Overcoming the Genre System of the “Thick Journal” as a Socio-political Construction: Referring to One Publication by S. Averintsev

Abstract

One of the first publications of religious and philosophical content in the Soviet press was a two-part article by S. S. Averintsev, dedicated to a comparative study of Byzantine, Old Russian, and Western spirituality, with the appendix of a new translation of psalms. The publication of special and methodically-verified arguments in the popular thick magazine was caused by the softening of church-state relations, but the significance of this publication exceeds its thematic side. In this publication, Averintsev undertook a revision of the system of genres and censorship strategies on which the industry of the Soviet thick journal and broader Soviet literature rested. Such a radical rollover of the usual framework for the production of the text was supported by the originality of the translation and by most of the arguments of the article. Some of the reasoning was not directly aimed at individual statements, but at criticizing Soviet literary production. Such a radical project allowed Averintsev to justify his own socio-political program, despite the fact that he did not work in the social sciences. However, a hidden intention against both Soviet journalism and Russian idealistic thought, and the liberal program of Georgy Fedotov in particular, which was blamed as ideologically dependent on the forms of old journalism, allowed Averintsev to develop a series of productive ideas about the political boundaries that could become the basis of the post-Soviet discussion about the mission and liability of the political class.