Dostoevsky’s Three Hypostases [Review of:] Ivanov V.I. Dostoevsky. Tragedy-Myth-Mysticism. Ed. by A. B. Shishkin and O.L. Fetisenko. Saint Petersburg: Pushkin House Publisher, 2020. 476 p.

This review presents an analysis of the new edition of the classic book on Dostoevsky written by the Russian modernist poet and thinker Vyacheslav Ivanov, who was the last representative of an entire era of Dostoevsky’s interpreters. At first, a brief description of each of the three sections of Ivanov’s book is offered. In these sections, Dostoevsky is interpreted as a tragic poet, a myth-maker, and a religious thinker. Along with it, some features concerning M.Yu. Koreneva’s new translation from German are also analyzed. Special attention is then paid to a number of extensive comments on Ivanov’s book, which often become separate studies concerning Ivanov’s most significant ideas, symbols and mythologies (for example, Ahriman, Lucifer, Psyche, transcensus, “You are”). Furthermore, an overview of the appendices included in the publication is given. Among these, the most significant are: the transcript of a text that S.N. Bulgakov discussed in the Moscow Religious and Philosophical Society “Russian tragedy”; some notes concerning the lectures on Dostoevsky Ivanov gave at the Baku University in 1921–1923; the text on Dostoevsky and Nietzsche which A. Kruchenykh discussed at the Baku University in 1921; some reviews in German on Ivanov’s book; the chronicle “Dostoevsky in the Life and Thoughts of V.I. Ivanov (1883–1949)” compiled by A.B. Shishkin and A.L. Sobolev. In conclusion, a review of a number of articles written by modern Ivanov scholars (A. B. Shishkin, M.B. Plyukhanova), which are also included in the appendices to the book, is presented.

“The Star of Venusˮ in Russian poetry of the 20th century: mythopoetic symbolism

Being a part of the astronomical, temporal, anthropomorphic linguocultural codes, Venus as a celestial body has a significant place in the Russian verbal culture. This statement can be proved not only when analysing linguistic units, but also when referring to literary works, in particular to Russian lyric poetry. Twenty four poetic contexts, which include the image of Venus, have been analysed in the article (the works by Alexander Pushkin, Georgy Adamovich, Pavel Antokolsky, Leonid Martynov, Mikhail Zenkevich, Alexander Blok, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Nikolay Gumilyov, Marina Tsvetaeva, Fyodor Sologub, Mikhail Kuzmin, Georgy Shengeli, Ilya Selvinsky, Konstantin Simonov, Anatoliy Demyanov). The authors focus on the Russian 20th century lyric poetry because it is there that Venus appears as a star rather than a planet, and this corresponds to the archaic notions of this celestial body. Mercury and Mars are also called 'stars' in the 20th century poetry, but in a much smaller number of contexts than Venus. The authors come to the conclusion that Venus in Russian poets’ works can symbolise the onset of morning / evening, love, paradise, loneliness, fate, youth, old age, life journey. Moreover, Venus is included into poetic conceptions (it corresponds to the image of the Beautiful Lady in Alexander Blok’s poetry). The set of the above-mentioned symbolic meanings correlates with the archaic notions of Venus, widens them and makes the image of this celestial body mythopoetic.

“A Straight Path, a Narrow Path ...” (New Testament Plots in the “Roman Diary of 1944” by Vyacheslav Ivanov: The Apostles)

In this article, a number of selected episodes of the “Gospel text” taken from Vyacheslav Ivanov’s “Roman Diary of 1944” – a kind of “sunset” cycle of the poet – are investigated. Particular attention is paid to the place of this cycle within the poet’s creative output. It is observed that the diary-style of the poetry emphasizes the lyrical and confessional tonality of the texts included in the “Roman Diary of 1944.” A detailed analysis of the poems, whose plot is defined by the apostolic theme, is carried out. In particular, the difference between Vyacheslav Ivanov’s creative interpretation of the Gospel episodes concerning the apostles and the corresponding New Testament passages – a difference that emphasizes the strong personal nature of Ivanov’s interpretation of these texts – is highlighted. Special attention is also paid to the historical and cultural context of the works considered. As a result, the concept of “aiontopos” will be introduced into the creative context of Vyacheslav Ivanov’s poetry. Within this concept, the inseparable (essential) link between the later years of his biography and the common Christian “path” to God is revealed. Special attention is paid to the important and still debated issue concerning Vyacheslav Ivanov’s acceptance of Catholicism according to Vladimir Solovyov’s formula. This entire issue introduces the analyzed verses into the context of the general European cultural and philosophical thought of the twentieth century. In this regard, the analyzed poetic texts indicate the names of the saints equally worshiped in both the Catholic and Orthodox traditions. In this way, the cultural-historical and cultural-philosophical relevance of Vyacheslav Ivanov’s poetic intuitions, the ones that express the idea of a common Christian unity in the bosom of the Universal Church, is remarked.

