V. F. Odoevsky’s philosophical and creative heritage as an experience of comprehending the “Russian questions”

Abstract

The theoretical value of the article consists in the attempt to determine the specific way the Russian writer V. F. Odoevsky tried to formulate and solve the so called “Russian problems”. It is stressed that those questions were, as a rule, metaphysical and considered “eternal”. When Odoevsky in his literary works touched upon the issue of the role of Russia in the world history he took into account a lot of spiritual and moral factors, primarily the logic of the development of Russian culture. His philosophical approach to solving the “Russian problems” can be seen in many novels and stories written by him at different times, but the most demonstrative work in this respect is the collection of philosophical essays “Russian Nights”. The context of this work integrates the anthropological, epistemological, and historiosophical aspects of Odoevsky’s world outlook. When discussing the views of the Russian writer on the past, present and future of Russia, the author emphasizes that they resulted from the fact that Odoevsky preferred to be an “arbitrator” in the polemic between the Slavophiles and Westernizers. It was, of course, no accident that the question “What are we?” was in the core of the polylogue between the characters of his “Russian Nights”. Considering the fate of Russia, Odoevsky used kind of a futurological discourse, especially in the unfinished fantastic story “4338”. He was also very focused on such questions as what mentality the Slavs have or what role they should play in the world history. It is concluded that the ideas proposed by Odoevsky are of great importance nowadays.