“Not a hero, but an ordinary man ...” (The Lithuanian period of L. P. Karsavin’s life)
Abstract
By means of the analysis of the correspondence between the members of L. P. Karsavin’s family the author proves that the Lithuanian period of the philosopher’s life was the result of his own choice made under the influence of the unfavourable circumstances. It is shown that in Lithuania Karsavin had to face a lot of unpleasant problems, such as the irreverent attitude of his colleagues – religious philosophers to him, lack of attention to those ideas that were important for him, no response to his published works, intellectual and spiritual loneliness. Karsavin was so keenly and deeply worried about this fact that shortly after his moving to provincial Kaunas, he stopped to develop his metaphysics and returned to it only after his arrest in 1949. The letters from Karsavin’s wife let us know how nervous and exhausted the philosopher was at that time being unable to find people educated enough to talk to and discuss his ideas with. To make things worse, there were no reviews or even mentions concerning his published articles and books in the Lithuanian press. All this does not coincide with what is usually told and written about the Lithuanian period of Karsavin’s life, even by some researchers of standing reputation. It is concluded that to understand the real circumstances of the philosopher’s life in the “Lithuanian exile” is necessary to better realize the significance of his activity for the Russian and Lithuanian cultures.
References
Bendinskas, A. (1991), Vospominaniya o L. Karsavine [Memories of L. Karsavin], in Fonoteka Litovskoy Natsional'noy biblioteki [Record of the Lithuanian National Library], Lithuania.
Beisswenger, M. (2012), “Yeretik” sredi “yeretikov”: L. P. Karsavin i yeraziystvo [The “heretic” among the “heretics”: L. P. Karsavin and Eurasianism], in Khoruzhy, S.S. (ed.), Lev Platonovich Karsavin, ROSSPEN, Moscow, Russia, pp. 160–192.
Kreve, V. Pis'ma L. Karsavinu [Letters to L. Karsavin], in Lietuvos nacionalinės M. Mažvydo bibliotekos Retų knygų ir rankraščių skyrius [Department of rare books and manuscripts of the Martinins Mažvidas National Library of Lithuania], F. 56–9.
Vaneev, A.A. (1990), Ocherk zhizni i idey L. P. Karsavina [Essay on the life and ideas of L. P. Karsavin], in Vaneev, A.A., Dva goda v Abezi. V pamyat' o L. P. Kar-sa¬vine [Two years in Abezi. In memory of L. P. Karsavin], Life with God, Brussels, Belgium, pp. 337–366.
Vaneev, A.A. (1990), Dva goda v Abezi. V pamyat' o L. P. Karsavine [Two years in Abezi. In memory of L. P. Karsavin], Life with God, Brussels, Belgium.
Vaneev, A.A. Interv'yu, kotoroye avtor knigi “Dva goda v Abezi” dal kor¬res¬pon-den¬tu zhurnala “Christian World Monitor” [Interview that the author of the book “Two years in Abezi” gave to the correspondent of the magazine “Christian World Monitor”], in Vaneev, A.A., Dva goda v Abezi. V pamyat' o L. P. Karsavine [Two years in Abezi. In memory of L. P. Karsavin], Life with God, Brussels, Belgium pp. 190–215.
Gavryushin, N.K. (1994), Perepiska A. Vettera s L. Karsavinym [Correspondence between A. Vetter and L. Kar¬savin], in Simvol: Zhurnal khristianskoy kul'tury pri Slavyanskoy Biblioteke v Parizhe [Symbol: Journal of Christian culture at the Slavic Library in Paris], July, no. XXXI, pp. 97–169, France.
Pis'mo L. P. Karsavina k P. P. Suvchinskomu ot 20 yanvarya 1926 g. [Letter from L. P. Karsavin to P. P. Suvchinsky dated January 20, 1926], in Arkhiv Doma russkogo zarubezhya im. A. Solzhenitsyna. Kollektsiya V. Alloya [Archive of the House of Russian Abroad named after A. Solzhenitsyn. Collection of V. Alloy], inventory 1, storage unit 42, p. 1, Russia.
Pis'mo L. P. Karsavina k P. P. Suvchinskomu ot 7.7.1926 [Letter from L. P. Karsavin to P. P. Suvchinsky on 7.7.1926], in Arkhiv Doma russkogo zarubezhya im. A. Solzhenitsyna. Kollektsiya V. Alloya [Archive of the House of Russian Abroad named after A. Solzhenitsyn. Collection of V. Alloy], inventory 1, storage unit 42, pp. 13–14, Russia.
