Philosopher Rozanov: biography, scientific papers, publications

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

The life path of the philosopher Vasily Vasilyevich Rozanov covers the period from 1856 to 1919. He became a famous literary critic and publicist. He left behind a kind of artistic heritage, allowing you to immerse yourself in the era of the Silver Age. From a brief biography of Vasily Rozanov, one can find out that he managed to create his own literary genre over the years of his life, they began to imitate him en masse. In addition, his identity remains largely shrouded in mystery even a century later. Even despite the fact that the biography of Vasily Vasilyevich Rozanov has been described many times, and entire volumes are devoted to his teachings.

Biography

His hometown is Vetluga in the Kostroma province. He was born into a family of officials, he had many brothers and sisters. The future writer Vasily Rozanov lost both parents early. In fact, his elder brother Nikolai took up his upbringing. Since 1870 they moved to Simbirsk, where his young trustee became a teacher at the gymnasium. Describing his life (years 1856-1919), the Russian philosopher V. Rozanov notes that if it were not for his brother, he simply would not have survived. Nikolai managed by the time of the death of his parentsto finish university in Kazan, he provided Vasily with all the conditions for education, in fact, replaced his father.

In Simbirsk, the potential writer was a regular visitor to the Karamzin library. In 1872, he changed his place of residence to Nizhny Novgorod, where he entered the gymnasium and in 1878 had already completed his studies.

After graduation, he entered Moscow University. There he attended lectures by Solovyov, Klyuchevsky, Korsh and many others. By the fourth year, the future philosopher Vasily Rozanov received a Khomyakov scholarship. In 1880 he married A. P. Suslova, who was 41 years old. Until that moment, she was the mistress of the family F. Dostoevsky.

After University

After graduating from a higher educational institution in 1882, he decided not to receive a master's degree, but went into free creativity. In the next 11 years, the Russian philosopher Rozanov worked as a teacher in the gymnasiums of several cities: Simbirsk, Vyazma, Yelets, Bryansk, Bely. He published his first book in 1886. In it, he made an attempt to explain science by Hegelian methods, but it was not successful. Soon after the publication and failure of the work of Vasily Rozanov, Suslov leaves. She refused to formalize the divorce

He became famous after the publication of the sketch "The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor F. M. Dostoevsky." This work appeared in 1891, it laid the foundation for a new interpretation of the works of the Russian thinker as works of a religious nature. Later, as a writer and philosopher,Rozanov draws closer to Berdyaev and Bulgakov, other philosophers and theologians.

In 1900, together with his comrades, he founded the Religious-Philosophical Society. He becomes the most famous Slavophile journalist in Russia. His articles are published in the Novoye Vremya newspaper, as well as in a number of magazines.

Second marriage

In 1891, he made a secret wedding with V. D. Butyagina, she was the widow of a gymnasium teacher in Yelets. At this stage of his biography, the philosopher Rozanov taught there himself. Together with Pervov, he makes the first Russian translation of Aristotle's Metaphysics from Greek.

In addition, he vehemently opposes the education system in the Russian Empire, denoting his position very clearly in articles on this topic. He described with sympathy the Russian Revolution of 1905-1907. Then Vasily Rozanov's book "When the Bosses Left" was published.

In some works he was looking for ways to solve problems that arose in religiosity and society. Vasily Rozanov's books "Religion and Culture" (1899) and "Nature and History" (1900) are devoted to this.

He was very controversial about the Orthodox Church. Carefully considered the problems of family and sex in the country. The book of Rozanov Vasily Vasilyevich “The Family Question in Russia”, published in 1903, is dedicated to this. In the course of his writings, he finally disagrees with Christianity on the issue of sex. He contrasted the Old Testament with the New. The first he proclaimed as the affirmation of the life of the flesh.

Break offsociety

After publishing some articles on the topic of the Beilis case in 1911, he began to conflict with the Religious-Philosophical Society, of which he was a member. The rest considered the Beilis case an insult to the Russians, and the philosopher Vasily Rozanov was called to leave his ranks. He did just that.

His later books were collections of essays on various topics. They briefly slipped the philosophy of Vasily Vasilyevich Rozanov. They were united by mood and contained a lot of internal dialogues. Researchers note that at that time the writer was in a spiritual crisis. He became pessimistic, this was fully reflected in the "Apocalypse of Our Time" of 1917-1918. At the same time, he was aware of the inevitability of a catastrophe in the country, revolutionary events. This period of the biography of Vasily Rozanov was marked by a collapse for him, since he associated the revolution of Russia with such a concept. In 1917, he wrote that there is no Sovereign - and for him, as there is no Russia.

His writings were actively criticized by Marxist revolutionaries. Liberals and representatives of the Russian intelligentsia also did not accept him.

