D.S. Merezhkovsky

This book is devoted to the poorly studied early poetry of Vladislav Khodasevich (1886–1939), one of the most remarkable poets of the Russian “Silver Age”.
The research focuses primarily on early collections of Khodasevich, Molodost’ (Youth, 1908), Schastlivyj domik (The Happy Little House, 1914), and selection of poems from another book, Vetv’ (Branch, 1917). The mentioned texts are regarded as consequent stages of the poet’s development.
We took into consideration several aspects of the development of Khodasevich’s poetry. The first question of our interest was which texts of the poets of older generation (V. Bryusov, A. Blok, A. Bely) were adopted and revised by Khodasevich in his early verses.
Second, the present thesis analyses Russian poetry of the 19th century in Khodasevich’s treatment. In Molodost’ the references to Pushkin’s epoch were rather conventional and emanated from the influence of Bryusov, who had the reputation of the follower of Pushkin’s tradition. However, over time the presence of Pushkin’s epoch in Khodasevich’s writings was becoming more significant. In the verses written between 1916 and 1917 a new kind of reference to the 19th century literature becomes visible. The poet’s development consisted in gradual disengaging from the influence of Bryusov and other symbolist poets, and in overcoming them through employing the traditions of the 19th century.
The third important theme of the study is Khodasevich’s own evolution. In our opinion, the poet, being under the influence of the “younger” symbolists, had adopted their model of evolution as well. For example, the first stage of Khodasevich’s development, i.e. his “thesis”, corresponds to the “antithesis” of Block and Bely. The following stage of his evolution is in contrast to the first one, similarly to how it happened among the “younger” symbolists.
Having undertaken the analysis of the poems written between 1915 and 1917, when aesthetic themes were replaced with social and ethical problems, helped us reach the conclusion that the third stage of Khodasevich’s evolution (the “synthesis”) corresponds to the “synthesis” of Blok.

В монографии анализируются пути воздействия мифологизации текста, зачастую входившей в художественное задание писателей-модернистов, на внутреннюю динамику жанровых форм в русской литературе 1890–1930-х годов. Анализируются произведения А. Белого, Вяч. Иванова, Ф. Сологуба, М. Волошина, М. Кузмина и др. Особо присталь­ное внимание уделяется историософской прозе Д. Мережковского, в том числе позднего периода творчества.

В статье два "египетских" романа Мережковского рассматриваются в контексте существовавшей в ту эпоху египтологии и египтомании. Статья представляет собой републикацию главы из моей монографии "Русский Египет. Александрийская поэтика Михаила Кузмина" (М., 2006).

St Francis of Assisi in D. Merezhkovsky’s work oeuvre and Russian ‘Frantsiskiana’ (Dostoevsky, Rozanov, Durylin)
The reception of the image St Francis of Assisi in Merezhkovsky’s works (in the narrative poem St Francis of Assisi (A legend), 1891; in the treatise L. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, 1901; and in the essay “Francis of
Assisi”, 1938) is considered in the context of other interpretations of that image within Russian culture: prior to Merezhkovsky’s, as in Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov and Alexei Tolstoy’s narrative poem John of Damascus, and subsequent to it, as in the religious and philosophical ‘Frantsiskiana’ of the Silver Age, which
was actually influenced by Merezhkovsky. In his narrative poem about Francis, Merezhkovsky reiterated the Franciscan idea of Dostoevsky and Alexei Tolstoy (embodied, correspondingly, in the antagonisms between Father Zosima and the monk Ferapont, and between a singer named John and an anonymous “austere monk”): the idea of overcoming the medieval ascetic dualism. In a mode of intertextual reference(s), Merezhkovsky embedded these antagonisms in the images of his characters Francis and Sylvester, later explicitly correlating Francis and Zosima (in his L. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky). Basing on the Russian literary tradition (Dostoevsky, Aleksey Tolstoy, Leo Tolstoy, Pushkin), Merezhkovsky inscribed St Francis in Russian culture. Merezhkovsky’s vision of St Francis was dialogised by Vasily Rozanov, Nikolai Berdyaev, Sergei Adrianov, Sergei Durylin, for them Francis became the emblematic figure of Christian humanism (witnessing for the humanity of Christ and for a Christian justification of nature and culture), the antithesis of Christian asceticism. Thus Merezhkovsky’s Francis of Assisi, impulsing Russian “Franciscanism” (Russian attraction towards the figure of St Francis) at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, became one of the paradigms of Russian religious and philosophical Renaissance in addressing key issues (the correlation of ‘Flesh’ and ‘Spirit’, ‘Church’ and ‘World’) and the basis of a new Christian art of the Orthodox Renaissance of the early 20th century (paintings by Mikhail Nesterov).

