Russian Modernity on an European Scale

Russian Modernity as a macro-epoch is still considered in research more as a specific national development and little attention has been paid to its comparison with international movements. Its outstanding achievement in the context of `Aesthetic Modernity` (Adorno) has not been adequately recognized and documented so far. On the European scale, it needs to be subjected to a new comparative evaluation. It is time that the cultural unity of this tension-laden epoch be methodically reconstructed and put in a new perspective as `une composante contrastee` (Chevrel). Russian Modernity, with its competing centres in Moscow and St. Petersburg, has its basis in the aesthetics and poetics of romanticism, its philosophical foundations in the Western-Slavophile debate and in the great Russian novel. It comprises three stages: the national awakening period (1860-1890), the cosmopolitan Fin de siecle (1890-1921) and the historical avante-garde of the twenties, that is, the time period of 1860-1930. Its richly stimulating potential for European Modernism and Postmodernism needs to be documented on an intercultural scale. In order to do this, one must stop concentrating on literature alone, since Russian Modernity became increasingly an inter-art phenomenon from about 1900 onwards. Literature and the other arts should be examined in their interdependence, both diachronically and synchronically. Our central working hypotheses are: 1. `freedom as experiment` as a key idea, artistic credo and impulse for aesthetic innovations; 2. the dialectic tension between `renaissance and revolution`, used here as a heuristic pair of concepts of cultural typology. They exemplarily relate authors like Pushkin as the founder figure, Dostoevskij as the portal figure and Chekhov as the integration figure of the Russian `Aesthetic Modernity`. Russian Europeans such as Kandinskij, Djagilev and Stravinskij testify to the cultural synthesis of the `Silver Age` and its influence on western Europe. The aim of this project is to analyse Russian Modernity on an European scale as an essential but grossly neglected area in the cultural memory, in accordance with the most contemporary stage of research (in semiotics, comparistics, Slavistics, inter-art and cultural studies). Currently there is no authoritative monography on Russian Modernity. This project will make a comprehensive contribution towards filling this gap.

The project P15505 dealt with a comparative re-evaluation of Russian Modernity. Even though its position in the context of European Modernity has been very prominent, Western Europe research an Aesthetic Modernity has generally neglected Russian developments. The main task of the project was therefore the identification and documentation of the developments of Russian Modernity in comparison with international developments, and also to freu Russian Modernityfrom the approach as a national, isolated process. if Russian Modernity is understood as macro-epoch, it begins, like in Western Europe, around 1800 and is a national and universal cultural phenomenon, based an the aesthetics and poetics of the romantic period (1820- 1850). The national specification of Russian Modernity originates from romanticism: `the debate an identity between Westerners and Slavophiles feeding the subject matter of the Realist novel (especially Dostoevsky`s). On the Basis of romanticism it unfolds in three stages: 1. the literature, art and culture of the national awakening (1860-1890), 2. the cosmopolitan Fin de siecle (1890-1921) and 3. the historical Avantgarde of the twenties. This rich source of innovation of Russian Modernity for panEuropean culture was analysed within a cross-cultural context. Hence, Russian Modernism around 1900 became increasingly intermedial and research focusing only an literature had to be avoided. The Russian Fin de siecle forms the Basis of the intermediality of the Russian Avantgarde. The publications of the project (v.e. "Russische Moderne Interkulturell. Von der Blauen Blume zum Schwarzen Quadrat". Innsbruck, Vienna 2005) attempted to analyse th,e interdependency of literature and other art forms in a diachronic and synchronic view. Our two core theses included: 1. "Freedom as an Experiment" as an artistic Credo and impulse for aesthetic innovations, 2. "Renaissance and Revolution" as a heuristic approach to cultural typology. They associate exemplarily three main writers: Pushkin as the founding figure, Dostoevsky as a portal figure and Chekhov as an integration figure in the Aesthetic Modernity in Russia. The intention of the project was the re-evaluation of Russian Modernity in a European context as an essential, but widely neglected area in the cultural memory of Europe. Ourresearch is based an the latest developments in semiotics, comparative literature, Slavistics intermediality, cultural studies and non-verbal communications.