상징주의 생예술 이념(3) : 안드레이 벨리

Abstract

The Russan Symbolists of the second generation, such as Vyacheslav Ivanov, Aleksandr Blok, and Andrey Bely, all they believed in the transformative power of the theater and the drama. Vyacheslav Ivanov's mystery(мистерия) was regarded as the ideal form of contemporary Symbolist art. However, Andrey Bely identified a serious aesthetic flaw in the central mechanisms of mystery - the sense of communion(соборность) and the ecstasy itself. It is revealed that mystery merely represented a deceptive, fake reality which just would substitute the genuine reality. Through theoretical discussions since the 1900s, Bely persistently critiqued the mystery. However, his rejection of the mystery did not result from the denial of the idea of “lifecreation”(жизнетворчество). For Bely, the continuity of life could only be achieved through the artistic creation. A consistent theme throughout Bely's thought is this very concept of “lifecreation,” which eventually leads him to his definition of art as “the song of life”(песнь жизни). Bely maintained his belief in the primacy of life over art throughout his career. For Bely, who defined art as “the art to live” and “the ability to live,” the continuity of life was a categorical imperative that predated art itself. Bely's idea of “lifecreation” is deeply influenced by the contemporary Symbolist art’s thoughts on the crisis of the philosophy and the civilization in his era. His “song of life” is, in essence, his own response to this thinking of his time.