About the authors:
Jose Luis Calvo Martinez — Scholar of Classical Antiquity, Translator of Ancient Greek literature and Greek Magical Papyri, PhD in Greek Philology, Professor, Head of the Department of Greek Philology at the University of Granada (1994–2002), Founder and member of the research group HUM404 HERMEKATE (The Classical Tradition), Campus de la Cartuja, Calle del Prof. Clavera, s/n, 18011 Granada, Spain.
E-mail:
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6724-8455
Natalia N. Arsentieva — PhD in Philology, Professor of Russian Literature at Oryol State University (1997–2000), now lecturer at the Department of Greek and Slavic Philology at the University of Granada, Head of the research group HUM404 HERMEKATE (The Classical Tradition), Campus de la Cartuja, Calle del Prof. Clavera, s/n, 18011 Granada, Spain.
E-mail:
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5616-1589
Abstract:
The article examines the themes of withdrawal from the world (Beatus ille) and the solitary contemplation of nature in the “estate” poetry and prose of I.A. Bunin, a Russian writer of the late 19th to the mid-20th century and traces the sources of his inspiration to the thought of philosophers and writers of classic antiquity (Horace, etc.) and to the Renaissance (Luis de León, etc.). The transition from Neoclassicism and the cult of the arts to the Neoplatonic philosophy of nature in Russian Literature, which took place from the end of the 18th century through the early 19th century, led to the rebirth of an aesthetics based on immediate impressions of reality. The “estate culture” from that period, with its linking of culture and nature, allowed Russian authors to convey complex thoughts and feelings rising from their cultivation of solitude and the contemplation of nature. In Bunin’s legacy, the aesthetic value of the Russian estate is largely due to its proximity to the world of wild uncultured nature. An innovative feature of the Bunin poetic landscape is the fusion of man with the holy universe in light of the cosmological ideas of the Renaissance and the doctrine of the World Soul. A comparative analysis of the ode “The Life Removed” by Luis de Leon, a representative of the Golden Age of Spanish Renaissance poetry, and the motif of solitude in Bunin’s creative work reveal a common metaphysics. Moreover, our research also focuses on the mystery motif of the “liturgy of light” in both authors, which can be traced to the magical practice of communion with God in the hermetic tradition of late Hellenism. Finally, we analyze Bunin’s interpretation of the artist’s separation from the contemplation of beauty as grace during the destruction of the Russian “estate culture”.