The Theme of the Change of Times in Ivan Bunin and Vyacheslav Ivanov’s Literary and Philosophical Interpretation

Abstract

The article presents a philosophical analysis of I.A. Bunin and V.I. Ivanov’s concepts and views on Russian history, culture, literature, and language. The research reveals common and different in the positions of Ivan Bunin and Vyacheslav Ivanov regarding the events of the Russian revolution. An attempt is made to show the special place occupied by I.A. Bunin and V.I. Ivanov in the literature of the Silver Age as well as their attitude toward each other. Special attention is paid to criticism of the writers by their contemporaries. The article discusses the specifics of V.I. Ivanov and I.A. Bunin’s attitude to the Russian revolution of 1917, based on their ideological, artistic, and socio-political views. The author examines their criteria for aesthetic and ethical assessments of some revolutionary events. Particular attention is paid to Ivanov’s interpretation of the root causes of the revolution: the crisis of individualism and the desire for a new organic era. The article also discusses the writers’ attitude to the reform of Russian orthography of 1918, the peculiarities of Ivanov and Bunin’s understanding of the language and its significance for the nation as well as the main findings reached by V.I. Ivanov and I.A. Bunin in their interpretations of the revolutionary changes in the country. The articles concludes that the image of Russia, its culture and revolution is manifested in their artistic worldview in different ways, due to the mismatch of their existential positions on religion, mysticism, social and political structure of the country as well as on the tasks and goals of art.