Freedom as an Experiment - Renaissance and Revolution

The research on Russian Modernity is still viewed as a national, isolated process and little attention has been paid to its comparison with international developments. Even though its position in the context of European Modernity has been very prominent, Western Europe research on Aesthetic Modernity has generally neglected Russian developments. Therefore, its pronounced stimulus on Western European Modernity has so far not been adequately recognised and documented. If Russian Modernity is considered a macro-epoch, it begins, like in Western Europe, around 1800 and is a national and universal cultural phenomenon, based on the aesthetics and poetics of the romantic period (1820-1850). The national specific of Russian Modernity emanates from romanticism: the debate on identity between Westerners and Slavophiles feeding the subject matter of the Realist novel (especially Dostoevsky). 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 siècle (1890-1921) and 3. the historical Avantgarde of the twenties. This rich offering of innovation of Russian Modernity for pan-European culture has to be documented within a cross-cultural context. Since Russian Modernism around 1900 became increasingly intermedial, research focusing only on literature has to be avoided. The Russian Fin de siècle forms the basis of the intermediality of the Russian Avantgarde. The proposed project will, like the previous one, attempt to analyse the interdependency of literature and other art forms in a diachronic and synchronic view. Our two core theses include: 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 is a re-evaluation of Russian Modernity in a European context as an essential, but widely neglected area in the cultural memory of Europe. Our research will rest upon the latest developments in semiotics, comparative literature, Slavistics, intermediality, cultural studies and non-verbal communications. There is currently no significant monography on Russian Modernism. This project attempts to make a comprehensive contribution to fill this gap.

The research on Russian Modernity is still viewed as a national, isolated process and little attention has been paid to its comparison with international developments. Even though its position in the context of European Modernity has been very prominent, Western Europe research on Aesthetic Modernity has generally neglected Russian developments. Therefore, its pronounced stimulus on Western European Modernity has so far not been adequately recognised and documented. If Russian Modernity is considered a macro-epoch, it begins, like in Western Europe, around 1800 and is a national and universal cultural phenomenon, based on the aesthetics and poetics of the romantic period (1820-1850). The national specific of Russian Modernity emanates from romanticism: the debate on identity between Westerners and Slavophiles feeding the subject matter of the Realist novel (especially Dostoevsky). 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 siècle (1890-1921) and 3. the historical Avantgarde of the twenties. This rich offering of innovation of Russian Modernity for pan-European culture has to be documented within a cross-cultural context. Since Russian Modernism around 1900 became increasingly intermedial, research focusing only on literature has to be avoided. The Russian Fin de siècle forms the basis of the intermediality of the Russian Avantgarde. The proposed project will, like the previous one, attempt to analyse the interdependency of literature and other art forms in a diachronic and synchronic view. Our two core theses include: 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 is a re-evaluation of Russian Modernity in a European context as an essential, but widely neglected area in the cultural memory of Europe. Our research will rest upon the latest developments in semiotics, comparative literature, Slavistics, intermediality, cultural studies and non-verbal communications. There is currently no significant monography on Russian Modernism. This project attempts to make a comprehensive contribution to fill this gap.