Наше уединение началось в утробе матери, и к такому некогда безопасному и комфортному пребыванию  в самоощущениях и гармонии с собой мы стремимся инстинктивно. Одинокость отнюдь не исключительно психическое состояние,  и не только предрешено биологической природой человека, но и является элементом установочной  среды для реализации генной программы его существования.  Человеческий организм до момента рождения пребывает в утробе матери, погруженный не только в эмбриональную среду, но, в прямом смысле, в самые глубинные уровни своего существа, в незыблемую гармонию с собой и единство с тем окружающим миром. С 7-ой недели беременности развивается мозг плода, ребенок впервые начинает двигаться в материнском теле, и все первые ощущения сфокусированы на нём самом. 
Учёные из Калифорнийского университета в Сан-Диего (англ. University of California, San Diego) пришли к заключению, что предрасположенность к одиночеству задана генами (что делает необходимым учёт естественного гандикапа для проблемы одиночества в социальной среде), однако  само окружение играет более важную роль в формировании устойчивого состояния одиночества.

In this paper the semantic relation between two plays – Merezhkovsky’s Paul I (1908) and Vsevolod Ivanov’s
Twelve Youths from a Snuffbox (1936) – is analysed. It is maintained that, notwithstanding the lack of documentary
evidence, Ivanov had Merezhkovsky’s play as his main point of reference in creating his own dramatic version of the
plot on the assassination of Emperor Paul I in 1801. The conceptual (historiosophical and poetological in particular)
divergence between the playwrights is brought to the fore. The comparative analysis focuses on three issues: the
moral characterisation of Paul through / within the opening scene, Paul’s reasons to support Napoleon, and the
attitude of ordinary soldiers towards the coup d’état and the assassination

Статья посвящена рассмотрению рецепции стихотворения А. Пушкина «Жил на свете рыцарь бедный…» в жизнетворчестве и религиозно-философской концепции любви Д. Мережковского. Образ «бедного рыцаря» стал неотъемлемой частью литературной жизни писателей символистского круга, о чем свидетельствуют исследования А. Лаврова, О. Матич, Л. Спроге, М. Цимборской-Лебоды и др. Своей популярностью он обязан роману Ф. Достоевского «Идиот», где выступает своеобразной проекцией образа князя Мышкина, на что указывал Мережковский. С образом «бедного рыцаря» у него ассоциируются все «целомудренные» литературные герои (Ипполит, Мышкин) и писатели (Чаадаев, Лермонтов (в определённый период)), испытывающие платоническое чувство к тайной возлюбленной. Мережковский не дифференцирует редакции стихотворения Пушкина («Легенда» и «Песня Франца» из «Сцен из рыцарских времен»), так как он человек идеи, в рамках которой «бедный рыцарь» становится основой его идеалистической концепции платонической любви, носителем чистого чувства, а символом идеальной возлюбленной он определяет A.M.D. В результате исследования мы определили, что нетрадиционная расшифровка аббревиатуры как Alma Mater Dei восходит у Мережковского к раннесредневековому католическому имени Богоматери, которое перешло в христианство из римского язычества, где обозначало богинь-матерей. Этот факт во многом определил появление его неохристианской концепции освященной плоти Мать-Дух в «Царстве Третьего Завета».

