Information about the author:

Abstract:

The article compares the philosophical models of artistic design of the world harmony and the image of man in it, proposed in the early twentieth century by the idol writers Maxim Gorky and Alexander Blok. During the analysis of paintings “The lower depths” by M. Gorky, a new idea of the ideological and philosophical structure of Gorky’s play is formulated. Unlike the usual dualism (“truth” and “compassion”, “truth” and “lie”), the article discusses the triad of Gorky’s filosopheme “paganism — Christianity — the new philosophy”, that consistently mediated by the ideas of Platonism, tolstoyism and Nietzscheanism. The article shows how “wild” humans-animals (according to Plato), through religious believers in one God (Christ), the heroes of the play climb to the highest step of the evolutionary ladder — to the Proud Man (following Nietzsche). In “The Twelve” by A. Blok is shown that the poem is close to Gorky philosophical triad typologically, based on comparable philosophical foundations: primordial Chaos — altar sacrifice — Christianized Space. The poet based on the ideas of symbolism by V. Solovyov, on the mystical ideas of Rosicrucians, but in the foundation he is close to the same ideas by Plato (pre-civilization existence). The article emphasizes the difference between the ethical and aesthetic systems of Gorky and Blok, but reveals and demonstrates the typological proportionality and relevance of the ideological, mystical, gnostic and philosophical platforms of the two classics of Russian literature of the early twentieth century.

Keywords: Russian literature of the early twentieth century, M. Gorky “The lower depths”, A. Blok “The Twelve”, philosophical model of the future, canon and innovation.