ALEKSANDR DOBROLYUBOV ON HIS WAY TO THE ‘MOST EXALTED BROTHERHOOD’. WHAT DOES IT MEAN NOT TO BE LEO TOLSTOY
https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2018-2-127-156
Abstract
Based on letters, archived documents and the works written by A. Dobrolyubov during his religious exploration, after he set off on a pilgrimage across Russia, this article considers the foundations of the poet’s religious teaching and its perception by peasants and ‘literate’ society. The researcher focuses on A. Dobrolyubov’s collections of poetry From the Invisible Book [Iz knigi Nevidimoy], My Eternal Fellow-Travellers [Moi vechnie sputniki] and the songs he composed for group performance during community/brotherhood gatherings. A particularly valuable input is provided by I. Yarkov’s archive about Dobrolyubov and his followers (kept at the manuscripts departments of the Russian State Library and the Samara M. Gorky Literary Museum).
The researcher points out that Dobrolyubov’s religious teaching, which used to enjoy a big following across a wide geography, was either ignored or misinterpreted in literary circles, and that, once he cut off his ties with the intellectuals, his contemporaries began to compare Dobrolyubov with Leo Tolstoy and those characters of classical Russian literature whose devoted their lives to the search for God and the truth. Dobrolyubov’s ideas of refusal to perform military service, genuine emancipation of peasants, the inner revolution as a prerequisite for progress, a universal unity, and respect for folk culture are not unlike the values that shaped European democracies.
About the Author
O. Sluzhaeva
A. M. Gorky Institute of the World Literature of the Russian Academy of Science
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Olga Olegovna Sluzhaeva, philologist, PhD student
Academic interests include Russian literature of the period between the 19th and the 20th centuries, the literature of art nouveau, contemporary poetry, the literary and folklore forms of popular religious beliefs in the early 20th century, the theory of the subject of artistic expression.
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Review
For citations:
Sluzhaeva O. ALEKSANDR DOBROLYUBOV ON HIS WAY TO THE ‘MOST EXALTED BROTHERHOOD’. WHAT DOES IT MEAN NOT TO BE LEO TOLSTOY. Voprosy literatury. 2018;(2):127-156. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2018-2-127-156
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