Частое обращение писателя в разные периоды творчества к «Жил на свете рыцарь бедный…» Пушкина, его оригинальная интерпретация и комментирование, а также жизненная практика позволили нам определить образ «бедного рыцаря» как психо-типологическую модель «жизненного сценария» Мережковского. Предметом дальнейшего исследования станет рецепция стихотворения Пушкина в творчестве З. Гиппиус, которая также в разное время обращается к образу «бедного рыцаря» и выступает соавтором идей мужа, но реализует их в индивидуально-авторской манере.

В статье доказывается, что Д. Мережковского необходимо понимать не как религиозного реформатора и проповедника новой религиозности, а как мыслителя, укорененного в философской традиции поиска истинного, первоначального христианства. Учение Иисуса было описано Мережковским как практика непосредственного религиозного опыта, его можно назвать экзистенциальным христианством. Оно утверждает явленность Царства Божьего на земле, при этом истинный Иисус предстает как воплощенная возможность восхождения человека к Абсолютному. Показано влияние на религиозные воззрения Мережковского идей Ф. Ницше и В. Розанова.
It is proved that Merezhkovsky must be understood not as a religious reformer and preacher of a new religion but as a thinker rooted in the philosophical tradition of searching for the true, original Christianity. Merezhkovsky describes Jesus’ teaching as a practice of unmediated religious experience, it can be called existential Christianity. It implies the presence of God’s kingdom on earth, with the true Jesus as the embodied possibility of man’s ascent to the Absolute. The influence of Nietzsche’s and Rozanov’s ideas on Merezhkovsky’s religious beliefs has been
shown.

The paper considers the role played by newspapers and other periodicals in Merezhkovskii's strategies for conquering the Paris literary market as a means of constructing his own European reputation at the turn of the 20th century. It outlines the Russian writer's early reception in France and demonstrates his attempts to establish contacts with leading French periodicals and publishing houses with the help of francophone mediators of Slavic origin. Special attention is paid to Maurice (Mavrikii Eduardovich) Prozor, a Russian diplomat who lived in Europe, had some influence in Western literary circles, particularly among the editors of newspapers and reviews, and significantly contributed to promoting Merezhkovskii.

Сопоставляются три редакции стихотворения Мережковского о рыцаре Танкреде и деве-воительнице Клоринде (1883) и текст-источник-поэма Т. Тассо «Освобожденный Иерусалим». С каждой редакцией Мережковский все дальше отходил от первоисточника, не только отказываясь от словесных формул Тассо, но и меняя последовательность событий, т. е. собственно смысл сюжета, о чем свидетельствует и учительный финал. Демонстрируется, как эти изменения связаны с формированием религиозно-философской концепции Мережковского.

