“Cosmology of love” in the Artistic System of A. K. Tolstoy and A. A. Kondratyev

Abstract

The article is devoted to the archetype of the “eternal feminity”, its modifications in the works of A. K. Tolstoy, and A. A. Kondratyev. This problem was formulated and developed in the works of the German Romantics and Goethe, later it became a key problem in A. S. Pushkin’s “Hurzuf cycle”. Carrying on the tradition, directly related to the idea of Plato’s “dual reality” and Aristotle’s “eidos”, A. K. Tolstoy created his own concept of ideal love in the so-called Crimean sketches. A. A. Kondaratev, being a disciple of Annensky, developed the problem of "Russian Eros" in his original way, referring to the “pre-Olympic” complex of the key mythologemes of the ancient Greek Pantheon. Reliance on Slavic mythology and excellent knowledge of folklore gave the poets the opportunity to open a new understanding of the cosmos and the integrity of the world. Objectively the “Moon myth”, developed in the cult of Astarte, Artemis, Zhiva/Morena became a kind of impulse for understanding of a woman's love, its fruitful origin. Thus, A. K. Tolstoy and A. A. Kondratyev, following the tradition developed by Pushkin, do not merely refer to the “styling”, imitating, but use mimesis (recall) to recreate the ritual reality of the myth, when the world appears much greater, larger. It is a kind of catharsis, and smart attentive reader opens a new space of the world, the spiritual eyes see something different that does not only provide a way out of commonplace, but also of selfish individual consciousness deadlocks.