Nicolas Berdyaev & Rusian Literature

In the field of literature seldom has Berdyaev been noticed or explored as a religious philosopher. However, in the course of Berdyaev's spiritual life, he has countless ties with the Russian literature. He had actively involved himself in the ideological and literary activities of his time and given the contemporary literature and literary trends his great attention. As a result, a number of religious philosophical literary criticism has been produced by him. As to the classical Russian literature of the 19th century he has maintained a close spritual link and held his own unique religious philosophical explanation. In particular, Berdyaev has discovered from the perspective of religious philosophy the ideological value of Dostoyevsky who was once regarded as his spritual father and served as an important source of his religious philosophy. In his explanation and interpretation of the Russian ideology, we have noticed that he also has his own orientation and consideration as to the entire Russian literature in the 19th century. Therefore, this dissertation is to dwell on the relations between Berdyaev and the Russian literature of the 19th and early 20th century. It is divided into three parts as follows:1. Berdyaev and His ContemporariesBerdyaev had maintained close spiritual contacts with the contemporary literary world. In literary circles of St. Petersburg, Rozanov and Melezhkovski, the most outstanding representatives at that time, had been pondering over the issue of Christianity from a new angle and established new Christian consciousness; while Berdyaev, from his own point of view, put forward the concept of free Christianity with the purpose of explaining Dostoyevsky's idea, thus also becoming an important representative of the new Christian consciousness. In this new spiritual movement, Rozanov, Melezhkovski and Berdyaev had undertaken a series of literary and religious activities in their joint efforts; during this process, Berdyaev had confronted both Rozanov and Melezhkovski in terms of ideology through many of their articles and arguments, and intense spiritual interaction had taken place among them. Therefore, this part of the dissertation will reveal the spiritual relations between Berdyaev and Rozanov as well as Melezhkovski through their debates and arguments. Judged from the surface, Berdyaev had gone through the following three worlds: namely "the aristocratic world", "the revolutionary world" and "the religious world"; but invariably he had always possessed a spiritual kernel of pursuing "the freedom, the individuality and the creation". It is this invariable spiritual kernel that has helped to resonate him spiritually with the thinkers and especially those in the literary circles. It has also caused some conflicts between him those mentioned above. Efforts shall be made to concentrate on these points of resonance and conflicts.2. Berdyaev and Classical Writers in the 19th CenturyIn this section discussions about the relations between Berdyaev and Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and Gogolare are to be carried out respectively.Among Russian writers, the most profound spiritual relation Berdyae has kept was the one with Dostoyevsky. Such spiritual relation can be seen from two aspects: on the one hand, a specific analysis of Berdyaev's writings about religious philosophy ranging from "Philosophy of Freedom"(1911) to "The Self-knowledge"(1948) could reveal that Dostoyevsky's idea and works, which served as a kind of spiritual nutrition to Berdyaev, have given enlightenment to and exerted great influence on the formation of Berdyaev's religious philosophical ideas; on the other hand, a careful study of Berdyaev's four monographes on Dostoyevsky, namely "The Religious Judges", "Stavrokin", 'The Revelation on Man in Works of Dostoevsky" and "The Spirit of Russian Revolution", as well as his book "On Dostoevsky's World View", could also show that Berdyaev has made his own unique religious philosophical explanation of Dostoyevsky through a new spiritual approach. Rozanov and Melezhkovski also wrote about Dostoyevsky; the former produced "Dostoevsky's 'The Legend of Religious Judges" and the latter wrote "Leo Tolstoy and Dostoevsky". Through specific text analysis of the above two works and by comparing them with Berdyae's "On Dostoevsky's World View ", we have found that their interpretations of Dostoevsky differ from one another, and therefore, different spiritual orientations, such as "the Christianity of flesh", "the Christianity of holy spirit" and "the Christianity of feedom", have been formed in the realms of ideology and literature.Berdyaev has regarded Dostoevsky as his spiritual father, but he "has not turned himself away from Tolstoy, nor has he forgot him". In fact, he had a profound understanding of Tolstoy, and faced him bravely and seriously because Tolstoy has been another kind of spiritual wealth in the Russian ideology. In terms of religion and philosophy Berdyaev has made critical comments on a number ofmajor issues in Tolstoy's ideas-----his exposing lies of civilization, "nonresistance to the evil byviolence" and his anarchism and nihilism, thus having surpassed Tolstoy in spirit.From the time when Gogol steps onto the Russian literary arena until now, the traditional mode of criticism of Gogol has nearly always been dominant in Russia. During the late 19th century and the early 20th century such mainstream opinions had been questioned and challenged, and a religious and philosophical mode of criticism came into being accordingly, which reexamined and reappraised Gogol from the ideological and religious angles. It is from his religious and philosophical standpoint that Berdyaev has once again examined and appraised Gogol's ideology. Berdyaev's works on Gogol was not much in terms of quantity; however, Berdyaev has made a thorough study of Gogol's spiritual essence, especially of those key points, and his interpretation of Gogol, to some extent, has overthrown the traditional criticism. Therefore, this section of the dissertation focuses on the following key points: (1) reevaluation of Gogol: including comments on Gogol's religious, mystical and non-realistic nature; (2) examination of Gogol's religious spirit; (3) exploration of the source or origin of Gogol's tragedy.3. Berdyaev's "Russian Idea" and Russian Literature"The Russian idea" is a complex spiritual system of the Russian people. Berdyaev's interpretation of "the Russian idea" is displayed mainly in his book entilted The Russian Idea. His explanation involves many ideological figures, but the most exclusive point of his is that of the 19th century Russian literature. With a kind of cross-disciplinary thingking, he has stepped into the Russian literature and revealed many ideological tendencies existed in the spirit of the Russian nation-----(1) Slavism and Westernism, (2) Socialism and Communism; (3) Populism, Nihilism andAnarchism; (4)Theodicy and Antropoditseya; (5)God-man and Man-god; (6) the Eschatology and the Messiah; (7) the New Christianity, and so on. He has also laid out the religious quality of these ideological tendencies. It seems that these ideological tendencies have constituted a "solid" with multy sides; at the same time, these sides, each serving as a separate arris, intersect one another withone common barycenter----- i.e., the religious quality. Every idea contains a kind of religious quality.Therefore, we have established a "multipolar structure of the Russian spirit" with religious quality. This part of the dissertation will specifically dwell on the great significance which helped Berdyaev construct the "multipolar structure of the Russian spirit".