This article aims at comparing three versions of D. Merezhkovsky’s poem about the knight Tancred and the woman warrior Clorinda (1883) and its source text – the poem by Torquato Tasso “Jerusalem Delivered”. It is demonstrated that with each subsequent version Merezhkovsky departed further away from the primary source – he not only forgoes Tasso’s verbal formulas but also changes the sequence of events, i.e. the story’s meaning, which is evidenced by the didactic ending that draws a finish line in the tale of Tancred and Clorinda not where Tasso drew it. The characters’ characterization also changes so as to better correspond to the pacifistic pathos of the ending. In the case of Clorinda, the traditional “masculine” elements of the woman warrior image, which are rather important both in “Jerusalem Delivered” and in mythology, get smoothed out. It is shown that the woman warrior in Tasso is a moritura character (i.e. destined to death) – the only two heroines of the poem who perish are female warriors Clorinda and Gildippe. This is very much in accordance with the epic tradition where the relationship between such a heroine and a stronger male warrior does not get a happy ending: she either loses her selfidentity and wondrous strength after being defeated and/or after surrendering to love or dies in combat. The elements of chivalric romance and legend in “Jerusalem Delivered” are analyzed, and it is concluded that they are overshadowed by the tradition of the epic poem whereas Merezhkovsky creates a legend proper. Already at this earliest stage of his artistic life, he was concerned with the problem of incompatibility of Christianity and earthly (“carnal”) love. Therefore,
the miracle that occurs in the poem (an indispensable element of the genre of legend) gets associated with the transformation and renewal of the individual by love and beauty, which makes
the characters renounce the contest of strength (i.e. single combat) and lay down their arms. The uniqueness of the artistic choice of Merezhkovsky whose inspiration was sparked by this first and not second, more famed, encounter of Tancred and Clorinda is emphasized by the fact that the episode of Clorinda’s death in combat (and her baptism) was repeatedly and almost exclusively represented in painting, music and poetry. But for Merezhkovsky the rehabilitation of flesh, beauty and earthly love was fundamentally important; it is also shown that in his work this rehabilitation is closely associated with the chronotope of Italian Renaissance (cf. his Italian Novellas and The Romance of Leonardo da Vinci). The conclusion is made that “A Legend from Torquato Tasso” has preempted many of Merezhkovsky’s later ideas, in particular, his religiousphilosophical conception of “sacred flesh” and of the Third Testament. Finally, the heroine of
the poem is compared to another woman warrior in Merezhkovsky’s work: if the beginning of
his artistic life is marked by the image of Clorinda, there is Joan of Arc at its end (from the book Joan of Arc of 1938 completing the trilogy Faces of Saints: from Jesus to Nowadays). Their similarities and, mainly, differences, due to the different phases in the author’s ideological evolution, which however is represented as an integral spiritual path, are discussed.

""Рассмотрено влияние на тексты Юнга романа «Иисус Неизвестный» (на примере близнечного мифа в кодексе Pistis Sophia). Показано, что Мережковский находит в притче о вошедшем в Иисуса софийном Духе-близнеце обоснование размышлений об андрогинной природе духовности. Юнг изучал андрогинизм и близнечные мифы, в том числе опираясь на книги Мережковского.


      Analysis of the evidence E.K. Medtner about the impact of Dm. Merezhkovski on C.G. Jung's creativity showed that the reception of ideas Merezhkovski took place in the area of ​​Sophian Gnostic-mythopoetics Silver Age. It is shown the impact the texts of Merezhkovski 's novels "The resurrected gods (Leonardo da Vinci)" and "Unknown Jesus" (for example, the twin myth of the early Christian Gnostic literary record Pistis Sophia). Justified by the assumption that Dr. Jung borrowed from D.S. Merezhkovski the idea of ​​"two abysses" ascribed by the latter to the gnostic Basilides and understanding the "heavenly counterpart." In the latter case, Jung puts into his texts the same piece of Pistis Sophia and the identity of its interpretation as in the German-language edition of Merezhkovski Jesus der Unbekannte (1932). The other examples refered to this fragment in the same period of time  is not detected. The comparative analysis of the major Jungian texts shows that Jung is actively drawn to themes of Pistis Sophia in the period when his familiarity with the book Dm. Merezhkovski Jesus der Unbekannte has already taken place and the book sparked intense interest.

The value of Pistis Sophia for the Silver Age writers has been revealed through the inclusion into the area of Platonic ideas, such notions as the recollection, soul anamnesis and Androgyne. After an appeal to the Gnostic apocrypha, Dm. Merezhkovskii brings Plato’s myth of the androgyne on the "first face" of Christian history. In the parable of the logged-in Jesus' Spirit of Sophian  Otrokovice he found rational foundation about the androgynous nature of spirituality.  as he saw the same at Solovyov, Berdyaev, Viacheslav Ivanov’s works. Jung also deeply exploring androgyny as a pair of Anima-Animus in the unconscious.

