Rozanov Vasily Vasilyevich (1856–1919) was a Russian philosopher, writer, and essayist, one of the most original thinkers of the Silver Age. He was born in Vetluga, a district town of Kostroma Governorate that is now part of Nizhny Novgorod Region. Rozanov's work, which spans questions of religion, sex, family, history, and literature, provoked fierce controversy during the author's lifetime and still attracts a wide readership today.[1][2]
Nizhny Novgorod Connection
Vasily Rozanov was born in Vetluga, a town in the north of present-day Nizhny Novgorod Region. This is the only documented connection between the thinker and the area: the rest of Rozanov's life and work was tied to other cities of Russia.[1]
Work and Views
Rozanov did not fit into established categories: he was called a religious philosopher, even though his religious quest was grounded in a rejection of orthodox Christian values. His articles and books on sex, family, and marriage, including "People of the Moonlight," unsettled his contemporaries. Archpriest Georges Florovsky described Rozanov as "a psychological riddle, very tempting and frightening."[2] The lyrical-philosophical collections "Solitaria" and "Fallen Leaves" (1913) were innovative in form: fragmentary notes made "in the margins of life" anticipated the genre of twentieth-century essayism.[2]
Final Years and Death
In August 1917, Rozanov and his family moved from Petrograd to Sergiev Posad: the philosopher Pavel Florensky had found them an apartment in the house of the priest Belyaev. His last major work was "The Apocalypse of Our Time" (installments of 1917–1918), sketches permeated with a sense of inevitable revolutionary catastrophe; the combined sixth-seventh issue was confiscated immediately upon publication.[1] At the end of 1918, amid hunger and unheated lodgings, Rozanov wrote to Dmitry Merezhkovsky of his wish to finish the "Apocalypse," and to Maxim Gorky a desperate letter asking for help. Gorky appealed to Fyodor Chaliapin, who sent money, but it came too late: Rozanov died on January 23, 1919 (February 5, New Style).[1] His funeral service was held at the parish Church of the Archangel Michael, and he was buried in the cemetery of the Chernigov Skete, next to the grave of the philosopher Konstantin Leontyev (1831–1891).[1]
Fate of His Legacy
In the Soviet era, Rozanov's name was consigned to oblivion: his works were not republished and his writing was not studied.[1] His return to readers came after the 1980s. The Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences began publishing a complete collected works in 35 volumes.[2] In 1923, the cemetery of the Chernigov Skete, where Rozanov was buried, was closed.[1]
Sources
- books.yandex.kz — "Apocalypse of Our Time," Vasily Rozanov — read free online — Yandex Books
- dic.academic.ru — Book: Rozanov V. People of the Moonlight. The Metaphysics of Christianity. Azbuka-Klassika series (pocket book)
- ru-lib.3dn.ru — Rozanov Vasily Vasilyevich — Letters to E. F. Gollerbakh, Page 3 — Books — Russian Literature