7–24.
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29. Nykl, G. Zhanrovaya poetika filosofskoy prozy [Genre Poetics of the Philosophical Prose], in Poetika russkoy literatury kontsa XIX – nachala XX veka. Dinamika zhanra. Obshchie problemy. Proza [Poetics of the Russian Literature at the End of the 19 – Beginning of the 20 Century. Dynamics of Genre. Common Problems. Prose]. Moscow: IMLI RAN, 2009, pp. 705–758.
30. Titarenko, S.D. K istolkovaniyu zametok Vyacheslava Ivanova na polyakh dialoga Platona «Fedr» [To the Interpretation of Notes by Vyacheslav Ivanov in the Margins of Plato's Dialogue “Phaedrus”], in Vyacheslav Ivanov. Issledovaniya i materialy. Vyp. 1 [Vyacheslav Ivanov. Research and Materials, Issue 1]. Saint-Petersburg: Izdatel'stvo «Pushkinskiy Dom», 2010, pp. 402–413.
(Monographs)
31. Khanzen-Leve, A. Russkiy simvolizm. Sistema poeticheskikh motivov. Ranniy simvolizm [Russian Symbolism. The System of Poetic Motifs. Early Symbolism]. Saint-Petersburg: Akademicheskiy proekt, 1999. 512 p.
32. Losev, A.F. Istoriya antichnoy estetiki. Aristotel' i pozdnyaya klassika [History of the Ancient Aesthetics. Aristotle and the Late Classics]. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1975. 776 p.
33. Zen'kovskiy, V.V. Istoriya russkoy filosofii [History of Russian Philosophy]. Moscow: Akademicheskiy proekt, 2001. 880 p.
(Thesis and Thesis Abstracts)
34. Krebel', I.A. Esteticheskiy status mysli v kul'ture russkogo moderna. Avtoref. diss. … d-ra filos. nauk [The aesthetic status of thought in the culture of Russian Art Nouveau. Abstr. Dr. philos. sci. diss.]. Saint-Petersburg, 2012. 38 p.
Key words:
Vyacheslav Ivanov’s prose, poetics of philosophical prose, ancient aesthetics of thought, Platonism, Solovyov’s “positive aesthetics”, Nietzsche’s philosophy, esthesis, poetic and cultural-philosophical discourse, thesaurus.
The DOI index:
10.17588/2076-9210.2023.3.168-182
Publication file:
