BERDYAEV AND OTHERS: RUSSIAN RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY AND RUSSIAN LITERATURE

Annotation

The article analyzes some features of the axiological understanding of the Russian religious and philosophical thought of the works of Russian writers (Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Andrei Bely). The main attention is paid to the philosophical heritage of Nikolay Berdyaev, which is considered in the context of the Russian Silver Age. The axiological attitudes of the philosopher, which are present in his works devoted to Russian classical literature, are compared with the two poles of Russian religious and philosophical thought of the first third of the 20th century, represented by the names of Vasily Rozanov and Georgy Florovsky. The article examines in detail the themes and problems of Gogol’s work, as they were analyzed by Russian religious philosophy. Focusing on specific literary material allows us to identify unexpected convergences. In relation to Russian literature, many of its assessments by religious and philosophical thought complicate the literary criticism of this literature. These assessments cannot be ignored, as was often the case before, but they cannot be perceived without criticism. Berdyaev does not always handle artistic text and author’s genre definitions correctly, he can contaminate texts from different works without specifying it, this brings him closer to both Rozanov and Florensky. Their hypotheses (including the guilt of Russian literature in the revolution that took place) are far from always convincing and correct. However, these philosophical constructions on literary material should be the subject of serious scientific (including philological) dialogue. Our humanitarian science (including philological) has lost a lot without turning to the works of Berdyaev and our other religious philosophers. There is no need for their apology or discrediting, a dialogue is necessary. This article is an attempt at such a dialogue.

Keywords

Russian religious philosophy, fiction, axiology, literary criticism, revolution, Russia, Berdyaev, Florovsky, Rozanov, Gogol, Dostoevsky

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Исследование выполнено за счет гранта Российского научного фонда № 24-18-
00636, https://rscf.ru/project/24-18-00636/; Русская христианская гуманитарная академия им. Ф. М. Достоевского»