In Sergiev Posad

In the summer months of 1917, Vasily Rozanov moved from Petrograd to Sergiev Posad. There he settles in the house of a teacher of the local theological seminary. On the last pages of the biography of Vasily Rozanov, there remains an openly beggar who lived in hunger. In 1918, he wrote an appeal in Apocalypse, where he asked for financial assistance. Famed for his philosophy, Rozanov Vasily Vasilyevich was already on the edge of the abyss, he admitted that withoutaid could not have survived that last year. In February 1919 he dies.

Vasily Rozanov had 5 children - 4 girls and one boy. His daughter, born in 1900, Nadezhda Vasilievna, becomes an artist and illustrator.

Philosophy

In short, the philosophy of Vasily Rozanov was evaluated very contradictory. The thing is that he gravitated towards extremes. It was deliberate. That was his outstanding feature. He believed that “it is necessary to have a thousand points of view on a subject.”

This thought expressed the peculiar specifics of the philosophy of Rozanov Vasily Vasilyevich. He looked at the world with an unusual look. So, he believed that the events of the revolution of 1905-1907 should be viewed from different angles. He simultaneously published articles from completely different positions - under his own name he acted as a monarchist, while under the pseudonym of V. Varvarin he defended the populist point of view.

For the philosopher Rozanov, the spiritual homeland was in Simbirsk. About his youth in this area, he wrote in great detail. His whole life was built on 3 foundations - Kostroma, Simbirsk and Yelets, which, respectively, were his physical, spiritual and moral centers. In literary art, the philosopher Rozanov appeared as an already established personality. His long journey in this kind of creativity was not interrupted, it traced the gradual development of talent and the discovery of genius. The philosopher Rozanov regularly changed the subject matter of his own works, his view of problems, but the personality of the Creator alwaysremained sublime in them.

His living conditions were in many ways no easier than those of Maxim Gorky. He was brought up in the spirit of nihilism and passionately desired to serve society. He was guided by this, choosing the path of a public figure of a democratic persuasion. He could express social protest, but in his youth there was a rather strong upheaval. After that, he searched for his historical homeland in other regions, becoming a commentator. Almost all of his works are a look at the events surrounding him.

Egocentrism

Researchers of his works notice the egocentric orientation of the philosopher. Many critics met its initial editions with bewilderment. Positive reviews of the first works of Rozanov simply did not come out. Everyone gave him a furious, furious rebuff. Rozanov declared on the pages of his works: “I am not such a scoundrel as to think about morality.”

He was a Russian writer who managed to know the honor and love of his readers. This was evident in the testimonials from his fans, which were intimately written in separate letters.

Philosophy

Vasily Rozanov's philosophy is distinguished by atypical features, despite the fact that it is included in the general Russian philosophical circle. The thinker himself was at the epicenter of the events raging at the beginning of the 20th century in the Russian Empire. He actively communicated with many writers and artists. Many of his works expressed an ideological, meaningful reaction to the phenomena he noticed. He criticized the opinion of Berdyaev, Solovyov, Blok and many others.

Most of all, Vasily Rozanov was worried about the issues of morality and ethics, religiosity and opposition. He often talked about the apology of the family. In his works, he tried to get rid of contradictions.

Interpreting Rozanov's philosophy, someone proclaimed that these are the arguments of a "little religious man." Indeed, he very actively explored the internal dialogues of such a person with theology, he emphasized the complexity of these issues.

The scale of the tasks considered by Rozanov is connected only in part with the church. It does not lend itself to critical evaluation. A person is alone, bypassing external institutions that unite people and create some common tasks for them.

Religion he sees as an assembly, a public association. While clarifying personal spiritual issues leads to contradictions. A person tries to find his own methods, to connect and unite with others, expecting that then everything will fall into place.

Journalism

Researchers of Vasily Rozanov's activities note that his articles are written in an unusual genre. They could hardly be identified to any particular style. At the same time, it was a stable part of his work. He constantly reacted to the topic of the day. The philosopher carries out the release of desktop books. In his writings, he tries to reproduce "understanding" in all the diverse complexities of living facial expressions of oral speech. It was this genre that stuck with him, his works always gravitated towards feelings. He finally took shape for the last work.

Religion in creativity

HimselfVasily Rozanov said about himself that he "always expresses himself." He noted that everything he writes about eventually goes back to God in one way or another. He believed that while all the religion of the world is individual, Christianity has become personal. The philosopher gives everyone the right to decide, but not what confession to profess, it was already decided once, but the question of rooting the individual in the common faith.

He believed that the Church could not be performed only through the rites of the sacrament. Sincere conviction is needed, the belief that everything in his life is now marked with a touch of religiosity.

Relationship to God and to the church he considers through the prism of the concept of conscience. It is to this feeling that he assigns the role of a divider into a personality into a subjective and objective component. He distinguishes two aspects in the matter of conscience - its relation to God and its relation to the church.

