Maximilian Voloshin Research Articles

Poetological Essay by Yuri Linnik «Somnambulistic»
 about the Wreath of Sonnets by Maximilian Voloshin «Lunaria»
 (an Attempt at an Adequate Interpretation)

Yuri Linnik's talent harmoniously combined a deep philosophical understanding of the universe with the virtuosity of its poetic embodiment in the most complex genre-strophic form of sonnet associations. He created a fantastic number of wreaths of sonnets impeccable in their ideological and artistic merits – 651. The poet
 used to publish his works accompanied by original author's comments written in the stylistic manner of Socrates, Nietzsche and Viktor Shklovsky. A special group of his works are poetological essays, which also include conceptual reflections on two pioneer wreaths of Maximilian Voloshin's sonnets «Corona Astralis» and «Lunaria», consonant with their main pathos of a significant part of his own stephanism. One of them is presented in this publication with adequate comments. Another, dedicated to
 «Corona Astralis», as we hope, will be published by our Kazakh colleagues.

Somnambulistic
 (A Wreath of Sonnets by M.A. Voloshin «Lunaria»)

Shortly before his death, the outstanding stephanist and stephanologist from Petrozavodsk, Yuri Vladimirovich Linnik, sent me, as the Chairman of the International Scientific and Creative Seminar School of the Sonnet, two of his poetological essays for publication in the next issue of the almanac «Wreath of
 Sonnetologists and Sonnetists». The received grant makes it possible to publish both the essays themselves and the comments adequate to them. Both of them are devoted to the pioneering experiments of Maximilian Voloshin, the author of two wreaths –«Corona Astralis», 1909, and «Lunaria», 1913, in which a new unheard-of genre-strophic form was first tested in relation to the philosophy of cosmism. This issue, in resonance with the predilection for stephanistics, most of all occupied Linnik himself. Linnik's metapoetic interpretation of two masterpieces
 of his predecessor will be of undoubted interest both for researchers of sonnet wreaths and for poets who cultivate them in their work. This time we bring to the attention of readers the second essay «Somnambulistic». The first one, we hope,
 will be published by our Kazakh colleagues.

Крымская тема в русской пейзажной живописи: этапы и особенности творческого освоения (конец XVIII – начало XX веков)

Цель исследования состоит в выявлении особенностей развития российской пейзажной живописи, тематически связанной с Крымом и рассматриваемой как неотъемлемая часть национального культурного наследия. В качестве материалов использованы искусствоведческие исследования и репродукции живописных произведений. Исследованы складывавшиеся на протяжении всего XVIII в. важнейшие факторы, определившие развитие российской пейзажной живописи. Определено, что в русском изобразительном искусстве крымские сюжеты появляются после вхождения полуострова в состав Российской империи. Выявлены и последовательно проанализированы три этапа формирования образа Крыма в русской живописной традиции. Обоснована преемственность в развитии связанной с Крымом пейзажной живописи, состоящая в передаче знаний и навыков от художников-«первопроходцев» к ученикам. Установлены особенности, определяющие специфику крымской пейзажистики в рассматриваемый период. The aim of the study is to identify the features of the development of Russian landscape painting, thematically related to Crimea as an integral part of the cultural heritage of Russia. The complex of materials used included works of art history and collections of reproductions of paintings. The methodological tools involve a combination of systemic, historical-genetic and comparative-historical approaches, with the modern idea of cultural heritage, which represents an unconditional value for any people that must be preserved and passed on from generation to generation, being at the forefront. The most important factors that determined the development of Russian landscape painting and took shape throughout the 18th century have been identified (reforms of Peter the Great accompanied with the secularization of art, the establishment of the Academy of Arts and the presence in Russia of professional visual artists). It has been determined that Crimean subjects appear in Russian fine art after the peninsula became part of the Russian Empire. Three stages in the formation of the image of Crimea in the Russian pictorial tradition have been identified and analyzed: (1) the activities of landscape painters who depicted Crimean landscapes at the end of the 18th century (Mikhail Ivanov and Fyodor Alekseev), (2) the works of Ivan Aivazovsky, and (3) the legacy of representatives of the Cimmerian school of painting (Konstantin Bogaevsky, Maximilian Voloshin, and others). The continuity in the development of landscape painting associated with Crimea is substantiated, which consists in the transfer of knowledge and skills from “pioneer” artists to their students. It has been established that, at the first stage of its evolution, the art of landscape associated with Crimean subjects developed thanks to the desire of artists to demonstrate their own individuality, their skills in working in the natural landscape, a sense of civic responsibility, and the unique features characteristic of the Crimean nature. The features that define the specifics of Russian landscape painting thematically related to Crimea have been identified: (1) Crimean landscape painting was formed as a result of the activities of artists-“video-painters”, carried out on the initiative of the state; (2) the special place of the Crimean landscape in Russian fine art is due to the uniqueness of the landscapes and subjects depicted; (3) the evolution of landscape painting based on Crimean subjects, thanks to the practice of student succession, influenced the development of the entire national painting tradition.

