The Aesthetics of Russian and Czech Symbolism (Selected Chapters)

The monograph focuses on the effort to point out mutual aesthetic-philosophical features in the evolution of the Czech and Russian literature of the turn of the 19th and the 20th century. We try to interpret the aesthetic code of the Czech and Russian symbolism in their evolution, to present the coexistence of the Czech and Russian artistic thinking of this period. Through individual chapters we introduce the aesthetic-philosophical concepts of the main representatives of the Czech and Russian modern art. The evolution from the conception of the autonomous model of beauty to the principle of theurgy understanding art as the cosmogonic power is monitored. The focus is also aimed at transformation of the decadent-symbolistic aesthetics from the defence of clear artistic values to an attempt to overcome pure decadent approach, and on the ways to more integral understanding of art that was proclaimed as the process of spiritualization, mainly by the younger generation of symbolists.