Stanislaw Brzozowski and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. On the Polish philosopher’s fascination with the Russian artist

Abstract

The Polish philosopher, literary critic, publicist, writer and poet Stanislaw Brzozowski (1878–1911) showed great interest, turning into fascination, in the Russian writer and thinker Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881) and his works. The following thesis was put forward: the author of Crime and Punishment confirmed the Polish philosopher’s conviction in the power of cultural action, in the necessity of active participation in reality. The socio-cultural model created artistically by Dostoyevsky, imbued with activism, was considered by Brzozowski to be compatible with his concept of life and thinking. In the combination of spontaneity and mentality, the cultural soul and its forms, characteristic of the thought of the author of the Legend of Young Poland, Dostoyevsky’s ideas occupied an important place. In Brzozowski’s opinion, these ideas translated in a vivid way into the life stories of specific people – the heroes of the Russian’s works: e.g. an official, an officer, a writer, a priest or a revolutionary. All of them, regardless of their differences, above all, wanted to live; and with their push and strong desire, they created this life. They did it unknowingly, struggling with adversities, sometimes rebelling against them, but persisting, working, and doing. The “Russian soul” presented by Dostoyevsky, not idealized, having both dark and bright “sides”, appears – in Brzozowski’s conviction – as a kind of mirror in which Poles can look at themselves in order to get out of their stagnation and start a creative, active existence. The article presents some of Brzozowski’s remarks and reflections on the author of Demons and his view of a man in general, and of a Russian rooted in Russian culture in particular. The analysis of selected works of the Polish philosopher, especially of The Legend of Young Poland, Voices in the Night, Flames, Ideas, has confirmed the truth of the thesis.