Распятая на кресте времён: парергональность интервизуальности рефлексии рубежа XX–XXI веков на национально-религиозную тематику. Иконографический этюд

This article studies intervisuality (Michael Camille, 1991) in the context of icono-graphic studies by the example of a Russian religious painting created at the turn of the 21st century. Our analysis of intervisuality is based on Derrida’s approach which makes use of the concept ‘parergon’. This is something that does not belong to the work (ergon) but is con-nected to it. The ergon without parergon lacks self-sufficiency. In the case of intervisuality, the interaction of the work (ergon) with its visual and verbal frames and sources (parerga), accompanied with the gaps and incongruities of perception, or “frame friction” in the words of Simone Heller-Andrist (2012), bring us to solutions of research problems of iconological interpretation and attribution. Thus, the impression of “fake” produced by parergon, such as the design of the reverse side of a painting, mimicking an icon board (if there is a confi-dence in intentionality), indicates author’s manifestation in which parergon and ergon inter-change similarly to the “manneristic inversion” noted by Max Dvořák (1922), while uninten-tional imperfection due to failures, lack of skill or limited resources would rather indicate the inept stylization or a plain imitation. Thus, the parergonality of intervisuality enriches the problem field of iconographic and visual research with meaning. The work is based on an art historical study of a painting by an unknown author, a visualization of thoughts on national and religious themes and visual exegesis of historical symbolism appreciated by the audience of the period of the work’s creation. It is rich in allusions to texts on the religious philoso-phy of freedom by Nikolai Berdyaev (1911) about the crucified truth of Christianity and to the historiosophical lectures and poems by Maximilian Voloshin (1920) thematizing the cruci-fied Russia–a metaphorical image which was popular during periods of social upheavals in national history.

Графика Максимилиана Волошина

The paper studies a less known part of Maximilian Voloshin’s artistic heritage — his graphics, variously presented on the pages of albums kept in Pushkin House Manuscript Department. The artist’s albums that he kept throughout his life, can be called a poet's notebooks, as they contain not only drawings, but also poetry, draft poems, articles, notes and bibliography references, financial calculations and addresses. The works of Voloshin the artist are present on the pages of his albums in various forms. It includes self-portraits and portraits of his contemporaries: writers, musicians, artists, painters, political figures, scientists: Aleksandr Peshkovsky, Jakov Glotov, Maxim Kovalevsky, Elizaveta Kruglikova, René Ghil, Anatole France, Konstantin Balmont, Valery Bryusov, Elena Davidenko, Margarita Voloshina, Elena Kirienko-Voloshina, Pyotr Struve, Ekaterina Junge, Aleksandr Junge, Pavel von Tesch, Polyxena Solovyova, Natalia Manaseina, Konstantin Bogaevsky, Konstantin Kandaurov, Josephine Bogaevskaya, Vera Efron, Elizaveta Efron, Mikhail Feldstein, Ekaterina Andreeva-Balmont, Alexey Tolstoy, Mikhail Chuiko, Elena Chichagova-Rossinskaya, Bella Feinberg and many others; pictures, landscapes. This collection of materials expands our understanding of the creative biography of the artist and poet, his literary and cultural ties, and clarifies our understanding of some events and trends in the cultural process of the early twentieth century.