VYACHESLAV IVANOV AND JAKOB BÖHME (RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM THEORY AND ACTUALIZATION OF THE GERMAN MYSTIC’S HERITAGE)

The article outlines the insuffi ciently studied issue «Vyacheslav Ivanov and Jakob Böhme». The goal of the research is to defi ne the sources that infl uenced Vyach. Ivanov’s theory of religious realistic symbolism. The philosophy of Vyach. Ivanov’s art is analyzed, and the contingencies between his theory and the mystic learning of Böhme and his followers concerning symbolic correspondences are highlighted. It is shown that, postulating his principles of religious symbolism, Ivanov relied on Böhme’s principles of symbolic nature of reality, that were connected to the traditions of the Medieval Christian Neoplatonism.

On the Biography of Vyacheslav Ivanov: “Even Wednesdays”

The article examines the history of the latest literary and philosophical meetings in the legendary St. Petersburg salon of Vyach. Ivanov and L. Zinovieva- Annibal on Tavricheskaya St., known as “The Tower”. On the basis of archival, epistolary and memoir materials, an attempt is made to reconstruct the events and interpret their contradictory assessments by contemporaries, to find out the fullest possible circle of guests and the program of the evenings. The second season at “The Tower”, with its traditional meetings on Wednesdays, was organized by its inhabitants on even days, but due to the fire at first and then to the hostess’ illness, it actually ended after four meetings between October 1906 and February 1907. The work also supplements and clarifies some facts and circumstances familiar from the memoirs of visitors of the “Ivanov Tower” (N. Berdyaev, M. Sabashnikova).

VYACHESLAV IVANOV AND HIS GERMAN-LANGUAGE PUBLISHERS

Review: Vjačeslav Ivanov und seine deutschsprachigen Verleger / Hrsg. von Michael Wachtel und Philip Gleissner; unter Mitwirkung von Vladimir Janzen. Berlin; Bern; Bruxelles; New York; Oxford; Warszawa; Wien: Peter Lang, 2019. 374 S., 22 Abb. (Russian Culture in Europe; vol. 14).

Vyacheslav Ivanov’s “Russian Idea” in the Context of his Philosophy of Culture: an Attempt of Interpretation “The Tale of Tsarevich Svetomir”

The author refers to the most “mysterious” work of Vyacheslav Ivanov which was essentially his testament. It is shown that “The Tale of Tsarevich Svetomir” is the quintessence of Ivanov’s philosophical worldview. The author maintains that some key concepts of Ivanov’s cultural philosophy find their artistic embod­iment in the “Tale”: symbol, myth, Russian idea, element. The author examines the genre classification of the “Tale” and concludes that the Ivanov’s choice of the genre of the work was determined by the use of folklore material in the framework of modernist literary experiments, which is characteristic of the poet­ics of Silver Age. The distinctive features of Ivanov's symbolism in relation to the artistic trends of the Silver Age are also indicated. The mythological form of the “Tale” reflects Ivanov's philosophy of mythology which can be therefore un­derstood as a structure-forming principle of the artwork. This makes it possible to use the basic concepts of Ivanovs’s symbolism as hermeneutic keys to “The Tale of Tsarevich Svetomir”. The final part of the article justifies the hy­pothesis that the Russian idea qua myth constitutes the main content of “The Tale of Tsarevich Svetomir”

Crisis of Ideas in Moscow Society of Religion and Philosophy in Memory of Vladimir Solovyov in 1907–1910

The article provides an overview of the main development stages of the Moscow Society of Religion and Philosophy in Memory of Vladimir Solovyov (here­inafter, MRFO – Moskovskoye religiosno-filosofskoye obschestvo). The focus is on the second stage of MRFO’s activity, from October 1907 till April 1910. The articles studies the reasons for the expulsion of one of its most active members of the first period, Valentin Sventsitsky, and why the communication with him where broken thereafter. The article also explores the decline of Bulgakov’s po­litical activity towards the end of the revolution and his increased engagement with the problems of Christian history, spurred, among other factors, by the in­fluence of the Circle of Seekers of Christian Illumination. Another issue is the departure of Vladimir Ern from social and ecclesial issues and his transition to classical philosophical topics. The author also specifically focuses on the evo­lution of Berdyaev’s philosophic views – from socio-religious issues close to those explored by the New Religious Consciousness group, to ecclesial issues and the phenomenon of historical Christianity. The articles also describes the features of the formation of the philosophical ideas of Symbolists observed in their pre­sentations made at MRFO meetings in 1907–1908. Some of the presentations discussed are those of Andrey Bely and Vyacheslav Ivanov. The author also ana­lyzes the main reasons for the MRFO crisis of 1907–1910 and discusses the pre­sentations of Dmitry Merezhkovsky at MRFO meetings. In addition, the article seeks to give an overview of how the ideas of St Petersburg and Moscow circles of religious and philosophical thinkers developed in subsequent periods.