Pis'mo L. P. Karsavina k P. P. Suvchinskomu ot 27 fevralya 1928 g. [Letter from L. P. Karsavin to P. P. Suvchinsky on February 27, 1928], in Arkhiv Doma russkogo zarubezhya im. A. Solzhenitsyna. Kollektsiya V. Alloya. [Archive of the House of Russian Abroad named after A. Solzhenitsyn. Collection of V. Alloy], inventory 1, storage unit 43, p. 3, Russia.
Ivanov, K. (1990), Pamyati Anatoliya Anatol'yevicha Vaneyeva [In memory of Anatoly Anatolyevich Vaneev], in Vaneev, A.A., Dva goda v Abezi. V pamyat' o L. P. Karsavine [Two years in Abezi. In memory of L. P. Karsavin], Life with God, Brussels, Belgium, pp. 375–381.
Karsavin, L.P. (1990), Venok sonetov [Wreath of sonnets], in Vaneev, A.A., Dva go¬da v Abezi. V pamyat' o L. P. Karsavine [Two years in Abezi. In memory of L. P. Kar¬savin], Life with God, Brussels, Belgium, pp. 270–284.
Karsavin, L.P. (1929), Yevraziystvo i problema klassa [Eurasianism and the problem of class], in Yevraziya: Yezhenedel'nik po voprosam kul'tury i politiki [Eurasia: Cultural and Political Weekly], January 19, no. 9, France.
Karsavin, L.P. (1927), Osnovy politiki [Foundations of politics], in Yevraziysky vremennik [Eurasian News], book 5, pp. 185–239.
Karsavin, L.P. (1992), Poema o smerti [Poem about death], in Karsavin, L.P., Religiozno-filosofskiye sochineniya [Religious and philosophical works], vol. 1, Renaissance, Moscow, Russia, pp. 235–305.
Kartashov, A.V. (1960), Lev Platonovich Karsavin (1882–1952), in Vestnik RSHD [Bulletin of the Russian Student Christian Movement], no. 58–59, pp. 72–79.
Kovtun, A. (2012), Nekotoryye stranitsy zhizni russkikh v Litve [Some information about the life of Russians in Lithuania], in Slovo.ru: Baltiyskiy aktsent [Slovo.ru: Baltic accent], vol 3, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, Kaliningrad, Russia, pp. 51–61.
Lasinskas, P. (2004), Litovskiy period zhizni i deyatel'nosti L'va Platonovicha Karsavina [The Lithuanian period of life and activity of Lev Platonovich Karsavin], in Diaspora: Novyye materialy [Diaspora: New materials], no. 6, Russia, France, pp. 591–619.
Obzor istorii Kaunasa – Kaunas s momenta osnovaniya do raspada Velikogo knya-zhestva Litovskogo, 1795 [Overview of the history of Kaunas – Kaunas from the moment of its foundation until the collapse of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 1795], URL: https://p-w-w.org/index.php?topic=14139.0.
Reznichenko, A.I. (2013), Karsavin Lev Platonovich, in Pravoslavnaya entsiklopediya [Orthodox Encyclopedia], vol. 31, Orthodox Encyclopedia, Moscow, Russia, pp. 341–357.
Rumyantseva, S.Yu., and Sharonov, V.I. (1990), “On vsegda byl russkim…” [“He was always Russian...”], in Rodniki Parmy [Springs of Parma], Syktyvkar, Russia, pp. 66–78.
Khoruzhy, S.S. (1989), Lev Platonovich Karsavin, in Literaturnaya gazeta [Literary Gazette], February 22, no. 8 (5230), Russia, p. 5.
Khoruzhy, S.S. (2012), Russkiy filosof v Litve: A CASE STUDY [The Russian phi¬lo-sopher in Lithuania: A CASE STUDY], in Khoruzhy, S.S. (ed.), Lev Platonovich Karsavin, ROSSPEN, Moscow, Russia, pp. 436–454.
Sharonov, V.I. (1989), Fragmenty rukopisi A. A. Vaneyeva “Dva goda v Abezi” [Fragments of the manuscript by A. A. Vaneev “Two years in Abezi”], in Molodezh' se¬vera [Youth of the North], April 5, p. 3; April 7, p. 7, Russia.
Sharonov, V.I. (2017), “Korsov – Korsavin – Karsavin ...”, in Rusofil: russkaya filo-so¬fiya, istoriya i kul'tura: Sbornik nauchnykh trudov [Russophile: Russian philosophy, history and culture: Collection of scientific works], Smartbooks, Kaliningrad, Russia, pp. 5–23.
