Existential type of artistic consciousness:genesis and ways of development in the literature of the XIX century

Abstract

The article traces the origins of existentialism on the examples of writers and philosophers of the XIX century. The history of the study of the category «artistic consciousness» and the category «existential consciousness» is considered. The theoretical substantiation of the concepts of «artistic consciousness» and «existential consciousness» is proposed. The terms «existential» and «existentialist» are distinguished. The term «existential» is applied to writers and philosophers of the XIX century. S. Kierkegaard, M. Lermontov, F. Tyutchev, A. Schopenhauer, F. Dostoevsky, L. Tolstoy, A. Chekhov, F. Nietzsche are represented as existential writers. It shows the path that existential consciousness took in literature in the XIX century from Kierkegaard's «Knight of Faith» to Nietzsche's «Antichrist». The author makes an assumption about the existence of an existential type of artistic consciousness, considered as a type of artistic and aesthetic interaction of a person with the world, expressed in artistic creativity. It is suggested that in the twentieth century, the existential consciousness of a free person who found himself in a world where «God died» fell into an enchanted circle of absurdity. The opposite approach, considering human freedom as a gift from God, suggests using it in the name of creative improvement. Such a path leads to harmony with God, elevating the human creator to the role of a co-author of Divine creativity. Only this way is able to bring existential consciousness out of the dead end of the absurd.