Aesthetics of Zen Buddhism in the works of M. A. Voloshin(On the example of poetic miniatures – inscriptions for watercolors)

This article examines the embodiment of the ideas and aesthetics of Zen Buddhism in the works of M. Voloshin. The purpose of the article is to identify how the thought and aesthetics of Zen Buddhism are presented in the works of M. Voloshin. The material for the work was M. Voloshin’s poetic miniatures - inscriptions on watercolors, autobiographies and memoirs. M. Voloshin himself called Buddhism “the first religious step” in his autobiography. Zen Buddhism does not accept the dualism and irreconcilability of Western philosophy, for example, the opposition “God-man”, “moment - eternity”, “peace - struggle”, etc. One typical feature of M. Voloshin's work is philosophical harmony, and many of his poems resonate with the poems of Zen (Chan) masters. Categories embodied in Zen poems, such as the frailty of the earthly, eternity and harmony of nature, can also be found in the poems of M. Voloshin. The novelty lies in the fact that currently little attention is paid to the manifestations of the philosophy of Zen Buddhism in the works of the poet. The analysis of Maximilian Voloshin’s watercolors paintings allows us to assert that Zen Buddhism occupies an important place among his aesthetic and ideological guidelines. The study of the reception of Zen Buddhism in the work of M. Voloshin is of great importance for understanding his poetry, the concept of creativity and worldview. Under the influence of the ideas and aesthetics of Zen Buddhism, Voloshin’s poems reflect his three fundamental categories of aesthetics: The principle of simplicity; Harmony; The principle of emptiness and silence.

In the wrecks of Kingdoms, in the self-immolations of evil ... (behind the pages of Maximilian Voloshin's book "Demons of the Deaf and Dumb")

The purpose of this study is to identify the historiosophical foundations of Maximilian Voloshin's book "Demons of the Deaf and Dumb". The article examines the historical concept of M. Voloshin, who tries to bring the reader to the dramatic events of the present and predict the future through an assessment of Russia's past. Voloshin, focusing on the revolutionary events of Russia and France, writes a tragedy book, which was published in January 1919. The main hypothesis is that "Demons of the deaf and dumb" occupies a special place in the creative biography of the poet, while it is necessary to keep in mind several important points. This is Voloshin's last collection, released during his lifetime in Russia, prepared by the author himself (with drawings by the author). The poems written in 1919 are organically adjacent to it: "The Burning Bush", "The Russian Revolution", "Kitezh", "The Civil War". Poems that dramatically translate history into modernity and reveal the future. The book "Demons of the Deaf and Dumb" includes works written at different times and related to different historical epochs. However, Voloshin had the ability to feel the flow of history "flowing into "today", to perceive history in its one-time form. The moment of history for him is the whole story, just as time is all time. Such a feeling was characteristic of the poet throughout his creative career. The troubles, the Uprising of Stenka Razin, the Petrine era, Thermidor in France, the revolution in Russia all coexist for him as if in a single time frame. One is perceived through the other. The paper offers an innovative approach to the study of M. Voloshin's last lifetime collection; a way of considering the reception of creativity in the unity of historical, cultural and biographical contexts is proposed, which is an organic combination of historical, cultural, biographical and comparative methods that form the basis of classical philological science.

