“JOURNEYS OF THE MIND” IN THE RUSSIAN CULTURAL SOCIETY OF THE 1760-S. EDUCATIONAL AND PUBLISHING ACTIVITY OF KHERASKOV LITERARY CIRCLE
Journal Title: Studia Litterarum - Year 2016, Vol 1, Issue 1
Abstract
This article examines one of the pages of the history of Russian Freemasonry as a philosophical and ideological trend within the circles of reflective minds of the Russian society and its influence on the literary process; in particular, it explores a connection of Freemasonry rationalist philosophy with the “journeys of the mind” in the works of M. M. Kheraskov and his Moscow literary circle (A. P. Sumarokov, A. A. Nartov, A. A. Rzhevsky, Alex and Simon Naryshkin, D. Anichkov, J. I. Bulgakov, V. I. Maikov, and I. F. Bogdanovich) that to a certain extent reflected complex processes of the development of spiritual culture in the eighteenth century Russia. For the members of Moscow literary circle, a journal was not only the most efcient way to establish and maintain contacts with the readers but also the means of enlightening contemporaries introducing them to literature. These literati, for the frst time in history, developed a group with its own philosophical, political, and literary position: they claimed that enlightened mind creates and perfects a soul that is open to kindness and love and that moral life is based on the awareness of the moral imperative. The essay analyzes didactic essays by the above mentioned authors and their translations (from Montaigne, Fontenelle, Voltaire, Dodsli, and Gellert — a circle of spiritual reading they promoted) in chronological order of their publication in the magazines issued in the 1760 ‘s: “Useful Jollifcation,” “Free Hours,” “Monthly Essays Serving to Instruct and Entertain,” “Idle Time,” and “Hardworking Bee.” As the analysis reveals, they understood enlightenment mainly as self-knowledge and self-improvement of a single individual; intellectual connection was reduced to the narrow circle of single-minded and educated persons. To understand the “laws of the mind” and to build a life of body and soul on their basis was the goal that Russian Freemason authors pursued as they attempted to develop and promote a new moral that would rely not on religious authority but on the supremacy of reason.
Authors and Affiliations
Natalia D. Bludilina
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP26090
- DOI 10.22455/ 2500-4247-2016-1-1-2-256-268
- Views 702
- Downloads 22
Illustrations in Biographical Studies: Sharing Experience of Preparing The Chronicle of Life and Work of Sergey Esenin
The article discusses the function of illustrations in biographical studies. In particular, it examines a section “Appendix” in the 5-volume Chronicle of Life and Work of Sergey Esenin that includes documentary and visua...
Shakespeare and the Fight for Promfinplan, or How High Voltage is Made
In his play Announcement of Death (the initial title of the play High Voltage), Platonov used documentary facts he observed in 1929–1930s while staying at the Leningrad metal factory. The play was intended to fulfil the...
THEATER IN THE AESTHETICS OF THE “YOUNG VIENNA” GROUP
The article examines “theater” as a cultural and artistic universal that served as a means ofThe article examines “theater” as a cultural and artistic universal that served as a means of developing mindset and self-ident...
Gulag Poetry as Literary Testimony: Poetical and Epistemic Framework
The present survey aims at presenting the corpus of verses composed by the victims of рolitical repressions in the Soviet Union from the point of view of published collections and main critical works, concerning, above...
REPRESENTATION OF THE PAST AS THE MAJOR FACTOR OF SELF-IDENTITY IN POST-SOVIET LITERATURE
The essay examines the problem of identity in its implicit relation to the memory of the past on the material of post-Soviet literature. The question of identity or “how to think identity” is and has always been releva...