Poetry as a Sister of Prayer: The concept of art in «holy prose» by V. A. Zhukovsky

Abstract

The article examines the concept of art and the philosophy of the poetic word presented in the prose of V. A. Zhukovsky in the 1840s, which he himself called «saint». The thematic range of «holy prose» is quite wide, it reflects the most significant for V. A. Zhukovsky’s ideas related to his «Christian philosophy». An important place in it is occupied by questions about the relationship between art and religion, about the nature of creative inspiration, about the role of the poet and the purpose of poetry, about the connection between the prayer and poetic words. In «holy prose» Zhukovsky discusses the poetic word as a revelation, writes about the creative, sacred meaning of the poet’s word, which is a tool for transforming the inner world of a person (both the author and the reader). The study of Zhukovsky’s prose texts of the 1840s, including his letters and diary entries, allows us to conclude that the poet’s views on the purpose of art and the essence of poetic language are determined by the Christian doctrine of man, and also contain elements of the romantic concept of the creator and creativity, related to the idea of the transcendental nature of the creative act.