Yevgeny A. Boratynsky’s Philosophical Lyrics in the Perception of Vasily V. Zenkovsky and Semyon L. Frank

Abstract

A particular aspect of the problem of interference of philosophy and literature is considered. This article reflects the results of the ongoing study of the problem of perception of poetry by E.A. Boratynsky in Russian philosophical thought. For the first time, an analysis of the reception of Baratynsky's lyrics in the works of Archpriest V.V. Zenkovsky and S.L. Frank is presented. The novelty of the study is seen in the fact that the stated problem is considered for the first time. The relevance seems to lie in the interdisciplinary nature of the research being undertaken. Appeal to the method of slow reading allows us to reconstruct two specific examples of the complex process of interaction between Russian literature and philosophy. Particular attention is paid to Zenkovsky's article “Philosophical Motives of Russian Poetry”, as well as Frank's abstracts “The Meaning of Suffering”, “On the Meaning of Suffering in Russian Literature” and his “Etudes on Pushkin”. It is shown that both Zenkovsky and Frank saw in Boratynsky, first of all, a contemporary of A.S. Pushkin, a poet-philosopher who expressed pessimistic ideas in his work. At the same time, unlike Zenkovsky, who tried to define the essence of Boratynsky's lyrics as such, Frank turned to the poet's poems in order to determine the place of Pushkin in Russian poetry and, on the other hand, in order to express the provisions of his own concept of suffering more clearly.