The North-South Civilizational Divide in Osip Mandelstam’s Philosophical and Literary Works

The article discusses the problem of cultural and civilizational self-identification in the works of Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam. According to the family legend, the Mandelstam family descended from Spanish Jews who fled from Spanish kings’ persecution, and then moved, in search of better life, further and further to the north of Europe, until they finally settled in the Russian Empire. In our view, young Osip Mandelstam was formed as a poet in the traditions of the literature of the “Russian North,” derived from Gavriil Derzhavin, Prince Peter Vyazemsky, Anton Delvig, and Alexander Pushkin. Mandelstam was a direct literary follower of the Russian symbolist poet of Swedish origin, I.I. Oreus (who published under the pseudonym of “Ivan Konevskoy”). The name of Oreus-Konevskoy, his magical poetic style, the circumstances of his death, and finally, his romantic grave on the steep bank of the Latvian river Aa (Gauja) – became truly iconic phenomena of the Russian Silver Age. Oreus-Konevskoy had a great influence not only on young Mandelstam’s verse (some of his famous poems are direct “literary duels” with the Teacher) but also on Alexander Blok, Valery Bryusov, and early Boris Pasternak. The author of the article analyzes how in the first post-revolutionary years Osip Mandelstam tried to become one of the theorists of the Soviet “Northern” literature. In the author’s view, when the repressive nature of the new regime became obvious and the “NorthernPetersburgian” Russia showed its totalitarian-Bolshevik appearance, there started a radical turn in Mandelstam’s self-consciousness, which led to an attempt to form a new personal identity, as a person belonging to the “cultural South,” who tragically found himself in the “barbaric North.”

1. Anichkov E. (1923) New Russian poetry. Berlin: I.P. Ladyzhnikov Press (in Russian)

2. Fedotov G.P. (1927) The Tragedy of the Intelligentsia. Versty. No. 2, pp. 145–184 (in Russian).

3. Kara-Murza A.A. (2017a) The Russian “North”. Metamorphoses of National Identity in the Late 18th – Early 19th Centuries: G.R. Derzhavin. Russian Journal of Philosophical Sciences = Filosofskie nauki. No. 8, pp. 121–134 (in Russian).

4. Kara-Murza A.A. (2017b) The Concept of “Russian Northerners” in the Heroic Odes of G.R. Derzhavin (On the Question of Russian Identity). Politicheskaya kontseptologiya. No. 3. P. 187–194. (in Russian).

5. Kara-Murza (2018) – Kara-Murza A. Gavriil Derzhavin on Russian Civilization: Russia as “The North”. Russian Studies in Philosophy. Vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 88–98.

6. Kara-Murza A.A. (2020a) Russia as the “North”: Problems of Civilizational Identity in the Philosophy of Boris Pasternak (On the 130th Anniversary of His Birth). The Philosophy Journal. Vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 5–18 (in Russian).

7. Kara-Murza A.A. (2020b) Poet-Philosopher Ivan Oreus-Konevskoy as a Cult Figure of the “Russian Northerners” of the Silver Age. Chelovek. Vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 155–172 (in Russian).

8. Kara-Murza A.A. (2020с) Boris Pasternak, “Winter Man”: On the Cultural Self-Identification of Russian Geniuses. Russian Studies in Philosophy. Vol. 58, no 4, pp. 299–306.

9. Konevskoy (Oreus) I.I. (2000) Dreams and Thoughts. Poems and Prose. Tomsk: Vodoley (in Russian).

10. Mandelstam N.Ya. (2014) Collected Works in 2 Vols. (Vol. 2). Yekaterinburg: Gonzo (in Russian).

11. Mandelstam O.E. (1923a) Storm and Stress. Russkoye iskusstvo. No. 1, pp. 75–82 (in Russian).

12. Mandelstam O.E. (1923b) Vulgata (Notes on Poetry). Russkoye iskusstvo. No. 2–3, pp. 68–70 (in Russian).

13. Mandelstam O.E. (1999а) Complete Works and Letters in 4 Vols. Vol. 1: Poems and Prose of 1906–1921. Moscow: Progress (in Russian).

14. Mandelstam O.E. (1999b) Complete Works and Letters in 4 Vols. Vol. 4: Letters. Moscow: Progress (in Russian).

15. Mandelstam O.E. (2002) The Noise of Time. Moscow: Vagrius (in Russian).

16. Mandelstam O.E. (2009) Complete Works and Letters in 3 Vols. Vol. 1: Poems. Moscow: Progress-Pleyada (in Russian).

17. Mandelstam O.E. (2010) Complete Works and Letters in 3 Vols. Vol. 2: Prose. Moscow: Progress-Pleyada (in Russian).

18. Necheporuk E. (2000) “Oh Prophetic Word, the Word is Power…” On the works of Ivan Konevskоy. In: Konevskоy (Oreus) I.I. Dreams and Thoughts. Poems and Prose (pp. 3–26). Tomsk: Vodoley (in Russian).

19. Parnakh V.Ya. (Comp.) (1934) Spanish and Portuguese Poets, Victims of the Inquisition. Moscow: Academia (in Russian).

20. Sologub F. (2002) Collected Poems in 8 Vols. (Vol. 1). Saint Petersburg: Navi Chary (in Russian).