- DOI:
- Issue:
- Abstract:
The article discusses the autobiographical practices of Andrei Bely in the “Memories of a Strange Man” (1918–19) and other publications, later in one form or another included in “Notes of an Eccentric” (1922). It is shown that the works in question differ from “ordinary” autobiographical and memoir texts by the fact that their author deliberately ignores the details of everyday life and focuses on the reconstruction of his spiritual journeys, on tracing and analyzing the ecstatic moments of mystical illuminations that are constitutive for the process of the rise of his self-conscious “I”. At the same time, ego-documents serve as a means of objectifying of “states of consciousness”, repression of traumatic experiences by transferring them from existential plan into speech acts (illocutionary or perlocutionary) that facilitate self-identification, self-reflection and, ultimately, creative recreation of oneself.
- Keywords: Andrei Bely, “Memories of a Strange Man, Andrei Bely”, “Notes of an Eccentric”, William Wordsworth, spots of time, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Friedrich Nietzsche, Plato’s anamnesis, peak experience, Abraham Maslow, oceanic feeling, moments of spiritual awakening, teleology, Wilhelm Wundt, Rudolf Steiner, inner and external biography, the actual and the possible, autobiography.
- For citation:
Petroff Valery. “Memories of a Strange Man, Andrei Bely” as a diary of states of consciousness. Literary fact, 2018, no. 10, pp. 210–235.
- References:
Belyi A. Material k biografii [Biography material]. Literaturnoe nasledstvo. T. 105: Andrei Belyi. Avtobiograficheskie svody: Material k biografii. Rakurs k dnevniku. Registratsionnye zapisi. Dnevniki 1930-kh godov [Literary heritage. Vol. 105: Andrei Bely. Autobiographical codes. Biography material. An aspect for the diary. Registration records. 1930s diaries], comp. by A.V. Lavrov, J. Malmstad, ed. by M.L. Spivak. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2016, pp. 29–328. (In Russ.)
Belyi A. Vospominaniia strannogo cheloveka [Recollections of a strange man], notes and publ. by A.V. Lavrov. Miry Andreia Belogo [Worlds of Andrei Bely], ed. by K. Ichin, M. Spivak, comp. by I. Delektorskaya, E. Nasedkina. Belgrad, Moscow, 2011, pp. I–LXII. (In Russ.)
Bishop J. Wordsworth and the “Spots of Time”. English Literary History, 1959, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 45–46.
Davis J.P. “The Spots of Time”: Wordsworth’s Poetic Debt to Coleridge. Colby Quarterly, 1992, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 65–84.
Nichols A. The revolutionary “I”: Wordsworth and the Politics of Self-Presentation. London, Macmillan Press Ltd., 1998. 187 p.
Perepiska Andreia Belogo i Viacheslava Ivanova (1904–1920) [Correspondence between Andrei Bely and Vyacheslav Ivanov (1904–1920)], intro., ed. and comment. by N.A. Bogomolov and J. Malmstad. Russkaia literatura, 2015, no. 2, pp. 29–103. (In Russ.)
Petrov V.V. Areopagitskii korpus kak intertekstual'nyi proekt [Corpus Areopagiticum as an intertextual project]. Filosofskii zhurnal, 2015, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 56–75. (In Russ.)
Petrov V.V. Fridrikh Nitsshe i vechnoe vozvrashhenie [Friedrich Nietzsche and the eternal return]. Mera veshchei: Chelovek v istorii evropeiskoi mysli [Measure of things: Human being in the history of European thought], ed. by G.V. Vdovina. Moscow, Akvilon Publ., 2015, pp. 773–879. (In Russ.)
Petrov V.V. Individ i ego telesnost' v istorii evropeiskoi filosofii [The individual and his corporality in the history of European thought]. Tema “zhivogo tela” v istorii filosofii [The theme of “living body” in the history of philosophy], ed. by I.I. Blauberg. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Center for Humanitarian Initiatives Publ., 2016, pp. 11-42. (In Russ.)
Petrov V.V. “Okean bytiia, zhizni i razuma” v filosofskoi, misticheskoi i psikhoanaliticheskoi traditsiiakh [“The ocean of being, life and mind” in philosophical, mystical and psychoanalytic traditions]. Mera veshchei: Chelovek v istorii evropeiskoi mysli [Measure of things: Human being in the history of European thought], ed. by G.V. Vdovina. Moscow, Akvilon Publ., 2015, pp. 191–248. (In Russ.)
Petrov V.V. “Raznotekushchie potoki” v “Sne Melampa” Viacheslava Ivanova: intertekstual’nyi analiz [“Streams flowing different” in Vyacheslav Ivanov’s “Melampus’ Dream”: intertextual analysis]. Dialettica tra contingenza storica e valore universale in Vjačeslav Ivanov. X convegno internazionale. A cura di Maria Pliukhanova e Andrei Shishkin. Salerno, Edizioni culturali internazionali, 2017, pp. 23–54. (Europa Orientalis; 29). (In Russ.)
Petrov V.V. “Revoliutsiia soznaniia” v rabotakh Andreia Belogo 1917–1919 gg. [“Revolution of consciousness” in Andrei Bely’s works of 1917–1919]. Perelom 1917 goda: revoliutsionnyi kontekst russkoi literatury. Issledovaniia i materialy [The breaking point of 1917: Revolutionary context of Russian literature. Studies and materials], ed. by V.V. Polonsky, comp. by V.M. Vvedenskaia, E.V. Glukhova, M.V. Kozmenko. Moscow, Institute of World Literature Publ., 2017, pp. 56–76. (In Russ.)
Petrov V.V. Teleologiia, chetvertoe izmerenie i obratnyi khod vremeni v rabotakh Andreia Belogo, Viach. Ivanova i M. Voloshina [Teleology, the fourth dimension and the time running backwards in the works of Andrei Bely, Vyach. Ivanov and M. Voloshin]. Viacheslav Ivanov: issledovaniia i materialy. Vyp. 3 [Vyacheslav Ivanov: studies and materials. Iss. 3], comp. by S.V. Fedotova, A.B. Shishkin. Moscow, Institute of World Literature Publ., 2018, pp. 13–61. (In Russ.)
Stoddard E.W. The spots of time: Wordsworth’s semiology of the self. Romanticism Past and Present: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 1985, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 1–24.
Wheeler H. The Prelude Books I and II by William Wordsworth. London, Macmillan Education, 1988. 96 p.
Wordsworth W. Preliudiia, ili Stanovlenie soznaniia poeta. 1805 [The Prelude or Growth of a Poet’s Mind. 1805], ed. by A.N. Gorbunov, E.V. Haltrin-Halturina, T. Stamova. Moscow, Nauka Publ., Ladomir Publ., 2017. 1032 p. (In Russ.)
