On the Eastern style of thinking in A. Bely’s theory of symbolism

RELEVANCE. The study is devoted to understanding and identifying the significance of the eastern style of philosophy and aesthetics of Taoism in the work of the prominent representative of Russian symbolism Andrey Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev), who determined the development of the literary process (modernist and post-modernist movements) and art of the first third of the 20th century and influenced the further development Russian literature. The purpose of the study is to show the conceptual content of the aesthetic thought of the Russian philosopher and symbolist poet through the prism of Taoism and to clarify the presence of Eastern traditional wisdom (“Tao Te Ching”) in the construction of A. Bely’s theory of symbolism.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. The research material was the collected works of A. Bely. The translation of the book “Tao Te Ching” written by the great Chinese thinker Lao Tzu, presented for the first time for the Russian-speaking reader, was used.” When solving research problems, a description method with the interpretive function of language was used, that is, a method of studying the interpretation of knowledge about the world. In our case, the interpretation of Taoism is focused on the interpretive activity of an individual creative personality, which always presupposes the subjective selectivity of the word.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION. An analysis of the work of A. Bely showed that in reflecting the problems of the symbol, the philosophical principles of symbolism, in addition to two sources, they participate: on the one hand, the ideas of the Slavophiles, arising from the philosophy of V. Solovyov, on the other hand, the system of Western philosophy (the ideas  of A. Schopenhauer and F. Nietzsche), a reflection of the creative borrowing of Eastern wisdom, ideas and functions of Chinese literature. The originality of the imaginative thinking of the Russian symbolist poet, who, in accordance with his spiritual nature, followed his bright creative path, is reflected in the development of the artistic method – symbolism.

CONCLUSION. The idea of A. Bely’s symbolism is based on the compatibility of the concepts of various thinkers, including philosophizing in the Taoist style. A. Bely created a unified symbolic picture of the world - the unification of artistic, aesthetic, religious, mystical and everyday ideas and knowledge about the world into one whole. The connecting sign of this unification is the Symbol, which has a pronounced authorial character, has an infinity of boundaries of value, and not a semantic individual interpretation of the word and broadcasts the manifestation of systemic pluralism, revealing the essence of the world and being.

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