SYMBOL AND REALITY IN THE VIEWS OF VYACHESLAV IVANOV

The coincidence of the symbol with reality is an ancient question, which in Vyacheslav Ivanov’s symbolism is re-proposed as absolutely current, at the beginning of the 20th century and even more so today, in the third millennium. Ivanov’s reflection on “form” begins with the mystical search for the “inner form” that characterized the history of the Symbolist movement, and in general of the whole “silver century” of Russian culture. The common sentiment led to changing the cultural and social forms, and at the same time to the rediscovery of the sources and the authentic nature of the Russian soul and its poetic and literary expressions, but also theological and ecclesial ones. The union of soul and body, of being and essence, in the movement of reality is the encounter of the divine and the human, which gives meaning to the existence of the universe: it is the movement of the “Stars Nocchieri [Pilot Stars]”, title of the first collection of poems by Ivanov. Faith is not a denial of power, as Nietzsche argued, but it is the act in which the whole power of being manifests itself in the form of living beings. In the post-modern era, the Nietzschean objection is taken up in an even more radical and nihilistic form, for which there is no unity between form and matter, since the essence of both one and the other is excluded: the divine origin of every being is not denied, the being of every reality is denied. It is therefore more necessary than ever to rediscover the meaning of the existence of things, not to save the divine, but not to completely lose the human. Keywords: symbol, reality, form, material, energy, Silver

“To the Brilliant Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin ...”: A Catalog of Inscriptions on the Books Donated to Mikhail Bakhtin as a Source for His Biography. Book Review: Paltina, O.A. (ed.) (2018) Izdaniya s Darstvennymi Nadpisyami v Kollektsii “Lichnaya Biblioteka M.M. Bakhtina” Natsional’noy Biblioteki Im. A.S. Pushkina Respubliki Mordoviya [Publications with Dedicatory Inscriptions in the Collection “M.M. Bakhtin’s Personal Library” in the National Library of the Republic of Mordovia Named After A.S. Pushkin]. Saransk. 264 p.

The publication of the catalog of publications with dedicatory inscriptions is of great importance for the research of various aspects of the personality, biography and work of Mikhail Bakhtin. It provides new opportunities for clarifying and even revising certain facts of his biography. The authors note that despite all the efforts of Bakhtin’s studies, his biography in many respects remains a mixture of real facts and various legends, and the task of creating a complete biography of the thinker is still far from being solved. The review highly appreciates the new publication, which reveals the potential of the collection of Bakhtin’s library and especially books with dedicatory inscriptions as a source of historical and biographical information. It values any facts that can shed light on Bakhtin’s daily life, his relationship with official academia, academic and research institutions, the degree of his recognition in the academic environment, the impact of his ideas on his contemporaries and younger generations of scholars. The first book in the list of donations to Bakhtin is dated 1943, and the most recent was given to him shortly before his death on February 1, 1975. The review introduces new documents, such as the inscriptions of Nikolai Lyubimov, a translator of the novel by Francois Rabelais, and Gennady Pospelov, a theorist and historian of literature. To a great extent, the history of the inscriptions becomes the story of the reception of Bakhtin’s ideas, the attitude to his works and personality during several decades. This allows a researcher not only to clarify the specific facts of Bakhtin’s biography, but also to understand some features of various periods of his life. The catalog contains 234 inscriptions on 227 books and 5 journals, each of which is valuable for researchers. It includes the illustrations and photographs of the books and journals containing these inscriptions, which increases the value of this book. So, if needed, a reader can compare the existing inscriptions and the proposed decryption. Each of the inscriptions given in the book deserves to be studied and considered in the context of Bakhtin’s biography and works. Bakhtin’s full biography has not yet been created, and the catalog allows not only clarifying certain facts of his biography and surrounding, but also clarifying certain scenarios of Bakhtin’s relationship with formalists (Viktor Shklovsky, Lydia Ginzburg), with the scholars of the Moscow-Tartu Semiotic School (Yuri Lotman, Vyacheslav Ivanov), and with the representatives of official Soviet literary criticism (Leonid Timofeev, Alexander Revyakin). The review examines the inscriptions of Bakhtin’s colleagues and students, Bakhtin’s inner circle and their acquaintances (Ivan Kanaev, Judith Kagan, Mikhail Alpatov), and Bakhtin’s “younger circle” (Vadim Kozhinov, Sergey Bocharov, Georgy Gachev). The authors draw the reader’s attention to a remarkable detail of the digital era – the electronic version of the publication which has been available on the website of the National Library of the Republic of Mordovia named after A.S. Pushkin since 2020.