“Ahead is Jesus Christ”: the emblem of the spiritual revolution in the works of A. Blok
Publication Title:
“Ahead is Jesus Christ”: the emblem of the spiritual revolution in the works of A. Blok
Abstract:
The article analyzes the final image of the poem by A.A. Block “Twelve” – Christ in front of the Red Guards, which from the moment of its appearance, i.e. over the last century, has been interpreted by philosophers, writers and researchers in an ambiguous and contradictory way. In this image researchers rightly saw a kind of assessment and understanding of the revolutionary events of 1917 by Blok. As a result of the analysis of a sketch of a play about Christ and the article “Vladimir Solovyov and our days”, it is concluded that Blok understood the revolution not as a social transformation, but as a “moral revolution”, comparable in its character with the era of the advent of Christianity, that is, with the beginning of a new era in the spiritual development of mankind. In this sense, it is shown that Blok’s position continues an important tradition in Russian thought of understanding the development of society towards its harmonious state through a necessary and inevitable spiritual revolution, which was expressed and defended at different times by P.Ya. Chaadaev, A.I. Herzen, L.N. Tolstoy. As shown in the article, it is precisely this position of Blok in relation to historical events that allows us to assume that the image of Christ is understood by the poet far from its orthodox, church version. The world moral revolution, according to Blok, is accomplished not by the efforts of Christ the God-man, but by Christ the artist, and the latter is understood according to the model of the new prophet, which was set by M.Yu. Lermontov in the Demon and which was developed by the literature of the Silver Age: after going through a period of doubt, the Demon abandons isolation and concentration on his personality, perceives the suffering of the world and the people, hears the tragic music of his era and voluntarily chooses the sacrificial path. The understanding of Christ as a creative person who revealed within himself the spiritual divine possibilities for transforming the world goes back to the Gnostic tradition; for the figures of the Silver Age, it is associated with the philosophical constructs of F. Nietzsche, as well as with interest in Old Believer sects. The article also notes the connection between the image of Christ in the final lines of the poem “The Twelve” and the image of Sophia the Wisdom, which is conceived as an ideal beginning, appearing to the chaotic world as a vision, as a sign of the need for unity.
References:
(Sources)
Collected Works
1. Blok, A.A. Dnevniki. 1901–1921 [Diaries. 1901–1921], in Blok, A.A. Sobranie sochineniy v 8 t., t. 7 [Works in 8 vols., vol. 7]. Moscow; Leningrad: Khudozhestvennaya literatura, 1963. 544 p.
2. Blok, A.A. Stikhotvoreniya i poemy. 1917–1921 [Poems and poems. 1917–1921], in Blok, A.A. Polnoe sobranie sochineniy i pisem v 20 t., t. 5 [Complete Works and letters in 20 vols., vol. 5]. Moscow: Nauka, 1999. 563 p.
3. Blok, A.A. Vladimir Solov'ev i nashi dni [Vladimir Solovyov today], in Blok, A.A. Sobranie sochineniy v 8 t., t. 6 [Works in 8 vols., vol. 6]. Moscow; Leningrad: Khudozhestvennaya literatura, 1962, pp. 154–159.
4. Blok, A.A. Proza. 1903–1907 [Prose. 1903–1907], in Blok, A.A. Polnoe sobranie sochineniy i pisem v 20 t., t. 7 [Complete Works and letters in 20 vols., vol. 7]. Moscow: Nauka, 2003. 500 p.
5. Blok, A.A. Pis'ma. 1898–1921 [Letters. 1898–1921], in Blok, A.A. Sobranie sochineniy v 8 t., t. 8 [Works in 8 vols., vol. 8]. Moscow; Leningrad: Khudozhestvennaya literatura, 1963. 171 p.
6. Blok, A.A. Proza. 1908–1916 [Prose. 1908–1916], in Blok, A.A. Polnoe sobranie sochineniy i pisem v 20 t., t. 8 [Complete Works and letters in 20 vols., vol. 8]. Moscow: Nauka, 2010. 586 p.
7. Mayakovskiy, V.V. Umer Aleksandr Blok [Alexander Blok died], in Mayakovskiy, V.V. Polnoe sobranie sochineniy v 13 t., t. 12 [Complete Works in 13 vols., vol. 12]. Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya literatura, 1959, pp. 21–22.
