| This dissertation for the first time identifies a particular strand of Russian literature that defines itself in conjunction with the key concepts of Immanuel Kant's philosophy. A close analysis of Nikolai Gogol's and Mikhail Bulgakov's art establishes the principal characteristics and developmental patterns of this strand and shows that quintessentially Russian texts represent, in fact, a cross-cultured dialogue. Kant's thought is an organizing principle that not only provides content, but also gives form to the works of Gogol and Bulgakov. At the same time, these Russian authors established and kept alive a tradition that secured a literary future for Kant, which entails the verification, realization and enrichment of his philosophy, as well as its ongoing relevance.;The distinction between phenomena and noumena that lies at the core of Kant's thought together with various exploration of how to reach out to the noumenal establishes the framework for Gogol's and Bulgakov's literary pursuits. The Kantian aesthetic categories of the agreeable, the beautiful and the good, as well as mathematical sublime, become fully explored in Gogol's short stories. In Dead Souls Gogol puts more stress on nothingness as a possible venue to noumena.;Gogol's discoveries, as well as the stumbling blocks he encountered his art, are accounted for by Bulgakov, who fully develops, in The Master and Maragrita, the potentials of nothingness. Most importantly, he finds a unique literary form for a philosophically valid presentation of ideals, which is the task that Kant envisioned as vitally important, but hardly possible to accomplish. Kant's unorthodox views on the role of religion, which were problematic for Gogol, become a fertile soil for Bulgakov. In his writing, he also incorporates Kant's political views and reenforces Kant's emphasis on the individual. |
