Abstract: The paper examines the influence of L. N. Tolstoy’s thought on the literary and philosophical ideas of M. O. Gershenzon. The development of M. O. Gershenzon’s philosophical search relies on the philosophy of love of L. N. Tolstoy. The research traces the evolution of this search from the 1900s until the 1920s (the period of work on “The Triple Image of Perfection” and the book “Gulfstream”). The article highlights the influence of Tolstoy’s search for a new mode of narration (“without any form”) on literary criticism and humanitarian thought in the first quarter of the 20th century. The author concludes that the evolution of Tolstoy’s thought on the narrative technique influenced many areas of the intellectual culture of the 20th century. Tolstoy’s ideas significantly influenced M. O. Gershenzon, from early responses to the philosophy of love to reflection on the essence of literary form and “cohesion” as the base of the slow reading theory.

References

Andreeva, V. G. “ʽBeskonechnyi labirint stseplenii’ v romane L. N. Tolstogo ʽAnna Karenina’.” [“ʽAn Endless Labyrinth of Cohesion’ in L. N. Tolstoy’s Novel ʽAnna Karenina’.”] Kostroma, Avantitul Publ., 2012. 296 p. (In Russ.)

Andreeva, V. G. “ʽKatkov… kak raz goditsia dlia publiki’: perepiska L. N. Tolstogo i

M. N. Katkova 1850–1860-kh gg.” [“ʽKatkov... Is Just Right for the Public’: Correspondence Between L. N. Tolstoy and M. N. Katkov in the 1850s–1860s”]. Dva veka russkoi klassiki, vol. 6, no. 2, 2024, pp. 20–39. https://doi.org/10.22455/2686-7494-2024-6-2-20-39 (In Russ.)

Lappo-Danilevskii, K. Iu. “Viacheslav Ivanov v dialoge so shkoloi A. A. Potebni i utverzhdaiushchimsia formalizmom” [“Viacheslav Ivanov in Dialogue with the School of A. A. Potebnia and Early Formalism”]. Letniaia shkola po russkoi literature, vol. 19, no. 1–2, 2023, pp. 42–88. https://doi.org/10.48612/sum-2023-19-1-2-42-88 (In Russ.)

Romanova G. I., and E. Tyshkovska-Kaspshak. “L. Tolstoi i formalisty o siuzhete” [“Leo Tolstoy and the Formalists About the Plot”]. Novyi filologicheskii vestnik, no. 3 (58), 2021, pp. 52–64. (In Russ.)

Smirnova, N. N. “Issledovatel’skie printsipy i iazyk M. O. Gershenzona-teo- retika” [“Research Principles and Thesaurus of M. O. Gershenzon the Theorist”]. Gershenzon, M. O. Demony glukhonemye. Stat’i, esse, zametki raznykh let [Deafmute Demons. Articles, Essays, Notes from Different Years], ed. and comp. by N. N. Smirnova. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tsentr gumanitarnykh initsiativ Publ., 2017, pp. 299–328. (In Russ.)

Smirnova, N. N. “Istoriia ʽstseplenii’: ot ʽVideniia poeta’ M. O. Gershenzona do ʽUmiraniia iskusstva’ V. Veidle” [“History of ʽCohesion’: From M. O. Gershenzon’s ʽThe Poet’s Vision’ to V. Weidlé’s ʽLes Abeilles d’Aristée’.”] Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka, vol. 82, no. 3, 2023, pp. 5–13. https://doi.org/10.31857/ S160578800026309-5 (In Russ.)

Smirnova, N. N. “Fragmentatsiia i ostranenie kak protsess: V. B. Shklovskii perechityvaet L. N. Tolstogo” [“Fragmentation and Defamiliarization as a Process:

V. B. Shklovsky Rereads L. N. Tolstoy”]. Dva veka russkoi klassiki, vol. 6, no. 2, 2024, pp. 66–81. https://doi.org/10.22455/2686-7494-2024-6-2-66-81 (In Russ.)

Sobolev, A. L. “Dnevnikovye zapisi M. O. Gershenzona (1894–1895, 1906/1907)” [“From Mikhail Gershenzon’s Diary (1894–1895, 1906/1907)”]. Literaturnyi fakt, no. 1–2, 2016, pp. 9–40. https://www.doi.org/10.22455/2541-8297-2016-1-2-9-40 (In Russ.)

Hamburg, Gary Michael. “Tolstoy and Vekhi.” Tolstoy Studies Journal, vol. 22, 2010, pp. 1–15. (In English)