Finally, a brief overview of the relationship of other writers  around so called symbolist’s Silver Age circle to Pistis Sophia is given. Raised the question of the need for a further specialized study indicated in the problem of the development of ideas from the early Christian reception of the literary monument Pistis Sophia by Russian culture figures of the Silver Age. By those, who inherited Neo-Platonic and Sophiological intuition of Vladimir Solovyov.

Целью настоящей статьи является на избранных примерах проследит функции мотива иконы в русской художественной литературе. Автор доказывает, что мотив иконы напрямую связан с понятием агентности и может рассматриваться в них так в рациональной, как и в иррациональной плоскости.
The purpose of this article is to use the selected examples to trace the function of the motive of the icon in Russian fiction. The author proves that the motive of the icon is directly related to the concept of agency and can be considered in them as rational as in the irrational plane.

"No One Else Got So Close to the Gospel Than You": Reception of the Gospels in the Russian Franciscana of the Silver Age (D. Merezhkovsky, S. Durylin, S. Solovyov)
The article considers the reception of the Gospels and its constant topoi in the Russian "Franciscan" texts of D. Merezhkovsky, S. Durylin, S. Solovyov. The reception of the Franciscan Gospel is analyzed in the context of Russian religious-philosophical thought of the early 20th century (Rozanov, Merezhkovsky, Berdyaev) and in the poetic ecphrasis of Giotto's fresco cycle performed by Sergey Solovyov in his poem "Padua". Saint Francis of Assisi as a pioneer of the Italian Renaissance becomes in the Russian franciscana the overcomer of the antagonism between Gospel and worldly life, Christianity and culture and the model figure of the future Russian Renaissance beginning with the paintings of M. Nesterov.

The article is devoted to the literary interpretation of events in Calvin’s Geneva in 1553, known as the “case of Servet”. The article spotlights the representation of the conflict between J. Calvin and M. Servet, as proposed in the essay of D.S. Merezhkovsky. The focus of this study is a reflection of the religious concept of Merezhkovsky in his interpretation of historical events and the contribution of Merezhkovsky to the historical memory of Calvinism. Merezhkovsky painted a very ambiguous image of Calvin: he is both a monster and a miracle, the demon and savior of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  writer  interpreted  the  history  of  Calvin  and  Servet  in  the  context  of  his  ecumenical
views, as a lesson for reviving Christianity.

There is a thought, that every city has its own spirit. The ones, who go there, feel it; the ones, who write, aim to describe it; the readers research it. Once you feel it with your own experience and read the description of this spirit, has the need to research and to share the findings. The present article explores the descriptions of the three cities in Russian literature of the 18-20th century: Heidelberg (Germany), Tallinn (Estonia) and Kayseri (Turkey), reflections of their cultures, the character of related epochs. The article also researches the reasons, which motivated the author to memorize the city in its work of fiction, fiction-documental or documental literature. The article makes parallels between authors motives, shows unordinary and special things in literary images of the cities, which have small sizes, but rich spirits and which has become home for travellers and judges. Key words: Heidelberg, Kayseri, Tallinn, travelogue, 18-20 century, motive, literary image, culture.

Бытует мнение, что у каждого города есть свой дух. Его чувствуют там присутствующие, его стремятся описать пишущие, его исследуют читающие. Так, прочувствовав на личном опыте и зачитываясь строками, передающими тот самый дух, возникает потребность исследовать и делиться найденным. В данной статье исследуются упоминания трёх городов: Гейдельберга (Германия), Таллинна (Эстония) и Кайсери (Турция) в русской литературе XVIII-XX веков, отголоски культуры, которую они в себе несут, характер эпохи, в рамках которой ведётся повествование; выясняются причины, побудившие того или иного автора увековечить увиденный город в своём художественном, художественно-документальном или документальном произведении. Автор проводит параллели между мотивами авторов, эпохами и культурами, выделяет необычное и особенное в литературных образах трёх небольших по размеру, но богатых духом городов, ставших приютом как странникам, так и ценителям.

