Ivan Konevskoi: "Wise Child" of Russian Symbolism

Joan Delaney Grossman

Open Access Published by Academic Studies Press 2010

Ivan Konevskoi

"Wise Child" of Russian Symbolism

Joan Delaney Grossman
Funded by: National Endowment for the Humanities and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program

In the series Studies in Russian and Slavic Literatures, Cultures, and History

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781618117014

Overview
Contents

About this book

Ivan Konevskoi: “Wise Child” of Russian Symbolism is the first study in any language of Ivan Konevskoi –— poet, thinker, mystic— – for many decades the “lost genius” of Russian modernism. A fresh and compelling figure, Konevskoi plunged deeply into the currents of modern mystical thought and art in the 1890s. A passionate searcher for immortality, he developed his own version of pantheism meant to guard his unique persona from dissolution in the All-One. The poetry of Tiutchev, Vladimir Solov’ev Soloviev and Rossetti, William James’s psychology, paintings of Pre-Raphaelites and Arnold Boecklin, Old Russian historical myth, the Finnish Kalevala: all engaged him during his brief life. His worldview grew more audacious, his confidence in the magical power of the word grew more assured. Drowning in 1901 at 23, Konevskoi left a legacy unfinished, rich, and intriguing.

Author / Editor information

Joan Delaney Grossman (Ph.D. Harvard University) is Professor Emerita of Slavic Languages and Literatures at University of California at Berkeley. Her publications include Edgar Allan Poe in Russia, 1973; Valery Bryusov and the Riddle of Russian Decadence, 1984; co edited Creating Life, with Irina Paperno,1994 and William James in Russian Culture, with Ruth Rischin, 2003.

Reviews

Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR:
"Grossman (Slavic languages and literatures, U. of California at Berkeley) offers the first study of the life, ideas, and achievements of Russian modernist poet, thinker, and mystic Ivan Konevskoi (1877-1901). Focusing on his inner life (rather than all aspects of his biography), she examines its representation in his poetry, his exploration of pantheism, mystical encounters during his European travels, the influence of painter Arnold Böcklin, his affair with Anna Nikolaevna Gippius, his friend and posthumous publisher Valerii Briusov, his poetry collection Dreams and Meditations, his desire to abolish death through mysticism, the influence of Nietzsche, and his accidental drowning at the age of twenty-three. Selected poems are provided in Russian."

Irene Masing-Delic, Ohio State University:
“Joan Grossman’s spiritual biography of “poet-mystic-thinker” Ivan Konevskoi (Oreus) fills a large gap in the scholarship on early Russian modernism. Although never entirely forgotten, Konevskoi was largely ignored by scholars in both Russia and in the West, before the appearance of this substantial monograph. With the superb knowledge of her subject-matter that years of painstaking and engaged research have given her, Grossman guides us through the poet’s short, but intense, quest for immortality through his own brand of pantheism. As Grossman shows, Konevskoi’s spiritual journey, which ended prematurely by accidental drowning, has many intriguing stops along the way. Grossman makes this journey entertaining and informative. This is a major work by a distinguished scholar, which is bound to stimulate further research of this elusive poet.”

Hugh McLean, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley:
“Ivan Konevskoi (1877-1901) strove throughout his tragically brief earthly life to "abolish death" by penetrating the mystic core of the universe. His earthly survival has now been notably enhanced by Joan Grossman's splendid book, a comprehensive account of the poet's life, thought, and accomplishments. Deeply sympathetic but always clear-eyed and sensible, Grossman's narrative is exhaustively researched but never pedantic, engagingly written and rich in illuminations derived from the author's lifelong study of Russian poetry, especially of the Symbolist era.”

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	1
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	6
Key to frequently used abbreviations Open Access Download PDF	7
Introduction Open Access Download PDF	9
Chapter 1. The Drive for Life Open Access Download PDF	21
Chapter 2. Chronicle of My Travels Open Access Download PDF	53
Chapter 3. A Love Affair with the World’s Waters Open Access Download PDF	81
Chapter 4. Two Meetings Open Access Download PDF	101
Chapter 5. “Dreams and Meditations” Open Access Download PDF	127
Chapter 6. The Power of the Word Open Access Download PDF	147
Chapter 7. “Abolishing Death” (1) Open Access Download PDF	167
Chapter 8. Finland, Novgorod, St. Petersburg Open Access Download PDF	189
Chapter 9. Abolishing Death (2) Open Access Download PDF	207
Afterword Open Access Download PDF	221

Language: English
Publisher: Academic Studies Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 276

eBook

Published: December 17, 2017
ISBN: 9781618117014