Плюрaлизм или унификaция? Позиция декaбристов в полемике о роли и функции литерaтуры
Pluralism, or Unification? The Decembrists’ Position in the Polemic about the Function of Literature

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with the problems of gradual forming of decembrist movement and with the analysis of decembrists attitude to the poetry of V. A. Zhukovski, as well as with their understanding of the role of literature. The author shows how their tolerance to different opinions on the role of literature fell down, suppressed by the intensification of their fight against the car’s absolutism, how they sought inspiration in selectively chosen and ahistorically interpreted events from the past in their struggle for democratization of the Russian society. Their glorification of historical mission of a strong individual together with their effort to spread civic virtues among the Russian nobility led them to stick to the principles “the end justifies the means” and “those who are not with us are against us”. Their activities thus gain patterns of totalitarian character; from this aspect they can be therefore understood as an omen of the Russian evolution after the year 1917.

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