The Russian Prospero : The Creative Universe of Viacheslav Ivanov / Robert Bird.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bird, Robert, 1969-2020.

Series:

ACLS Fellows’ publications.

ACLS Humanities E-Book.

Language:

English

Russian

Subjects (All):

Ivanov, V. I. (Vi︠a︡cheslav Ivanovich), 1866-1949--Criticism and interpretation.

Ivanov, V. I.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 310 p. ) ill. ;

Place of Publication:

Madison : University of Wisconsin Press, c2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Viacheslav Ivanov (1866-1949), the central intellectual force in Russian modernism, achieved through his work an original synthesis of Christianity, Platonism, and the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. His powerful intellect exerted an immeasurable influence in modernist Russia and the early Soviet Union, and after emigrating to Italy in 1924 he played an important role in intellectual debates in Western Europe between the wars. In recent years, Ivanov's manifold contributions have been recognized in all major aspects of Russian culture, including poetry, literary theory, philosophy, and theology. In "The Russian Prospero," Robert Bird uncovers the foundations of Ivanov's poetic and theoretical universe, traces its evolution, and explores its connections to cultural and intellectual currents in international modernism. Blending a close reading of Ivanov's work with a thoughtful analysis of his place within twentieth-century thought, Bird finds that Ivanov's ecstatic creative psychology leads directly to a consideration of history as a continuum of human interpretive activity, and to a conception of art as a historical force. He emphasizes and dramatizes Ivanov's quest to harness the power of art and apply it to concrete life-situations. It is the dilemma of Prospero, who must liberate his attendant spirit Ariel in order to restore full sovereignty over his own creative self and to regain ethical agency. The productive tension that resulted from Ivanov's struggle was a remarkable force in Russian modernism and remains a powerful spur for our own reflections on modernity.

Contents:

Lyric, ritual, symbol

Epic, myth, allegory

Ivanov's theory of discourse

Catharsis

Mathesis

Praxis

Ivanov's emigration.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 293-304) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9786612270192

9780299218331

0299218333

9781282270190

1282270192

OCLC:

318252722

Publisher Number:

2027/heb08775 hdl