Leonid Andreyev’s creative works in the mirror of symbolic anthropology and philosophy of art

Abstract

The author conducts a research on perception of Leonid Andreyev’s works in Russian symbolic literary, philosophical criticism and religious philosophy of the late 19th century. The subject of the analysis is anthropological aspects of prose and dramaturgy of the writer that fueled heated discussions between ideologists of the Russian symbolism. Philosophical discourse about the man became the basis of interpretation of Leonid Andreyev’s works in the articles and philosophical essays of theoreticians of the Russian symbolism. Symbolists introduced anthropological concepts and terms of the Russian religious philosophy such as “God and man”, “essence of human”, “human body”, “Godmanhood”, “outer self ”, and “inner self ”. The article shows that interpretations by the contemporaries of Andreyev’s works were unfolding in context of important concepts of Russian symbolism: neo-Christianity of Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Dmitry Filosofov, Dionysian ideas of Vyacheslav Ivanov, apocalyptic themes of Andrey Bely, philosophy of art of Maximilian Voloshin, Innokenty Annensky and Alexander Blok. The symbolists considered that symbols of man introduced by Andreyev were mysterious and incomprehensible. Concepts of “death of the God” and “death of human” are analyzed. In symbolists’ literary criticism there evolved an idea of crisis of religious consciousness as a threat to humanistic values. The symbolists regarded the image of man in Andreyev’s creative work as destructive. Works of the writer were understood as examples of extreme and transgressivity finished to the point of absurdity. A conclusion is made that experience of the writer was important for development of philosophical thought and art creativity of the Russian symbolists. Specifics of the symbolists’ polemic was in their anthropological perspective of Andreyev’s works and outlining further ways of interpretation of his writing heritage in context of philosophical and religious anthropology of the 20th century.