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Abstract:

This article relies on statements of two Il’ins to elaborate the position of D. Merezhkovsky’s works in European literature. V. Il’in placed him among distinguished European critics by comparing him to R. de Gourmont, while I. Il’in’s parallel between him and E. Ludwig sought to undermine his contribution to the European literary biography. This is only partly justified. The article suggests that Merezhkovsky has used the same technique of mythologization in his literary criticism and biographical writings, which distinguishes his works from R. de Gourmont’s critiques and E. Ludwig’s biographies. The perception of a “hero’s” personality and works (or deeds) proceeds by reflecting the reflection, driven by a combination of three viewpoints: those of the “hero”, the author of a scientific or critical text on them and of Merezhkovsky himself. He is concerned not so much with aesthetical merits, or with reflecting the reality, as with how the personality and the works are able to express his own views. These are defined at different times by ideas that are “external” to the material being analyzed. By examining Merezhkovsky as a phenomenon between R. de Gourmont and E. Ludwig, we are able to observe evident similarities and substantial differences produced by Merezhkovsky’s particular type of bookish thinking — a phenomenon only made possible in the Russian religious and cultural renaissance.