The Category of Beauty in the Poetry of Innokenty Annensky

In this work we decided to examine the creative path of Innokenty Annensky, since his attitude to some extent seems close to us, who have recently passed the Turn of the centuries. The Turn of the centuries is a shift of epochs not only in philosophy and history, but also in the history of culture. Namely during this period a new human personality is formed, its soul is utterly exposed in the face of life and time, which is tragically contradictory, full of expectations of terrible catastrophic changes in the universe, anxiety about the fate of mankind. The article traces how the works of I. Annensky were influenced by the ancient aesthetics, based on the power of Beauty, its opportunities to transform and change the universe. The poetic premonitions of the poet of the Silver Age in the era of the Turn of the centuries are shown in this article.

The Fate of Beauty in the Works of Alexander Blok

In our work we decided to look at the creative path of Alexander Blok, since his attitude to some extent seems close to us, who have recently passed the Turn of the centuries. The turn of the centuries is a shift of epochs not only in philosophy and history, but also in the history of culture. It is during this period that a new human personality is formed, whose soul is utterly exposed in the face of life and time, which is tragically contradictory, full of expectations of terrible catastrophic changes in the universe, anxiety about the fate of mankind. The article traces how the works of A. Blok were influenced by philosophy of Vl. Solovyov, his theological ideas about the saving power of Beauty, its opportunities to transform and change the universe. The religious premonitions of the poet of the Silver Age in the pre-revolutionary era are shown in this article.

“The sound erects white churches in lands…”: Towards the Philosophy of the Sound and the Name in the Poetic Consciousness of S.A. Yesenin

The article makes the first attempt to analyze the philosophy of the sound and the name in the poetic consciousness of S.A. Yesenin. The article argues that in Yesenin’s poem I will not be wandering about… the female image becomes the personification of the ideal prototype of the world, the carnal-symbolic embodiment of the ‘light mystery’: Yesenin gives the female principle a metaphysical status, so sound and name in their physical and material shell become elusive carriers of the superreal divine essence of the world. Another conclusion of the analysis is that one of the sources of the idea of sound as a carrier of the grace of God for Yesenin was N.A. Klyuev poetry. Through his mediation Yesenin accepted the concept of Imiaslavie (‘praising the name’) that sound and name can bring the traces of the divine. The work also compares two articles: Andrey Bely’s Aaron’s rod and Sergey Yesenin’s Father’s word. It concludes that the main opposition of Yesenin’s article (‘humpbacked word with a broken spine’ and a word as a ‘bailer’ to draw the water of life out of nothing) origins from Andrey Bely’s Aaron’s rod, as well as Yesenin’s idea of ‘unsigned word’.

The ‘Hoffmann’s complex’ in the Dramatic Trilogy of A. Blok (A Puppet Show, King on the Square and The Unknown Woman)

The article examines the ‘Hoffmann’s complex’ in the lyrical trilogy of A. Blok: pictorial and musical harmony (synesthesia of arts); romantic irony and grotesque; the problem of mechanization of life and a human, which is revealed in the images-symbols of the mask, a doll, a puppet and a double. Synesthesia is an important part of Blok’s style, manifested in the special lyricism of the works, which helps to reveal the subtle soul of the lyrical hero. The problem of mechanization of life and human in the Blok’s dramas is revealed in the images of a mask, a doll, a double, which express one of the sides of the poet’s contradictory soul and appear as a reaction to the imperfection of the modern world. Another embodiment of the mechanization of life and a human is the problem of merging the mask and the actor, as a result of which the actor loses his true face. Important elements of Aleksandr Blok’s lyrical style in the trilogy are rooted in the tradition of Hoffmann’s romantic irony and the grotesque, which get a new semantic content in dramas: the creative irony of Hoffmann transforms in a devastating irony in Blok’s works.

