Abstract
If the philosophy of history is preoccupied solely with historical knowledge about the past and present without imaging a desired future, it cannot fulfill its purpose—to provide an understanding of man’s place in history. However, a futurological approach is not sufficient to achieve this. It is necessary to turn to the philosophy of art. Although the philosophical literature considered in this chapter does not produce specific representations of the future, it judges the past and the present, thereby telling us what ought to be included in and excluded from future human existence. In this chapter, I use the concept of negative knowledge about the future to analyze Russian history. I will focus on three constants that are inherent to Russian life and social consciousness. These are the constants of empire, autocracy, and property/propertilessness. I will consider the manifestation of these constants in Mikhail Sholokhov’s epic novel, And Quiet Flows the Don, Andrei Platonov’s phantasmagoric novels and stories, and Varlam Shalamov’s stories of witness, The Kolyma Tales.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
The term constants already exists in historical-philosophical scholarship. See Popkov 2010, where among the constants of the Eurasian world, the author identifies centrality, rhythmic symphonism, and western anthropic drift.
- 3.
For more, see Nikolsky 2017a.
- 4.
In their analysis of the unity of power and the people, Yu. S. Pivovarov and A.I. Fursov talk about the power-centeredness of the Russian world (Pivovarov and Fursov 2001).
- 5.
“Zhalovat’ svoikh kholopei vol’ny my i kaznit’ ikh tozhe.” See in Kliuchevskii 2002, 236.
- 6.
In 1937, for instance, the adult population was approximately 100 million.
- 7.
In other books, (e.g., Juvenile Sea and Chevengur) instead of a bear, it is represented by the steppe wind, underground water, self-sowing wheat, and the sun as natural electricity. Platonov establishes the universal scale of imperial (international) Bolshevik expansion—from a channel that crosses the country (“The Locks of Epifan”) to the heights of the stratosphere and the underground metro (Happy Moscow).
- 8.
“The Locks of Epifan” (Platonov 2016).
- 9.
The Foundation Pit (Platonov 2011a).
- 10.
Juvenile Sea (Platonov 2011b).
- 11.
Chevengur (Platonov 2011a).
- 12.
Happy Moscow (Platonov 2011c).
- 13.
Thus, relying on his own curiosity, Sasha Dvanov’s father drowns in the lake. The bachelor dies freely associating with nature, subordinate to and connected with nobody. The inhabitants of Chevengur die propertiless, but, most importantly, without an external will over themselves. The girl’s bourgeois mother dies, next to the foundation pit, deprived of all her possessions and rejected by the external imperious will. Nastya dies without ever finding anything of her own in the new world.
- 14.
The novel convinces us that Grigorii Melekhov will also never leave this spot because of his understanding of life and his desire to confirm it precisely in this form and in the context of spreading Bolshevism—to preserve it. His inability to live as he had before is a tragedy.
- 15.
This is evidenced by Sholokhov’s Virgin Soil Upturned, where the author omits the tragedy he witnessed in his native Veshenskaia, including the human-caused famine of 1932–1933 (Sholokhov 2011).
- 16.
The author also gives an example of Mishka’s “revolutionary consciousness” in his conversation with Grigorii’s mother, when Koshevoi comes to their house to see Duniashka:
“Aren’t you ashamed to come here, you brazen creature?” she said. “You dare to ask me that? You’re a murderer …”
“How do you make out that I’m a murderer?”
“Indeed, you are! Who killed Petro? Wasn’t it you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, then! Think what that means! And you come here … and sit down as if …” Ilyinichna broke off choking, but quickly recovered her breath and went on, “Am I his mother or what? How can you look me in the face?”
Mikhail paled noticeably. (Sholokhov 1996, 1201; Sholokhov 2011, 854)
- 17.
The historical John Perry, on whom Platonov’s William Perry is based, was hired by Peter the Great to oversee construction of a canal between the Black and Caspian Seas—Ed.
- 18.
Senechka is one of the owners of the barracks—a thief and racketeer (Shalamov 2013, 188).
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Nikolsky, S.A. (2021). Mikhail Sholokhov, Andrei Platonov, and Varlam Shalamov: The Road to Hell in Twentieth-Century Russian Literature. In: Bykova, M.F., Forster, M.N., Steiner, L. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Russian Thought. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62982-3_33
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