М.А. Волошин в периодике юга России 1917–1922 годов

Very few works written by Maximilian Voloshin during the Russian Civil War were published in Southern Russia’s periodicals or other printed media. Nonetheless, papers like Tavrichesky Golos (Simferopol) and Delo (Odesa), the Kamena magazine (Kharkiv), as well as a literary and political volume called Nakanune (Yekaterinodar, modern-day Krasnodar) published some of Voloshin’s poems and articles. These publications are, without a doubt, highly significant for the history of literature and journalism as Moscow and Saint Petersburg media published Voloshin’s works less often; nowadays, his publications in periodicals of Southern Russia are considered to be important textual sources. Voloshin’s attitude towards the events of the Russian Civil War in his lectures matches the understanding of those events in his poems of that period. The article called Poetry and Revolution. Alexander Blok and Ilya Erenburg, as well as Voloshin’s personal letters provide a key to his understanding of poetry and the relations between poetry, politics, and journalism. Therefore, it is fair to say that Voloshin had his own unique system of art comprehension. Analysis of its evolution, as well as studying Voloshin’s publications in the context of Southern Russia’s periodicals are yet the challenge of the future.

“Greece” semantic field in Marina Tsvetaeva’s idiolect

The presentation of an author’s individual linguistic picture of the world by describing the structure and content of semantic fields is one of the relevant areas of literary texts’ and author idiolects’ analysis in modern linguistics. The article is devoted to the semantic and associative analysis of the lexemes comprising the “Greece” semantic field in Marina Tsvetaeva’s idiolect. The analysis enables to state the correlations between the “Greece” and other key semantic fields and to identify universal and the author’s individual semantic meanings and associations of the lexemes, which form the core and periphery of the semantic field “Greece”. The latter aspect of the analysis has not come into the linguistic research focus yet. The analysis of semantic fields is especially effective in the study of Marina Tsvetaeva’s idiolect, which is characterized by semantic compression, dynamism in the unfolding of meanings and semantic capacity of words. The core of the semantic field under study is the lexeme Greece, the center of the field includes the one-root words Greek, a Greek, the synonym Hellas, as well as its derivatives. The periphery of the field consists of toponyms, names of garments, numerous ancient anthroponyms and theonyms. The lexemes of the semantic field “Greece” also represent other significant semantic fields in Marina Tsvetaeva’s poetic, prose and epistolary texts. They denote the following meanings and associations: ‘culture’, ‘education’, ‘creativity’, ‘love for freedom’, ‘Orthodox faith’, ‘kindness, generosity’. The semantic field “Greece” is mainly associated with people dear to the poetess: her father Ivan Tsvetaev, Maximilian Voloshin, Rainer Maria Rilke. Recreating the spirit and culture of Greece, Tsvetaeva embodied the image of an era close to her, a country native to her in spirit and in which she did not have to be disappointed.

Semantics of Eros in the Philosophical and Poetic Art of Vyacheslav Ivanov and Maximilian Voloshin

The article attempts to analyze philosophical and poetic works of V. Ivanov and M. Voloshin concerning “mysteries of Eros”. It is concluded that V. Ivanov sang “the praise of eternal love rapture” while M. Voloshin didn’t perceive Eros only as a passion and opposed it to sex and sensuality. Ivanov perceived love in its intimate and religious aspects. He wrote about the universal pathos of unity with a beloved woman and God, as well. The final goal is the high love unity of mankind which can be realized by Church. The article deals with Ivanov’s poetic book “Eros”. It’s main theme is love as a creative basis which contains high joyfulness and inevitable sufferings, while Voloshin was writing about love based on Platon’s treatise “Feast” and also an antroposophic teaching. So his poems “Nympths Grotto”, “Cave” and “Maternity” are analyzed in the article. The author traces creative relationship of two poets and especially marks Voloshin’s cycle of verses “The Star of Wormwood”. Directly or polemically, each of them associates with Ivanov’s lyrics.