Sharonov, V.I. (1990), “On vsegda byl russkim…” Pamyati L'va Platonovicha Karsavina [“He was always Russian ...” In memory of Lev Platonovich Karsvin], in Rus¬skaya mysl' [Russian thought], May 18, No. 3828, pp. I–IV.
Sharonov, V.I. (2016), K istorii mifa o perekhode L. P. Karsavina v katolichestvo [On the history of the myth of L. P. Karsavin’s conversion to Catholicism], in Slo-vo.ru: Baltiyskiy aktsent [Slovo.ru: Baltic accent], vol. 7, no. 2, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, Kaliningrad, Russia, pp. 88–96.
Yudina, M.V. (2010), Dukh dyshit, gde khochet. Perepiska 1962–1963 gg. [The spi-rit breathes where it wants. Correspondence of 1962–1963], ROSSPEN, Moscow, Russia, pp. 66–71.
Jakštas, A. (1927), Dar dėl prof. L. Karsavino (Atsakymas prof. Vladimirui Šil¬kar-skiui) [Once more about Prof. L. Karsavin (The answer of Prof. Vladimir Šilkarskis)], in Rytas [Morning], no. 289 (1174), December 22, Lithuania.
Jakštas, A. (1927), Kas yra prof. L. P. Karsavinas? [Who is Prof. Karsavin?], in Ry-tas [Morning], no. 281 (1166), December 13, Lithuania.
Sommer, E. (1958), Vom Leben und Sterben eines russischen Metaphysikers. Ein verspäteter Nachruf auf Leo Karsavin († 12.7.1952) [On the life and death of a Russian metaphysician. A belated obituary for Leo Karsavin († 12.7.1952)], in Orien¬ta¬lia Christiana Periodica, no. XXIV, Italy, pp. 129–141.
Genzelis, B. (1980), Paskutinieji Levo Karsavino darbai [The last works of Lev Karsavin ], in Laikas ir idejos [Time and ideas], no. 5, Lithuania, pp. 222–234.
L. Karsavino baudžiamoji byla [Criminal proceedings against Lev Karsavin], in Li¬e-tu¬vos ypatingasis archyvas [Lithuanian special archive], F. К.-1, inventory 58, Lithuania.
L. Karsavino pastabus byla [L. Karsavin’s investigatory papers], in Lietuvos ypatin-ga¬sis archyvas [Lithuanian special archive], F. К.-1, inventory 59, Lithuania.
Semionkinas, N. (1971), Karsavino antropologia [Karsavin’s anthropology], in Pro-ble¬mos [Problems], no. 2, USSR, pp. 108–113.
Plumha, P. (2015), Levo Karsavino svajonė [The dream of Lev Karsavin], in Bber-nar¬dinai.lt. December 20, Lithuania, URL: http://www.bernardinai.lt/straipsnis/ 2015-12-20-levo-karsavino-svajone-ii/138717.
Šilkarskis, V. (1927), Kas yra prof. Leonas Karsavinas? Atviras laiškas prof. pral. Jakštui-Dambrauskui [Who is Prof. Lev Karsavin? Open letter of Prof. Jakštui-Dam¬brauskui], in Lietuvis [Lithuanian], no. 283, December 17, Lithuania.
Sverdiolas, A. (1983), Kultūros filosofija Lietuvoje [Philosophy of culture in Lithu¬a-nia], Mintis, Vilnius, USSR.
Tamošiūnienė, I. (1982), L. Karsavino etinių pažiūrų ontologinai pagrindai [The ontological basics of L. Karsavin’s ethical views], in Problemos [Problems], no. 27, USSR, pp. 65–27.
Vilniaus universiteto bibliotekos rankraščių skyrius [Vilnius University Library Ma-nuscript Department], F. 138, Ap. 76, Lithuania.
Vilniaus universiteto bibliotekos rankraščių skyrius [Vilnius University Library Ma-nus¬cript Department], F. 138, Ap. 88, Lithuania.
Vilniaus universiteto bibliotekos rankraščių skyrius [Vilnius University Library Ma-nus¬cript Department], F. 138, Ap. 114, Lithuania.
Nasevičius, V. (1992), Profesorius Leonas Karsavinas paskutinėje savo gyvenimo stotyje [Professor Lev Karsavin at the last period of his life], in Į laisvę [To Freedom], no. 114 (151), Lithuania, pp. 22–32.