God, from his point of view, is a Personal infinite spirit.

Gender Theme

And yet the central issue in all his work was the theme of sex. In 1898, he formulated his own definition of this aspect. He pointed out that this is not an organ, not a function, but a constructive person. Gender is real and remains a mystery, just as the mind does not comprehend the meaning of being. Man in his metaphysics, who is one in soul and body, is associated with the Logos. However, the connection is exhibited precisely in the intimate area of being: in the sphere of sexual love.

Jewish theme

Vasily Rozanov very actively raised the Jewish question in his work. It's all about his special view of the world, filled with mystical andreligious traits. He affirmed the sanctity of marriage and childbearing. Basil opposed the denial of the flesh, asceticism and celibacy. He cited how sex, family, and conception were sanctified in the Old Testament, contrasting it with the New Testament, like life to death.

It was an anti-Christian riot. Soon he moved into organic conservatism, filled with love for everyday confession, family. From here came the anti-Semitism that was traced in his work and outraged a wide part of the audience. Some of his remarks were openly anti-Semitic. But it is important to consider that it was typical for the philosopher as a whole to go to extremes - this was a striking feature of his thinking, which represented him interesting and remarkable. He did many things on purpose. He was both a Judophile and a Judeophobe at the same time.

However, Rozanov himself denied anti-Semitism in his own works. When the sensational case of Beilis was considered, Vasily began to publish numerous articles. And according to the Jewish encyclopedia, in them he justified the accusation of Jews in ritual murder, proving that the basis of their cult is bloodshed.

Because of this duality of absolutely opposite views, Rozanov was actively accused of unscrupulousness. It was for these articles, containing an enthusiastic hymn to the Jews and preaching of anti-Semitism, that he left the Religious-Philosophical Society in 1913.

Only closer to the end of his earthly journey, Rozanov stopped expressing open hostility towards the Jews, sometimes speaking about themwith delight. In the last book, he praised the works of Moses, and also wrote the lines: “Live, Jews. I bless you in everything…”.

Memories

The philosopher himself said about his youth that: "he came out of the abomination of desolation." He was in distress at the very beginning of his life. At the time of the wedding with Suslova, he was 24 years old, and she was 41. He noted that she was: “the most wonderful woman I have met …”.

The church did not recognize the second marriage after the secret wedding of Vasily Rozanov and Butyagina. However, the couple spent 30 years together, raised 6 children.

Fellow students noted Vasily's pessimism, for which he received the nickname "Vasya the cemetery". Through such a prism, he looked at the many phenomena of the life around him. He believed that Christians misunderstood the issues of sex, family, and conception. Criticizing the church, he wanted to improve it, but in the end he worried that, on the contrary, he destroyed it.

The style of writing, new philosophical methods, a separate literary genre - in all this lay Rozanov's personal experiences. "Stream of Consciousness" once tried to add to the works of Leo Tolstoy. And Vasily, using this form, wrote a philosophical trilogy. There he reflected his own thoughts and feelings, without editing or tying them to specific goals. Vasily's opinions were controversial on many issues.

After the October Revolution thundered, sales of his books ended. The family was in distress for a long time, until the death of Vasily Rozanov.

Publishing"The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor", the writer started a lawsuit with virtually the entire Russian literary world, as the critic noted. He published with her articles on Gogol's works. While it was generally accepted that Russian literature originated from Gogol's "Overcoat". Vasily noted that there were simply no living folk characters in this work. He spoke of Gogol's work as an ominous round dance of some farcical creatures.

Vasily Rozanov in the article raised the question: "who has ever met a living beauty on the pages of Gogol's books?". He suffered from a pathological hatred for this writer.

The philosopher expressed the point of view that, starting from the works of Gogol, Russian literature was not able to come to anything good.

Rozanov and living writers entered into active controversy, sometimes going beyond the bounds of decency. For example, in 1894 he started a dispute with Solovyov. They had a rather strange relationship with each other. Their battle took place in articles. Solovyov called Vasily "Judushka", and he answered with the same epithets. After a long showdown, they ended up confessing to each other in sympathy. Solovyov wrote to Rozanov: “I believe that we are brothers in spirit.”

It is noteworthy that once Vasily was in the service of the Moscow State Control. He held a high post, receiving a salary of 100 rubles a month. However, life in the capital was expensive for him - he gave 40% of this amount for housing. And then Rozanov was forced to write a lot. He did it easily, without editing the text. What was written was printedthem without further corrections. At the same time, his articles were regularly published in several publications at once, and this caused indignation of everyone - they said that he: “writes with both hands.”