Петербургский текст и петербургский миф русской литературы в историософских произведениях М.А. Волошина

Петербургский текст и петербургский миф русской литературы в историософских произведениях М.А. Волошина

LES NABIS AND MAX VOLOSHIN: GAME MODELS

The article draws parallels between the variants of the play-drama and the forms of self-representation of the Les Nabis and the «Parisian» Maximilian Voloshin. All of them tested the concepts of play, performance, and artistic transformation of reality, which are organic in the aesthetics of symbolism, based on the tradition of French culture from T. Gauthier, J. Barbey d’Aurevilly to J. Péladan, F. Khnopff. In the stream of theatrical utopia of the late XIX – early XX centuries Les Nabis and Voloshin used the style of symbolism in everyday life and creativity. They were united by an understanding of art as an emanation of the absolute, a perception of phenomena as a «door to eternity», an invisible reality, a specific «sense of the mystery of things pregnant with an event» (Edouard Vuillard). The thesaurus of forms they possessed included signs of self-manifestation. But, although all of them have an increased attention to the synthesis of religions, mysticism, transchronological excursions, their models of life creation, as well as self-realization, have a number of differences in the ways of objectification of the spiritual. The sublime drama of the Nabis – «Language of Nabis», created by P. Sérusier, paraphernalia, clothes in the form of a felony, weekly ritualsin the Temple of Nabis on Boulevard Montparnasse, 25 – shows their commitment to the spiritualist model of thegame. And the semi-humorous atmosphere of the «Order of the Spins» in the house of Voloshin in Koktebel, jokes andhoaxes of the owner tend to laugh culture. Voloshin claimed: «Everything that is not a game is not art». He relied on the reception of art as a game and life as art – the newly created world en variante locale by the artist, the conjurer of things. Together with the fraternity, which arose spontaneously every summer and spontaneously formed its own laws and rituals, the poet realized an improvisational model of the game, close to children’s games. In contrast to the pathos of the Les Nabis, Voloshin’s game was a frontier against society and the then (1905-1924) Russian reality. If the theater of nabis in the manifestations of Art nouveau realized their goal to aestheticize space, then Voloshin’s game, which became his lifestyle, led to the creation of a new person and new relationships. It contributed not only to the creative development of its members, but also to saving lives during the Bolshevik terror and famine. Late Voloshin, with his analysis of the Сainite civilization and the historiosophical conception of Russia, consistent with modern assessments of geopolitical realities, can be positioned as a seer who predicted the course of events for centuries to come.

Symbolic-anthroposophic Intentions and interinfluence of literary texts in the works of Maximilian Voloshin

This article carries out a culturological analysis of the artistic worldview of the poet, artist, art historian, and art critic Maximilian Voloshin (1877–1932) – one of the prominent representatives of the Silver Age. The object of this research is the diversity of artistic space of M. Voloshin, while the subject is the interinfluence of his literary texts. The author aims to determine the symbolic-anthroposophic intentions in the artistic space of M. Voloshin as a complex semiotic formation that comprises the continuum of various texts: visual, verbal, nonverbal, and others. Maximilam Voloshin’s reasoning on the symbolic nature are reflected in his theoretical works and correspondence with cultural figures. In his articles, Voloshin advanced the idea that the artist refers to the spatial form of art by means intuition and inner consciousness. The poem “Rouen Cathedral” by M. Voloshin is vivid example of the synthesis of poetic and picturesque texts. M. Voloshin’s engagement in construction of the Goetheanum in Dornach headed by the German anthroposophist R. Steiner contributed to the development of the new worldview, which is reflected in the original watercolor “Dornach Album”. The novelty of this research lies in the fact that the personality of M. Voloshin is presented as a metatext, complex semiotic space that intertwined visual (iconic), verbal and other texts that embody the symbolic and anthroposophic intentions. It is established that the use of symbolic and anthroposophic intentions by M. Voloshin, as well as the synthesis of visual, verbal and other texts, characterize the diversity and synthetism of his worldview, although he did not fully apprehended the views of the symbolists and anthroposophists. All these principles formed the artistic space of M. Voloshin as metatext in a single guise – poet, artist, and philosopher.

