Information about the author: 

Abstract:

For the first time the article presents a detailed comparison of religious, civic, creative priorities that formed the axiology of N.A. Klyuev and N.V. Gogol. The source of the questions raised in the article was Klyuev’s dream “The Abyss is Pitch Black”, which describes his meeting with Esenin and Gogol in hell. The research material was the spiritual and artistic prose of the writers. For Klyuev, Gogol is an example of moral purity and verbal mastery. Guided by Gogol’s creative and civic principles, however, Klyuev was independent in his ideological pursuits and artistic strategy. The similarity of Gogol’s and Klyuev’s doubts about the choice between the gift of preaching and creativity, as well as the difference in the severity of their internal conflicts is revealed. The role of spiritual mentors in the life of the writers is considered. Among the aspects of the study are the religious content of their work, the place of infernal entities in the texts, the motives of the apocalypse, the attitude to the Church, the meaning of soul-saving instructions in their works and letters. A special analysis is made of the similar responsible attitude of Gogol and Klyuev to the word and differences in creative goals and public beliefs — Gogol’s desire to preserve the “legitimate order of things” is opposed by the views of Klyuev, the oppositionist. The analysis involves articles by D. Merezhkovsky, V. Rozanov, letters from Klyuev to A. Blok, M. Gorky, S. Esenin, A. Shiryaevets and the concept of a harbinger in D. Andreev’s “The Rose of the World”.