Article: The Circle of Stankevich
What was the 19th century Circle of Stankevich, and why do they matter as sociocultural and sociopolitical figures that changed the very course of Russian society? All these questions and more are answered in this seminal article, one which aptly explains the inner dynamics of this important group of Moscow University students, of which were the very founders of the Intelligentsia as we know it. Inspired by German doctrines of Philosophy and Romanticism, this tight-knit group of thinkers shaped the future of the Russian identity.
In this detailed article, Brown articulates how nine friends at Moscow State University in the first half of the 19th century came to form one of most influential groups of pre-Soviet thinkers to date, and the philosophy that fueled their ideological projections into the realm of the arts, specifically literature and poetic versification. Began from a mere collection of alienated individuals at Moscow State University in the 1830s, surrounded by hardline radical politics which left little room for free thought of any kind, as was characteristic of Nicholas Ist, eight students with eyes pointed at the literary and philosophical movements of Germanic Romanticism, realism, and metaphysicality rallied together. Unified by the kind-hearted, and "Schöne Seele" archetype [one of high moral, intellectual, and spiritual virtue] Nikolai V. Stankevich, a minor figure in the realm of philosophy, poetry, and translation studies, this group came to rally around the notion that art should be held in much higher regards. Understood as the "“highest point of philosophical activity," the act of artistic creation was the unification of the laws of nature channeled into the vocabulary of mankind.
Brown notes that circles like these were not a new phenomenon at Moscow State University, and many were rallied behind all kind of different subjects, this serving as an edifying topic for a future article! But the idiosyncratic part about this group was their sheer tenacity in staying true to unmitigated philosophical exploration, and brazen disdain for Nicholas's policies of "Official Nationalism" [Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationalism] as created by Sergei Uvarov in response to the failed attempt at revolution in December of 1825. They decried against what they sneeringly called квасной патриотизм [Leavened patriotism, inspired by the typical Slavic drink of kvass], meaning a thoroughly naïve and jingoist state of patriotic zeal which was completely antithetical to a realistic love of country, one which doesn't negate their country's negative and intensely uncomfortable truths. Despite lacking an official framework and structure to fall back on, they nevertheless held intimate get-togethers at each other's homes, where classical music [ostensibly German in origin] served as the appetizer before diving head-first into "German transcendental philosophy" or better known as "German Idealism" alla Kant, Schiller, Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Fichte.
But it's important to note that Brown puts emphasis on the fact that this "holy brotherhood" vehemently disliked and contested what Russia was administratively, culturally, and socially, such beliefs conveniently called the "Chaadaev mood." Echoing the black sheep Philosopher Pyotr Y. Chaadaev's and his belief that Russia was insurmountably backwards, that the will of the people to modernize with the West was being bulldozed over for a isolationist brand of "lazy patriotism" which touted a pro-Russian narrative without any realization that this was causing irrevocable, national devolution. Thus, their fervent embrace of "the Hegelian formula," ["thesis, antithesis, synthesis"] helped them free themselves from stagnate modes of thinking, instead identifying the totality of everything, even the complex sentiments of nationalism itself. This way, if applied on a national scale, could lead Russia into the era of untouchability. Russia would cease to look towards the West, towards itself, towards any one thing and instead look towards the universal relationship of all paths to realize its way.
In a way, the mission of the Intelligentsia was to steer Russia towards a transcendent awakening of her own potential by removing the veil of either/or, instead basking in the and.
Brown adds a section which helps elucidate on the foundations of what would become known as the Russian Intelligentsia, whose "founding" in/around 1830-1837 during the reign of Nicholas I, was just as contentious as it was illuminating. Chiefly inspired by German philosophy, literary romanticism, and realism [or Naturphilosophie], rallying behind Schiller's turn-of-the-19th century masterwork "System des transzendentalen Idealismus," these early Intelligentsia thinkers posited that all was in direct relationship with everything else. There was no way to separate ourselves from others, and others from the natural order, as everything was bequeathed to nature itself. The conscious realization of a universal "world-soul" would lead one to live a virtuous path, as responsibility of one's actions could effect others. This cohabitational synthesis of parts in an aggregated whole was and is a hot topic.
But it was the group's almost religious comprehension of art and the act of creation that fascinates me about this article, as it's clearly discernable in the writings of Boris Asafiev, the Soviet Musicologist responsible for popularizing and historically solidifying the aesthetic principle of 'Symphonism.' Brown notes that art for these thinkers was not simply for aesthetic enjoyment and pastime, or for functional usability at the service of a human master. Art had its own autonomy, existential purpose, and held a much more altruistic role in society than previously given credit. Art, this "divine activity" was such a thing that could enlighten mankind into the very ontological phenomenality of the natural world itself, albeit after having been translated into a vocabulary understandable by human consciousness. Brown includes a hefty passage by Western-looking literary critic Vissarion G. Belinsky, where he expounds upon the aims and ultimate purpose of art, coming to the conclusion that art is represents the "reflection of the creative forces of nature." This potent energy can atomize our individual ego, bring us into contact with the flow of the universe itself, and allow us access to that subcurrent which directly from Nature's bountiful bosom to all living things. ONLY, Belinsky says, if the poet [or artist] is tapping into his true feelings of passion.
[Not included: The idolization of Pushkin, literary influences, or details on their poetic work]
Brown concludes the article with a powerful rearticulation of the group's main goal as a philosophical collective, this time referencing their predominate choice of artistic expression, that being the literary arts. Literature was the best conduit to exemplify and showcase the "prime source of man’s “self-consciousness," which was to act "as a provider of knowledge of man...and...the world." Through art, the unencumbered and unconstricted consciousness could tap into the ecstatic energy of the universal constant underscoring the Natural world, and through this awakening place bring us into communication with an almost religious awareness of the world and the superconscious place beyond the world.
Such lines of metaphysical discourses on idealism in its many creative forms, delineating the boundaries of our understanding of existence, rising above duality to universality, and striving to uncover the threads that connect the known and unknown, would inevitably turn into the esoteric path of Russian Symbolist movement, but that's for another day and another article. But what Brown has done with this article is show how the Russian Intelligentsia's fascination with attuning themselves to the search for a Russian identity unbound by dogmatic ideology and instead connected by an intrinsic appeal to natural law. Whether they succeeded can not be certain, but Russian Hip-Hop has come to embody many of the Intelligentsia's dialectics, forcing us to rise above the immediate for the eternal.
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