Apophatics of artistic culture: raising the issue. Disease, death and sleep ethoses in Alexander Grin’s story “Struggle with Death”

Object of the article: apophatics as a cultural phenomenon. Subject of the article: a method of creating an apophatic reality in a literary work, the apophatic side of the phenomenon of sleep is studied. Material of the article: an early little-known story by Alexander Grin “Struggle with Death” (1918). Research methodology: a holistic analysis of a literary text, which is achieved through the ontohermeneutic method using the semantic research method. Research results: analysis of Grin’s early story, identification of its ontological meaning, ethos of illness, death, sleep allows raising an issue of apophatics of a literary work. The appeal to anthroposophical reflections on the axiological status of sleep by the German philosopher Rudolf Steiner, whose ideas were shared by the representatives of the Silver Age, especially Maximilian Voloshin, Grin’s closest friend, is also productive, since the anthroposophist highlights the apophatic side of sleep associated with day and night human consciousness. The ethos in the article is understood within the framework of Heidegger’s research, which makes it possible to deepen the cultural-philosophical ideas about the phenomenon of death, disease and sleep in the global art culture.

Life and Death Ethoses in the Short Story The Mystery of Foreseen Death by Aleksandr Grin: Imaginative Apophatic Reality

The paper is dedicated to the issue of the apophatic component of artistic culture associated with Thanatos that is developed in the literature oeuvre of Aleksandr Grin. Setting Grin’s short story The Mystery of Foreseen Death as the research object, this texts seeks to provide insight into the image of death and the examination of its spiritual and material manifestations that reflected the logocentric approach that was then popular among the Russian thinkers. To pursue this aim, the methodology of this study should allow identifying the ontological perspective of Grin’s story. Thus, the methodological foundations embrace the onto-hermeneutic approach to the analysis of literary work. In revealing the ontological dimension of the story much attention is paid to the ethos of life and death, the protagonist’s artistic imaginative experience of reality. In the story under study death is ambivalent: it is bodily, anthropological, as indicated by the repetitive image of neck on the execution block. At the same time, it is apophatic, as indicated by the darkened end of the story, the bewilderment of skeptical scientists that arose because of the main event of the story, namely the protagonist’s execution. In this regard, it appears to be effective to consider the anthroposophical thought of Rudolf Steiner that was absorbed by a large part of Russian intelligentsia at the beginning of the 20th century. This doctrine stresses the reflections on a person’s experience of death in reality. The imaginative aspect of anthroposophism was developed by Grin’s close friend, a neighbor in Crimean Cimmeria, Maximilian Voloshin, a disciple of the teachings of Steiner. The conclusions that can be drawn from the study are as follows: Grin’s story presents a detailed imaginative death experience, which makes it possible to raise the issue of it being part of the broader anthroposophical teaching. The Mystery of Foreseen Death indirectly expresses the Steinerian ideas and at the same time it fits into the framework of the Russian apophatic artistic tradition. The article also raises the issue of the apophatic component of Russian artistic culture, the thanatological experience of which can help in overcoming crisis situations nowadays. The findings of the research, in this way, can have an effect on better understanding in several fields: in literature studies (philology), in the history of Russian literature, in cultural studies and in philosophy.

АПОФАТИКА СНА В РАССКАЗЕ А. ГРИНА «БОРЬБА СО СМЕРТЬЮ»: ОНТОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ И КУЛЬТУРОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ АСПЕКТЫ

Subject of the article: apophatic of sleep. The article examines how the apophatic of culture is implemented through a literary work, namely, it considers the apophatic side of the phenomenon of sleep. Object of the article: A. Grin’s early story “Struggle with Death”. If researchers refer to this text, they consider it only immanently, in the context of all the works by the writer. However, this story is of particular value in the cultural-philosophical understanding of the phenomenon of sleep and death in the Russian version of logocentrism, since in this story sleep is a condition for the character’s recovery, the way out of the morbial state. Research methodology: a holistic analysis of a literary text in the ontohermeneutic way with the use of a semantic research method. Research results: the identification of the apophatic nature of sleep in Grin’s story. Sleep is endowed with ontological properties and meaning-generating functions. The appeal to philosophical reflections on the axiological status of sleep by the German philosopher Rudolf Steiner, whose ideas were shared by the representatives of the Silver Age, especially Maximilian Voloshin, is also productive, since the anthroposophist highlights the apophatic side of sleep associated with day and night human consciousness.

