Reformulating Russia Russian History and Culture VOLUME 7 Editors-in-Chief Jeffrey P. Brooks The Johns Hopkins University Christina Lodder University of Edinburgh Reformulating Russia The Cultural and Intellectual Historiography of Russian First-Wave Émigré Writers by Kåre Johan Mjør LEIDEN • BOSTON 2011 On the front cover: Portraits of Georgii Fedotov (1914–15, photographer unknown), Georgii Florovskii (1950s, photographer unknown), Nikolai Berdiaev (1938–39, Studios Dorlys, Paris) and Vasilii Zenkovskii (1930s, probably taken by Lev Zander). Information on photos provided by courtesy of Andrei Korliakov, Paris (www.emigrationrusse.com). Back cover: Photograph by Jan Kåre Wilhelmsen, University of Bergen. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mjør, Kåre Johan. Reformulating Russia : the cultural and intellectual historiography of Russian first-wave emigre writers / by Kare Johan Mjor. p. cm. — (Russian history and culture, ISSN 1877-7791 ; v. 7) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-19286-7 (hbk. : acid-free paper) 1. Russia—Intellectual life— Historiography. 2. Russia—Civilization—Historiography. 3. Christian saints— Russia—Historiography. 4. Theology—Russia—Historiography. 5. Philosophy, Russian—Historiography. 6. Fedotov, G. P. (Georgii Petrovich), 1886–1951. Sviatye Drevnei Rusi. 7. Florovsky, Georges, 1893–1979. Puti russkago bogoslovia. 8. Berdiaev, Nikolai, 1874–1948. Russkaia ideia. 9. Zen’kovskii, V. V. (Vasilii Vasil’evich), 1881–1962. Istoriia russkoi filosofii. 10. Russian literature—Foreign countries—History and criticism. I. Title. II. Series. DK32.7.M56 2011 947.0072—dc22 2011009240 ISSN 1877-7791 ISBN 978 90 04 19286 7 Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. “Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience.” Edward W. Said CONTENTS Acknowledgements ............................................................................. ix Transliterations and Abbreviations ................................................. xi Introduction ......................................................................................... 1 Texts and Contexts ........................................................................ 2 Historiography and Narrativity ................................................... 8 Research ........................................................................................... 18 PART ONE CONTEXTS Chapter One Russia Abroad ............................................................ 27 The Émigré Community ............................................................... 30 Exile as Mission .............................................................................. 39 Chapter Two Writing Russian History .......................................... 53 Varieties of Intellectual History ................................................... 59 Culture and Cultural History ....................................................... 65 Historiography of Imperial Russia .............................................. 72 PART TWO READINGS Chapter Three Georgii Fedotov and the Saints of Ancient Russia ................................................................................................ 91 Culture, Creativity, Tragedy ......................................................... 95 Resurrecting Russian Sanctity ...................................................... 102 Configuring Russian Holiness ...................................................... 108 Fedotov’s Ancient and Holy Russia ............................................ 114 Detail and Meaning in Russian Holiness ................................... 117 The Workers in the Vineyard ...................................................... 122 From Negative to Positive Liberty .............................................. 127 viii contents Difference and Opposition ........................................................... 133 Fedotov’s Tragedy .......................................................................... 138 Fedotov’s Historicism .................................................................... 145 Chapter Four Georgii Florovskii and the Ways of Russian Theology ........................................................................................... 153 Emigration, Eurasianism and Orthodoxy .................................. 156 Florovskii’s Prophetic Eschatology .............................................. 165 The Pseudomorphosis of Russian Thought ............................... 174 Gradual Recovery and New Excitements ................................... 183 Florovskii’s Theology of Creativity .............................................. 189 The Ascetic Way Home ................................................................. 194 Chapter Five Nikolai Berdiaev and the Russian Idea ............... 203 Revolution and Exile ...................................................................... 207 Berdiaev’s Paradoxes and Inconsistencies .................................. 212 The Russian Idea or the Idea of Russia? .................................... 217 Chaotic Essentialism ...................................................................... 220 Russians as Schismatics ................................................................. 225 The Martyrology of the Intelligentsia ......................................... 229 Russian Ideas as Ideas of Russia .................................................. 238 Berdiaev’s Messianism ................................................................... 245 Chapter Six Vasilii Zenkovskii and the History of Russian Philosophy ....................................................................................... 251 Russia and Europe .......................................................................... 256 The Historiography of Philosophy .............................................. 261 Reframing Russian Philosophy .................................................... 268 Philosophy and its Soil .................................................................. 272 Philosophy as a System ................................................................. 276 Vladimir Solovev as a Systematic Philosopher ......................... 282 The Systematic Design and its Content ...................................... 287 The Dialectics of History .............................................................. 290 Concluding Remarks .......................................................................... 297 Bibliography ......................................................................................... 301 Index ..................................................................................................... 319 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is a revised version of my PhD thesis, which I defended at the University of Bergen in April 2009. It is a pleasant duty to thank the Faculty of Humanities, University of Bergen, for generously award- ing me a three-year research fellowship, which made it possible for me to write this study. Its present publication has been made possible by a grant from the Norwegian Research Council. My thanks extend also to Ivo Romein at the Brill publishing house and to the editorial board of the series Russian History and Culture for their cooperation and inter- est in my work. I am likewise indebted to the publisher’s anonymous reviewer for several valuable suggestions. Over the last six years my scholarly work has been constantly enriched by my inspiring colleagues at the Department of Russian Studies, University of Bergen, to whom I would also like to express my appreciation. Moreover, I am very grateful to my two opponents at the doctoral defence, Per-Arne Bodin and Pål Kolstø, for having scru- tinised my text in such detail. Their supportive and critical responses have no doubt improved the present version. Its publication was like- wise prompted by Peter Ulf Møller’s encouraging review of my thesis in Nordisk Østforum. My most recent thanks are due to Ursula Phillips for her expert editing of my text and translations. And finally, I wish to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Jostein Børtnes, for his inspiring engage- ment in my project, for our stimulating conversations, and, not least, for his attentive and critical readings of my manuscripts. Any errors or omissions in this text are, of course, entirely my own responsibility. Kåre Johan Mjør January 2011