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Russia and the Metaphor of the Seed: The Case of M. A. Vološin’s “Posev” Poems
Stockholm University, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Slavic and Baltic Studies, Finnish, Dutch, and German.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-3402-9859
Number of Authors: 12020 (English)In: Scando-Slavica, ISSN 0080-6765, E-ISSN 1600-082X, Vol. 66, no 2, p. 247-263Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

In this article I analyze the biblical intertextual connections of two poems by M. A. Vološin from the war and revolutionary period, both titled “Posev.” The poems are intertextually connected through the parable of the wheat and the weeds from the Gospel of Matthew. When read side by side, the interplay of their structures is discernible, and this, I argue, exposes a hidden signification in the poems. The poems’ symbolical meanings are interconnected also on a deeper level. I show how the poems render Russia’s destiny and future through some of the philosophical ideas and movements that impacted on the Russian Symbolist movement, such as myth-creation, theurgy, the Russian idea and anthroposophy. In particular I focus on the ‘seed metaphor’ that is central in both poems. In this metaphor Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophical predictions are merged with the messianism of the Russian idea as expressed in its perspective on Russia’s destiny. I argue that the poems, written within the context of the Symbolists’ myth-creating program, can be interpreted as attempts at theurgic art with the aim of inciting a national spiritual revival shaped by the Russian idea and by Steiner’s predictions about the Russians as the “people of Christ,” leading humanity’s spiritual evolution.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2020. Vol. 66, no 2, p. 247-263
Keywords [en]
Maksimilian Vološin, Bible, theyrgy, Russian idea, anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner
National Category
Languages and Literature
Research subject
Slavic Languages; Literature
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-188028DOI: 10.1080/00806765.2020.1832916ISI: 000590665100004OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-188028DiVA, id: diva2:1511679
Available from: 2020-12-19 Created: 2020-12-19 Last updated: 2022-02-25Bibliographically approved

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Löflund, Emma-Lina

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