Рецепция лирики Анри де Ренье в творчестве М. Волошина и И. Северянина

The article examines the reception of the poetry by a French poet Henri de Regnier in the works of Maximilian Voloshin and Igor Severyanin. Voloshin was a passionate promoter of Regnier in Russia; he appealed to him in criticism, translated his poems and prose, and considered him to be a forerunner of “neo-realism,” a new stage of development in European and Russian literature. The interest of Severyanin in the work of Regnier develops under the influence of Voloshin’s 1910 article “Henri de Regnier.” The young Severyanin was influenced by this article and used accurate translations of Regner’s two poems included in the article for his own translation experiments: he even made the same mistake as Voloshin when translating one of these poems. Compared to Voloshin’s, Severyanin’s versions are less accurate; they have stylistic shifts and ironic tones absent in the original. Thus, the example of Voloshin’s and Severyanin’s different attitudes to Regnier’s poetry allows me to trace two different tendencies in the reception of Western authors within the culture of the so-called Russian Silver age: enthusiastic discipleship, more typical for Russian symbolists, and stylistic play and ironic distancing, more typical for Russian futurists.

The ethical conception of Leo Tolstoy in the interpretation of Maximilian Voloshin

The article examines the interpretation of Leo Tolstoy’s ethical conception provided by a Russian poet Maximilian Voloshin. A brief exposition of Tolstoy’s ethical conception position of a person’s concern for their soul is provided. In this regard, the requirements of love and nonviolence are not of value in and of themselves but are subordinate to the main cause of salvation, the improvement of a person’s soul. This is the point on which Voloshin focuses his criticism reproaching Tolstoy for selfishness. Non-resistance to evil by violence is paradoxically interpreted by Voloshin as evasion from evil. Voloshin emphasizes that Tolstoy’s understanding of evil is simplified due to his failure to understand the sinful nature of mankind. Voloshin opposes Tolstoy’s ethics interpreted by him in this manner with his own ethical conception suggesting that it is necessary to not move away from evil in the world but, on the contrary, take it into oneself and strive to transform it with the internal forces of good. In conclusion, it is examined that despite their differences both thinkers agreed that responding with evil to evil is unacceptable from the point of ethics. Both Tolstoy and Voloshin were also characterized by the implementation of their ethical provisions in their personal lives.

Balance of Oppositions as a Philosophical Base of Maximilian Voloshin’s Life and Creativity

The article deals with the main characteristic of the worldview and creativity of M.A. Voloshin is about the harmony of his world as a balance of opposites. This principle is supposed to work at all levels of being. First, it is given in the personality of the poet: as the width of his soul and spiritual infinity on one hand and the discipline and self-restriction on the other. In the totality of the world there are the oppositions of God and devil and the opposition of two devils as making the balance of the whole world. The world itself as a system of strong balances. In history there are two streams of time, “flowering and break-up”. When the balance is disrupted the catastrophe happens, and this is obvious in Russian Revolution. But Voloshin believes that the process of destruction is limited and opposed by the principle of Love.

LOS VERHAERENA TADEUSZA MICIŃSKIEGO: MANIFEST CZASÓW WOJNY

The article is an analysis of an article found in 2017 in the Polish press from the period of World War I (Gazeta Polska; 1917, issue 35) published in Russia, “Los Verhaerena”. The eminent Polish modernist writer Tadeusz Miciński (1878-1918) took up a polemic about the fate of the outstanding Belgian poet Emil Verhaeren (1855-1916), who died in 1916 under the wheels of a train. The Russian writer and anthroposophile Maximilian Voloshin (1878-1932) presented this death as a consequence of Verhaeren’s abandonment of esoteric doctrine and pacifist attitude. Miciński formulated his own writing credo in a polemic with Voloshin’s views, pointing out that the writer’s duty in the face of the cruelty and evil of war is active resistance, which is an injunction against the attacked national community, but also art.