Thinker used many pseudonyms. But even in this position, he remained in a lack of money. His wife, in her memoirs, spoke about the hunger and cold that they experienced when they moved to the capital. Vasily himself collected materials about the officials of the State Control. His idea was to publish articles with a negative point of view on bureaucracy. He regarded it as the main plague of the Russian Empire. Censorship banned the publication of articles. And Vasily set about looking for a new job.

He was published in publications of various directions. Thanks to this, in the 20th century he became widely known, and also gained material we alth. And the family allowed themselves a little foreign trip. During the same period, interviews between the clergy and the intelligentsia took place in the northern capital in order to search for points of contact between "faith and reason." They continued until the armed conflicts of the First World War. But due to several articles, Rozanov was removed from these events. The books of Vasily Vasilyevich Rozanov stopped being bought because of the boycott declared against him. However, he showed amazing performance. Vasily wrote books and actively acted as a publicist in the Novoye Vremya newspaper. But even here a feud with regular authors began.

In 1910, Varvara Dmitrievna suffered paralysis - she was terminally ill. Vasily Rozanov was in despair and wrote aboutthat: “he spoke about marriage, marriage, marriage … but death, death, death kept coming to me.” And against the backdrop of these events, he publishes new literature. It contained thoughts "without processing, without purpose." Everything fit together here.

It is known that a long time ago, being a worker somewhere in the wilderness, translating the works of Aristotle, Vasily became interested in Pascal. And, most likely, this fact influenced this new genre of his.

As critics noted, in the new works of the author there was an absolute fullness of oneself. He didn't need readers.

His work "Solitary" was overflowing with frankness and was initially arrested for pornography. Vasily was compared by critics with Karamazov. Indeed, such ways of presenting thoughts had some basis under them. Rozanov emphasized that he was actually releasing the book as a manuscript. It is striking in that the author's position is paradoxical - he is both a conservative and a radical reformer. And this duality was reflected in everything that the philosopher undertook. Their greetings to the revolution of 1905 were due to the adoption of the ideas of equalization. He grew up in poverty.

It is noteworthy that until 1911 he was not called a writer, he was an essayist. But after the release of "The Secluded" everything changed. The critics were ecstatic. The author himself also considered the book the pinnacle of his work. Then there were rumors that Vasily Rozanov became the founder of a new literary genre.

But the tragic events of the First World War were approaching. And Vasily's tea parties were less and less frequent. He remained in a certain isolation, despite the fact thatafter his break with the Philosophical Society, his circle of contacts did not change. At that time, Rozanov actively collaborated with Novoye Vremya, publishing anti-German articles for this newspaper. And this severed the ties that were still between him and the public, which did not have a clear position on the issues identified.

It is known that the philosopher had a special love for the youth circle. He studied letters from readers, often publishing them. I tried to respond to almost everyone who wrote. Soon after the revolution, the magazine was closed, as it was "White Guard". The editor emigrated, and then became the inspirer of the Russian fascist party. Rozanov stopped publishing.

But the year 1917 knocked the ground out from under Vasily's feet. He was deeply impressed by the events that took place, he spoke with a shudder about the story of how the "serious old man" wanted the king to be skinned "ribbon by ribbon." The habitual way of his life was crumbling, everything he believed in was destroyed. And this drove the already pessimistic philosopher to an extreme degree of despair.

He moved to Sergiev Posad, where it was somewhat easier for an impoverished person to live, and his friend Pavel Florensky also lived there, who found rooms for his family. The last years of his life were a series of misfortunes for the writer. His only son, Vasily, died under tragic circumstances.

The last letters of the philosopher were tragic. He was worried not only about Russia, but also about humanity as a whole. The thinker argued that the world is falling apart. Vasiliywas exhausted, constantly rushing about in search of work in order to get a piece of bread for himself and his family, and this could not be done. He survived thanks to the sendings that his acquaintances and readers made to him. Vasily addressed them in his letters. And soon, on the basis of serious nervous diseases, he was smashed by a stroke.

He was dying for several days, completely broken. A. M. Gorky sent him money from abroad to somehow support his life, but they arrived late, the writer was already dying. Rozanov continued to write on his deathbed, describing everything that happens to him. His daughter said that just before his death, he took communion, and then asked to be given the image of Jehovah. He was not around, and then he asked for a statue of Osiris. And he bowed to this deity.

In recent days, he was cared for by his 18-year-old daughter, practically carrying him in her arms like a baby. Vasily was quiet, he changed terribly. It seemed as if the writer had already died completely and been reborn. All his last days were Hosanna to Christ. He claimed that miracles happened to him, asked everyone to hug and declared that Christ had risen.

After this legend went everywhere, rumors of his death spread across the country very quickly. The final stage of his life was joyful. He took communion four times as he wished, took unction, and three times the farewell was read in front of him. And then he died. His death was not painful. Vasily Rozanov was buried in the Chernigov Skete of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.