Настоящая статья посвящена исследованию исторической
эволюции архетипа антихриста в русской культуре. В хронологическом порядке рассматриваются все те произведения литературы и искусства, в которых появляется данный архетип, а также восстанавливается последовательная динамика его развития с эпохи средневековья вплоть до октябрьской революции. Исследование носит междисциплинарный характер (история, религиоведение, литературоведение, искусствоведение, культурология), так как авторы считают, что при рассмотрении вопросов, связанных с архетипами и их эволюцией любое деление на дисциплины является искусственным и только мешает увидеть явление во всей его полноте. Среди анализируемых произведении находятся «История князя московского» А. М. Курбского, «Бесы» и «Братья Карамазовы» Ф. М. Достоевского, мистическая дилогия («Волхвы» и «Великий розенкрейцер») Вс. С. Соловьева, «Краткая повесть об антихристе» Вл. С. Соловьева, трилогия «Христос и антихрист» Д. С. Мережковского и «Отчий дом» Е. Н. Чирикова, а также многочисленные миниатюры и иконы. Можно констатировать, что так как тема антихриста напрямую связана с эсхатологическими течениями, то есть с размышлениями о конце света и финальном окончании истории человечества, особый рост интереса к данной тематике обычно наблюдается в переломные
моменты истории, в периоды революции и крупных исторических
сдвигов, когда происходит крушение устоявшихся политических,
социальных, экономических устоев и идеологических установок.
Такими моментами и изобилует русская история, в которой такие
мотивы, приобретя архетипический статус, получили особенную
актуальность во времена Ивана Грозного, в период петровских реформ, во время отечественной войны 1812 года и с связи с октябрьской революцией.

This article is devoted to the study of the historical evolution of the archetype of antichrist in Russian culture. All the works of literature
and art in which this archetype appears are examined in chronological order, and the consecutive dynamics of its development from the Middle Ages  up to the October Revolution is restored. The study is interdisciplinary in nature (history, religious studies, literary criticism, art history, cultural studies), since the authors believe that when considering issues related to archetypes and their evolution, any division into disciplines is artificial and only prevents one from seeing the phenomenon in its entirety. Among the analyzed works are Andrey Kurbsky’s “The History of the Prince of Moscow”, “Demons” and “The Brothers Karamazov” by Fyodor Dostoevsky, mystical dilogy (“The Magicians” and “The Great Rosicrucian”) by Vsevolod Solovev, “A Brief Tale of the Antichrist” by Vladymir Solovev, the trilogy “Christ and Antichrist” by Dmitry Merezhkovsky and the “Father's House” by Evgeny Chirikov, as well as numerous miniatures and icons. It can be stated that since the topic of antichrist is directly related to eschatological trends, that is, to reflections on the end of the world and the final end of the history of mankind, a special increase in interest in this topic is usually observed at critical moments in history, during periods of revolution and major historical changes, when the collapse of established political, social, economic foundations and ideological attitudes happens. Such moments abound in Russian history, in which such motifs, having acquired an archetypal status, gained particular relevance during the time of Ivan the Terrible, during the period of the reforms by Peter the Great, during the Patriotic War of 1812 and in connection with the October Revolution.

The article discusses the image of Aphrodite (Venus) in the reception of Dmitry Merezhkovsky. The goddess “dies” and “is born” again, symbolizing the eternity of love, beauty and culture of Hellas. At the same time, the heroes of the trilogy “Christ and Antichrist” associate her with the “White Lady Devil”, which brings “evil love” and death.

This article explores the relations between the opera "Francesca da Rimini" by Sergei Rachmaninov and Dante's episode that inspired it ("Inferno V"). The libretto is studied in a broader context of the reception of the episode of Francesca in the 19th and early 20th centuries Russian literature: poems by Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Valery Bryusov, Vyacheslav Ivanov and Alexandr Blok, and an essay by Osip Mandel'štam are taken into account. In the analysis of the libretto, attention is also paid to elements derived from Boccaccio's commentary on Dante's Comedy.