8. Nitsshe, F. Rozhdenie tragedii, ili Ellinstvo i pessimizm [The Birth of Tragedy, or Hellenism and Pessimism], in Nitsshe, F. Sochineniya v 2 t., t. 1 [Works in 2 vols., vol. 1]. Moscow: Mysl', 1990, pp. 47–157.
9. Voloshin, M.A. Poeziya i revolyutsiya. Aleksandr Blok i Il'ya Erenburg [Poetry and revolution. Alexander Blok and Ilya Erenburg], in Voloshin, M.A. Sobranie sochineniy. T. 6. Kn. 2. Proza 1900–1927. Ocherki, stat'i, lektsii, retsenzii, nabroski, plany [Works. Vol. 6. Book 2]. Moscow: Ellis Lak 2000, 2008, pp. 25–45.
Individual Works
10. Andrey Belyy, Aleksandr Blok. Perepiska. 1903–1919 [Andrey Bely, Alexander Blok. Correspondence. 1903–1919]. Moscow: Progress-Pleyada, 2001. 606 p.
11. Blok, A.A. Zapisnye knizhki. 1901–1920 [Notebooks. 1901–1920]. Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya literatura, 1965. 663 p.
12. Gagen-Torn, N.I. Vospominaniya ob Aleksandre Bloke [Memories of Alexander Blok], in Blokovskiy sbornik II. Trudy vtoroy nauchnoy konferentsii, posvyashchennoy izucheniyu zhizni i tvorchestva A.A. Bloka [Proceedings of the second scientific conference devoted to the study of the life and work of A.A. Blok]. Tartu, 1972, pp. 444–446.
13. Ivanov, E.P. Vospominaniya ob Aleksandre Bloke [Memories of Alexander Blok], in Blokovskiy sbornik [The Block collection]. Tartu, 1964, pp. 344–425.
(Articles from Scientific Journals)
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18. Rychkov, A.L. Retseptsiya gnosticheskikh idey v russkoy literature nachala XX veka [Reception of Gnostic ideas in Russian literature of the early 20th century], in Gosudarstvo, religiya, tserkov' v Rossii i za rubezhom, 2013, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 223–246.
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(Articles from Proceedings and Collections of Research Papers)
21. Azadovskiy, K.M. Pis'ma N.A. Klyueva k Bloku. Vstupitel'naya stat'ya, publikatsiya, kommentarii [Letters from N.A. Klyuev to Blok. Introductory article, publication, comments], in Literaturnoe nasledstvo, t. 92. Aleksandr Blok: novye materialy i issledovaniya. Kn. 4 [Literary Heritage, vol. 92. Alexander Blok: new materials and research. Book 4]. Moscow: Nauka, 1987, pp. 427–462.
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(Monographs)
23. Evlampiev, I.I. Obraz Iisusa Khrista v filosofskom mirovozzrenii F.M. Dostoevskogo
[The image of Jesus Christ in the philosophical worldview of F.M. Dostoevsky]. Saint-Petersburg: Izdatel'stvo RKhGA, 2021. 600 p.
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25. Hackel, S. The Poet and the Revolution: Aleksandr Blok's The twelve. Oxford [Eng.]: Clarendon Press, 1975. 254 p.
26. Isupov, K.G. Russkiy Khristos [Russian Christ], in Isupov, K.G. Kosmos russkogo samosoznaniya. Slovar' [The cosmos of Russian self-awareness. Dictionary]. Moscow; Saint-Petersburg: Tsentr gumanitarnykh initsiativ, 2020, pp. 237–239.
27. Magomedova, D.M. Blok i gnostiki [Blok and the Gnostics], in Magomedova, D.M. Avtobiograficheskiy mif v tvorchestve A. Bloka [Autobiographical myth in the works of A. Blok]. Moscow: IChP «Martin», 1997, pp. 70–84.
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Key words:
A.A. Blok poem “The Twelve”, Christ the Artist, spiritual revolution, Gnostic Christianity
The DOI index:
10.17588/2076-9210.2024.1.108-124
Publication file:
