| My dissertation is the study of the memoirs of Andrej Belyj covering the following periods: On the Border of Two Centuries (Na rubeze dvux stoletij), (from the 1880's until 1901); Beginning of the Century (Nacalo veka), (from 1901 until 1905); Between Two Revolutions (Mezdu dvux revoljucij), (1905 untill 1911). While spanning an important era in the intellectual and social life of pre-revolutionary Russia these memoirs reflect Belyj's rich literary experience and the manysidedness of his brilliant intellectual gifts.; Andrej Belyj (Boris Bugaev, 1880-1934), poet, novelist, critic and theoretician of Russian Symbolism, remains a controversial figure in Western criticism and did not gain acceptance by the critics of the school of Soviet social realism. Belyj's Weltanschaung was fluid and complex. A follower of the religious mystic and philosopher, Vladimir Solovyev, an admirer of Nietzsche and Gogol, he was influenced by various philosophers, among them Kant and Schopenhauer.; Andrej Belyj was a prolific writer, who is justly considered an innovator of Russian prose. He attempted to use musical counterpoint in his prose (Four Symphonies) and structured it as a poetical discourse. His poetry is philosophic and highly subjective, his criticism original and profound, and his theoretical work marked by gnosiological brilliance.; The study of Belyj's memoirs had in view the establishment of a link between the trilogy and the author's previous literary and theoretical works. It dwelt upon specific literary devices such as composition, style, language and typology of discourse. Special attention has been given to the portrayal of the eminent contemporaries of the author, writers, poets, artists, religious thinkers and other intellectuals whom Belyj knew, both in Russia and abroad.; A considerable difference between the portraits of Aleksander Blok in the trilogy and in Andrej Belyj's earlier reminiscences had been pointed out. A complex and multilayered relationship between life and art is illustrated, especially in the chapter, "Self-portrait."; The study of his reminscences allows to conclude that Belyj can be considered an innovator also in a genre of memoirs. The dissertation shows how Belyj achieves in his memoirs a synthesis of the factual and imaginative aspects and a linkage of the historical past with the present. |