The Image of the Future in the Philosophical and Artistic Versions of Russian Cosmism

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of the interpretation of the image of the future in the philosophical tradition of Russian cosmism, as well as the echoes of this vision of the future in Russian writers of the xx century. Cosmists consider reality from the point of view of what it should be, respectively, the image of the future is a model of the perfect state of the world and man. The future for them is projective, and this project should be embodied in reality. Key characteristics of the image of the future in Russian cosmism: axiology, alternative, universality, cosmicity, immortalism, unity of personality and community, assuming the completeness of the development and interaction of both. The future for Russian cosmists is connected with the transition from technical progress, increasing the power of man in the world through artificial tools, to organic progress, associated with the improvement of the human body. Artistic projections of the image of the future are given in the literary texts of the cosmists themselves (K.E. Tsiolkovsky’s sci-Fi works, V. N. Muravyev’s philosophical mystery Sofia and Kitovras), as well as in the poetry of V. Bryusov, V. Mayakovsky, V. Khlebnikov, N. Zabolotsky, in the novels of A. Belyaev and I. Efremov.

One Belt – One Way: Perspectives on the Research and Distribution of Contemporary Literature in China

Project One Belt – One Way opens up new opportunities. On the one hand, to provide for the translation of contemporary Chinese authors into foreign languages, and on the other, to carry out a literary analysis of these works in terms of principles and methods characteristic of Western literary criticism. And this will allow the literary circles of various countries to consider contemporary Chinese literature as part of the world cultural heritage.

Spatial Images in Baratynsky’s Late Lyrics: Aesthetic and Metaphysical Aspects

The article is devoted to the question of how in the late lyric of the Russian poet of Pushkin’s circle Yevgeny Abramovich Baratynsky (1800–1844), namely in his final book of verses Sumerki [Twilight] (1842), in spatial images metaphysical and aesthetic principles are reflected. The author focuses on three ‘programmatic’ poems: Knjazju Petru Andreevichu Vjazemskomu [an epistle to Prince Pyotr Andreyevich Vyazemsky] which opens the poetic book, a poem Osen [Autumn], kind of coda of Sumerki and poem Rifma [Rhyme], which placed in the final of the book. The embodiment of the synthesis of metaphysical and aesthetic principles in spatial images is considered on the example of images of a coffin and a grave. The article shows that the analysis of these images makes it possible to better understand the uniqueness of the artistic philosophy which reflected in the book. The author comes to the conclusion that images of the coffin, the tomb and the grave affect the specifics of the artistic space in the poetic book, performing aesthetic functions. At the same time, directly connected with the motives of death and the memory of death, these images allow the poet to express more clearly the philosophical thoughts about the idea of that the place of poetry and of art in general in the world.

Shakespeare’s Codes in Poetic Prose

Questions of teleology of art rhythm are closely related with concept of time. Objectives address the problem: to consider the relationship of aesthetic effects poetic prose associated with the manifestation of the reverse time in the story and vertical time in the architectonics of the artistic whole with literary codes. The article analyzes the aesthetic effects of poetic prose, considers the imposition of codes Hamlet’s and Macbeth’s in the plays by A.P. Chekhov and the novel by B. Pasternak Doctor Zhivago. The article analyzes the aesthetic effects of poetic prose, considers the imposition of this codes. Objectives address the problem: to consider the relationship of aesthetic effects poetic prose associated with the manifestation of the reverse time in the story and vertical time in the architectonics of the artistic whole with literary codes. In the novel of Pasternak, the Macbeth’s code in poetic prose appears in the rhythmic structure, the Hamlet’s code - in a symbolic structure. The allusion to Shakespeare’s text creates a strong voltage point between the inner dialogue with Shakespeare and something occurring in silence. Probably, the teleology of rhythm in the recent literature tematizada using these codes as the most adequate of modern European consciousness.

The Art of Dying

This paper will discuss three gardens and garden metaphors which represent such abstract ideas as temporality, transience, sickness or death. Even though these gardens do exist in reality, more of us are familiar with them from literature. The gardens of Sylvia Plath in Devonshire, Derek Jarman in Dungeness and Péter Nádas at Gombosszeg have acquired a metaphoric existence due to literary texts, they have been filled with meaning in the imagination of the readers, and they point to something beyond themselves. While constant change is part of the natural existence of gardens, these metaphoric gardens or garden metaphors are transferred to a certain timelessness, an everlasting present by the literary texts. This aesthetic existence or metaphoric overdetermination also affects the actual gardens themselves: if we are familiar with the poems or narratives written about them, we are no longer able to regard them as neutral spaces devoid of meaning.