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Land of thought: India as ideal and image in Konstantin Bal'mont's Oeuvre

Sundaram, Susmita
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1087410693

Abstract Details

2004, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures.
Russian writers have grappled with the notion of Russian identity between East and West and have mostly looked to Europe for answers since Peter the Great’s reforms. The discussion of Russia’s identity and historically ordained mission in the world came into sharp focus with the Slavophile-Westernizer debate in the first half of the nineteenth century, the resonance from which have informed Russian cultural philosophy since. Dostoevsky’s “Pushkin speech” in 1881 introduced the notion of Pushkin as a “Universal Poet” who could transcend national boundaries as a result of his universal cultural receptivity and yet could at the same time remain quintessentially Russian. The Russian Silver Age (1890’s-1910) witnessed a revival of the debate over Russia’s mission in a crisis-ridden fin-de-siècle Europe and Russia. Russian Symbolist writers looked to other cultures – in particular classical antiquity, and renaissance Italy – for cultural models that would provide an insight into solving the crisis of positivism and naturalism. The symbolist poet Konstantin Bal’mont – who was a much feted poet in the first decade of his oeuvre and perhaps unjustly ignored later – differed from his contemporaries in his quest for solutions both in sheer breadth of cultures studied and in his unusual choice of an ideal. This dissertation revisits Bal’mont’s oeuvre in order to examine his cultural philosophy – hitherto largely unexamined by critics – and discussed the poet’s choice of India as a cultural partner in the synthesis of Russian elemental spirit and Indian wisdom that he envisioned for the future. While Bal’mont studied a wide variety of cultures – Mayas and Aztecs, ancient Egypt, Japan and Scandinavia among others, India remains the Land of Thought an ideal country that is universal and all-encompassing, where wise men possess the secret of Universal pantheism, a secret that resonates with Bal’mont’ innate poetic pantheism. In his role as cultural philosopher Bal’mont also locates in Kalidasa, the ancient Indian playwright, the ideal solution to the crisis in European theater brought on by the prevailing aesthetic of naturalism. Finally, Bal’mont sees himself as Pushkin’s heir: the Universal poet, who would expand the cultural horizons of Russia far beyond his illustrious predecessor did.
Irene Masing-Delic (Advisor)
Literature, Slavic and East European
Russian Literature - India; Konstantin Bal'mont - India; Russian Silver Age - India

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Citations

  • Sundaram, S. (2004). Land of thought: India as ideal and image in Konstantin Bal'mont's Oeuvre [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1087410693

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Sundaram, Susmita. Land of thought: India as ideal and image in Konstantin Bal'mont's Oeuvre. 2004. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1087410693.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Sundaram, Susmita. "Land of thought: India as ideal and image in Konstantin Bal'mont's Oeuvre." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1087410693

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.