Crisis in the modernist period

Abstract

This article glances at the crisis in general and its interpretations exemplified by the creative legacy of Dmitry Merezhkovsky, one of the brightest representatives of Russian symbolism. History shows that the crisis had a manifold influence both on social development and all spheres of human activity and changed the character of communications and the vector of development of spiritual culture and civilization. Such transformations explain the strong interest of Russian and foreign researchers in studying this phenomenon, its characteristics, and role in social processes. Focusing on the interpretation of crisis as a socio-cultural phenomenon and as a contradiction between culture and civilization, which manifested distinctively over the period of modernism and Russian symbolism. Not only did Merezhkovsky create his classification of crisis based on historical-cultural analysis and project the historical experience on the then-current cultural situation but also tried to forecast the future with his vision of overcoming the crisis.