Open AccessThe Concept of Freedom in Artistic Expression as Held by Russian Poets during the 1917 Revolution
Author(s) -
Neža Zajc
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
monitor ish
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1580-688X
pISSN - 1580-7118
DOI - 10.33700/1580-7118.20.1.139-177(2018
Subject(s) - creativity , consciousness , expression (computer science) , state (computer science) , aesthetics , freedom of expression , power (physics) , sociology , literature , epistemology , law , art , philosophy , political science , computer science , human rights , physics , algorithm , quantum mechanics , programming language
The article deals with the situation among Russian intellectuals in 1917, when Russian reality was simmering with revolutionary events and concomitant complications. The author focuses on the state of consciousness of selected poets: Alexander A. Blok, Osip E. Mandelstam, Vladislav Hodasevich, and Anna A. Akhmatova. Particular attention is given to personal documents, such as diaries, letters and testimonies. The paper seeks to describe as authentically as possible the experience of the abovementioned poets (their responses, doubts, questions raised by the historical events) and their attempts to embrace the historical reality as a totality of ideas. This conceptual totality was most prominently reflected in their thoughts about artistic freedom or freedom of creation. Presented in detail is the inner life (motives, initiatives, needs) of those verbal artists who felt called upon to help people spiritually by means of their creativity.